As tutors, we are the bridge between a student’s academic struggle and their future success. However, that bridge can sometimes feel crowded. According to a recent report by Harvard psychologists, "overparenting"—often called helicopter parenting—is...
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As tutors, we often find ourselves caught between "old-school" methods and modern educational trends. Few topics spark as much debate as sentence diagramming and word study. Some see them as relics of a Victorian classroom, while others view them as...
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As tutors, we are often the first person a parent calls after their child receives a dyslexia diagnosis. In that moment, parents are usually overwhelmed, confused, and looking for a lifeline. It can be tempting to jump straight into our "sales" proc...
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We’ve all been there: You’re on a video call with a six-year-old. You show him the word lamp. He segments it perfectly—/l/ /a/ /m/ /p/—but then he blends it and says “leaf.” When you prompt him again, he looks at the ceiling and guesses “up.” Then h...
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For parents and educators, watching a child struggle to read is often a confusing journey. When a student skips lines, loses their place, or complains of headaches, the immediate question is often: Is it their eyes, or is it their brain? The answer ...
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Moving from a classroom or a passion for teaching into the world of private tutoring is exciting, but it comes with a steep learning curve: learning to treat your teaching like a business. Too often, highly trained tutors find themselves being "guil...
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As a parent, a student, and a tutor, I used to think my "office" was just my desk, my laptop, and a very organized set of binders. Then I met a student who was fascinated by marine biology but struggling with the dry, technical passages in his textb...
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Tutoring is a relationship, but it is also a business. When things get messy, it’s helpful to remember that you are building a legacy of excellence—and part of that excellence is teaching families how to respect the educational process. 1. The Clock...
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There’s a famous quote by the educational theorist Thomas Carruthers that says: "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." At first glance, that sounds a little scary for a tutor, doesn’t it? If we are successful, our "customers...
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In the world of education, it is so tempting to compare yourself. You might see a tutor who has a high-end studio or someone who specializes in complex calculus and think, "Should I be doing that?" The answer is: Only if you want to! No two tutors a...
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There is something so special about the "click" that happens during an in-person session—the way a student’s face lights up when a sentence finally makes sense or the shared excitement of looking at a star chart together. While digital tools are ama...
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Building an online tutoring presence is a bit like setting up a shop. You can either rent a stall in a busy marketplace (platforms like Superprof or Wyzant) or build your own boutique on a quiet street (your own website). Both have their charms, and...
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One of the biggest mistakes new tutors make is trying to teach "everything to everyone." You might be a brilliant writer, but that doesn’t mean you should be tutoring 1st-grade phonics and college-level philosophy at the same time. Finding your nich...
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Hello, future educator! If you’ve found yourself browsing through the digital stacks of Project Gutenberg, marveling at the structured wisdom in OpenStax textbooks, or getting excited about the science of reading via UFLI and Cox Campus, you might a...
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Effective tutoring is quieter than people expect. There is less explaining, less rescuing, and far more intentional design. Across decades of research, high-impact tutoring consistently shares the same core features. When these are present, learning...
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