Tutors can choose from a variety of teaching methods available today. Each one is as unique and effective as the others, depending on the type of learning style your students rely on and their weaknesses in learning.

Teaching methods, such as peer tutorials, group tutorials, and one-on-one tutoring, help both the tutor and the student achieve their ultimate purpose: to educate. For the tutor, it is to educate the students, and for the students, it is to educate themselves.

However, among these teaching methods, one method stands out. One-on-one tutoring differs from the classroom setting in many ways. Progressive educators and forward-thinking parents believe one-on-one tutoring is more effective in teaching a child than the usual group setting in schools.

Over the years, one-on-one in-home tutoring gradually gains attention from parents who want to provide supporting methods of teaching that do not impede the child’s natural curiosity and builds the love of learning, which the classroom setting fails to do because of the sheer number of students that teachers must attend to.

With in-home tutoring, the sessions are usually one-on-one, which leaves tutors the time and energy to focus on only one student’s needs. Meanwhile, the student learns more efficiently because his or her needs are met immediately. As a result, most parents trust this method to help improve the academic performance of their children.

A lot of studies have been done on the effectiveness of in-home tutoring. These studies show that one-on-one tutoring is highly effective, especially for students with learning problems or whose health may impede attendance in a normal school. Those students who received in-home tutoring developed good study habits.

Teachers also approve of in-home tutoring as a supporting method of learning. Many of them agree that one-on-one tutoring helps as long as the in-home tutors synchronize their lessons with those of the child’s teachers. When a child has regular tutorials, the tutor can easily do retention checks and discuss those lessons that the child cannot understand.

Some children who have academic problems are shy and often have low self-confidence, which makes group tutorials ineffective for them. Group sessions are too similar to classroom setups where competition between students remain. Unlike group tutoring, a one-on-one tutoring session eliminates the possibility of other children witnessing your child’s struggle to understand the lesson.

One-on-one tutoring is like retreating from a battlefield to refill supplies and re-energize before going back into the fray. When your child is ready, you can easily shift from one-on-one tutoring to a group session until your child has learned to cope with his studies through an improved set of study skills.

Are you bilingual? Do you speak English fluently as well as another language, say Spanish? It seems bilingualism brings more cognitive benefits than ordinarily perceived.

According to an article by Dr. Kathie Nunley over at help4teachers.com, bilingualism have several advantages. People who speak and read two languages fluently have better problem solving skills, better attention, improved executive processing skills, and reduced risks for Alzheimer’s, dementia and other progressive cognitive diseases. Children who learn two languages early have better reading skills and stronger working memory.

The reason is simple: Like a muscle, our brains work overtime to cope with hearing and using two languages at the same time. Although a person may live and work in a monolinguistic environment, the brain translates both languages together. For example, a person who speaks both Spanish and English may work as an in-home tutor in America, but continues to think in Spanish even when speaking English to others.

The vocabularies used for each language are intertwined. The region of the brain responsible for this organization is the pre-frontal cortex. This integration of linguistic skills and executive processing skills is revealed in cases of aphasic patients. Injuries to the pre-frontal cortex result to deficits in language use, such as an inability to use verbs or nouns during conversation. If the person is bilingual, he or she loses the ability in both languages.

This strange gift should be encouraged among bilingual students. Ask them to use both languages when answering questions or when sharing stories. When teaching Math or Science, explain concepts using both languages. Encourage students to read books written not only in English, but also in their second language.

Observe your child or ask your child’s teacher or in-home tutor how well your child is doing with school and homework. Professional tutors and teachers usually sense when the child has a learning problem. To help you in determining your child’s learning abilities, read the following symptoms of sensory integration problems, which Optimum Learning from Australia has provided in its free booklet for parents and educators.

