Side money... my income!

I just wanted to quickly document here the fun I had doing some extra stuff on top of working for Connections Academy (virtual public school) in SC and what I am doing now in PCB.

Swimming Lessons - I met these sweet black girls about 12 and 14 at the YMCA one day when I was teaching Gracie to swim. They were so interested in learning to swim but so scared to even put their head under the water. Well - their mom asked if I would teach them to swim and I jumped at the chance too. I love helping people better their life and I think swimming is one of those things that does. I have taught swimming lessons once before and in Special Olympics so I knew I could do it. Destiny and Gabrielle were so fun to teach, but scaredy cats. That is the oldest children I have ever seen so scared to try something new. It was definitely a challenge - which I like! And they made great progress. So sad I had to leave them before we met our goal. Cost for future reference was $25/45 min. 

Piano Lessons - I was already to begin teaching piano lessons for a family in our ward and then we moved before we got started. I was a little intimated by this one because everyone knows I am not that good at the piano. But they just wanted me to get them from brand new beginner to where I was at and I could do that. I just didn't know the logistics and lesson planning for teaching piano. I can sight read well and so that has been my crutch - so I didn't practice and then I haven't had a piano for 8 years either. :( I have a personal goal to improve my skills now that I have one. That goal is not going very well. When can I play the piano when the kids aren't sleeping?? Cost for future reference was $15/30 min.

Private Online Therapy - Yeah! I started seeing a son of a friend in FL for his /s,z/ sounds after he got his teeth back in. I started using anymeeting because skype was horrible and I wasn't allowed to use LiveLesson from my virtual school. It worked pretty well, but then he changed from lispy /s/ to whistly /s/ and I couldn't hear that high of a frequency sound over the webcam so we couldn't do it anymore if I couldn't hear it to correct it. Then it just so happened we moved back to FL so now he rides his bike to my house once a week. And he is almost done. I am so excited for him. He just has to get it consistently in his conversational speech all day everyday when I am not there and he will be set. I love doing speech therapy!!! I love the progress the students make! I give them a friend discount! :)

Preschool - I started doing preschool/babysitting 2 days a week in August for my friend's daughter who is the same age as Katie. We have Skye for 2.5 hours twice/week while Gracie is in school so her mom can work. Katie and Skye get along pretty well. They have some rough times but mostly they like to play with each other and we have fun going to the park and the dock on the lake to say "hi" to the fishies. And mid October, she started swapping a day with me so now Katie goes over to their house on Wednesdays and they pick Gracie up from school so I can have a few hours to work on our business and do some private therapy.

Private Therapy in FL - I currently have 4 students who come to my house. The previous online one, another little guy in our ward who is Gracie's age and has quite a few speech errors but is so cute regardless. And then I picked up two children from Gracie's preschool so they are her age as well, that were referred to me by her teacher. (Gracie's teacher really wants us to open a private practice :) And I am offering free initial evaluations). The one has a ton of phonological processes and stutters (ooh you know I like that- stuttering is my favorite) and the other guy has some low sensory issues, definitely, oral because he drools and has a few speech errors and a very fast rate so he is hard to understand. His oral motor structure and function are intact so I am pretty sure, it is just a low sensory input problem. Hopefully we can teach him a few strategies for saliva control and have him articulate better and he will be done in a few sessions. They come to our "office" which is where Luke and I built a wall in our garage and carpeted it so it is a nice extra room off of our living room. We really need more space still, but this helps a ton. Well worth the $200 and labor we spent building the wall. We still have space for garage storage on the other side which is awesome too. Current charge for PCB is $45/30 min. I am excited to get this well established and the kinks worked out for a protocol to follow so I can start hiring online therapists to do therapy online with students all over the world through Home Speech Home. We have waiting lists for both therapist and clients seeking therapy online, but I just haven't been ready to get it started and manage it yet. I am excited about this prospect, but in the meantime I love working with my clients and helping them improve. It gives me a little break from being a mom too.  

Seamstress - I have had two sewing jobs already. One was fixing a king size duvet cover that was ripped in several places on pleated satin fabric for a luxury condo rental company and the other I just finished altering and hemming a bridesmaid dress with 3 layers of chiffon and crepe full skirt. I totally underestimated the time it would take me to do that one, so I am giving her a discount - besides she is a friend of a friend who is introducing her to the church and so I don't mind giving her a good impression of Mormons. It totally took me an hour just to cut all the layers evenly to get them ready to sew. I don't know why but they were not even. You couldn't just measure 6.5" up and cut it off and sew. Next time I am going to see the item before giving an estimate. :( Cost for sewing $20/hr. I am considering raising it just because I could do therapy for a lot more. So glad my mom taught me to sew. Thanks mom.