Over the past few months COVID-19 has posed a lot of challenges and changes for educators. After all we had to convert our lessons to remote learning and still deliver a great course experience. Plus we had to overcome the challenge of keeping students engaged even though they were learning from home. And then there was the great balancing act of maintaining work life balance while working from home.

The good news is that summer break is right around the corner. More than ever, you deserve time to recharge, rest, and unwind. However, after a few weeks of R&R, you might want to find ways to keep your creative edge, hone in on your educational focus, or find new ways to help the next generation of leaders advance their skills. If you see summer break as a time to grow professionally and an opportunity to earn a little extra income, then you’ll want to review our list of five ways you can earn extra income over the summer. And all of these ideas are stay-at-home friendly!

1. Tutor. This may be the simplest summertime income source for teachers. Leverage your network of parents, students, former students, and other teachers to help the youth in your area to continue advancing their education. Since getting together physically is still not recommended in most states, you can use online platforms such as Google Meet or Zoom to meet virtually. Many parents are worried that their students will have challenges keeping up in the next school year. Position your tutoring sessions as a great way to bridge the summer, review last year’s content, and give students an edge or head start on content for the next school year. Since online platforms are easy to use, offer group discounts to groups of two or more students. (Parents will love this!) Set standing meeting times to work through lessons and homework. And remember to make it fun!
2. Teach English as a Second Language. There is a huge demand for teaching English online to students. Sites like EF Education First, QKids, VIPKid, and others can help you get started.
3. Share Your Lesson Plans. Online sources such as Lesson Plan Shop and Teacher Lingo help teachers source creative and impactful lesson plans for a wide variety of ages and subjects, and compensate teachers for sharing their best practices. Just ensure your district will allow you to share any content that is not proprietary.
4. Get Crafty. If being a teacher has taught you to be good with your hands, turn your crafting hobby into a part-time job. Sell handmade jewelry, pottery, refurbished woodwork or furniture, or art at your local farmer’s market, or in an online boutique like Etsy.
5. Sell Your Lightly Used Belongings. Clean your house and organize and cash in! You can earn extra money by sorting through you clothes, jewelry, and furniture and selling items you no longer need. Online tools like Craigslist, Letgo, and Poshmark modernize and digitize the old school garage sale and make it easy to earn passive income.

Do you have any more ideas to help other teachers like you earn extra income over the summer? Feel free to share your ideas in the comments section below.