First, the Dynamite Lesson Plan blog has put together a list of Virtual Field Trips for Students. Each of the websites listed provides an interesting and educational field trip experience while sitting at the computer! One of the sites allows students to explore the national treasures kept at the Library of Congress.

HomeSchoolBytes.com has also posted some online educational tools. The site has found Free Online Homeschool Videos for Math, Science, and More through NeoK12.com. Some sample videos are linked on HomeSchoolBytes.com for topics such as the human body and science experiments. Go to NeoK12.com to find even more topics on video.

Over the past few years there has been quite a boom in the availability of teacher resources on the internet. While this is a wonderful thing, it can also make searching for teacher tools online a little overwhelming. Fortunately, the Successful Teaching Blog has done the searching and weeding out for us. A recent post provides a list of 20 Places to Find Curriculum Ideas and Lesson Plans Online.

One of the suggested resources is PBS Teachers. According to the post, “PBS teachers has an amazing selection of lesson plans and classroom activities for K-12 teachers. The site also provides an online professional development center and informative articles.” Already knowing the great programming on PBS, I feel confident that this is a reliable and helpful resource.

Enjoy your searching and be sure to share these resources will all your teacher friends!

The Home School Bytes blog has just put together a few tips to help your child enjoy writing. One of the tips suggest writing and illustrating a comic book. This is particularly a great idea if your child enjoys sketching and drawing. You can pair his or her artistic interests with a new-found enjoyment for writing and story telling.

To find out more tips, check out How Do You Get Your Kids to Enjoy Writing?.

Local Schools

Target as many schools in your local area as possible and visit the guidance office or student services office. Make sure to speak with a counselor and introduce yourself and your services. Ask them if there is anywhere where you can leave a supply of pamphlets and or a flyer featuring your services. More often than not most all schools will be happy to comply. Know too, as many students requiring extra help often visit these offices for information on available tutors.

Public Libraries

Public Libraries are also an excellent place to leave pamphlets and brochures. Most all libraries have bulletin boards specifically for advertising local services such as tutoring. It is probably a good idea to ask one of the staff for permission before posting. Refer to your local municipal website for a complete listing of public libraries.

Word of Mouth

The easiest way to advertise your services is to contact everyone you know who may be able to refer clients to you, and tell them about your new business. This includes friends, relatives, classmates etc. If you know any teachers, you should definitely add them to your network of unofficial marketing agents, as they are in a great position to refer new students to you.

Local Community Centers

If you’re looking for other areas in your community to post your fliers and information you can’t pass up local community centers and sporting arenas. They attract many families with children and teenagers and are great places to advertise your services. You will likely have to obtain permission from the office first before posting brochures. To get a detailed list of local community centers and public sporting facilities, check out your local municipal website.

Email Blasts and Mass Mailers

One great way to market your home-tutoring business is to gather emails throughout the community and send out email blasts once a month or once every other month. Include coupons, deals and other promotional give-a-ways to entice new customers. Another option too is to use your local post office to send out a mass mailer in your community. The post office will deliver your brochures in bulk for about ten cents each (could be more or less). I would suggest you start out with a small drop of 1,000 brochures in a higher income neighborhood. Even if you only get several new customers as a result, it is still money well-spent.

If you’re a stay-at-home parent but would like a little bit more money in their pockets each week a home tutoring business offers a host of lucrative benefits. Tutoring offers a schedule which is extremely flexible and also you need only to spend a few hours a day to make a profit.

How Much Can I Make As a Tutor?

A tutor expects to make between 20 and 100 dollars per session; however, the price usually varies with your experience, education, and subject matter you are teaching and the challenges the student has. A special education tutor will make more money than a traditional tutor. Also, a math tutor will generally be more in-demand that than other subjects.

Advantages of Tutoring

Some of the many advantages that a home-tutoring business provides is that tutors have the ability to work out of their homes, travel to the students home, or work out of the local library. If you start a home tutoring business you will have the freedom to choose exactly what you want to teach, who you want to teach, and how you want to teach it.

How To Sell My Tutoring Business?

Finding out what you should charge can be daunting. Rates vary from place to place. It also depends what kind of tutoring resources your local-area schools have. Know, however, that after meeting the client, assessing the local area tutors and focusing on high-demand subject areas for tutoring subjects will drastically change the amount you can charge.

Tips and Tricks To Sell Yourself and Your Tutoring Services

Sell yourself! Remember if you want to start a home tutoring business you need to make sure you get your name out there. If you want people to come and use your services you have to let people know that you are a tutor You’ll want to make sure to get certified as well as check out state and local laws that apply to tutoring so you can be in compliance. Usually your local community college or adult education programs will offer a certification program for tutors or substitute teachers.

Dynamite Lesson Plan.com has recently posted a list of 20 Free Tech Resources for Teachers. Check out the list for some great teaching tools. While you are there, take a look around at the many helpful posts for teachers!

The first and most important thing to learning effectively is to have an appropriate learning environment. The setting in which you are studying can make or break your success. There are six factors to consider when establishing the best environment:

1. Location- The ideal place to learn is in an area of your home that is away from the noise and traffic of the other members of the household. This will vary from person to person. For some, the kitchen table may be the best place, but for others the kitchen might be an area where brothers and sisters often hang out or maybe it is right next to the main entrance of the house. In these cases, the constant distractions would make the kitchen a bad location.

2. Seating- To be most effective, you should be seated at a table or desk with a comfortable chair. Of course you don’t want the chair so comfortable that you fall asleep! It is easier to concentrate on your work when you are properly seated. Lying down or sitting on the floor quickly become uncomfortable positions and cause you to lose your concentration and shift around more often.

3. Comfort- The best environment contains just the right amount of comfort. Think of Goldie Locks and the Three Bears. You want to be comfortable enough so that you are not distracted by anything, but you don’t want to be so comfortable that you end up in a relaxing trance. Make sure the temperature is not too hot or too cold, change into comfortable clothes, have a drink nearby and eat a small snack before starting.

4. Distractions- Remove all distractions from your study area. Turn off email, cell phone, television, and radio. Close the curtains to any windows to eliminate being side-tracked by outside activities. Clear off your work area so there is nothing to draw your attention away such as magazines, books, or games.

5. Materials- After you start, you don’t want to have to get up every couple of minutes because you forgot something. Make sure you have all of your supplies ready and handy. This may include pens, pencils, pencil sharpener, paper, ruler, calculator, notebook, textbook, etc.

6. Timing- For many students, studying or doing homework immediately after school is not the best option. Having just finished several hours of learning at school, it is time for a little break. Give yourself some wind-down time before beginning. You may want to have a snack, watch T.V., talk to a friend, do something fun outside before it gets dark, or clean your room!

The most important factor to learning effectively and efficiently is to have the correct environment. Follow these six guidelines to create the perfect setting for success. Now, you are ready to study effectively!

2.http://www.ixl.com/math/

3.http://www.webmath.com/

4.http://www.mathpower.com/

5.http://www.aplusmath.com/games/index.html

6.http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html

7.http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

8.http://www.algebrahelp.com/

9.http://www.lizardpoint.com/math/mathsheet.html

10.http://themathworksheetsite.com/

Do you know of any other useful math sites? Leave a comment with your suggestions.