Starting up a tutoring practice?

I’ve been tutoring for a little over a year. I was working as a sped teacher before I began tutoring, and initially drew my clients from my case load. My first summer went well, but things were slow in the fall (which is not uncommon…parents seem to start the year with high hopes that things will be different, which lasts until the first progress report.)

I have friends who have placed ads in the paper but I would not suggest this, as they did not get any responses. I took the cheap way of doing things. I created some flyers, posted them around town, and contacted all of the local schools. I got about 20% of my clients this way, initially. Currently I’m relying only on word of mouth and recomendations from schools, and am much busier than I intended to be this summer. I guess this means that you should assume it will take about a year to get your business up to speed.

I’d probably suggest that you have a part-time job while you are getting established, just to give you a cushion and comfort level if things start slow.

I’m glad to hear you are getting some training (in research-based approaches, I hope!) That is one thing that sets me off from many tutors, and one of the reasons that local schools are recommending me to parents.

Best of luck to you!

I don’t have a case load to draw from. I am working pt as a tutor in a charter school. They are high-risk kids. I am not really thinking I want to set up a practice with these kids, but it has an been interesting experience.
I might continue working there pt.

>things. I created some flyers, posted them around town, and contacted >all of the local schools. I got about 20% of my clients this way, initially.

I made business cards. A flyer might be good as well. Gives more info. I have put them up around town and also passed them out to people that I know get around and meet parents.

>Currently I’m relying only on word of mouth and recomendations from >schools, and am much busier than I intended to be this summer. I guess this means that you should assume it will take about a year to get your business up to speed.

Maybe a good assumption. Your comment about fall was interesting. I hadn’t thought of this but I imagine it to be true.

>I’m glad to hear you are getting some training (in research-based >approaches, I hope!) That is one thing that sets me off from many tutors, and one of the reasons that local schools are recommending me to >parents.

Yes, on the research based approaches.

Thanks,

—des

Des — I still can’t find the file where I stuck my last outline on becoming a tutor, so here’s a bunch of thoughts.

(1) Finding students:

Advertise *locally*. Laundromat bulletin boards, supermarket bulletin boards, *local* weekly papers (people really read every word of every ad in these).
Avoid big-city papers, which get little response and are very expensive.
Be *specific* in your advertising, subjects, ages, locations, times to call. (My office hours are 11AM to 11PM — different, but if I tutor evenings I simply cannot also have 8AM calls)

Some libraries keep lists of available tutors, but some require you to be employed by the school board, a legal protection for them but a catch-22 for an independent. Some colleges and universities keep lists, again sometimes open and sometimes restricted to their own people. Try local college education departments, student employment offices, and student help centers. List your name and qualifications wherever you can.

Register for online tutoring services, *if* they also give in-person referrals. I have had very very good referrals from ISER.com, worth every penny. Nit fast to respond, but nice (Tell them I sent you)
I have had bizarre and useless referrals from IDA (International Dyslexia Association) — apparently nobody there can use a map — anywhere from 3000 to 300 miles away from me, and they keep re-assigning me to offices further and further away.
Other services such as tutor.com, tutornation, findatutor, etc., have had one hit or none at all.

Make up flyers and business cards and post them wherever you can. You never know where you will get a response. Business cards post well. Flyers should be half or quareter page in size so you can fit on crowded bulletin boards, also cheaper. I use colour printed ones to get more attention. Carry business cards in your purse and flyers in your car as you may spot a bulletin board any time. These have a very very low response rate, but one hit out of five hundred is enough to make it worth it.

You definitely will get the most productive results from word of mouth, but you have to get it started. Leave business cards with friends and neighbours and present students, and encourage them to pass the card along if anyone mentions a problem. Let them know you definitely have room for a few new students.

I have had no luck whatsoever contacting schools. It depends on the schools in your area. I keep hitting ones that are very defensive of their territory and very insulted than anyone might do better than they can. Others are nervous about legalities of recommending anyone outside the system. It’s probably worth trying to contact principals, reading teachers, and special ed directors, but don’t hold your breath for results. I would send a cover letter and a business card.

