I often get asked as to why I don't offer in person tutoring services. Well, I am going to give you a few of the reasons why I chose to keep this business completely online, and I hope you will see the pros as well!
The first and main reason is time. A person can get so much more accomplished when everything takes place in the same room. If I had to drive to students' homes every day, I would only be able to work with a limited amount of children due to the time it takes to drive to each one. This would also make it more expensive for the parents with gas and driving time being added to their cost.
The second reason is definitely flexibility for all parties involved. Being able to jump from a meeting that ran late straight into a tutoring session helps both the tutor and the parents from needing to cancel due to unexpected happenings. It also makes it easier for tutors and therapists to join teacher conferences or IEP/504 meetings. I have done this quite a few times and the parents are always grateful when I am able to make it virtually.
Adding on from the flexibility point, maybe your child is staying with grandparents for the week, or your family is on a road trip but you still want learning to occur. Well, all you need is a laptop! This is very helpful for me as the tutor as well. If I have to go out of town for something, I don't have to cancel all of my sessions and can just bring work with me!
Another pro to virtual tutoring is that the child is familiar with using the computer and therefore the tutor is able to share extra practice and work through different websites. The child is also able to send any homework they may need assistance with and the tutor is able to share it on the screen while they work through it together. This is something else that one of my students does often. There are so many free resources such as math manipulatives that can be used for teaching.
I am going to share a few of the resources that I use at the end of this blog post.
At the end of the day, you need to do what is best for your child, and you know your child best. For some children it is just about impossible for them to focus or learn anything through the computer, and that's ok! If a student does better with hands on learning, I will sometimes recommend certain manipulatives, especially for math (adding and subtracting) to the parents and they then have the freedom to buy those if they want to. Every child is going to learn a little bit differently, and it is our job to make sure that we are doing our best to teach them in the way that they learn best.
Virtual Manipulatives- https://www.didax.com/math/virtual-manipulatives.html
Amazon Manipulatives- https://a.co/d/73uGCKf; https://a.co/d/dhhhRRM; https://a.co/d/0QKMiAM; https://a.co/d/6A0mH5m; https://a.co/d/4TQ353m
K5 Learning- https://www.k5learning.com (Free K-5 worksheets for reading, writing, math, vocabulary, spelling, and science! I use this all the time!
Education.com- https://www.education.com/ This has the option for a free or paid membership. I pay for it each year so that I can share my code with my students. This way they get their own profile and I can assign games and other worksheets for extra practice! I have been using this website for years, they are great.
Youtube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZTq422uUzjBitv2hHdippQ I have also filmed videos to share to my website and share with my students! Videos include all kinds of read-alouds, mini phonics lessons and dec0dable reader lessons.
Even if you're not sure if you should get a tutor for your child, it can never hurt to do your own research and search for a tutor that would be the best fit for them. I offer free virtual "meet the tutor" or "consultations" before parents book anything so that we can discuss schedules, goals, strengths, weaknesses and learning styles and determine whether or not we are a good fit for each other. Tutoring can only help your child, so don't wait until they are so far behind that they might not be able to catch up. I would love to try and help ;)
<3 Jess
(561) 479-6848
Comments