Teach kids to cook! A wonderful side hustle for homeschool moms

By Jill McDonough

Do you love to cook with kids? Are you the type of mom to have your kids’ friends baking alongside you? Are you passionate that we should teach kids to cook before leaving the nest?

Well, this might be the perfect side hustle for you to seamlessly put into your homeschooling life!

I’m beyond excited to have you meet Arlena and her side hustle that involves teaching kids to cook. Read about a double-faceted side hustle she created from this passion.

What’s your side hustle?

I help others set up cooking classes in their home or community using the materials I created for my own use.

How did you get into this particular side hustle?

I studied to be a chef, my specialty field was catering. It was very difficult with a family and I didn’t stay with it long.

I prioritized my family and found myself teaching my kids to cook and found my friends requested lessons. So, I wrote a curriculum with some teachers and tested it out.

My main income comes from teaching classes each week, and my side hustle is to help others teach classes.

Teach kids to cook - Homeschool Mom Side Hustles

How long have you been doing this side hustle?

I have been actively teaching for 10 years perfecting the curriculum and business plan. I have been doing the side hustle of helping others for 7 years now.

Talk about getting started.

Since I started with my laptop, the education I already had, and a pretty well stocked kitchen, I started with almost no additional expenses.

When I decided my classes were getting big enough to need extra bowls and spoons and I wanted to be fancy and have pre-printed aprons, I invested about 1k. Mind you, I was already teaching classes so that investment came from revenue.

Those that I help set up doing this need to have $500 for use of the curriculum. The other instructors and I have chipped in and purchased aprons in bulk and kid-safe knives in bulk so if you want to jump right in, you can buy those at a discounted price, but you don’t have to. You can start with what you have and grow how you would like.

Do your kids help you with this side hustle?

Yes! At first the older ones just went to their rooms and did their homework and the younger ones would take the class with me and the other kids. They became great cooks.

Then my older ones would help out at events and be station helpers. When my youngest was looking for summer work, she and I put together some clinics she could teach and she managed her own classes with what she had learned in my classes and was able to do it on her own schedule and charge just what she wanted to earn. She learned about business and expenses. It was a great experience!

Now my oldest is a professional cake decorator, and my other two love cooking.

What are the cons of this side hustle?

The biggest con is the school schedule. If the kids you teach attend school during the day, it messes with how many classes you can teach and when.

What are the pros of this side hustle?

The pros are numberless.

You can shop for work and home at the same time.
We work with kids in our lives and with our own passion and hobby.
You can set your own schedule and income.
All the leftovers from class become our dinner!

How do you juggle homeschooling and this side hustle?

When you are able to set your own schedule, it is easy to juggle homeschooling, your outings, family vacations and holidays.

As long as you list your schedule in advance to be able to give people a heads up, and present a good class (guaranteed with my materials), people will always come back for more classes!