John A.

I love to work with students. I also need to take care of the family I love. For this reason, I am interested in staying local. Travel: If I spend 30 minutes driving to and from an appointment, it limits me to one client per night. Out of fairness to my family, the cost has to be more to accomodate travel than for someone who lives in Centreville vicinity or comes to a local location for tutoring. Cancellation: If you care about your child so much that you are willing to invest in a tutor (kudos to you, by the way), you would probably be a little frustrated with me if I cancelled on you--without adequate notice (unless I was cancelling due to a sudden illness). Since I understand that, I also expect the same courtesy in return. Even with my expected 72-hours notice, I am not likely to be able to refill the spot your student had taken. If you cancel within 72 hours, you should pay the agreed-upon fee unless we rescheduled due to a sudden illness. Our ongoing relationship will always be subject to mutual agreement. Materials: My general assumption is that your student is taking a course that has basic materials provided. For whatever reason, your student couldn't understand those materials (this is not uncommon with the way math texts are written). My job is to help your student to understand the concepts communicated through those materials in a way that helps them "get it." Basic materials like paper and pencil or materials I already have will be freely shared. If I have to invest in other materials for your child, I will consult you to ask what you would like me to do. My expectation is that if I buy materials for use with your child, we will share the cost and I will be able to retain the original materials for future use--to bless another student just like I was able to bless your student with what I already had. We can always stick with the child's textbook and free online materials. That will be up to you. Sometimes manipulatives can be very helpful and have cross-functional learning opportunities for students. I invested an overwhelming amount of my salary when I was teaching in public schools. Since I am choosing to stay home with my little one, I cannot take on that responsibility any longer. Groups: While I believe 1-on-1 is optimal, I would be willing to work with groups of up to 3 for the higher rate of $75. There can be advantages to learning in groups, but there are also increased responsibilities--like differentiating instruction for children who learn best in different ways and designing group-related project(or problem)-based learning. It is also likely that to teach the same concepts to groups, I will need more time than I do in a one-on-one setting. For that reason, if I agree to do a group, I would plan to give 1.5 hours for that $75. I am interested in being fair to both you, my customer, and my family. I love children and love to make math easy for them. As a public school teacher I was often at school until 9 PM and up in the early morning hours planning and preparing. You will receive the same kind of caring preparation for your student.