(2) When the student contacts you:

Be prepared for weirdness. I advertise very clearly that I offer help in reading for elementary, French/English languages, and advanced math for high school and college. I get calls for help in Grade 9 social studies. I advertise clearly that I teach scientifically based phonics-emphasis reading skills; I got another email yesterday (IDA again) asking for whole-word methods, also 500 miles away. I make it clear that I teach advanced math for college and college-entry; I get people calling — and getting mad at me — because they want coaching in how to pass a basic arithmetic test, preferably without working or learning anything.
You may want to help and feel that this poor person needs you. DON’T DO IT. You want to develop a reputation as a knowledgeble and competent tutor. Jumping in over your head in a subject/grade area you don’t know, with an age you aren’t comfortable with, or with someone who is bound and determined to never learn math but who wants tricks to cheat the test — you will not succeed and will harm your reputation rather than helping it. The person will quit and you won’t earn any money either. Also, the kind of person who cannot understand your ad is likely to misunderstand everything else you say and do and can be dangerous, accusing you of things you never said or did.
Be a little picky and stick to students you have a real chance of helping, with parents who are supportive of your approaches. In the long run it’s healthier and more profitable.

Be prepared for dropouts. Often I have as many as half the students who start with me come to one or two sessions and then give up. It’s NOT you!! They are looking for an easy out, a magic pass without any work, and when they find that they actually have to learn something, they go look elsewhere for snake oil. I avoid putting anyone on the permanent schedule or making any major changes to fit them in or any investment in materials until I’ve worked with them for a few weeks and am sure they will stick with it.

(3) Scheduling:

Elementary students (or rather their parents) want regular and predictable sessions. I strongly recommend a minimum of two hour-long sessions per week, preferably three, four if both of you can fit it in and they can pay. Less than twice a week is just not enough for effective retention. Steady tutoring for a few months is more effective than hit-or-miss for a year.
You will find your after-school hours from about 3 to 6 in hot demand; I reserve these hours as much as possible for elementary kids.
You may have to work around blended families and split custody and parents’ work; be as flexible as possible. You can eat lunch at 2PM and supper at 7 or 10; work around the students’ needs.

High school students have different needs.
Those that need re-building of their reading/writing skills should have intensive tutoring at least two hours a week (preferably four), but be prepared to switch those hours around depending on sports and clubs and meetings etc. However put your foot down and pull out if you find you are getting more cancellations than meetings.
Others who need help with math or study skills etc. may need more work for projects or exams, less at other times. I work on-call with several high school and college students. I see them mostly in the evenings.

(4) Fees:

Fees vary tremendously between areas and even in the same area. Colleges offer peer tutoring for nothing — and that is what it is usually worth, but it’s hard to convince people of that until they have tried it and failed. Students offer tutoring for low prices like $10, again what it’s worth for the sharing of ignorance, but you have to prove that you’re better. On the opposite end, centers like LMB claim that they have all the secrets of life and charge as much as $100 per hour; you have the problem of convincing people that you are just as qualified and professional as they are (some people are impressed by high prices and fancy decor, and this is hard to fight.) Personally, I set my fees at $30 — $25 basic plus $5 travel in the area. This is exceptionally low, but I am still starting up the business and I’m in an area with a lot of people who are far from rich.

Some people will be happy that your fees are affordable. Some will work hard and do extra hours to earn enough to pay you; remember you’re working hard too, and don’t feel too guilty.
Then there will be some who will try to bargain you down. Oddly enough they are usually not the poorest, they are just people who like to get things cheap. **Don’t do it.** You can’t make a decent living that way, and these people are guaranteed to brag about their special prices and make your other local customers feel bad. Set a fee and stick to it. If people honestly can’t pay you in cash, work out an exchange of services, from lawn mowing to car repair. A rule from psychologists — don’t give away your services for nothing, because that is how they will be valued.

**Keep records** You need them for taxes (be nice to the IRS) and your students’ families may claim them on taxes too. I have started to use a self-copying receipt book. I am utterly terrible about keeping it up to date, but every month or so I ask the students’ family to help me update it. They know what they’re paying and it helps me keep straight. I also have all the students’ addresses and phone numbers in the book, which helps a lot, having records in one place.

