What happens when my tutor moves away?

Parents dread hearing these words from their tutor: "I am going to have to stop tutoring because..." Your tutor knows your child, knows his learning style, knows instinctively what he needs help with. Is it possible to replace the tutor?

The answer is yes, but it may take some time. There are many tutors out there, but far fewer really good ones that can form that bond with your child the way your old one did. You may have to interview a few, and I give you some tips below to do that. You can also talk to a tutoring service that continually searches for good tutors. The advantage of working with a service is that if your tutor gets sick, goes on vacation, or moves on to bigger and better things, the service can replace the tutor because they have a team of tutors working with them. This means no work for you searching for and interviewing new candidates.

If you do decide to go it on your own, here are a few tips to remember:

• Take notes when talking to each candidate so that you can remember them later.
• Ask for references. We routinely ask for 3 professional references, and we prefer references that demonstrate tutoring, teaching or other experience with young people.
• Ask what happens if it doesn't work out. Do you have to pay anyway? Do you get refunded any pre-payments?
• Talk to the tutor about his/her background. Notice his/her communication skills.
• As the tutor talks, try to gauge his/her personality. Think about whether the personality will be a good match for your child.
• Ask the tutor what the plan will be to help your child, once you have shared your concerns about your child's school work. Listen to see if the tutor is both confident and flexible in his/her approach. You want confidence for obvious reasons, and you want flexibility in case the first approach you try does not work.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions about the process of interviewing and acquiring a tutor, feel free to contact us at www.aplushometutors.com/contact.