You apply
Fill in the short application on the apply page. Tell us about your teaching life and where you’ve lived. Write as much as you’d like.
Everything you should probably know first.
Before any application, before any signature, before any first session with a child — here is what we are, who runs it, and how we work together. If something on this page doesn’t sit right with you, write back. We’d rather hear it now.
A matching service. Not a marketplace.
The Vellum Class is a private LLC, founded in 2026 by Kenzie Yango and a small team working between Dallas and Toronto. A founder reads every application and writes back personally — that part is sacred. When you apply, you’ll be in conversation with the person who reads it.
We exist for one specific kind of family: international and immigrant families whose children, ages five to nine, are living between two cultures. We place one teacher per family — someone who has stood in a classroom in the child’s first country, and in the one she lives in now — and that teacher stays. The same person, every week, for as long as it takes.
We are not a tutoring platform. There is no marketplace, no bidding, no algorithm. Every match is made by hand by a founder, after long conversations with both the family and the teacher.
You’ve already lived it.
The teachers we look for share a few things, and we suspect you have most of them:
- A long teaching career — roughly twenty-five to forty years in classrooms, often across more than one country.
- Western credentials — a state or provincial teaching certificate, a degree in education or a content area, or comparable.
- Lived experience in the world your students come from — perhaps you taught at an international school in Seoul, raised your children in Lagos, did a stint in São Paulo, came home to Toronto after a career in Manila.
- A reason to want this kind of work now — perhaps you’ve stepped back from full-time teaching and want meaningful work that isn’t a return to the daily grind. Perhaps you want stable supplementary income. Perhaps you just miss children.
Teachers in this practice.
Two composite portraits, drawn from the kinds of teachers we are building this work around.
A teacher in her sixties
She taught for thirty-four years in elementary classrooms across two countries. She raised her own children in one language at home and another at school, so she knows the small daily negotiations that her students live inside. She stepped back from full-time teaching three years ago, and supply work in her board has not added up to enough. With The Vellum Class, she teaches four children every week, for about nine hours total. Two of her students share a language with her that they do not get to use anywhere else.
When asked what surprised her most about this work, she said it was how quickly the children opened up. She thinks it is because they are not in a classroom of twenty-seven other children. They are in their own room, with their own teacher, who knows them.
A teacher in his early seventies
He spent twenty-two years teaching abroad before returning home, and then another fifteen years in his city’s public schools. He draws a pension that does not stretch in the city he raised his family in. He came to The Vellum Class because he wanted to keep teaching but did not want a forty-hour week.
He teaches six children for about twelve hours total. He writes long, careful session notes to families and has a way of catching what a child is not saying. Two of his students are working through reading in his first language. Three of them, in his second. He says the work has given him a reason to keep his languages alive.
The names and details in these portraits are illustrative. The shape of the lives — the career spans, the languages, the reasons for stepping back — is drawn from real conversations.
You teach. We handle the rest.
This part matters, so we want to be plain about it. The Vellum Class is not a school, and you would not be an employee.
Your status
Independent contractor (1099 in the US / self-employed for tax purposes in Canada). You set your own schedule. You determine your teaching approach. You can decline placements. You can work with other tutoring services or private students if you wish.
Our role
The Vellum Class is a Texas LLC that operates as a contracting and matching company. We find families, we present them to you for review, we handle the contract and the money, we provide support — but you are the teacher, and the educational relationship is yours.
No exclusivity
We do not require you to teach only through us. You may have your own private students, work with other agencies, or maintain part-time positions elsewhere.
No minimum hours
You tell us how much availability you want. We will not over-schedule you. Many of our teachers want four to ten hours a week, and that’s a healthy range.
A note after each session
A few honest sentences to the family after every session — about five minutes of writing. What the child did, what you noticed, what you would like to try next week. Not a report. The kind of thing a teacher writes in a margin. It is how the family stays close to the work you are doing with their child.
A monthly check-in with a founder
Once a month or so, you and a founder will have a short conversation — sometimes by phone, sometimes by note. We want to know how the children are doing in your eyes, what is hard, what is working, what you need. If something urgent comes up in between, a founder is one message away.
Curriculum
You and the family shape the lessons together. We share what the parents are hoping for, and from there the lesson plan is yours to design, in the child’s best interest. We are building a library of optional resources you are welcome to pull from if it helps, but those choices are yours to make. In 2028, we will begin offering a separate, catered curriculum for families who want one. For now, your teaching is the curriculum.
Planned time off
For planned time away — a trip, a stretch with grandchildren, a summer pause — we ask for two weeks of notice so we can hold the relationship with the family cleanly while you are away. Emergencies are handled separately, with care.