• Short term memory problems
• Information goes in one ear and out the other
• Your child may not be able to remember more than one or two items from a list of four verbal instructions.
• Your child may have learned and understood tables one day, but totally forget them the next day.
• Poor reading comprehension
• Messy writing: while the attention is on what to write (auditory channel), there is no attention on how it looks (visual channel).
• Phonetic spelling: the attention is only on what it sounds like and not on what it looks like.
• A student may learn easier with the teacher whose teaching method matches the child’s learning style, such as visual or auditory. The child does not have to shift from one sensory channel to another to translate the lessons.

When the child has problems with left and right brain integration, the following behavioral signs are present:

• Poor reading skills: comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and speed may be all affected
• Reversals of “b” and “d,” numbers or “was” for “saw”
• Visual problems, as the left eye and the right eye do not communicate efficiently
• Poor eye-hand coordination
• Poor handwriting skills, i.e. capitals where they do not belong, letter size and spacing are irregular, and lines are often ignored, although these may have been pointed out to the child many times.
• Poor story writing skills, as creative ideas are processed in the right brain and grammar and punctuation are processed in the left brain
• Poor spelling: there may be reversals of letters in words, there is an extra letter, or a letter is missing (often an “n”, “r” or “l”). The child does not say the word while looking at a picture of a word. This is an example of a survival strategy used by children who can only use one side of the brain at a time.
• Exam blanks

If you or your child’s tutor or teacher observed many of these symptoms, then it is possible your child has a learning problem. Immediately consult a learning and child development specialist for correct diagnosis. Many special education schools can be trusted to help your child learn and develop the necessary skills for a healthy adult life.

Dyslexia is the most common cause of problems in writing, spelling and reading. About 20% of the population has some language learning disability and about 80% of them have dyslexia.

Children with dyslexia often have a high level of intelligence, but they were often mistaken as slow learners because of their condition. They lag behind their classes. This builds frustration within them and changes their attitudes towards school. They lose their interest, which greatly affects their academic performance.

Dyslexia can take many forms at different intensities, which makes a correct diagnosis of dyslexia difficult. Some children with dyslexia do not receive the proper attention for their learning problem.

Indirectly, in-home tutoring helps children with dyslexia, although it is not part of therapy. A correct diagnosis should always come first. From this, educators and parents can create a learning program to help dyslexics cope with school.

If the problem is indeed dyslexia, then there are professional tutors specially trained to teach children with dyslexia. They have specialized modules and learning materials that make learning fun and easy for any child.

Tutorial modules for children with dyslexia involve sensory activities. Since they have trouble reading texts they can learn through the other senses like through listening to music. Most children with dyslexia can do easy reading of very simple text, but have trouble with higher level reading skills, such as paragraphs.

In-home tutors can help the child improve reading and writing skills by giving various exercises that gradually develop the child’s confidence. The child eventually succeeds in learning along with classmates in a regular classroom setting.

Children with learning disabilities benefit more from in-home tutoring than ordinary students can. A trained in-home tutor can address the needs of a child with a learning disability on the educational and emotional level. Specialists and learning therapists can address the medical and practical needs of the child.

Some learning disabilities include:

• Dyslexia: This learning disorder affects the ability to read or perceive printed words. Children with dyslexia usually see words and letters printed backwards. For example, they see the letter “b” as “d” or read words like “on” as “no.” The reason points to left eye dominance, which reads from right to left.

• Dyscalculia: As the name implies, this learning disability results to difficulty in grasping mathematical concepts and impairs problem-solving skills. Most children and adults have difficulty with and anxiety in solving Math problems. Dyscalculia, however, reveals extreme difficulty in understanding the relationship between numbers, the value of money in coins and paper, sequences and instructions, and even spatial information, such as the difference between left and right.

• Dysgraphia: This learning disability involves difficulty in writing. Aside from widespread computer use, lack of awareness of this learning disability makes it difficult to diagnose. Some children just have bad handwriting, but when they tire easily when writing and they often omit certain words in their written sentences, then they likely have dysgraphia.

Children with learning disabilities are just as able bodied as the rest of their peers. They eat the same food and can play sports if they want to. However, they need special methods in teaching to grasp even the simplest concepts and develop the basic reading and writing skills.

