Heirloom pays older adults $25–$75 an hour to teach kids the skills they actually want to learn — at the kitchen counter, in the garden, in your workshop. No classrooms. No screens. Just an hour, a kid, and your craft.
Schools cut shop class. Parents are stretched thin. The thing you've quietly mastered over 40 years — sharpening a chisel, proving a dough, pruning a tomato — is exactly what a 9-year-old wants to learn from someone who actually does it.
Most mentors say the same thing after their first session: it felt like teaching their own grandkid. You set the pace, choose the project, and decide what's worth learning first. Nothing about it looks like school.
You set your own rate within your tier. We keep 15% to handle vetting, payments, and insurance — you keep the other 85%. Teach two evenings a week and most mentors clear $300–$600 a month without leaving the neighborhood.
Of every booking goes to you
Average mentor commitment
Median monthly earnings of top quartile
Re-vetting cadence — handled by us
"I retired and the garage got quiet. Now there's a kid here every Tuesday building a birdhouse. I'd do it for free, but the check helps with grandkid presents."
"I was a teacher for thirty years. This is the first time in a long while I've taught something nobody is grading. The kids ask better questions than my students ever did."
"I doubted anyone wanted to learn cursive in 2026. I had eight families on a waitlist by the second month."
A short intake — your craft, years of practice, and the city you're in. Takes about ten minutes.
Background check, two reference calls, and a 30-minute video conversation with our trust team. Re-checked annually, on us.
Three photos, a 60-second intro video, and the price you want to charge. We help you write the rest.
Families request you. You confirm. A parent is always in the room. You meet, you teach, you get paid 24 hours later.
Join the mentor waitlist. We'll send the application as soon as vetting opens in your city — usually within two weeks.