Turn Your Knowledge Into Income and Side Gig Jobs: Everyone Can Tutor Something!
What subjects could you tutor? When it comes to making some extra cash from side gig jobs, everyone can tutor something. Choose a topic that fits your expertise and passion when choosing your tutoring subjects. Some of the best teachers and tutors are those who are passionate about their tutoring subjects and show up to work because they love their jobs. Think back to your favorite classes in school or a class you took to learn a hobby, and I bet that one of the reasons you loved the class was because the teacher loved teaching about it. The same goes for choosing side gig jobs. Start with something you love. Choose what you are comfortable with and knowledgeable about. If you love math, decide if you prefer tutoring younger or older students and go from there. If you enjoy sewing, what about starting with teaching a class on hemming a pair of pants or making a tote bag? Are you great a coding? Offer a week-long coding class to kids in your area and see where it goes. Everyone can tutor something. The list below can help you get started when choosing side gig jobs and tutoring subjects. Here…
My Child’s Teacher Emailed Me About Academic Concerns—Now What?
Which school teacher has the best communication style? If you’ve ever received a note from your child’s teacher about academic concerns, saying they’re struggling to organize ideas in writing, apply math concepts to real life, or make inferences while reading, you’re not alone. Many parents see these messages and wonder, What does that actually mean? And how can I help at home? I hear this concern from friends and family all the time. Instead of asking the teacher for clarification, they turn to me for advice—worried they might sound uninformed. But here’s the truth: It’s not ignorance or bad parenting. It’s a language barrier! Teachers often use academic terms that parents may not be familiar with, making it hard to translate concerns into actionable steps. That’s where I come in. I break down what these academic concerns actually look like in the classroom and offer practical, at-home strategies and academic resources to support your child. And here’s my number one tip—don’t be afraid to email the teacher back! Teachers and tutors are on your child’s academic team and can provide valuable insight into what will help. Below, you’ll find 10 common academic concerns for elementary and middle school students—what they…
How to Be an Online Tutor – A Free Workshop to Conquer Your Tech Fears
Would you rather tutor online or in person? If you’ve ever thought, “I’d love to tutor online, but I don’t know where to start,” or Googled “How to be an online tutor” you’re not alone. Many amazing educators hesitate to take their skills online because they worry it’s too complicated or that in-person tutoring is the only way to be effective. But here’s the truth: If you can tutor in person, you can tutor online. The core of great teaching remains the same—it’s just about learning a few simple tools to bring your expertise to a virtual space. That’s exactly why I created Tutor Toolkit 2 – How to Tutor Online—a free workshop designed to show you how easy and rewarding online tutoring can be. See Online Tutoring in Action One of my favorite moments as a student teacher was observing experienced educators in action. Seeing their methods firsthand helped me grow more than any textbook ever could. I took notes on everything from their bulletin boards to their classroom management and teaching style. My mind whirled with ideas for my own classroom. The same is true for online tutoring. When I took my private tutoring business online, I noticed…
How to Start Your Part Time Tutoring Business Over Spring Break
I love teaching but I need extra income. Do I need to start a business in order to tutor part time in the summer? As a teacher, you love your job, but let’s be honest—a little extra part time tutoring income wouldn’t hurt. Maybe you’ve thought about tutoring part time over the summer, but you’re not sure where to start. Do you need to start a business just to tutor a few students? The short answer: No. The better answer: Yes, if you want to do it right and set yourself up for success. Let’s say you start tutoring your best friend’s kids this summer for extra cash. Great! But then she tells her friends about how amazing you are, and suddenly, you’re getting calls and texts asking if you’re available. Without a plan, you might find yourself making snap decisions on pricing, scheduling, and lesson plans that you later regret. That’s why even a part time tutor should take a professional approach from the very beginning. Why You Should Treat Your Part Time Tutoring Like a Business Whether you’re tutoring one student or building a steady side gig, setting up a few business basics will help you stay organized…
Time Management for Kids: Simple Tips to Help Students Stay on Track
Is it harder for you to estimate how long it will take to do a task or to manage your time appropriately while doing the task? As mentioned in a previous post on executive function, time management for kids is the ability to estimate how much time a task will take and manage time appropriately. In school, this can look like completing work within a deadline, knowing how long to study for an upcoming quiz or test, and budgeting time for other daily tasks and breaks. Common struggles students face are procrastination or underestimating how long a task will take. Here are tips and tools to help improve and reinforce time management for kids. Why time matters Part of school education is learning how to manage time and finish assignments within a deadline. Younger grades typically have one assignment at a time, whereas older grades have assignments for each class and further out deadlines. The benefits of time management are reduced stress, improved academic performance, and increased confidence and independence. Teaching students the benefits is as important as the skill itself. Knowing the why encourages independence as they learn to manage their workload effectively. Common challenges for students When students…