These children need more attention, patience and understanding from both their parents and the educators. Some parents prefer to enroll their children in special education classes that require students either to spend the whole day at school or to spend a few hours in class. These parents often prefer to hire a learning specialist or an in-home tutor trained in special education to help their children after school.

An individualized, skill-based approach often succeeds in helping children with learning disabilities where regular classroom instruction fails. By cooperating with special education tutors, parents can help formulate an individualized education program for their child. They identify the tasks a child can or cannot do, and the child’s strengths and weaknesses. By employing the stronger senses and bypassing the disabilities, many children can develop needed skills.

We all use Math in every aspect of our daily lives. From the measurements we make every time we prepare food to the number of coins we had in our pockets, Math inevitably proves itself a very useful tool. If we do not study Math well, then we will find it difficult to manage even our personal finances.

However, few people truly appreciate Math. The general dislike for numbers probably lies in the complexity of equations and formulas we had to study in school. In time, we learned to dread the subject of Math, and the exams we had to take just to pass through grade school, and then through high school and college.

When high school seniors decide what their major in college will be, most of them would look for a course that requires less Math subjects. If they had to take Math subjects, then they prefer the basic courses. To some extent, most people suffer from math anxiety at different levels and with varying degrees of severity.

Most students normally experience anxiety during a Math exam. However, other students experience strong anxiety attacks when asked to solve a Math problem on the board. The combination of Math anxiety and the fear of public disgrace proved too much for some students that they would rather miss class and risk their grades than face another hour of calculating x and y.

Students used to perceive Math teachers as strict disciplinarians, which stems from the fact that Mathematics is a very exact discipline. The probability of getting the wrong answer is very high. This may embarrass the students and make them lose self-confidence. Thus, math anxiety inevitably develops.

There are many ways to overcome math anxiety. As a first step, the student must regain confidence in solving a simple Math problem. To strengthen this, the tutor or teacher should give rewards and hold back on the punishment. This method of reward and punishment comes from Educational Psychology principles.

Through in-home tutoring, the student avoids facing embarrassment and ridicule from fellow classmates. At the same time, positive feedback from an in-home tutor appear more personal and sincere because the relationship between the tutor and tutee is closer than between a teacher and student in a classroom setting.

In-home tutoring provides a less stressful atmosphere, which makes learning Math easy and fun. Professional tutors can give their tutees tips, such as shortcut methods and less known techniques to solve Math problems. An article by Peter Gray in Psychology Today, posted April 15, 2010, supports this, saying, “Math outside of school is fun, useful, and joyfully learned.”

Children with ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) find studying a difficult task because of the intensity of focus required. Children with ADHD find it hard to stay put and focus. They have an extremely short attention span and often get distracted. The nature of their condition prevents them from directing their attention to one idea for a long time, which does not help the learning process at all.

Having ADHD negatively affects the scholastic performance of the child. In fact, poor scholastic performance can be a sign of undiagnosed ADHD. Since children with ADHD have difficulty focusing on one activity, they have that tendency to switch from one activity to another. This leaves a lot of work unfinished. These children also find it hard to focus on instructions, posing problems with following them.

Parents do not have to fear lack of education for their children diagnosed with ADHD. If a child’s poor scholastic performance is due to ADHD, then parents have many options in helping the child. The condition just needs a large amount of effort and understanding from both the parents and the educators.

If parents want to continue sending the child to a regular school, they can pair present therapy methods with special education programs and in-house tutoring. The tutor, trained in ADHD therapy methods, can guide the child in doing school tasks and homework.

Although parents have the option to home school their children with ADHD, this option would eat up a big chunk of the parents’ time, which is a problem for working parents. Hiring an in-house tutor is the best option, especially when the tutor received training in handling kids with learning disabilities. A professional tutor can work one-on-one with the child with lessons and materials specifically designed to suit the child’s special needs.

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Optimal learning begins with identifying the seven learning styles that tutors can use to plan their lessons according to their students’ needs. Learning experts and educational psychologists identified seven unique styles of learning that each person prefers. When a tutor identifies the learning style of each tutee, he or she facilitates learning more effectively for each child.

