Housework

Now’s your chance to finally get that smaller class—and maybe a sweet location to work in, too. In an upmarket twist on home schooling, a growing number of families are hiring teachers to work privately with their children in their own homes. The trend seems to stem mainly from a pair of factors: Parents’ desire for a more individualized form of education for their children and jet-setting lifestyles that make traditional schooling impractical (or, in some cases, just rather inconvenient). Bob Harraka, president of Professional Tutors of America, says he has to turn down many requests for in-home educators each year because they are simply too far afield: “Sailing comes up at least or twice a year,” he notes. While some observers fear the domestic teaching arrangements may undermine the social goals of education—and while even some home schooling advocates say they aren’t “pure” examples of the form—the teachers themselves don’t seem to be complaining. “I love it; it’s a dream come true,” said Rob Cox, a certified teacher who sometimes gives poolside lessons to his private pupil in Marina del Rey, California. “It’s your own individual school that operates according to your needs.”