Since Internet-based online education has the ability to bring the professional educator into the student's home in a live and interactive format, online education has the potential to revolutionize the nature of home schooling.  There are many benefits that online education can bring to the home-school family; however, not all the benefits are for the students.  Online education offers the educator a whole new way of teaching.  Imagine a school without photocopiers, administrators, noisy maintenance men or faculty parking lots.  Imagine a school where the students come into your own home, but never leave a mess.  Imagine a school where you build your own curriculum and teach in your slippers.  Sound interesting?  Let me tell you about Escondido Tutorial Service and how you could join the growing ranks of online educators.

Escondido Tutorial Service (ETS) uses the industry standard in online meeting software- www.webex.com.  Using this service, ETS offers home-schooled students around the globe professional instruction in their own homes.  ETS and affiliate services combined now teach roughly 500 students.  Homeschool students using us and our affiliates are working with a growing network of tutors who offer their services in a variety of subjects: math, science, literature, language, logic and rhetoric.  Being affiliated with ETS gives you the opportunity to reach the families who come to the educational food court that ETS offers the homeschool community. 

Most educators devote a great deal of their efforts to managing educational bureaucracy rather than teaching their students.  Online video-conferencing allows teachers to work directly with students to meet their particular educational needs. Eliminating educational bureaucracy has enabled ETS to offer private education at a substantial savings over traditional delivery methods.  A typical ETS tutorial is only $450 per year.

In the past, students were taken out of the home to meet with their instructor; now through online instruction, the professional educator is able to electronically join the student in his own home and provide teaching in a context that in many ways is even more conducive to learning than the conventional classroom.  This new venue is not only more effective than the typical crowded classroom but it is also more convenient for the student's family.

ETS has delivered tutorials to students since 1993.  The ability to continue with the same students over a number of years has allowed a close relationship with many students and their families to develop.  Often students plan vacations around ETS student get-togethers to meet their online friends face to face.  

Using Webex's audio abilities and its whiteboard, the audio and visual components necessary to run an effective online learning environment are in place.  The whiteboard is an electronic surface that is used to display pictures, overheads or diagrams.   Further, a typical ETS tutorial has 15-25 students and meets once a week for two hours.  Students are required to have a microphone so that they can participate orally in the class discussions.   

In a day when conventional schools seem to be increasingly riddled by insurmountable problems, home-schooling is attracting a rapidly growing number of parents.  The difficulty with home-schooling in the past has been the lack of professional instruction to supplement the work of the parent when needed.  Online instruction has provided a means for bringing together the professional educator and the student in a manner that provides cost savings, less inconvenience for families and more time away from the bureaucracy of education for both student and teacher.

Would you like to leave the world of conventional education and become an online educator?   Thanks to the increasing power and decreasing complexity of computers, it is now easier than ever.  Most any multimedia computer will work just fine, along with a broadband connection and Webex.   

No matter what your age or location being an online educator will provide you with the opportunity to educate the finest home-school students.  As we saw with the printing press, there are times in history when God provides technologies that can improve our lives.  ETS offers you the opportunity to join the growing ranks of online educators. We have a number of options suited to the full as well as part-time educator. Because of the ETS affiliation, we are able to lease Webex rooms at very competitive rates.  A Webex room is capable of hosting 100 students at a time and is available 24 hours a day.  Our webex portal is at http://escondidotutorial.webex.com.

The price is $1200 per semester.  This price is subject to change without notice.   If you do not have enough interest currently to pay for 24 hour access, please contact us as there is some space available on an hourly basis.  Semesters run September - January 15th, January 15th - May. Full payment is due for first semester on October 15th and second semester on March 1st.  If payment is not received by that date, your room will be disconnected.

Periodically ETS hosts conferences for the general classical Christian community.  During these conferences your room may be used.  We will make sure to give at least two months notice before any such use.