The first learning style, Linguistic, focuses more on reading and writing. Linguistic learners easily memorize details like dates, time, places, people or events. They love to read, and write and tell stories. Tutors can use journaling, Q&A discussions, and reading assignments for students with this learning style.

The second learning style, Logical, focuses more on numbers and problem solving. Children with this type of learning style are usually very inquisitive and would prefer reading charts and graphs and answering puzzles.

The third style, Spatial, needs visual aids for a person to learn. Visual aids, such as posters, charts, videos and slides, provide stimulating sources for learning. Children who have Spatial learning styles rather prefer watching videos and slides.

The fourth style, Musical, makes use of songs and tunes to facilitate learning. Learners absorb information and comprehend more easily when the teacher pairs the lesson with music, or delivers the lesson in musical form.

The fifth style, Bodily, needs physical activities or a set of actions for learning to take place. Cooking demos, handicrafts and dancing require this learning style. Playing a game instead of a formal lecture helps students retain what they learn.

The sixth type, Interpersonal, reveals a student’s need to be with others when learning. For example, most children like being in school because they learn new things with their friends. A high school student participates in a group study with friends to help him learn.

The last learning style, Intrapersonal, differs from Interpersonal in a way. Intrapersonal learners prefer working independently. They learn better from self-study modules, such as those we see from distance education classes. They need less supervision from teachers or tutors.

In-home tutoring places the tutor in an ideal teaching situation where tutors focus only on one or two students at a time. The tutors may use these seven learning styles as their basis in creating their lesson plans with their tutees in mind. They can adjust the teaching method and activities to suit the learning style of the child.

Although the teacher in a normal classroom setting applies the same methods of teaching as the tutors, they do not fit the learning styles of all the students. A few along the way will need closer guidance than the others.

Teachers teach a class, but tutors facilitate learning. As learning facilitators, tutors are more effective than teachers. Teachers usually teach up to 30 children in one class. The group setting most effective for learning should only have up to 15 students in one class. A tutoring session, on one hand, usually consists of one tutor to one or two students, which is an ideal set up.

Tutors, especially summer tutors, bridge the gaps in learning in a classroom setting. Summer tutors focus on their students’ needs more than a teacher can do in the classroom. Students who enroll in summer classes benefit from this one-on-one guidance. Tutors closely monitor their progress and immediately apply interventions.

Several reasons for summer tutoring exist. Since the teaching set-up is one on one, the lessons focus on the child’s needs. A summer tutor pays more attention to the child’s learning process and can attend to the child’s weaknesses. Aside from that, summer tutoring address the child’s learning style and matches it to the pacing of the lessons.

In the classroom set-up, the teacher attends to an average of twenty to thirty students. Naturally, students learn at different levels and speed, and using different styles. Some students need lengthy discussions and more time to digest the lesson, while others read the materials and study on their own.

If the majority of the students understood the lesson, then the teacher moves forward, leaving behind one or two students in the process. In-house tutors help these children catch up with the rest of the class.

A summer tutor also makes it easier to diagnose learning problems. Although tutors are not expected to diagnose and correct these problems, they may give advice or refer the child to the proper professional.

For parents who cannot find time to help their children with homework or projects, summer tutors act as substitutes. Children can easily manage schoolwork while parents get the assurance that their child’s needs are met.

A sudden drop in the grades of your child indicates a disturbance in learning, but it does not necessarily mean your child needs tutoring. Disturbances, such as a death in the family, a long period of illness or a sudden change in the child’s home life, can affect the child’s grades.

Another factor contributing to low academic performance could be the absence of challenges in school. The child might be a fast learner who finds the pace of regular classes boring. The teacher and the teaching method also affect a child’s performance. Changes in the child’s social circle also affect the child’s attitude towards school and learning.

While most children easily cope with demanding schoolwork, some kids lack the intellectual stamina to keep up. A pattern of low grades and lack of initiative to participate in school show a set of alarming behavior in children. These children need more attention and help from someone who understands their difficulties in learning.