Top questions about starting a tutoring business
What are your top two questions about starting a tutoring business? Tutors and teachers often have specific questions about starting a tutoring business. I had to do tons of research into starting and running a small business before I was ready to start my private tutoring business. Sometimes, my research led to even more questions instead of helpful answers. I wished I had someone to ask all my questions to, so I wrote up a Q&A for you with the top questions about starting a tutoring business. Grouped by category, here are 13 topics people ask about when starting a tutoring business. Grab a cup of coffee, and let’s pretend we are at your favorite coffee shop and you are picking my brain about how I got started. I’m already smelling the Italian roast! Starting the Business 1. Legal Structure: Should I register my tutoring business as a sole proprietorship, LLC, or another structure? I can’t give you any legal advice, but I can say that many people choose to start an LLC to protect their personal funds from their business funds. Sam Vander Weilen is a good resource. (Sam has many good resources!) https://www.samvanderwielen.com/how-to-legally-protect-your-online-business 2. Startup Costs: How much…
10 Practical Executive Function Activities for Students: A Guide for Parents and Tutors
What are some of the main categories of executive functioning? Good kids may often say “I forgot” and genuinely not know how to stop forgetting to do homework assignments or turn in their work on time unless parents and tutors use executive function activities for students to help train their brains to focus and manage tasks. When it comes to supporting school-aged children, understanding the key categories of executive functioning is crucial. Executive functioning refers to the mental skills that help children plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and manage multiple tasks. These cognitive skills are essential for success in school, relationships, and life in general. Here are 10 main categories of executive functioning that parents and tutors should know about along with examples and executive function activities for students. Tutors can easily incorporate a tip or strategy into a tutoring session to help build executive function skills and parents can continue to reinforce the strategy at home. 1. Self-Control Definition: The ability to control impulses and resist distractions, staying focused Examples in school: Not interrupting others in class, waiting your turn, and resisting the urge to play during study time. Practical Tips and Strategies for Improvement: Use visual reminders, such…
4 Classroom Organization Tips
Need to tackle some clutter in the classroom or office? Keeping up with classroom organization is part of classroom management. Often we ignore a cluttered space because we do not feel we have time or energy to tackle a whole project. Part of my master strategy in Clean the Chaos: At Home involves sweeping out a space, sorting, and storing the items in a tidier or more useful way. This same strategy is useful in the office or classroom organization; bringing order to some chaos. Here are 4 classroom organization tips to help you tackle clutter in the classroom today. First, choose a drawer, cabinet, or corner and begin to clean the chaos in the classroom. Start small with classroom organization Ten minutes gives just enough time to empty a drawer, wipe it out, sort/toss/recycle/relocate/store the items back into the drawer in a more useful and neater way. Once you do a drawer or two, your motivation will build and you will find more pockets of time to continue the project. And the more you clean the chaos, the more useful the space becomes. Keep reading for ways to maintain your space once you have cleaned the clutter. This will…
4 Classroom Management Tips
How consistent are you in your classroom management? Classroom management is hard to learn from a textbook, even if you have read Harry Wong’s First Days of School. Until you are actually in a classroom, it is hard to know exactly how you will respond and react to certain situations no matter how prepared you are. Here are 4 classroom management tips to point you in the right direction to calm the chaos: in the classroom. Develop Your Classroom Management Learning classroom management is an essential skill for teachers and substitutes and will help calm the chaos in the classroom before it gets out of control. In college, I learned great ideas and tips for classroom management, but nothing truly prepares you for those first few minutes and days like actually being in the classroom. You do need to have some basic ideas of how you want your classroom or tutoring sessions to run, but also be flexible as you hone this skill. You will continue to hone your classroom management system over the years and in different settings. So many of my good ideas are a bit outside the box and came out of situations that needed a bit…
Thanksgiving Logic Puzzle
What activities have you planned for Thanksgiving day? Around the kitchen table or classroom, this Thanksgiving logic puzzle will whet your appetite for food and fun during the holiday. Grid puzzles require critical thinking skills to determine the relationship between people, places, and things based on the clues given. This “print and go” PDF contains two versions of the same puzzle (easy and medium), a completion celebration sign, and an answer key. Work individually or in teams against the clock. This Thanksgiving logic puzzle is ideal for ages 10-100. Download and print a few copies of pages 3 and 4 for your classroom, your dinner table, or your Thanksgiving celebration. Take a photo and tag me on social media. @tailorjoy #tailorjoylogicpuzzles How to solve logic puzzles If you have never solved a logic grid puzzle and you need a visual explanation, here’s a simple video. The same concept is used to solve bigger puzzles. Typically you have a set of clues to read through and a grid with categories to mark your answers on. Use the clues and logical deduction to solve the puzzle. It may take a few times through for the clues to be useful so keep reading…