Commitment to continuity
One thing we ask: don’t accept a placement unless you can commit to it for at least six months. After that, we reassess together. The continuity is what we’re selling to families, and breaking it hurts the child most.
Our standards.
These exist for the children, the families, and the reputation we’re building together. They are non-negotiable.
Background check
We conduct a standard background check before your first placement and renew it every two years. We cover the cost. Disqualifying issues are limited to those that would reasonably affect a child’s safety — minor or stale matters generally won’t be a problem; we’ll talk to you if anything comes up.
Recorded sessions
Every session is recorded for child-safety review. Families know this and consent. We spot-check a small percentage of sessions; we never share recordings beyond Vellum’s safety review process. Recordings are deleted after 90 days unless flagged.
Communication
All teacher-family communication happens through Vellum channels. We do not exchange personal phone numbers or social-media handles with families. This protects both you and the family.
Showing up
Sessions start on time, end on time, and are not rescheduled lightly. Life happens — when it does, you reach out to Vellum, not directly to the family. We’ll handle the message and the make-up.
Professional standards
You maintain your teaching credential or comparable status. You hold a current first-aid certification (we’ll reimburse the renewal). You complete an annual two-hour child-safeguarding refresher we provide.
What we won’t ask of you.
No bidding
We will not algorithm-match you against other teachers for the same family. There is no bidding. There is no rating that determines your placement priority.
No surprises
We will not surprise you with families outside your stated availability or expertise. Every placement is presented to you in advance, and you may decline without penalty.
No fees from your earnings
We will not take any cut from the rate we’ve agreed with you. What we say you’ll earn per session is what reaches your bank account.
No gig-work theatrics
We will not require gamification, badges, dashboards, or productivity quotas. You’re a teacher, not a gig worker.
No customer-service hat
We will not ask you to be the family’s customer-service rep. Billing questions, scheduling disputes, refunds — those come to us.
On taxes.
Being a contractor means you are responsible for your own taxes — including self-employment tax in the US and CPP/EI contributions in Canada. We can’t change that, but we can make the paperwork honest and complete, and we can point you to people who’ll save you money.
As a rough guide: US teachers often set aside 25–30% of earnings for combined self-employment and federal income tax. Canadian teachers vary by province, but 20–25% is a common starting point. Your accountant will give you the precise number for your situation.
To be clear: we are not tax advisors. We provide the documents and the strategy guide — your accountant or tax professional gives the binding advice. We will never tell you what to claim. We will always tell you what we issued.
What Vellum provides
US teachers
Form 1099-NEC issued by January 31 each year, summarizing your total earnings from Vellum for the prior calendar year. Available digitally and by mail.
Canada teachers
T4A slip issued by the end of February each year, reporting your contractor income for the prior tax year. CRA-compliant, available digitally and by mail.
Year-end summary
A clean, line-item summary of every session, every family, every payment, every reimbursement — beyond what the official forms show. Useful for your bookkeeping, your accountant, or your own records.
Tax-strategy guide
A written guide we maintain on common deductions for self-employed teachers — home office, professional development, internet, supplies, mileage, retirement contributions, health-care premiums (US), and more. Updated annually.
Accountant referrals
A short list of accountants in both countries who understand contractor teachers, charge fairly, and have agreed to a first consultation at no cost for Vellum teachers. You’re not obligated to use them.
On pensions.
Many of the teachers we talk to draw a pension from a state, provincial, or district teaching position and worry about re-employment restrictions. We’ve done the research, and the answer for our structure is reassuring.
The major pension restrictions — the Texas Teacher Retirement System (TRS) earnings-after-retirement rules, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) re-employment limits, and similar provincial and state systems — apply only when a pensioned teacher returns to work for a participating employer (typically a public school district, state institution, or another contributing entity in the same pension system).
The Vellum Class is a private LLC. We do not contribute to any teacher pension plan. We are not a participating employer. Contractor work with us therefore does not count against your pension’s re-employment cap.
Important: pension rules are jurisdiction-specific and change over time. We’ve done due diligence on TRS and OTPP specifically as of 2026, but we encourage you to verify your own pension plan’s rules — and if your plan has unusual restrictions, we’ll work with you on the right structure. We will not knowingly put your pension at risk.
A considered path.
We talk
A fifty-minute video call with a founder. We learn about you, you learn about us, we both decide if this is a fit. No pressure either way.
Background & first match
Background check, contractor agreement, tax onboarding (1099, T4A, or W-8BEN as applicable). When the right family appears, we make the introduction.
From application to first session usually takes two to five weeks. We can move faster if you are ready, and we can give you more room if your life needs us to.
The next step.
It is short, it is honest, and it goes straight to a founder. We read every word.
Go to the application teachers@vellumclass.com