A teacher can help, but the rigid schedule at school, and the strict rules of some schools in disallowing tutoring jobs for their faculty, restricts the capacity of a teacher to tutor students beyond school hours. Hiring a professional seems a better alternative, aside from parents putting in time helping their children with schoolwork.

In-house tutoring, as opposed to online tutoring, provides more than academic assistance. Another human being who does not appear to be on the same level of authority as teachers eases the flow of learning. Pressure from maintaining good grades, getting high scores in exams, and competing with other children do not exist in in-house tutoring.

The most important basis for hiring an in-house tutor answers the question: Does your child actually need tutoring? Observe your child’s attitude towards learning. Is your child showing distaste to studying? Does it affect your child’s self-esteem? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you should consider in-house tutoring. If he or she remains curious and exhibits a desire to know, then the problem could be in school.

Some parents prefer to give their child a chance to recover from low grades. However, if you see your child try his or her best, and yet grades remain low, then it would be better to hire an in-house tutor.

Most of the time teachers take a proactive approach and recommend tutorials to students who seem to require some help. The teachers usually call the attention of the parents and discuss with them how to help their child cope up with schoolwork.

Parents often have second thoughts when hiring tutors. They hesitate because they hope the child can still improve without the need for a tutor. The think children can overcome that phase eventually.

Some parents mistake tutors as expensive ways to deal with their child’s academic woes. This wrong perception probably came from novels and films featuring scenes of governesses and private tutors working for the rich.

However, times have changed and private tutors do not only work for the rich, but more so for the disadvantaged students who truly need their help. Aside from that, private in-home tutors do not charge exorbitant fees to help children learn.

If you and your child feel a tutor will greatly help improve your child’ academic performance, then you should look for the following qualities when hiring a professional tutor:

Well-trained: Look for tutors who have undergone the right training to handle children with learning disabilities, behavior problems, and other possible causes for the child’s difficulty in dealing with lessons and pressure at school.

Also, seek the ones with extensive training in the subjects they tutor; ask for certifications and recommendations from previous employers and from previous clients, if possible. A tutor has to be equipped with the necessary knowledge that he or she can impart to the child.

Positive attitude: A tutor must have a personal investment in the child’s welfare. Look for someone who loves children and teaching. This positive attitude leads to positive actions during the tutorial sessions. A tutor with a positive attitude motivates the child to take the initiative to learn.

Passionate: This trait often goes with a positive attitude. The tutor who loves what he or she is doing can impart the same love of learning to the child. This same trait also leads the tutor to show patience and determination in helping the child.

Reliable: Being reliable as a tutor has many indicators. Professional tutors are punctual and prompt. They come to the scheduled time and place early and well prepared for every lesson.

Empathetic: A tutor who can put himself or herself in the shoes of the child would be a good choice. A good tutor understands how the child feels and knows how to relate to the child. While the tutor has the expertise and knowledge to teach, he or she should also learn to pace the lessons according to the child’s learning style and speed.

Face-to-face interviews, recommendations and feedback from other clients help parents decide which tutor to hire. To be sure, parents should hire a tutor from a reputable source, such as from an agency or from an online source, which provides testimonials from previous clients.

As the school year approaches the end, visions or running through the front door of everyone’s school on the last day brings to mind visions of hot summer days lounging in the sun without a care in the world – and definitely not more work.

As educators, we see the summer a little differently (as we should). Even if a student spends one day a week using his or her brain on something academic, it can pay dividends once school starts again in the Fall. Stepping Stone Tutors offers summer tutoring for math, science, reading, and test-preparation.

For most students, summer break usually means more fun, less schoolwork. Some students take this time to get away and have fun with friends and family members. However, not all students think this way.

Many students make good use of their free time during summer by tutoring younger children or by enrolling in summer classes to improve their skills and to prepare for the next school year. Summer tutoring brings many benefits, even if it means giving up summer camp, family trips and vacations.

