A homeschool tutorial is a fee-for-service program where students receive instruction from hired tutors or professional educators in specific subjects, allowing parents to step back from direct teaching while maintaining their homeschool status.
What Is a Homeschool Tutorial?
A tutorial is essentially a hybrid between homeschooling and private school. Parents enroll their students in classes taught by subject experts or credentialed teachers, typically meeting once or twice a week. Unlike co-ops where parents rotate teaching responsibilities, tutorials hire professionals who do the instruction. You drop off your kids, and someone else teaches them algebra or chemistry or Latin. Between sessions, students complete assigned homework at home under parental supervision. The family remains officially homeschooling, but the heavy lifting for challenging subjects shifts to qualified instructors.
Key Takeaways
- Professional teachers provide instruction rather than parent volunteers
- Students typically meet 1-4 days per week with homework between sessions
- Parents remain the primary educators and maintain homeschool legal status
- Most valuable for challenging high school subjects like advanced math, science, and writing
- Costs more than co-ops but provides expert instruction and accountability
Tutorial vs. Co-op
What Subjects Work Best
Tutorials shine brightest where parent confidence tends to wane. High school mathematics - algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, calculus - tops the list. Lab sciences like biology, chemistry, and physics benefit from instructors who can manage equipment and guide experiments safely. Foreign languages are another natural fit, especially when the parent doesn't speak the language fluently. Writing instruction, often the trickiest subject to teach your own child objectively, rounds out the core offerings. That said, some tutorials offer full academic programs from kindergarten through graduation.
How Classical Conversations Works
Classical Conversations is perhaps the most recognized tutorial program nationally. Their Foundations program for K-6th grade meets weekly for 3-hour sessions covering memory work across history, science, geography, grammar, Latin, math, and timeline. The Challenge program for 7th-12th grade takes a six-strand approach covering logic, grammar, research, exposition, debate, and reasoning. What distinguishes Classical Conversations from other tutorials is its classical education philosophy and structured progression through the trivium stages of learning.
Finding the Right Fit
Not all tutorials operate the same way. Some are full-service, handling testing, grading, and transcripts while providing certificates of completion. Others expect significant parent involvement at home beyond basic homework supervision. Before enrolling, ask about the program's expectations: How much follow-through is required between sessions? What curriculum philosophy guides the instruction? Are there religious requirements? What are the actual credentials of the instructors? Attending a sample class or field trip before committing helps you gauge whether the environment matches your family's needs.
The Bottom Line
Tutorials offer a middle path between full homeschool independence and traditional schooling. They let you outsource the subjects where you lack confidence or time while keeping your family's homeschool identity intact. Yes, they cost more than co-ops - you're paying for expertise. But for families juggling multiple children, demanding work schedules, or genuinely challenging coursework, having a professional handle calculus instruction while you maintain the overall educational vision can be exactly the right balance.
