Higher Options got underway at the RDS this morning and will run until Friday. The three day event gives secondary school students the opportunity to meet with representatives from colleges and universities around the country and work out what they want to do after school.
While the majority of stands at the RDS are taken up by academic outlets, some feature technology start ups that can help the students with their workload as they gear up towards their Leaving Cert. HomeSchool.ie is one such start up. I managed to catch up with its founder, Paul Kelly, earlier today and he explained how the site works.
"We run our course over two twelve week terms. We release a video every Monday, alongside some notes. Once that goes live, students are free to use them throughout the school year as often as they please. We cover the 24 main areas in every subject, at junior and leaving certificate level."
Kelly is a secondary school teacher who believes that extra tuition for students shouldn't be out of the reach of most parents. Traditional grinds and extra lessons can cost parents anywhere from €480 to €800 per subject for a year. This excludes the cost and time to travel to the grinds and back again.
"I founded HomeSchool.ie with the objective to make access to learning and extra tuition, affordable for all students. Many parents could end up spending thousands of euro each year to give their children extra grinds and lessons. We aim to deliver these lessons and grinds in a cost effective, safe environment."
Each subject on HomeSchool.ie costs €99 for a full 24-week academic year. The subject lesson content is that of the current syllabus. Students can avail of lessons covering Irish, Maths, English, Science, Business and French for Junior Cert level and History, Maths, Irish, Chemistry, Accounting, Biology, Business, English, Physics, Geography, French, Economics, Home Ec and Applied Maths for Leaving Cert students.
"There's ever increasing pressure on parents when it comes to sending children back to school with initial outlays for fees, uniforms and books. We expect that parents can save approximately €300 per lesson by using our service," explained Kelly.
Full information on the service available here.
