Bringing in more money

While I don't want to work full-time, I very much like the notion of making money by using skills I already have. Exhibit A: Tutoring. I just started tutoring in French this January, and I have two students. Both are young professionals seeking to increase their proficiency in French.

One student is a family friend, and we talk over Skype, which is ideal because it's so flexible! She mainly wants conversational practice (and I speak to her exclusively in French), with some grammar exercises thrown in, so whenever written communication is necessary, we can type in the conversation box. On a number of occasions, baby D has been fussy during our sessions, so I can easily feed or rock her while continuing to tutor. I also look really cool wearing a headset, although it's been a bit of a hindrance lately as D has started grabbing at the cord.

My other student is my sister-in-law-to-be, who has an internship and is living with my parents at the moment. We have our sessions face-to-face, which isn't too hard to arrange since we're often at their place anyway. She's enrolled in a class through her work, so my tutoring is supplementing that. We do a lot more writing and pronunciations, and I speak mostly in English to explain various grammatical constructs. Again, if D is fussy, I can feed or rock her, or my parents will hang out with her.

Aside from the financial advantage of tutoring, there's also the opportunity for me to maintain my level of French and explore teaching resources. I've always found it beneficial for my own learning to explain concepts to others, so this is helping me stay sharp. I speak French to baby D, but her conversational skills, as a 5-month-old, are pretty limited. One day, I do want to return to teaching French Immersion, and practicing French will help make that a reality. Also, check out my world-travelling sister's recent blog post to discover why you need French in your life.

There are a few other money-making ideas I'm kicking around: part-time receptionist work (I've been back to my old job at my dad's office for a couple of Saturday shifts, and I always enjoy my time there), catering (which I did two summers ago, and enjoyed somewhat), set-up and tear-down for events at our local concert venue, etc. I feel a lot better about staying home, knowing that I can increase our cash flow if needed, especially once my mat leave is over.