Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Hire Full-Time Tutor?

I would have to guess that a fair chunk of that private school fee is profit that is lining someone's pocket.

OP, one thing that's not clear is, do the children need a paid adult watching over them (i.e. tutor is also nanny while parent(s) work)? Or is there a parent available to look after them during the day? If the latter, you don't need paid tutors/nannies for all those hours. And some of the budget can pay for online or live courses, which you could still supplement with tutors.

Looking at the fees charged (except for some Catholic schools, which are reasonable), I agree, but private schools, both at the college level and below, are typically organized as non-profits that can receive tax-deductible contributions. They often say that tuition only covers a portion of their actual costs, with the remainder covered by the endowment.

22B, the private school tuition sounds about right. There are many things that I would expect from a school - public or private - other than just academics. Most private schools near us need to do a lot of fundraising, even though they charge $30K/yr.

I think this depends upon where you live. I grew up in and currently live in a rather pricey area (though I has always been one of the "poor" folks here). When we moved to DFW area, I wanted to swim. It isn't warm enough to swim outdoors in the winter in that part of Texas. I thought I could just pay a nominal fee and swim at night at a HS pool. Folks there thought I was wacky because I expected every public (and private) HS to have an indoor pool. Turns out, the high schools there don't have indoor pools (or not many do). Where I am, you pretty much expect the indoor pool.

I know the pool isn't part of the academics, but I see lots of really nice facilities in the schools around here. People expect it. And facilities upkeep is more than one would expect. Especially some schools around here that have older buildings (by old, I mean some on the National Historic Register).

The single tutor, or even multiple tutors, is tricky. I know folks that have done homeschool co-ops (though not many near here), and that has worked well. Can you find a group of other parents near you who want to homeschool? Do they have degrees in different areas, or were they possibly teachers in the past? I know of kids who had co-ops in their neighborhood - they went to one kid's home for math, another for English, etc. depending upon the strengths of the parents. These kids went on to be successful in college.

Your numbers are over the top - even considering that you are talking about gifted kids and the Bay Area. Points to consider:
#1. No gifted kid with direct instruction works for 8 hours a day with a personal tutor of any kind.
#2. Gifted kids do not need daily personalized instruction on any one subject - they are typically instructed once in a topic and then allowed to work on it by themselves for a bit before they are instructed on another topic.
#3. Childcare/Daycare and tutoring are 2 different things.
#4. With small class size and teaching to the student, it should not take more than 2-3 hours/day to finish school for elementary years.

My child has tutors in 2 academic subjects that he is very strong at - we pay around $50-60/class (45 mins) in the bay area - he either attends 2 classes/week or 1 class/week depending on the complexity of the topic being covered. Even in that one class, there is time for my child to go off by himself and work on some things using what he has learnt. We pay more for private instrument lessons than that, but it is 2 lessons a week (1 on Theory and 1 on playing the instrument). He attends private school. But, if we were to extrapolate our current tutoring costs and decide to homeschool with tutors, we will not end up spending $28K for 1 child.

I aim to go back through this thread and reply to the many helpful ideas and questions. I can say immediately that I stand corrected in my over-estimate. A (gifted) child does not need/get 8 hours a day of instruction. If is half of that (or less), then indeed the model I'm proposing can work with just 1 child, and not require 2+ gifted kids being home-tutored.

Re: tuition-- Offering a customized experience is expensive. After costing out specialist teachers, facilities renovations, expert speaker series, and specialized sport instruction, I've hit $25k as break-even tuition for a nonprofit school in our urban location.

Personally, if I had 2 or more gifted children I wanted to homeschool under a tutor model, this is what I'd do with a $60K budget:

1. Hire a recent teaching graduate (ideally specializing in gifted education) with a degree in the teachable subject for an average of 2 hours weekly for each of:
- Math
- Science
- Language arts
- Social sciences (history, civics, geography)
- Music (private instruction, later adding ensemble training)
- Foreign language

For 40 weeks at $50/hour: $24,000

2. Engage community experts for:
- Phys ed: sport specific instruction in the community from experts (~1-2 hours/day, blend of structured and free play)-- Factor in at least $1,500/year for each hour of weekly instruction, including equipment per child, for sports that require a lot of gear/ $1,000 per weekly hour of low-gear sports
- Group classes for visual arts, drama, technology/engineering (~1 hour each) -- Factor in ~$1,000/weekly class
- Foreign language instruction (culture based community group--free)
- Theology (Sunday school-- free)

Community athletics & arts: ~$15,000

3. Buy memberships to the local museums and incorporate a lot of inquiry based learning in the community. $1,000

4. Set aside $20K and plan a few trips to interesting destinations that tie into your foreign language or social science studies. For instance, based on DS' interests this year, we'd see the pyramids in Egypt, visit some Medieval castles in the UK, tour old Quebec City, and head to Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta (maybe timed with the ski season to fit in some time at Banff).

So:
1. Tutors $24K
2. Athletics & arts $15K
3. Museums $1K
4. Travel $20K

*Note this assumes a parent or caregiver at home with child. Childcare would obviously be extra.

Thanks aquinas. I think you meant "12" not "2" hours per week under point 1. I like the idea of mixing in some travel.

I am not going to say that private schools are lining their pockets. There are too many of them, and their budgets are well audited, so it just doesn't stand to reason. But we do need to specify what they're spending money on and what I'd be spending money on. For example as mentioned, they have to rent a building. They need an administrator, while I have to fill that role, so that is a hidden cost.

Nope, 2 hours weekly for each of the subjects listed below. 12 total.

IMO, the greatest asset of homeschooling is flexibility, and travel fits in nicely.

If you pay someone to come to your home to teach, you are paying for their time teaching and indirectly for their commuting time, and the ratio of commuting time to teaching time will be large if the person is teaching a single subject for one or two hours. So one may consider getting lessons through Skype. And then you may consider getting the lessons for much less from someone in (say) India. I have read articles about children who attend school and are later tutored via Skype, often by people in other countries.