It's not dues anymore. It's tuition.
Homeschool-Life was built for membership dues: an invoice at sign-up, a Pay Now button, checks entered by hand. TeachHero is built for the directors and treasurers now billing per-class tuition — autopay, payment plans, reminders before a payment is late, and a past-due list that's always current. You stop being the payment plan.
TeachHero vs Homeschool-Life, side by side
Homeschool-Life is a mature community platform, and for a dues-based group it holds up. The differences that matter are in the money rows — what changes when a family owes thousands across a year instead of $95 at sign-up.
TeachHero is our product — read this comparison with that in mind.
| What matters once you're charging tuition | TeachHero | Homeschool-Life |
|---|---|---|
|
Autopay & payment plans Tuition split into installments that charge themselves |
Included | Not listed |
|
Payment reminders Families nudged before a payment is late, not after |
Included | Not listed |
|
Expiring card handling A heads-up before the card stops working in February |
Included | Not listed |
|
Past-due tracking Who owes what, aged by 30, 60, and 90 days |
AR aging report | Not listed |
|
Automated invoicing When the invoices go out |
On a schedule | At sign-up |
|
Online payments Cards & ACH |
Included | Via payment gateway |
|
Class registration Co-op classes, waitlists, schedules |
Included | Included |
|
Family communication Announcements, email, messaging |
Included | Included |
|
Volunteer management Sign-ups, hours, requirements |
Included | Included |
|
Website & parent portal No-code public pages, linked to enrollment |
Included | Included |
|
Classwork & gradebook Lessons, assignments, grading, attendance |
Included | Limited |
|
Grows into private K–12 If your group becomes a school |
Same platform | Group and co-op focused |
|
Homeschool-specific tooling Co-op classes, dues, member records |
Built in | Deep & mature |
Comparison based on publicly available information as of September 2026. “Not listed” means we could not find the capability described in Homeschool-Life's public materials — not that it is impossible there. Features, packaging, and pricing change; please verify details with each vendor.
Dues software vs. tuition software
The gap opens the day you hire a teacher.
A membership fee is one payment a year — any tool can take it. Per-class tuition is six payments a family, times three children, across ten months, with a card that expires in February and a family that drops in November. Groups on dues software solve that with policy: six posted due dates, a drop fee, a warning that you're committing to the whole year. That's a treasurer enforcing a payment plan by hand.
- Split tuition into installments that charge on their own schedule
- Families turn on autopay in the portal and choose the card or bank account
- Automatic reminders go out before a payment is late — not after
- A heads-up when a card is about to expire, and again if it does
- An accounts receivable report ages every balance by 30, 60, and 90 days
- Mid-year drops and overpayments settle with credits or refunds, not a spreadsheet note
Fall tuition · 2 students · $2,400
Families new to homeschooling
Built for the parent who just left public school.
Once you charge tuition, your new families aren't all veteran homeschoolers. Many are transfers who have never been in a co-op, and they arrive expecting the app their old school used: sign in, see the schedule, see the balance, pay. Every one of those they can't do themselves becomes an email to you.
- Parents sign in with a one-time code emailed to them — no password to reset in August
- Every child's classes, schedule, and balance on one screen
- Register all your students and pay in a single family checkout
- Announcements, secure messages, and volunteer sign-ups in the same place
One platform, three stages
Grow into a school without migrating again.
Almost nobody decides to become a school. You add a paid teacher, then a drop-off day, then a grade level — and one morning the co-op is a hybrid academy. TeachHero runs all three stages, so the next step doesn't cost you another migration.
Parent-taught co-op
Class registration, member dues, volunteer hours, and family communication for a group run by its parents.
Hybrid academy
Paid teachers, per-class tuition, installment plans, class attendance, and drop-off day schedules.
Private K–12 school
Applications, enrollment, financial reports, and a full school website — with classwork and a gradebook in every plan.
When Homeschool-Life is the better fit
We'd rather be honest than win the wrong customer. If your group is dues-based and parent-taught, stay on Homeschool-Life. Membership at $95 a year, parents teaching for free, a treasurer recording a handful of online payments and a few checks — that is the job Homeschool-Life was built for, it has done it for years, and switching would cost you more than it returns.
TeachHero earns its place when the money changes shape: paid teachers, per-class tuition, families owing thousands across a year, and a payment plan somebody is currently enforcing by hand.
Let the tuition collect itself.
If your treasurer is tracking installments in a spreadsheet and chasing a card that expired in February, that is the part TeachHero takes over. Set it up yourself — no sales call required.