A child performing poorly in school can catch up during summer with an in-home tutor. The tutor helps the child review past lessons and prepare for the start of school. While other children experience summer learning loss, a child enrolled in a summer tutoring program keeps learning, and consequently, copes well with the demands of schoolwork.

Students who are already doing well in school can do more when they take advantage of summer tutoring programs that offer advanced lessons. This gives them a better foundation of knowledge and better chances to excel when classes re-open.

On one hand, graduating students take refresher courses or general reviews of past lessons to prepare for entrance exams. This ensures that they fully comprehend the concepts they learned and retain the skills they developed while in school.

Students who will be entering college take SAT prep lessons to ease their way through the entrance tests. Some students would have already chosen the universities they wanted to enroll at. Summer gives them the best opportunity to gear up for what lies ahead of them.

Summer tutorials are not as demanding as regular classes. Students are free from the stress and pressure that schoolwork brings. The study hours are not as long and they do not have to keep up with their classmates. This relaxed pace facilitates learning more than peer competition.

Summer learning loss is more common than you think. All children lose a portion of academic knowledge and skills during summer. Students from higher income families have more opportunities to continue learning through fun and educational summer camps. However, students who belong to low income groups lack the resources to join these summer activities or get involved with summer programs at the local school.

The National Summer Learning Association says the low income students lose more than 2 months of grade equivalency in reading as well as in mathematics. The lack of learning opportunities during summer contributes to this learning loss. As more low income students suffer learning loss without benefiting from any kind of intervention, their chances of graduating from high school decreases.

Summer tutoring is a type of intervention that can staunch summer learning loss. Parents with the money to spare should enroll their children in a summer reading program or with an in-house tutor. School districts have their own summer learning programs for their students.

Summer takes almost three months of time dedicated to leisure and relaxation. However, for the less hedonistic, summer presents an opportunity to earn extra cash. Students can work in summer jobs bussing tables, manning cashiers or watching over people at the beach.A good way to earn money as well as prevent summer learning loss is to work as a peer tutor.

Peer tutors are not professional educators. They are usually college students or senior high school students who have been performing well in school. Parents can find peer tutors for their school-age children through summer tutoring programs offered by the schools and some non-government agencies. They also have the option of hiring a private tutor for in-house tutoring.

Summer tutoring allows for flexibility in schedule; the child can still enjoy short summer vacations and camps. The tutoring can be done in-house (face-to-face) or online through the Internet, depending on the needs of the student being tutored. The student learns at his or her own pace with materials that are interesting and motivational to the child. Parents also have the opportunity to get involved in their child’s summer learning. By the time the new school year comes, students would have mastered a skill from the previous year, or had a nice head start.

Every student looks forward to spending summer somewhere cool and fun. Going to classes is not one of them. However, what if learning can be cool and fun as well as beneficial for the student? Summer tutoring is a great opportunity for some students to improve grades and for others to earn extra cash.

Tutoring is not like holding a class, especially when it is one-on-one. Tutors may be professional educators or they can be other students who can help their fellow students. The tutors are employed as part of a school’s tutoring program to help their low performing students.

A private tutoring session is usually face-to-face; however, with the popularity of the Internet comes innovation, which is online tutoring. In-house tutoring has its advantages over online tutoring, and vice versa, but that is a topic best explored in another article.

For now, let us explore the benefits students can have from summer tutoring. One of the best benefits, of course, is continued learning, which prevents learning loss. Summer learning loss varies across grade level, subject matter and family income. Learning loss is greater in mathematics and reading with 2 or more months of learning achievement forgotten.

Summer tutoring can prevent this. Both the tutors and the ones receiving the tutoring are forced to refresh their learning. Even when the tutors are teachers, they still benefit from tutoring. They continue to build their teaching skills, especially with students who may have learning disabilities or with low academic scores.

Summer tutoring could be beneficial to parents, too. School age children need summer activities planned for them so they have something to do while their parents are at work during the day. Some parents send their children to summer camps. Other parents allow their children to have summer vacations in other states or in other countries.

