Why You Should Not Hire Your Teacher (or a Teacher at Your School) As Your Tutor..

"I'm going to hire my teacher as a tutor. What could go wrong? She already knows the curriculum! My son likes her and she understands her moods and his strengths and weaknesses and she knows what will be on the test. He will also learn how to do it her way, instead of someone else's way. What could go wrong?"

This is an all too common statement uttered by families seeking to get their children ahead in their scholastic considerations. 

 Here are a few reasons why you should reconsider hiring your child's teacher as their tutor:

1. They are Impartial

School teachers that serve as tutors cannot provide you with the feedback that you will need to help your child when they need it. Because there is an exchange of money for services, they may be unable to tell you what your child needs to continue working on because every time they work with your little one they should know how to do everything, correct? 

2. They only use what the school provides

School teachers are on a rather small budget to buy materials that are dedicated to helping your child. What they might end up doing is recycling the pages that came out of a book that was handed down from another teacher. If your child really does have a difficult time with a subject, the teacher will look at what is right in front of them instead of procuring the best resources for your child.

3. They may not know of any other ways to help

Teachers have limited access to training and professional development opportunities that they themselves attend. One private school I know of received training in the same methodologies that I use however, it was extremely diluted and the trainer was so rushed for time that the teachers did not understand the depth and breadth of what they needed to know. So it was back to You Tube as usual.

4. They can only tell you what you want to hear

"Johnny is doing so good!" When I hear this it is one of the most insincere statements one can make to a parent (and by the way, children do not "do good"). In order for your child to understand how they can improve in a certain area, they need to have someone who is unafraid of giving them honest, personal feedback. Once you find that person who knows how to balance unrelenting feedback with a great tutoring style, you have yourself a keeper. However, if the person needs to tell you what you want to hear - it may not be great for your child in the long term.

5. They cannot serve two masters because..

They receive their first paycheck and the more important one from the school. Teachers do not have the ability to speak against their employer because - their employer is the one who pays the bills. It's a horrible situation to be up against and if you think about it, you would not want to be in their shoes either.

6. Here today, gone tomorrow

Sometimes you are looking for something cheap, quick and easy. If this is for you - then hiring your child's teacher (like most people) will serve it's purpose. For others, one teacher/tutor may not be able to help the child and the problem only becomes worse through time. A good (or great) tutor is able to look at problems and help the child with strategies in overcoming these challenges. Otherwise, you have just hired yourself a "homework helper". That's not a tutor.

If you have any questions about Orton-Gillingha, Handwriting Without Tears, Singapore Math, tutoring, teaching, or mainly anything that involves your child, their school, and what they should be learning and how they could learn - in the Metro Atlanta area, please feel free to contact us at info@learningridge.com or you can call us at (404) 964-8533. 

JATP linked to Tummy Problems?

Every year is the same, but different. As I watch these annual events unravel, I have to stop and remind myself of the very first client that I had who has ever asked me about the process of private school admissions in Atlanta. The question that she asked was, "Do you think that my daughter will be accepted into this private school?" My naive self had responded with an astute and confident, "Yes, why not?". That was my first mistake and one that I have learned from since.

Navigating parents and families through making informed decisions about private schools in Atlanta has been one of my favorite and most exciting skills in my career as an educational consultant. The only drawback of this is that clients are unaware of  the emotional changes they will undergo during the process. Most people would like to say, "Ignorance is bliss" whereas I have to tell them, "Knowledge is power!". The more information that parents have at their disposal, the better prepared they are during certain pivotal points of the process.

Families need to be reminded that schooling, especially private school schooling comes with a degree of pressure and performance that one needs to understand and be able to handle. It is important to know a certain amount of information from the school and take into account how your particular family would fit into the institution. The more information that you can obtain, the better off you will be (and hopefully this will save you at least one trip to the doctor).

If you are in the midst of making decisions about private schools or would like consulting about private school, keep the following in mind:

1. Private Schools in Atlanta are extremely competitive. Outside of another major metropolitan city, we are the 2nd most competitive market for private education.

2. Private Schools in Atlanta have cultural shifts that change as frequently as the weather. In order to adapt to certain demographics or commercial interests, private schools become quite malleable in how they approach their persona and may not be the same school that your colleague may have remembered.

3. Private Schools Are Great at Marketing. They know how to sell their program (product).

4. Private Schools in Atlanta Tend to Function Like Professional Sports Team Managers. It is important that schools look at their portfolio of families and see who becomes part of their school and what their school community reflects. Even though one of your children attends the school, that does not necessarily mean that all of them will attend. They might "trade" a sibling for another family to boost their community pool of resources.

