FAQs

I’m very safety-conscious. How I can check your background and credentials? 

I have passed a full background check from Care.com. Please request to see it through my bio there. For my credentials, please peruse my LinkedIn profile.

What can I expect in a session?

I’ll arrive punctually to each session and check in with you during the last five minutes about your child’s next steps. (If I don’t get to see you in person, I’ll text you with brief notes.) My goal is to help your child not only complete their most important tasks, but also to identify the root causes for their struggles, strategize collaboratively, and implement sustainable solutions. I will be approachable and flexible with your child’s learning styles, yet firm about their parameters and ultimate goals. Within 24 hours of our session, I’ll send you a follow-up email summarizing our session and your child’s to-do list. All of this is included in the hourly tutoring price.

What are your rates?

$75/hour for synchronous work; $38/hr for essay feedback and other asynchronous prep work. There are no packages or long-term commitments.

How does payment work?

Pay easily by PayPal, Venmo, or check. Regular clients will be billed monthly, unless a more frequent basis is desired. 

What about cancellations?

Just give 24 hours notice and there’s no charge. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will be charged the full amount for holding the time slot open.

What is your typical process for working with a new client?

I first like to get to know potential clients a bit to ensure it’s a good fit . Usually this takes place via a 5-15 minute phone call. Assuming that both the case & the scheduling are a match, then we’ll do a longer (30-60 minute) parent-tutor session where we discuss your child’s needs.

In  your child’s first session, we’ll first get a big overview and ensure they’re invested in our work together. We’ll dive into the root causes of their struggle and why solutions in the past haven’t worked. Then, based on that discussion, we’ll strategize effective next steps. This is usually where a 30-minute “Meet & Greet” session ends. However, if desired, we can extend this to a full session where we begin implementing our solutions and getting down to work.

My child hides their shortcomings. How will you be able to overcome this?

Years of experience working with struggling students has helped me know what questions to ask, how to ask them, and how to verify their answers. More importantly, it’s taught me how to quickly build trusting relationships with students. The fact that I’m an impartial third party, and not their parent, also usually helps students open up to me.

Sometimes a little extra support is needed. If it seems appropriate, I can keep a running history of your child’s grades and assignments, and coordinate with their teachers, coaches, other tutors, and/or clinicians.

Can you tell me about a successful tutoring case of yours? 

Can I! There are so many… Here is a recent one:

Over the past year, I had the pleasure of working with a family whose 9th grade son was extremely bright and yet earning a 1.5 GPA. When I came onto the scene, fall final exams were about to hit, so we quickly identified his main problems and dove into detailed strategizing — exactly what he would study, when, how, and with whom. Thanks to some incredible follow-through, he passed all of his classes that semester.

The following semester, we checked in weekly to keep him on top of his assignments. A lot of students whose grades don’t match their smarts feel ashamed and will keep small failures from their parents until those failures snowball. I’m thankful to say that, with some probing and lots of love, this student was able to open up to me before that snowball grew and when I shared this information in debriefs with his parents, it helped all of us understand him more holistically.

By working together as a true team — student, parents, and tutor — he was able to end his second semester with better habits, internal motivation, and a 3.67 GPA.

I don’t know if you’re what I’m looking for, but do you have any advice about how to find what I need?

Finding the right tutor can be hard. Are they qualified? Will they follow up? Are they available in my area at the times I need? Will they be worth the cost? So beyond asking for recommendations from your networks and googling wisely, my best advice to you is to know what you want and do your homework:

• What are your needs? Write them down and say them out loud. You deserve help, so don’t be afraid to say exactly what you want. I love when clients tell me “In a perfect world…” because then I better understand their vision and priorities.
• Check credentials. If you want someone to help with English writing, then your tutor should (ideally) not just have credentials proving that they’re a good writer, but also have credentials proving that they understand how to teach writing and give effective feedback. It is absolutely ok — and expected! — that you ask these questions outright. The wrong tutor for you will get nervous and defensive; the right tutor will tell you about their experience and why they’re passionate about that kind of work.