GC: We don’t know what neighborhood your BIL lives in so we can’t say if it’s reasonable or not. Based on the community in Flatbush it is extremely overpriced. We made an aufruf last year where the catered lunch for approximately 70 people was ~$1800.
me12345: I have made that suggestion to a number of parents. Almost everyone of them declined my suggestion.
You also wrote:
“It also doesn’t take more then 4-6 months by a competent teacher. Any teacher and a student with a decent work ethic. Any longer you need to question how good the teacher is and if your son really wants to lain…”. I am sorry but I would guess you have never given these type of lessons. Except for certain parshiyos like Netzavim and Vayelech it is difficult to complete this in 6 months. Possible? Yes. Having taught close to 100 bochurim I can tell you that the system I use takes closer to 8 – 10 months. One has to take into account when the bar mitzvah falls on the calendar. If it’s in September – December one basically loses the 2 months in the summer to sleepaway camp thereby causing one to start earlier than 6 months before. If it’s in January – March one has to budget time for the Yomim Noraim, Sukkos, chol hamoed trips, mid terms, finals, mid winter vacations and possible missing a lesson or 2 due to illness. My general schedule – Two weeks for trop recognition, two weeks to teach the tune. I start with the haftora which averages 4-6 weeks depending on the length of the haftora. For example the haftora of Vayechi is 12 pesukim and generally only takes 2 weeks with a third week to teach the nusach for the brochos after the haftora. Parshas Shemini when not Machor Chodesh is 39 pesukim and needs 6 – 8 weeks. Most pasrshios averages 120 pesukim. My students are taught 5-6 pesukim a week which means, on average a parsha takes 20 – 24 weeks which doesn’t include weeks set aside for full review. Parshiyos like Vayeitzei (154 pesukim) and Mikeitz (146 pesukim) take even longer as there are no pesuchos or stumos and the bochur only sees a “sea of words”. Please don’t throw around the word “competent” if you yourself have never actually taught anybody.