Whatever the outcome of your particular situation may be, remember to relax. It is not the end of the world and there are a number of wonderful schools in the Metro Atlanta area for your child to flourish in. Focus on the goal (a great education) and not the place (school) and your child will thrive!

If you would like information about our programs, feel free to contact me at christine@learningridge.com or you can call me at (404) 964-8533.

One of the best things my parents gave me was a Work Ethic

Every day from when I started school as a first grader (that is a story in itself, my dad had me skip kindergarten) to when I finished high school, I remember my father always glancing over my shoulder to see what I was working on - but not saying one word. 

In my home this was typical of his approval of how I conducted myself, and how he wanted me to be perceived in public. He neither criticized me for my grades (albeit there were never any "horrible" grades that I brought home) nor did he offer to help me with my studies. The dreams that my parents had, specifically of me, were synonymous of the dreams shared with many individuals who were in the same class and situation as they were: be a nurse, marry a physician and your life is done. Interestingly enough, that's not what happened.

My preparation for being what they wanted was ill fitting. I never spent more than two minutes taking care of dolls when they were "sick" and honestly, I was more interested in math and business than public health. Instead, my days were spent gazing over at the television and listening in on shows that improved my vocabulary and inadvertently, changed the way  I spoke when I was with people outside of the home. My classmates commented on my "less than age appropriate" style of speaking as they felt intimidated by my speech patterns and keen sense of pitch and delivery. 

I preferred observing individuals to gain insight on what made them successful and respected rather than followed a pattern of "rules" when your livelihood requires that you take someone else's lead. It was difficult to see what my parents were doing - on one hand, they groomed me to be obedient (to a fault) and a good role model in our family. On the other hand, it backfired on them as I became more astute and reserved as I preferred the comfort of a biography over the company of individuals my age.

It became apparent that developing a modest sense of self and an unwavering sense of responsibility to those whom I wished to serve was the path my father took in raising me. As I came home from the first job that I ever had, my father looked at me as I tried to gain sympathy from him because I had complained about how I worked on my feet for 7 and 1/2 hours straight. In an unwavering voice meant to prepare me for adulthood he said, "if this day is too hard for you, what do you think longer days will look like? This is nothing."

At that moment I realized one of few life lessons my late father would teach me during his short lifetime. He never worried about how hard I needed to work. Both him and my mother knew that I always strived to stand out with the work that I did and felt a sense of obligation and loyalty to those who believed in me. What impressed me is that they always knew how important it was for me to be prepared to work. They could never understand how much I loved doing "unpaid" work to learn a skill or do research, something that in my eyes is a bribe to learn what you already need to know. In a sense, the work ethic that my parents gave me was the best, and one of the only things that I am proud to have today. Without it - life would be filled with obstacles instead of momentous occasions to conquer the world! 

When Learning How to Master A New Area Focus on: Time

When parents come to my office, it's a very cathartic experience for them. For the first time in a course of several months if not years, they are able to discuss what has been happening with their child in the most productive manner and in return, will have a highly skilled and experienced individual draw up a plan to help the child work on that particular area of development. That is the relatively easy part for me.

Over the course of the last few years, I have seen many parents (not only in my practice) move from that model to a more simplified, instant gratification prone mode of thinking that all progress hinges on an overnight product. It's surprising that certain disorders such as those characterized as dyslexia or Attention Deficit Disorder can take three months to "cure" or even one month, as some parents are ambitiously certain that their child is a doppelgänger of their adult self.

The true fact of the matter is, it takes time to develop new skill sets and habits. For example, I've had clients that have had children most recently diagnosed with ADHD and have convinced themselves that their child is incapable of accomplishing anything without their medication. Fortunately for me, there are always three perspectives: what a parent sees, what individuals around the child sees, and what the child wants to do. This phenomena was truly evident with one father that he convinced me that "when you work with my child, you'll realize why we need to put him on medication". I took this client up to his challenge, worked with the child given the task that he wanted to work on, and found no sign of ADD whatsoever.

As with anything that you would like to improve or change in your child's life, it takes time to develop, acquire, and maintain certain skill sets. The desire to improve by simply making one phone call or talking to a neighbor is simply not enough. Having a proper plan that is put in place and setting that plan alongside with expectations in a realistic timeline is more conducive to long-term growth and success. There are a few clients that I have been fortunate enough to know what this is and what this means and rarely, if ever, change gears. When I meet these clients I realize who they are and know that they are the parents that are able to lead and work through any type of adversity that their child is up against. Whether it be a developmental reading disorder, a visual processing issue or developing character, building a great foundation for your child is much more beneficial in the long run.




Christine Javier, Ed, M. is the founder of Learning Ridge, LLC. Learning Ridge, LLC is an education consulting agency in Atlanta focusing on providing premium educational solutions to high performing families and communities.