Summer tutoring is a good alternative to summer camps and week-long vacations. It is less expensive and more advantageous.

Peer tutoring is not new to the world of education. Having students help their fellow students learn the lessons was a serendipitous innovation developed by Mr Andrew Bell of England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Andrew Bell primarily wanted to save money by using trays of sand as writing materials at the Military Male Asylum in Egmore. To make sure the sand trays were being used, Bell used some students as monitors, which were children who taught other students using the sand trays.

Later, Bell realized the use of having students teach other students in class has its benefits. The students were segregated into two types of classes: the well performing students and those who were struggling with their lessons. The achievers were utilized as peer tutors to their under-performing fellow students.

On one hand, the teachers and their teaching assistants worked in “helping children, monitoring the tutors and quizzing students to make sure the teaching system was working,” as described by Brendan Dabkowski in his paper, The History Of Peer Tutoring. This systemic approach to tutoring was adopted and later expanded by Joseph Lancaster in his school.

Lancaster’s peer tutors were provided with detailed teaching materials and answer keys for testing students with their knowledge of the lessons. All these was done while the teacher was focused in one group of boys in a class of hundreds.

William Fowle, another educator who embraced this system, conducted studies on peer tutoring and found that the children were able to teach their fellow students more effectively than adults could.

The ideas of these men spread to the United States, where few teachers worked. The educational system was still developing and financial support was hard to come by. The teachers relied on the better students to tutor their peers.

Source: Dabkowski, Brendan. The History Of Peer Tutoring. http://wrt-intertext.syr.edu/VIII/dabkowski.html. 2000

Often times, parents will ask me “how many hours of tutoring will we need?” My answer is always the same, that there are many factors involved in effective tutoring. The first being that it should be your child who wants a tutor and not the other way around.

An experienced tutor can either be a tremendous help or not much help at all depending on how interested the student is in working with them.

If it is only the parent who is interested in their child getting better grades and they are missing a large part of the equation. As a parent, you need to sit down with your child and have a serious discussion about the possibility that they might need some extra help with someone other than you but ultimately they need to come to that conclusion on their own.

After meeting with your tutor for the first time, you should have a discussion as a family afterwards about how the session went and agree together on whether or not you want to continue with the tutoring.

Every tutor has a different teaching style and personality. Assuming your family and the tutor clique in this department and you believe the tutor has sufficient experience and knowledge of the material, based on your finances, you child’s needs, and any recommendations from your tutor or your child’s teacher, you should come up with a plan for how often you will want the tutor to come and how long the sessions should be.

The most effective tutoring combination is usually when a tutor comes regularly, 1-2 times per week or more, followed by additional assignments from the tutor and/or teacher(s) to help fully master the material and to see really improvement. I also recommend ongoing dialogue between the family, tutor, and teacher(s) so that everyone stays involved and engaged in the goal of improvement.

Stepping Stone Tutors, a home tutor service specializing in matching students with local tutors announces a new milestone, six years in business. In addition to hiring mostly credentialed teachers and professionals with graduate degrees, Stepping Stone Tutors, since its inception, has never required contracts and conducts a 50 state criminal and sex offender background check on every applicant.

Bend, OR (PRWEB) January 27, 2010 — Stepping Stone Tutors, a company specializing in home tutoring for K-12 subjects, including test-prep for the ASVAB, GED, SAT, and ACT announces a new milestone, six years in business.

“The down economy has definitely increased the number of tutors looking for jobs which is great for us because we have an excellent pool of very experienced tutors to choose from” says Cogen. In addition to hiring mostly credentialed teachers and professionals with graduate degrees, Stepping Stone Tutors, since its inception, has never required contracts and conducts a 50 state criminal and sex offender background check on every applicant.

