There is a story from many years ago of a primary school teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same.

But that was impossible because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn’t play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last.

However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise, Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners…he is a joy to be around.”

His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.”

Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with pretty ribbons, except for Teddy’s. His present which was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.

Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my mom used to.”

After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead she began to teach children.

Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets.”

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer – the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he’d met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course Mrs. Thompson did.

And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.”

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”

NOTE: This story has an unknown author. It has probably been shared many times in blogs and websites, but it really is a very inspirational story that novice and veteran in-home tutors, private tutors, student teachers, professional educators, and even informal mentors will surely appreciate.

Sources: The Best Teacher Ever and A Teacher’s Story.

A lot of blogs talk about traditional learning centers like Huntington or Sylvan or about the relatively new industry of online tutoring; however, few blogs talk about in-home tutoring or what I like to call the “other” option for tutoring.

Traditional learning centers are great for students who are doing well in school and just want to focus on specific skills. It also helps if the parents have a lot of disposable income to invest in one of the programs they offer that tend to start around $800 per class. They do offer their own assessment tests which can help to identify problem areas; however, these areas of need are only in relation to the programs being offered at the learning center and do not necessarily address current school work and low grades which for many families are a larger concern.

What typically happens at Sylvan Learning Center for example is that a student is given an assessment test when they first come to the center. They are subsequently enrolled in a course which would typically be several weeks long. The student would be in a classroom type setting usually with 3 or more other students. The “teacher’s” role is more or less to provide handouts and worksheets for the students to use throughout the course. The worksheets are specifically geared towards helping each student pass the test at the end of the course created by Sylvan.

While this approach may be successful in teaching set skills, it does not typically help most students in real time, students who are failing their classes and not understanding the material and are continuing to fall further behind in school.

The learning center model can be self serving because a student is only “guaranteed” to pass the learning center class which logic would tell us should be an easily attainable goal when the entire course is geared around helping students pass the test at the end. The “guarantee” is that if a student does not pass the class then then can keep taking it until they do. The problem again, is that even if the student passes the class, they are still falling behind in school and not understanding their homework.

In addition to falling behind, the student is using their free time after school to attend the learning center classes and their parents (unless the student can drive) are having to drive them to and from classes at the learning center often several times per week.

One of the other options for tutoring which has become more or less a recent phenomenon with the advent of widespread broadband internet access, is online tutoring. Online tutoring usually takes a totally different approach to learning centers which is to work on current assignments only. Students are able to login and connect with a tutor 24 hours a day and get help in real time.

Online tutoring can be great for families on a budget because it is the cheapest option for getting help with school work. The timing is also quite flexible because a student can get help at anytime throughout the day.

The downside to online tutoring is that the tutor is in another city, often another country altogether which presents some issues for the student, mainly they are not in the same room together or they have a hard time understanding the tutor especially when the tutor lives in India.

This brings me to what I call the “other” option for tutoring which are private in-home tutoring services. In-home tutoring brings the best of both worlds and bridges the gap between the traditional learning center approach and the new resource which is online tutoring.

With in-home tutoring, students can get help in real time on current assignments. The tutor works with them one-on-one at home usually after school. The benefit of the tutor coming to a student’s home is that the parent does not need to drop them off and pick them up again later in the day. In addition, working one-on-one is hugely beneficial to the student being able to ask questions and get the tutor’s full and undivided attention.

An in-home tutor can work on only the subject areas that the parent or student wants help with. Often times a student needs help preparing for a specific standardized test like the ASVAB, THEA, or SAT and more often than not, the student only needs help with certain content areas of that particular test.

What in-home tutoring allows a student to do in this case, is instead of enrolling in an entire course to prepare for their test at a learning center, usually at a premium cost and spending hours at a time working on subject areas the student has already mastered, the student can focus their time on the areas they need the most help with.

Working with an in-home tutor, students only pay for the time they spend with the tutor and can get help right away. In-home tutoring costs less than a learning center course and slightly more than online tutoring, but is often the best option for families who need help in real time for current assignments and tests and who need flexible scheduling.