(5) Materials:

I find that it helps whenever possible to put my students into a planned program. We work through a specific book or books from start to finish. This alleviates people’s worries about a private tutor not giving an organized curriculum like a school or a center, and it gives the student a real sense of accomplishment to finish each level.
I collect both new and old materials, several different programs, and try to find a suitable place to start, preferably at a level where the student finds the work fairly at first, to build confidence and get a good rhythm going.
Use clean, neat, new materials at all times. You want the student to have a positive attitude, and working with garbage is not the way to go.
I use photocopies of old and out of print materials; I put these neatly into three-prong folders to make fresh and tidy workbooks.
Keep your materials as organized as possible. I used a backpack for a while but have gone back to having the office in milk crate files (Wal-mart specials) in the back of my car. This can work well.
Be as professional as possible. I dress extremely casually (jeans) but stay neat, have my work organized, and always use professional language.

(6) Legalities:

Report income and be nice to the IRS. Schedule C *and* self-employment form. It isn’t too hard, and at the income you’ll be earning, not too painful at least at first.

Keep records as above.

Maintain professional language and behaviour at all times.

In general, the kitchen/dining table, with other people around, is the best location; you don’t want to be in a closed room alone especially with a disturbed adolescent; accusatons can be hard to refute.

If a situation makes you uncomfortable, cancel the contract rather than letting yourself in for trouble.

Most situations are verbal contract only; you may want to go for a written contract for long-term work or if you are going ot invest in a lot of materials or traingin (make sure you at least get the investment back, even if they change their minds.)

I tell my families that I am a tutor, not an accountant, and one way I keep my prices low is to have nearly zero overhead. For me, it’s pay as you go. I take cheques or cash — no problem with cheques, since I do report income.
If you can keep accounts straight, you may want to be paid by the week or month. But be sure to be paid ahead of time at least until you know the family very very well.

_________________________

Those are all the thoughts that come up at the moment. Please ask about anything else that comes up.

A couple of weeks ago, I came home from my PG training. My trainer told me that I needed to tutor one on one before going back to the classroom. I had two kids lined up and was already to go. I had shared the book Reading Reflex with the mom of the kids who I would tutor. She worked on it for a month. I came home to work with them and the truth is they didn’t need the program any longer. So I was desperate. I had to practice before I left for the month of July on vacation in Michigan.

Here’s what I did. I put a free ad in the online newsletter at my son’s charter school. I told them about this awesome program called Phono-graphix. I said that I needed to practice on one or two kids ASAP and for free if the kid could come every day, on time, and complete homework. I had over 13 replies in one day. I actaully ended up working with 2 kids. Of course the free part was big but nonetheless I can now see there is a market for this.

So, I’m not advocating work for free, but if you could somehow start out and tutor some kids whose mom was influencial at a school, the word will fly. If there is an online newsletter at schools, I think this would be a great resource.

ALso, find out when parent teacher conferences are held. Put fliers on cars in the parking lot the day of P/t conferences. The people I know who are trainers who are PG have waiting lists. You only need to get started, and when it works, they come to you.

Good luck,
Michelle

Forgot to mention — this is doing me a *lot* of good recently — I am paying ($45 for six months, and worth every penny) to be on a city directory website, toutMontreal.com
This is a website that has a search engine; I have a twenty-five word listing in each of two languages, but what makes it especially useful is that if anyone types in “tutors Montreal in their search bar, my name and listing pop up (try it!). I have ten key words in each language that will call me up.
Try to find local town or city directories and get listed any way you can. If you can get onto a search engine, great; try to make sure it’s location specific (those 300 to 3000-mile referrals are just a nuisance.)
I haven’t got a personal website yet, just my iser.com listing — also worth every penny — but this would also be very good for long-term build-up of referrals.

Ok, I have another question. I don’t want an argument re: PG, LMB, OG other reading approach, but more how you selected it. What your reasoning was. I don’t mind the *mention* of one or the other— but I think the arguments are not productive. BTW, I am talking about some research based method, and not some goofball thing like “Hooked on Phonics”.

Just some of your thoughts on what kind of considerations you had and that sort of thing.