Stepping Stone Tutors

Stepping Stone Tutors, a home tutor service specializing in matching students with local tutors announces a new milestone, six years in business. “When we first started out, the company was actually called ‘Book Worm Tutoring’ but right up the road in Carlsbad, CA (we were in San Diego at the time) there was another service called ‘Book Worm Tutors’ so within the first month of being in business we had to change the name. The funny thing is that I don’t even think the other company is still in business. After building a website I realized ‘well I should probably go hire some tutors now.’ I’ll always remember sitting down with the first group of Stepping Stone Tutor applicants at Cafe976 and hiring the first 6 tutors. You know after that, you go back to the office and more or less wait for the phone to ring” said Andrew Cogen, CEO of Stepping Stone Tutors. And the phone did ring (and ring, and ring) until a small operation of a handful of tutors morphed into a network of more than 150 tutors throughout the West coast and Southwest.

With Stepping Stone Tutors, students are able to request an in-home tutor for their location and within 24 hours (or less) start working on current assignments or get ready for an upcoming test. The company provides home tutors for nearly every grade level and subject matter. Students are able to meet with tutors face-to-face as frequently or infrequently as needed and are able to develop long-term relationships that can pay dividends later on.

“Aside from a ton of repeat business from returning customers we have recently started to tap into social networking to spread the word about our tutoring service” says Cogen, “We now maintain a blog or you can follow us on Twitter.”

About the Company: Stepping Stone Tutors was founded in 2004. A home tutoring service, it has matched thousands of students with home tutors in more than 18 cities nationwide.

Let your New Year’s resolution this year be to finally get a handle on grades by working with an in-home tutor.

Right now we’re offering specials (up to 25% off) to get 2010 started on the right foot.

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For a limited time Stepping Stone Tutors is offering reduced pricing for in home tutoring services.  As always, there are never any contracts or sign-up fees. Our tutors are college graduates and can help with most K-12 subjects.

In home tutoring service is available for San Diego, Irvine, Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco, Bend, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Denver, Colorado Springs, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.

Stepping Stone Tutors, a company specializing in home tutoring for K-12 subjects, announces that it now has more than 18 locations nationwide.

Bend, OR September 22, 2009 — Stepping Stone Tutors, an in-home tutoring service specializing in matching students with local tutors, announces that it now offers in-home tutoring in more than 18 cities nationwide. With so many tutors to choose from, students can be confident they will be able to find one just right for their needs, no matter what the subject.

Students are able to request a tutor for their location and within 24 hours start working on current assignments in the comfort of their own home. Each tutor is required to meet a list of requirements including education level, number of years experience, and a 50 state criminal and sex offender background search.

“Because we have been doing this since 2004, we can be pretty selective about who we hire to work for us.  I would say that probably only the top 5% of applicants are selected to become Stepping Stone Tutors.  We literally receive 100-200 applications a day for people wanted to work for us.  The problem is that just having a college degree and doing some tutoring her and there with your little brother or sister doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be a good tutor.  We look for tutors who have a genuine passion for helping students understand the material not just someone who wants to make money.  Most of our tutors have graduate degrees and are experts in the subjects they tutor and most importantly, love what they do.” said Andrew Cogen, CEO of Stepping Stone Tutors.

Stepping Stone Tutors offers tutors for nearly every grade level and subject matter. Students are able to meet with our tutors face-to-face as frequently or infrequently as needed and are able to develop long-term relationships that can pay dividends when test time comes around.

Stepping Stone Tutors began in 2004 in San Diego, CA and originally focused its efforts on the San Diego County area. Since then, the company has matched thousands of students with private tutoring service in more than 18 cities.

“We’re excited to have added over 200 tutors since we started Stepping Stone Tutors. Our tutors range from college graduates to young professionals to retirees who want to keep busy. We know that whether our students are looking for an algebra, Spanish, or English tutors we’ll be able to provide a great one. Our students’ success is very important to us and we want to make sure both our students and tutors have the tools they need to be successful,” said Cogen.

About Stepping Stone Tutors: In-home tutoring service, Stepping Stone Tutors, (http://www.steppingstonetutors.com) helps parents and students locate qualified, certified in-home tutors at an affordable price. In addition to one-on-one tutoring with math tutors, physics tutors, calculus tutors and more.

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