Frequently Asked Questions

BOWER is an educational marketplace connecting families with hand-approved educators to form learning pods. Whether you're looking for group classes, private tutoring, or workshops, BOWER helps you find educators who match your family's learning philosophy.

Visit educateprivately.com, click "Sign Up" as a Family, and create your account. You'll start with the BOWER Compass: about 35 questions, about 30 minutes, on how your family approaches learning. It shapes which educators and curricula we suggest.

Yes. Joining BOWER and browsing educators is completely free. You only pay when you book a class. There's no subscription fee and no hidden charges.

Each educator sets their own rates. The price you see includes BOWER's 20% referral fee. Educators keep 80%. The total is always shown upfront before you confirm.

BOWER's founder reads every educator's profile and teaching experience, and a profile goes live only after she approves it by hand.

About 35 questions (about 30 minutes) on how your family approaches learning, across five dimensions. It creates a Family Profile that shapes educator and curriculum suggestions. There are no right or wrong answers.

After you complete the Compass quiz, we surface educators whose teaching style aligns with your family's profile. You can also search by subject, location, age group, or format.

Browse an educator's profile, select a class, and send a request. Once the educator approves it, you'll get a link to pay through Stripe, and your spot is confirmed when you pay.

Yes. If the educator has enabled payment plans, you can split the total into 2-4 payments. Your card is charged automatically on the schedule shown at checkout.

All major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Your payment info is encrypted and never stored on BOWER's servers.

Contact frontdesk@educateprivately.com within 7 days. We'll work with you and the educator to resolve the issue, which may include a partial or full refund.

Yes. BOWER generates a receipt for every payment that includes the educator or camp's business name, address, and EIN (when provided). You can access receipts from your dashboard. These are designed for families claiming the Child and Dependent Care Credit (Form 2441) or FSA reimbursement.

Every educator profile goes live only after BOWER's founder approves it by hand. Before you enroll, you can read an educator's approach, see their curriculum, and message them with anything you want to know.

We follow COPPA, the federal law that protects children under 13. A parent gives consent before we share a child's information with an educator, and parents can review, change or delete their child's information from their account.

A small group of students (typically 3 to 8) learning together with one educator. The families decide the size; BOWER does not set it. More personal than a classroom, more social than one-on-one tutoring.

A full academic pod typically costs $500 to $800 a month per family. Each educator sets their own rate, and the price you see already includes BOWER's 20% fee. Joining and browsing are free, and there's no subscription.

Open Find a Pod to see pods that are forming, and filter by region and neighborhood. If you'd like suggestions first, take the free BOWER Compass quiz. It matches your family with pods and educators that fit how you approach learning.

Yes. Use Build a Pod to name your pod, set the age range and location, and choose who can join. Then invite families and find an educator on BOWER. You can also reach out to any educator about a custom schedule and topics.

Visit educateprivately.com and click "Apply as Educator." You'll complete a profile and share your teaching experience. BOWER's founder reviews every profile by hand, and yours goes live once she approves it.

BOWER's founder reads your profile and teaching experience and approves it by hand. Once she does, families can find you.

No. Joining BOWER is free. We take a 20% referral fee on bookings. You keep 80% of everything you earn.

You set your own pricing: per session, per course, or per month. You can also configure trial classes, promo codes, sibling discounts, early bird rates, and payment plans.

Yes. On any class, you can enable payment plans that let families split the cost into 2-4 installments. You configure the number of payments and the interval.

Not required, but recommended. If you provide your business EIN during onboarding, it appears on family receipts, which helps parents claim childcare tax credits. You can add it anytime in your profile settings.

Families pay through Stripe after you approve their request. Funds are deposited to your connected Stripe account, minus BOWER's 20% referral fee.

Stripe typically deposits funds within 2 business days of payment. For payment plans, you receive each installment as it's charged.

During onboarding, you'll be guided through connecting or creating a Stripe account. This is required before you can receive payments.

Your Dashboard shows all your active classes, enrolled students, upcoming sessions, and messages. You can create new classes, adjust schedules, and manage enrollments.

Yes. You can manage individual sessions from your class detail page. Families are notified automatically when you make changes.

CampHub is BOWER's operations dashboard for camps and enrichment programs. It includes enrollment management, scheduling, attendance, waitlists, financial tracking, and family communication. All in one place.

BOWER costs nothing upfront. No annual license. No setup fee. Camps and centers pay a flat 10% per transaction and keep the rest. Plus, BOWER includes the Compass psychometric matching and deterministic pod governance documents.

Camps and centers pay a flat 10% per-transaction referral fee. No monthly subscription, no setup fee, no minimum commitment.

Families browse your programs, enroll, and pay through BOWER. You manage all enrollments from CampHub: approve pending enrollments, track payment status, manage rosters.

When a program fills up, families can join the waitlist. You manage waitlisted families from the Waitlist tab in CampHub: offer spots, set expiration, notify families when space opens.

Yes. ClassCheckin provides per-session attendance tracking. You can also export rosters with emergency contacts, allergies, and medical info.

CampHub's Calendar tab shows all sessions across all programs in month, week, day, or agenda view. You can export to iCal and the system automatically detects scheduling conflicts.

Payments go through your connected Stripe account. You receive the enrollment amount minus BOWER's referral fee, deposited within 2 business days.

Yes. BOWER generates receipts with your camp's legal business name, address, and EIN (if provided during onboarding). Families use these for Form 2441 or FSA reimbursement.

Recommended. Adding your EIN during onboarding means it automatically appears on every family receipt, which helps parents claim childcare tax credits. You can add or update it anytime in Camp Settings.

Not yet. For now, each camp screens its own staff, and your camp page is the place to tell families how you do it.