How To Find The Best Education Franchises For Moms

Posted on November 21, 2008 by Ginger Watford

Telling someone how to find the best franchise for her is kind of like telling someone how to find the best clothing: so you figure out what size you are and what you like, and then find the clothes that match you best. It really is kind of straightforward, and it’s so person-specific, that it’s difficult to make an overarching generalization without sounding rather foolish. So, at risk of sounding rather foolish, there is at least one generalization that can be applied to most moms that will help in deciding what the best education franchise to go with is: the age of your children.

As everyone knows, children grow, and at each developmental stage, something different is required of mom, which in turn means that there are also different freedoms for mom and therefore different opportunities for work. For the most part, those different age groups and needs can be broken up into three distinct categories, which we’ll call pre-preschool, K-12, and post-high-school. And at each of these specific stages, mom is free for a different brand of education franchise.

Pre-preschool This is that period in a mom’s life when the only time the baby leaves the house is either when mom and dad take him somewhere or he’s staying at grandma’s so that mom and dad don’t have to take him somewhere; it’s basically the four or five years before he’s enrolled in school. It’s during this span of time that the average mom is bound to her child night and day, seven days a week, which, for the working mom, makes any work outside of the home a near nightmare. Conversely though, the constant naps and Sesame Street breaks give mom numerous opportunities to cram in a bit of work from home each day, making home-based business opportunities a brilliant option.

Two good choices to consider for the mom with a flair for education are Club-Z In-Home Tutoring and Team Marketing Systems. First, Club-Z In-Home Tutoring franchise opportunities give franchisees the know-how and resources to provide first-class in-home tutoring to students of all ages without actually having to go out and do the tutoring themselves. Entirely from home, franchisees connect students in need of tutoring with professional tutors trained in a variety of fields; they are the bridge, not the ground troops, which fits in perfectly for stay-at-home moms keeping busy while junior is napping. Similarly, Team Marketing Systems franchisees also work from home, but in this case, they serve a slightly older crowd, helping high school sports teams and clubs maximize fundraiser revenues to build their schools and organizations. Either of these franchises are perfect for the mom with sleeping little ones.

K-12 The next segment of a child’s life (at least for our quick-overview purposes) lasts a good, long while and is best marked by the seven hours that mom suddenly has apart from her kids, from 8am to 3pm (or somewhere around there). This stage opens up a whole new list of business opportunities for the working mom, as she finds herself without anyone to take care of for half her day. One great education franchise that would adequately fill this time and not cost any of the precious evening time with her own kids is Computer Explorers. Built for the express purpose of exposing children to computers at an early age to give them every possible advantage for the future, Computer Explorers visits schools and other similar organizations with traveling computer equipment, which means that work hours are precisely the same hours that children (specifically any working mom’s children) are busy at school. It’s a perfect fit.

Post-High-School This particular title is a little bit deceiving, because though the name sounds as though it’s only the period after a child is out of high school, for all intents and purposes it begins somewhere in the midst of the high school years. It really is the time during which a teenager has little to no interest in his parents and is more concerned in his own affairs. This is a hard time for the average mom, but if she’s aware of it, it also affords her some further freedom.

Since she may no longer be needed each afternoon for play time and each evening for dinner (depending on the individual child and family, of course) mom has some more free time for educational work that requires some evening and weekend hours. One great opportunity is 911 Driving School. What greater alternative is there to teaching other people’s teens to drive a car. If not the hours, the great perk to this franchise is its unorthodox nature: there really aren’t too many people who can honestly say that they teach people to drive for a living, a good franchisee could single-handedly clean up the streets.

If not teaching kids to drive, then perhaps teaching kids to act is more your thing. With those free evening hours, Drama Kids International is an excellent business opportunity. Founded on the notion that kids can be taught public speaking skills and personal confidence through drama, this franchise gives a creative outlet to both children and the women who direct the program.

Oversimplified This quick rundown is precisely that: oversimplified. Without speaking to women on an individual basis, there really is no way to determine exactly the right franchise for anyone. And to give the honor due to mothers reading this, not everyone is going to have exactly the same family going through each of these trends just the way I’ve described them, but hopefully these business alternatives have spurred your imagination to consider what might appropriately fit your family, your kids, and your timetable. After all, fitting your particular situation is what you need to do, because for any good mom, your kids come first.