I own a daycare business here in Ohio. I am thinking about switching to offering homeschool services to a few families. Ohio law does not have anything stating that someone who isn’t the parent, can not homeschool so I am assuming that it is legal.
I just want to know how do you determine the price. I would want to charge a bit more than my daycare prices for preschoolers since the children would be homeschooled by me, and I would be offering childcare while the parents are at work.
This is all very confusing and there aren’t that many resources I can find on the topic. Many parents are wanting to pull their children out of school so I know there is a demand. Thank you so much!
-Kelsey in Ohio
Kelsey,
Home education is defined in Ohio as “education primarily directed and provided by the parent or guardian of a child.” Source: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/chapter-3301-34
This emphasis on the parent being the primary educator is very common in most state homeschool laws.
So most people and their attorneys do NOT recommend homeschooling someone else’s children for 5 days a week. Most homeschool programs like co-ops of hybrid homeschool programs only meet once or twice a week so that the parent is still the primary educator.
If you homeschool someone else’s child full time in Ohio (and many other states) then you are running a school, maybe a micro school, but it is not homeschooling.
You might want to read this blog post about an Ohio dad trying to hire someone during the COVID lock down to “homeschool” his children and a few others full time. I couldn’t figure out a way for him to do that legally. He needed to start a school.
Pandemic Pods: Are They Homeschool Co-ops?
I didn’t answer the question of what to charge because that can vary greatly, but in general you should be charging something similar to a private school. Many micro schools are even more expensive than private school!
Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com