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A Typical Week as an Online Special Education Tutor

The job descriptions tell you the hours and the pay. They don't tell you what it's actually like.

This post is for teachers considering online tutoring who want to know what the day-to-day feels like — the rhythm, the prep, the logistics, the parts that are easier than you expect and the parts that aren't.

Working teacher: Keisha, 6th-year sped teacher, Knox County

Keisha teaches in a middle school resource room. She has a caseload of 18 students. By 3:30 p.m. she's usually fried. She tutors with us two evenings a week.

Monday

3:30 p.m. — Bell rings. Keisha finishes up, answers one parent email, heads to her car.

4:15 p.m. — Home. Changes into sweatpants. Makes coffee. Opens laptop at the kitchen table.

4:30 p.m. — Checks her dashboard. She has one session tonight at 5:00 p.m. — Jaylen, age 10, working on decoding CVC words. His session brief says he struggled with the "short a" pattern last time, so she'll hit that again with a new word list.

4:45 p.m. — Pulls up the word list we provide in the platform. Glances at his last two session notes from her previous sessions. Takes three minutes.

5:00 p.m. — Session starts. She clicks "Join." Jaylen's face appears. "Hey Jaylen, how's your week going?"

For the next 45 minutes, she teaches. They work through 20 CVC words with the short-a pattern. He struggles on "cat" vs "cot" — she catches it, backs up, isolates the vowel sound. They do a quick fluency game at the end. He's grinning by the time they log off.

5:45 p.m. — Session ends. She writes four sentences of notes: "Reviewed short-a CVC words. Jaylen confused 'a' and 'o' sounds initially — isolated vowel practice helped. Hit 18/20 by end of session. Next time: introduce short-e."

5:50 p.m. — Closes laptop. Pours more coffee. Her evening is hers.

Wednesday

Same rhythm. Different student — Mia, age 8, working on math fact fluency. Keisha's strongest subject is reading, but she's certified in math too and we matched her with Mia because Mia needed someone patient with math anxiety. Keisha spends 45 minutes making multiplication feel like a game. Mia doesn't cry this week. That's progress.

Saturday (optional)

Keisha sometimes picks up a Saturday morning session when she wants extra cash. This week she skips it — her sister is in town.

Pay

Two sessions = about 2 hours of teaching time, plus maybe 20 minutes of prep and notes across the week. She earns $48/week for those two sessions — roughly $200/month. Not life-changing. Enough to cover her gym membership and her cat's vet bills.

Retired teacher: Linda, 31 years in Memphis sped, retired 2022

Linda taught special education for 31 years in Memphis-Shelby County Schools. She retired three years ago. She loved the work; she did not love the caseload, the paperwork, or the 6:30 a.m. wake-ups. She tutors three sessions a week with us. It's the part of teaching she actually missed.

Tuesday

3:45 p.m. — Linda makes tea, settles into her home office. Her first session is at 4:30 p.m. today — Maya, age 9, multiplication fluency.

4:15 p.m. — Reviews Maya's brief. Maya is working on 6s, 7s, and 8s — she's solid on 2s through 5s. Linda pulls up a multiplication game from our resource library.

4:30 p.m. — Session starts. Maya's face pops up. "Miss Linda! I practiced my 7s!"

For 45 minutes, Linda drills 7s, introduces a few 8s, uses skip-counting songs she's used for 20 years. Maya is engaged the whole time.

5:15 p.m. — Session ends. Linda writes five sentences of notes: "Maya has 7s memorized up to 7×7. Introduced 7×8 and 7×9 with skip-counting. She's ready to move to 8s next session. Great focus today — no redirection needed."

5:20 p.m. — Done.

Thursday

Same rhythm. Different student — Tomas, age 7, decoding. Linda's sweet spot. She's taught kids to read for three decades.

Saturday

Third session at 10 a.m. — Aisha, age 11, reading comprehension. Aisha is bright but struggles with inference. Linda uses graphic organizers and think-alouds. This is the session Linda enjoys most; Aisha reminds her of a student she taught in 2015.

Pay

Three sessions = about 3 hours of teaching time, plus 30 minutes total of prep and notes. Linda earns $72/week — roughly $300/month. Her pension covers her expenses. This is grandkid-gift money. Vacation-fund money. Keeping-sharp money.

The parts that are easier than you expect.

No IEPs

You don't write IEPs. You don't attend IEP meetings. You don't track service minutes. Our team handles compliance on our end; you just teach.

No parent emails

Parents don't have your contact info. If a parent has a question, they email our team. If a session needs to be rescheduled, our team coordinates it. You get a notification in your dashboard.

Prep is minimal

Each student has a session brief that tells you exactly what they're working on. We provide resources — word lists, graphic organizers, math games — in the platform. You can use your own materials if you prefer, but you don't have to create anything from scratch.

The technology is simple

If you can use Zoom, you can do this. Our platform is browser-based. You click a button to join. The student appears. You teach. It is not more complicated than that.

The parts nobody talks about.

Some sessions are hard.

Not every kid shows up engaged. Some kids are tired. Some kids had a hard day at school and don't want to be in another lesson. You handle it the way you handled it in your classroom — with patience, with flexibility, with the skills you built over years. The difference is it's 45 minutes, and then you're done.

Internet issues happen.

Your internet will glitch occasionally. So will the student's. Our platform handles reconnection gracefully, but sometimes a session gets choppy. It's annoying. It's not a crisis.

You don't control the match.

We match students to your strengths, but you don't pick your students. You might get matched with a kid who's not your favorite age range, or who's working on something you're less confident in. If a match truly doesn't work, we'll reassign — but the default is we make the match and you teach.

Frequently asked questions from teachers considering this

Could I do more than two evenings a week?
Yes. We have tutors who do four or five evenings a week, plus Saturday mornings. That's about 12–15 hours of paid teaching, or roughly $300–$375 a week. Most of our highest-volume tutors are retirees who want a fuller schedule. Whatever fits your life, we can probably accommodate.
Could I do less? Just one session a week?
We prefer a minimum of two sessions a week so each student you're matched with has reasonable continuity. One session a week leaves too much gap between meetings for the work to be effective. If two sessions a week is too much, this might not be the right fit — but talk to us before assuming.
What if my district has me at school until 5:00 p.m. some nights?
Most teachers in this situation either tutor on the nights they're not staying late, or shift their tutoring to 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. starts (which works fine — many of our students prefer slightly later sessions anyway). We schedule around your real availability, not an idealized version of it.
Do you ever have weekend or morning sessions for working teachers?
Yes. Some teachers prefer Saturday mornings (8:00–11:00 a.m.) because it doesn't bleed into the school week at all. Others do early-morning sessions before school — 6:30 a.m. for kids in earlier time zones. Both schedules work; pick what fits your life.
What if I need to take a week off for spring break or family travel?
Tell us in advance and we'll pause your sessions. Most of our teachers take 4–8 weeks off per year for various reasons — spring break, summer travel, family events. As long as you give us reasonable notice, it's not a problem.
Will I be expected to communicate with parents?
No. Our team handles all parent communication. You write session notes; we summarize them and share with the family. If there's something the parent wants to discuss with you specifically, our team coordinates that — but it's rare and always optional.

Ready to see if this fits your week?

Five minutes in our chatbot tells us if this is a fit. If it is, we'll be on the phone with you within two business days.

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