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Initial Assessment Test One-on-One Sessions Homework Targeting Child's needs
Practice Tests Personal Contact with Teacher No Charge for Sickness & Vacation
Flexibility Around Scheduled Events Same Tutor Every Session Phone Calls for Child's Questions
My Philosophy
I will give your child a level appropriate test to determine what areas your child knows and does not know. From this test, I will know where to help your child. Should you and I decide that the best course of action is to get the band-aid on the grade first, we may skip this evaluation at first, so as not to waste time needed for studying before the next test.
As a general rule, by the time a tutor sees a child, he is pretty down on himself, and does not need the added pressure of another child in the room. I only tutor privately. Parents, or guardians, are more than welcome to attend, but no other children will be at the sessions.
I am a firm believer that to get an idea or concept from our short-term memory to our long-term memory, we need repetition – especially when it is a subject that is difficult to us, or we do not like. At times, I will assign homework pertaining to exactly what your child and I covered in the tutoring session. It should not take longer than 15 – 20 minutes a night, unless school is not in session. If your child will do this homework every night, he will not need to cover it over and over with me, as it will be in his long-term memory.
I generally will give your child a practice test the session before a test. The idea is to let your child see the material in a test form, and make him more comfortable with it and to prove to him that he does not know the material. I rarely do this with a child below Algebra I.
If I do not already know your child’s teacher, I will go met her/him. I stay in contact through email two to three times a month, asking about grades, up coming tests, and how your child is doing. You will need to contact the teacher to allow him/her to talk with me. Almost every teacher I have ever met has been wonderfully helpful to me and your child.
I know children get sick 10 minutes before you need to be somewhere. I will not charge for missing a tutoring session when your child is sick. However, should he be sick a lot, it may be in both of our best interests if I do not tutor your child any more.
Illness:
I know children get sick 10 minutes before you need to be somewhere. I will not charge for missing a tutoring session when your child is sick. However, should he be sick a lot, it may be in both of our best interests if I do not tutor your child any more.
Scheduled Absences:
I tutor during normal school weeks, therefore excluding Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break, and Spring Break. If I am in town during a break, I would be more than happy to schedule a separate time to tutor your child, but the regular schedule will not apply. In addition to those times, I know things come up! If you know an event is coming up and your child will miss the tutoring session, or he has a group project and the group is meeting during our scheduled time, and he needs to be at that meeting, please let me know in advance! I understand that life gets in the way at times. There will be no charge with 24 hour advanced notice.
No Shows:
I arrange my schedule to make sure I will be fully available to your child. Sessions that do not need to be used to study for a test are the perfect time to go back and fill in the gaps of a child’s missing knowledge, not a great time to skip tutoring. If a child misses more than one tutoring session per semester, I will charge you a normal tutoring fee. Please, do not have your child call me a little before he is to meet me asking if he has to come to tutoring or if he can skip. This is your decision, not mine, and will be counted as a “no show.” If there are several “no shows,” we may decide it is best to stop tutoring. As I am sure you do not want to pay me for doing nothing, I do not like to take money for doing nothing, and I could fill that time with a child that does want my help.
Two Tutoring Sessions per Week:
It has been my experience that if a child is tutored twice a week, once a child starts doing a little better in class, the second tutoring session starts being cancelled at the last minute. For this reason, I am VERY reluctant to tutor a child two times a week.
A child must be very comfortable with the tutor, or no matter how good the tutor is, he will be ineffective. As comfort increases, so does the child’s willingness to open up and ask questions. Different tutors every week would not be conducive to the child opening up.
There are times that a quick phone call is all that is needed at answer a question. I encourage the children to call me with questions. I would much rather answer questions on homework I gave the child than to have him do it wrong all week! He will have to repeat that entire week’s homework if it is wrong.
When I first start tutoring a child, especially once he is in high school, grades are very important. And sometimes, depending on what is being covered on the next test, I can cover only that material and not previous material, to help raise the next test grade. Many times I start with a child this way. I call it putting a band-aid on the grade. First, let’s stop the bleeding of points from the grade, and once that is better, then we go back and look at the overall math knowledge.
Sometimes a child wants to meet with a tutor the night before a test to study. If I have time available, I am happy to have an extra session with your child that week.
Sometimes a child wants to meet with a tutor a few nights before the final to study. If I have time available, I am happy to have an extra session with your child that week. This week fills up really fast!!!
After a child has done poorly in a class for a while, he can start developing test anxiety. If we see this is a problem, I can meet with your child and make extra tests and given them to him so that he gets over the anxious feelings.
This site was last updated 06/07/10