What is Outschool?
From the “What is Outschool?” page:
“Outschool.com is a community marketplace of online classes for kids. They help parents find and register for great classes that are offered outside of regular school. They also help teachers, both professional and amateur, manage and promote their classes to parents. The focus is on small-group, live online classes, though they support a variety of other formats as well.
Outschool offers the broadest range of online classes by independent teachers. Outschool is a for-profit company and is based in San Francisco, California.”
From the About page:
What they offer:
“Outschool offers unique online classes from hundreds of independent teachers. The classes meet via group video chat.”
The teachers:
“Great teachers come in many forms. Outschool teachers may be certified teachers, artists, scientists, or other adults with an expertise or interest to share.”
The classes:
Outschool teachers determine their class offerings. 6,000+ unique classes span all subjects and reflect the diversity of the teachers.
How Outschool is different:
Choice empowers learners
With Outschool, families choose their teachers and their classes based on their needs and interests.
Access and opportunity
With online classes, learners are not limited by the offerings of their local school or community.
Learning together
“Social experiences enrich learning. Nothing can replace a great mentor or exploring ideas with peers. Group video chat connects students and teachers from around the US and the world.”
What Types of Classes Does Outschool Offer?
Outschool offers a variety of classes:
- One-time classes
- Short courses
- Semester courses
- Ongoing courses
- Flexible schedule classes
In these subject areas:
- Arts
- Coding & Tech
- Health & Wellness
- English
- Life Skills
- Math
- Music
- Science & Nature
- Social Studies
- World Languages
What I like about Outschool:
Outschool has over 6,000 classes being offered, you will be able to find a class for your child and a teacher that fits in with their learning style. Many of the teachers on Outschool are creative and enjoy making up their own curriculum, they do not have to follow the strict rules imposed by traditional schools. Outschool was started to reach the homeschooling families that were not satisfied with the traditional educational system but wanted more resources. This is what originally drew me to Outschool, it is all the best aspects of teaching, without all the worst (such as filling out report cards and keeping grades).
What I also like about Outschool is that it is not secular, as many homeschooling curriculums are. The teachers that Outschool generally hire have degrees, or are experts in their subject areas. All teachers must go through a background check before they can become an Outschool teacher. Many of the teachers have Master’s degrees in their subject areas, and you can also find some teachers with doctorates.
I also like the flexibility Outschool gives it’s teachers. I can choose what age groups to work with, what subjects and curriculum to teach, how many students I have in my classes, how long my classes are, when I want to teach, and how much to charge for those classes. The best part is that I work from home!
If there is a class that you would like for your child to take and it is not being offered, you can request that class, as well as requesting different times and days for that class. Outschool is very customer oriented and tries to make their parents (and students) happy. Each week Outschool sends an email out with the classes being offered, as well as requests for new classes by parents that any teacher can choose to teach.
For this platform and as a parent, I strongly recommend to read the class descriptions thoroughly and ask questions of the teacher before you sign your child up for the class. This is to ensure that your expectations of the class, and what the teacher is offering in their class is in alignment.