Online tutoring for homeschoolers: what a 1-on-1 tutor adds to a homeschool, the subjects and ages where it pays, how to fit it into the week, and what it costs against a co-op or a curriculum

Homeschooling families are the most informed tutoring customers there are: they know exactly what the child has done, what the curriculum says next, and where the parent's confidence runs out. Online tutoring for homeschoolers works when it is used at that point, for that subject, and not as a general extra. This post, from the homeschooling families we teach in the US, UK, Australia and the Gulf, covers the four points where a tutor pays, the subjects and ages, how to brief a tutor on a homeschool curriculum, the weekly pattern, and the honest cost comparison with a co-op or a boxed curriculum.

The four points where a tutor pays

1. The subject that passes the parent's confidence. For most families it is maths at algebra (about 12), then chemistry and physics (about 14), then a second language. The parent can keep teaching everything else; the tutor takes one subject, one or two hours a week, in the curriculum the family has chosen.
2. A test with a date. The SAT or ACT, GCSEs or IGCSEs as a private candidate, the 11-plus, NAPLAN for a registered homeschooler, a state assessment. Exams have formats and mark schemes that a tutor who marks them knows and a parent usually does not.
3. The child who needs a teacher who is not a parent. Around 11 to 13 many children stop accepting a parent as the teacher for one subject, however good the parent is. A tutor is a neutral adult, and the family relationship is spared.
4. Lab sciences. Chemistry and physics past 14 need someone who has done the practicals and can teach the required experiments, the data analysis and the exam questions about them, even when the lab itself is the kitchen.

The subjects and ages, honestly

How to brief a tutor on a homeschool curriculum

Send three things before the first class: the curriculum or programme the family uses (name and level), the last piece of work in the subject, and the goal (keep pace, catch up, an exam by a date). A good tutor teaches inside the family's curriculum, not their own; ask in the first conversation whether they will, and if they say they have "their own method", that is the wrong tutor for a homeschool.

If the family is not following a set curriculum, the tutor should propose one for that subject (for example, a sequence towards IGCSE Maths as a private candidate) and share it, so the parent can see where the year goes.

The weekly pattern that works

Two 55-minute classes a week for the tutored subject, on fixed days, with the tutor setting the between-class work in that subject and the parent keeping the rest of the week. The recording and notes after each class go to the parent, who then knows exactly what was taught without sitting in. Before an exam, one timed paper a week from the term before. One class a week maintains a subject; two moves it.

Time zones favour homeschoolers: classes can sit in the school-day hours, 10 am or 2 pm, which are easy to book and easy for a tutor in India, rather than competing for the 4 to 7 pm slot.

The cost, against the alternatives

Two classes a week over a 36-week year is about 70 hours. At a mid-market agency rate that is a real sum, and it is worth comparing with the alternatives honestly: a co-op class in the subject (cheaper per hour, but a group, and dependent on the parent who runs it), a boxed or online curriculum with video lessons (cheap, but nobody watches the child work), and a local in-person tutor (often more per hour and less flexible). The per-hour bands by country are in is online tutoring worth it. What the money buys in 1-on-1 is the thing the other options lack: an adult who watches every step and adjusts.

Exams as a private candidate

Homeschooled students sit GCSEs, IGCSEs and A-Levels as private candidates at exam centres in the UK and abroad, the SAT and AP at test centres in the US, and state assessments where the state requires them. The tutor's job is to know the exact specification (board, tier, papers), teach the required practicals for the sciences, and run timed papers to the mark scheme in the final term. Registration deadlines are the parent's job and come months before the exam; ask the centre early.

What we do

We teach homeschooled children in the US, UK, Australia, the UAE and Europe, in the family's curriculum, one tutor with one child, at school-day hours. The subjects families bring us are maths from algebra, chemistry, physics and biology, English writing, and exam courses: IGCSE and A-Level as private candidates, AP and the SAT. The free 30-minute class is the briefing: send the curriculum and the last piece of work, and the tutor shows how she would teach the next topic inside it.

Questions parents ask

See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →