Public vs Private Shop Classes

“Thinking Aloud So You Can Become Educated”

I had quite a bit of time to think lately and a friend’s proposition to teach additional shop classes was in the forefront of my brain. I already spend a lot of time teaching and not enough time making chairs so it hasn’t been an easy or quick answer. If we taught it privately, it would be at a woodworking shop on Sundays and Mondays while they’re closed. I figured that this post would help anyone looking at doing the same. If you’re looking at teaching out of your small shop, some of these will still apply.

The thought is whether or not to teach additional classes for homeschool students and/or adults. The second thought is to do it privately or through the school.

Insurance. I don’t have the answer to this yet since I use the school’s insurance and they don’t discuss the rates with me. You need to look into this and see rates and expectations if you want to do this privately in your home shop or business.

Collecting income. Are you doing it for free? Are you collecting cash? Or is this part of your business? Before you set your tuition fees, make sure you understand about paying taxes on income (if you go that route). Understand the difference between a 1099 and a W2 tax form if you want to do it as part of someone’s business.

If I teach additional classes at the school, this will be set up by our curriculum coordinator and bookkeeper to make a class and then collect the associated tuition fees. I can offset some of the cost of the class for students if I can get additional funding. But remember, by not having a huge overhead expense, I could possibly do it for cheaper at the school.

Student to Teacher Ratio. How many students can you handle at a time? VDOE says that the max I can have is 20. It’s a handful. And it takes practice. And very clear rules and expectations. And the amount of equipment. BUT it directly relates to how much you can earn per shop class. It either allows you to get paid more or some flexibility and the ability to charge less to suit the socio-economical means of your clients.

Shop/Classroom space. At school, I’m furnished with both a classroom and a shop. The class is 25’ x 25’ and the shop is about 2600 sq ft. The classroom is separated from my shop which is very handy for teaching. I also don’t have anyone else in my shop trying to work while I teach.

Equipment. I’m funded by the school. To teach privately, I would have to acquire more equipment. You would want a basic set of tools per student. And if you had quite a few students, you would want more equipment. At the school, I have several table saws, drill presses, bandsaws,... to keep everyone working.

Paying the bills. The school does it and I don’t have to worry about it. Privately, this is part of your expenses and would need to be calculated in order to set class fees that will not only pay the bills but will also pay you.

Paying the bills means:

• Rent/mortgage

• Utilities

• Personnel

• Equipment/tools

• Equipment or facilities improvements/repairs

• Insurance

• Material for the classes (or whether student tuition will pay for this)

• Putting money into savings for growth or down time (think COVID)

Funding. And while we’re talking about paying the bills… Funding is more than just collecting class fees. People think that they can fund the whole program using their credit card and then pay themselves back. THIS DOESN’T WORK! You have to get some funding either through generous people, grants (workforce initiative), or something else (maybe savings if it comes down to this).

At the school, my program couldn’t be as good as it is without kind people. I have a couple of people who donate money and several people who buy cutting boards and other things that we sell. It’s been a slow struggle but we’re finally at a good point.

For the after school program (if I decide on it), I’m going to ask a couple more people to cover the material costs in order to try to help out some students who come from low socio-economical means.

For you to start out, after developing a business plan, I would talk to the local woodworkers guilds, builders associations, or community clubs/organizations for help.

I’m going to sit down next week with someone who has helped run a couple of schools so I’ll make sure to add their thoughts to this later.

Curriculum. I chose mine through VDOE. How are you going to set yours? Are you going to be skill and/or project based? Are you incorporating other aspects into your classes like wood technology, forest management, and/or manufacturing? Are you going to make levels to differentiate between student age/skill (Levels I, II, III or beginner, junior, and senior)?

What areas are you really good at? What areas are you not really good at?

You can use any state’s Department of Education’s program competencies if they have it posted. Shop class falls under the Career and Technical Education department and is abbreviated ‘CTE’. You can browse by program or sometimes by schools. What you’ll find are some different types of classes that are offered instead of “shop class”.

Here’s Virginia’s.

Here’s a short list:

Carpentry

Cabinetmaking

Manufacturing Technology (or Systems)

Building Trades

Introduction to Technology and Engineering (middle school level)

Inventions and Innovations (middle school level)

Some states have a woodworking pathway such as California.

Armed with the competencies for the type of program that you would like to teach, you can design a curriculum (lesson plans, worksheets, activities, and projects). Don’t forget, you can adapt the competencies (or ignore certain ones) to meet the needs of your shop. When I taught Manufacturing Systems I, I (and the other shop teachers in the county) centered the program around woodworking. Feel free to adapt other programs as needed.

Having a Boss. This (and funding) are the hardest parts of public teaching. I have to build a relationship with my principal, assistant principal, and CTE director to try to have successful classes. In the private sector, it might just be you making all of the judgment calls.

Personnel. At school, there’s people who help me to manage my students and everything we’ve discussed. Their incomes are part of the school’s budget. In the private sector, each additional personnel to the team either has to bring in their own income or it has to be made up from class fees or funding.

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I know organizations and individual people have gotten it right so it can be done, but as you can see, it’s not a quick and easy decision or process.

What have I missed? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

And as always, let me know how I can help you and your shop out.