"Big A" started to work on getting his degree from Art Institute Online during the beginning of the year (2008), and the class that he was in offered Smarthinking to its students. "Big A" used Smarthinking as a requirement to his freshman orientation class, and we both found it fascinating. It used an interactive whiteboard and had interactive with a live person (24/7). It was amazing. Well, "Big A" asked me if that was something that I would be interested in. I used to tutor my God brother when he was younger and helped various kids through our family with their homework as I grew up and he remembered me mentioning this. I thought about it and told him that I would check into it. I checked it out that next day. Smarthinking required a resume and other requirements depending on the subject. Well, as you can expect the first thing I thought is "my resume experience is in Accounting and my degree is in Business...how in the heck am I going to get hired a as tutor with no experience in the last five years as a tutor". That was kind of intimidating. I decided to look at services like Smarthinking and found Tutor.com.
Unlike Smarthinking, Tutor.com didn't require a resume, but did require a degree (or for you to be a college student) and assessments for each subject that you wanted to teach. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to get some recent experience and make a little money so I applied. Well, I did horrible on the Elementary Science (which I was totally surprised about----I was always good in Science way back when), and wasn't EVEN going to try Social Studies. I did pass 4th-6th grade Math (which was not surprising---I loved Math way back when and minored in Accounting for my Bachelor's as well as working in Accounting) and also passed English writing (I have always loved to write and still do---more on that in future postings). Although I passed the assessments there was one problem....there was a waiting list. So I said "Oh well", and thought that was the end of that.
Over the next few months I worked hard to finish my classes and finally starting seeing end of tunnel for graduation. I graduated in June 2008. Although I was still searching for other options for making money at home, Tutor.com didn't cross my mind again. I forgot about it. That is until August, when I got the "Congratulations" email. I was really surprised and had to calm myself down. I learned about their application process (which was quite thorough). I first had to write an essay describing my tutoring skills. After passing that (it took about a day for me to get notification), I got all of the tutor manuals (both e-book and videos) and had to study them to prepare for my mock session. The mock session was scheduled after turning in all of my paperwork (which included a background check). It took about two days to find out if I passed my mock session. Once I passed my mock session, I had to wait about a week for my background check to come back. After about a week (give or take a day or so) I received the "Welcome" email. The whole process (along with some time that I had to wait due to Mommy duties :)) took about a month. I started officially in October.
I started my sessions and have been working every week ever since. I have to work a minimum of five hours a week (which is great because some weeks it's hard to find even that much free time), you start off as a probationary tutor making $9/hour (It goes up to $11-$12/hour once you meet the requirements and get promoted to Tutor 1), and help kids who sometimes don't have the resources.
I haven't made a heck of a lot from Tutor.com ($163 and change for the month of October), but combined with my other options I hope to make a decent amount over the next couple of months. If there's one thing that I have learned with this journey (and reading about other people's journeys), it may take a while for you to reach your "extra" money goals. Also for those who say "$9 and $11 an hour, is she crazy?", I will remind them to look at the expenses (mentally and physically)that married mother would have to incurr just to work a side job. Let's look at the following:
Gas (until recently was ridiculous) : $1.85-$2.10/gallon (takes about 17 gallons to fill up)
Sleep : PRICELESS
Ability to work in your pajamas: PRICELESS
Ability to work after putting your
child to sleep: PRICELESS
When you look at your piece of mind and the absence of expenses, the $9/$11 per hour doesn't sound half as bad (especially since it's only a side job).
I set a goal for $250, for next month from Tutor.com. I will work towards it, but family comes first :)
Unlike Smarthinking, Tutor.com didn't require a resume, but did require a degree (or for you to be a college student) and assessments for each subject that you wanted to teach. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to get some recent experience and make a little money so I applied. Well, I did horrible on the Elementary Science (which I was totally surprised about----I was always good in Science way back when), and wasn't EVEN going to try Social Studies. I did pass 4th-6th grade Math (which was not surprising---I loved Math way back when and minored in Accounting for my Bachelor's as well as working in Accounting) and also passed English writing (I have always loved to write and still do---more on that in future postings). Although I passed the assessments there was one problem....there was a waiting list. So I said "Oh well", and thought that was the end of that.
Over the next few months I worked hard to finish my classes and finally starting seeing end of tunnel for graduation. I graduated in June 2008. Although I was still searching for other options for making money at home, Tutor.com didn't cross my mind again. I forgot about it. That is until August, when I got the "Congratulations" email. I was really surprised and had to calm myself down. I learned about their application process (which was quite thorough). I first had to write an essay describing my tutoring skills. After passing that (it took about a day for me to get notification), I got all of the tutor manuals (both e-book and videos) and had to study them to prepare for my mock session. The mock session was scheduled after turning in all of my paperwork (which included a background check). It took about two days to find out if I passed my mock session. Once I passed my mock session, I had to wait about a week for my background check to come back. After about a week (give or take a day or so) I received the "Welcome" email. The whole process (along with some time that I had to wait due to Mommy duties :)) took about a month. I started officially in October.
I started my sessions and have been working every week ever since. I have to work a minimum of five hours a week (which is great because some weeks it's hard to find even that much free time), you start off as a probationary tutor making $9/hour (It goes up to $11-$12/hour once you meet the requirements and get promoted to Tutor 1), and help kids who sometimes don't have the resources.
I haven't made a heck of a lot from Tutor.com ($163 and change for the month of October), but combined with my other options I hope to make a decent amount over the next couple of months. If there's one thing that I have learned with this journey (and reading about other people's journeys), it may take a while for you to reach your "extra" money goals. Also for those who say "$9 and $11 an hour, is she crazy?", I will remind them to look at the expenses (mentally and physically)that married mother would have to incurr just to work a side job. Let's look at the following:
Gas (until recently was ridiculous) : $1.85-$2.10/gallon (takes about 17 gallons to fill up)
Sleep : PRICELESS
Ability to work in your pajamas: PRICELESS
Ability to work after putting your
child to sleep: PRICELESS
When you look at your piece of mind and the absence of expenses, the $9/$11 per hour doesn't sound half as bad (especially since it's only a side job).
I set a goal for $250, for next month from Tutor.com. I will work towards it, but family comes first :)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment