About Me

Every child is God’s gift for us all to love and enjoy, not just his parents.  I will treat your gift as I would my own, with kindness, gentleness, and respect as the young adult he is becoming.  Children can not learn by being intimidated, or shamed!  However, as caringly as I will treat him, I will not coddle him.  I expect my students to work.  It would be a waste of your money and my time if he does not put forth the necessary effort to learn.  I grow to have great affection for my "kids" as I call them, as I truly treasure teenagers!   I rarely have a problem motivating a teenager to work.  One of the most important gifts we can give a young adult is to know he can learn to do anything on his own.  I see that as part of my job as a tutor.  Most children do not want to come to a tutor, but almost all of my “kids” enjoy learning with me by the second session.  If I do not immediately have a good rapport with your child, you will probably want to find a different tutor.  It is difficult enough to get over the built-up frustration with a subject he does not understand, without adding to that a tutor with whom he does not feel relaxed and open.

I have tutored math since I was hired at 14 years old, on the first day of my sophomore year, by my high school in Georgia to tutor math to dyslexic students, and I was hooked!  By degree, I am a chemical engineer, but I no longer work in my field.  I love to tutor.  I enjoy determining where and how someone became "lost" in a concept.  (It’s the problem-solving engineer in me.)  And I delight in finding a way to help him understand what was initially confusing to him.  I am very patient with confused children and the only way to frustrate me is to not try!  I have three wonderful, teenaged children, a fabulous husband, and two sweet, large dogs.  Though I have experience as a tutor with some learning disabilities, and the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, I do not have a specialty in this area.  If this is a concern of yours, I can also provide recommendations in this area.  Multiple student, teacher, and parent recommendations are available upon request!

My overall goal is three-fold.  First, I want to help a child bring his subject knowledge base up to his class’ appropriate level. Second, I want to help bring his self-confidence up so that he knows he is capable of doing well.  (It may never be his favorite subject, but I never want him to fear or dread it.)  And third, it is my job to put myself out of a job with your child.  I would not be a good tutor if I planned to have a student indefinitely.  I can give you a reasonable estimate of how long it should take your child and me to complete our task of increase his knowledge and comfort.  But, my estimate is completely contingent upon your child’s desire to learn and his efforts to learn it.

MadisonAlabamaTutor.com made in 2009 by Kimberly Curran