—des

You can also apply to be a tutor with Tutor.com. You pick your own hours. The kids really like it too -homework help on demand. Go to:

http://www.tutor.com/

and click on “Tutor”

Well, I learned to read from my mother back in the 1950’s, and my mother learned from my grandmother back in the 1920’s and so on, so I come at this from a very different perspective — to me phonics isn’t something new and wowie-zowie, it’s something we’ve been using, doing, and preaching for three generations and more. So I just looked through education stores until I found a really good and complete phonics workbook series at a reasonable price and stuck with it; and I looked through bookstores until I found a really good basic limited-vocabulary primer series and stuck with it. I took linguistics courses out of interest. The rest I do for myself.

Des—

You are a smart woman, I have read your replies and I can tell you have a feeling for this. I have been trained in a whole gamut of research based approaches as a speech professional. However, I don’t stick to just “ONE” approach. I use the one that is needed by the child and one that helps me meet their IEP goals.

When I first started out I advertised in my child’s school newsletter it was only a $100 a year for twice a month business card sized ad. I got some calls from that. I also did a lot of word of mouth, got in with some private schools and children were referred to me that way I also had a neuropsyche who would refer kids to me now and then. The latest thing I have done is to hook up with an audiologist and I do aural rehab and literacy/reading tutoring with her clients who have auditory processing issues. She refers kids to me all the time, I treat them at her office, she takes a cut but I still make darn good money. :D

I have lost clients if the parent didn’t agree with my professional recommendations. After awhile you get pertty good at figuring out what is keeping kids from learning, especially those who have autism and other cognitive issues. One of the parents of a young girl I tutored was in denial about her daughter’s PDD behavior. I found out later that this parent was a professional tutor shopper, things started out great at first and when the tutoring honeymoon was over I had to be honest with my suspicisions. I gave her lots of material to read about sensory integration disorder and forms of Autism and I also found out I wasn’t the 1st person who had told them that something just wasn’t right, instead I got the boot and she found another tutor who would take her money and I wonder if the child was truly remediated. :cry:

It will take some time but you can do it. My claim to fame is that I work myself out of a job. :wink: and that always makes parents happy which gave me more referrals too.

Most of the private kids I have tutored had reading issues, organization and poor study habits. My job was to teach them to read, organize their schoolwork and improve their study habits and test taking skills.

good luck!

Thanks pattim for your words of encouragement. And also to victoriah specifically and anyone else who responded. Though Victoria, in terms fo reading, I was referring to techniques for severely dyslexic kids. Out of genuine rebelliousness, curiosity, and despite or because of many good people’s suggestions not to— I ordered the manual for LiPs. It is not as impossible as I thought, though it might be my speech path courses that helped out, isn’t a lip cooler a “fricative once removed” or something. :-) But I also see a. that not all kids will need this and b. I will need training to use it ($70 off for having the manual).

I have the book Reading Reflex that looks sensible and easy enough (I don’t want to get into a discussion here guys). The Wilson manual and a few materials— and am sort of working thru it. I don’t claim I will be able to teach it by doing this, just to understand some basic info. Heck I even have some old Open Court phonic cards circa about 10 years ago. They appear useful. But seem to go a bit quick. I also got the V/V manual. This is quite cool as I have had trouble with verbal descriptions (ie of people), I just follow along the structure words in my head.

I am certainly of the opinion that teaching reading is not a one size fits all proposition, which is why I asked the question. It seems to me you would need a good solid explicit systematic phonics approach (or two); some intensive method (or two). Some ways of dealing with sight word/memory issues, and some for dealing with comprehension. It’s just that I see that it is difficult to sort out what’s better than what. You could (heck I have already) spend a lot money. Some folks in my city for example say that Wilson does not break down the reading enough, and recommended some university classes (though the women is unreachable by phone, email, etc.). And say Alphabetic Phonics is better. How do you make a determination like that? It seems that you would need to buy all the manuals to everything!!

I feel that my math disability puts me at an advantage with teaching it, although honestly I doubt I will have many calls for it. Too bad.

I’m trying not to get overwhelmed. :-) Maybe decided to try and get a job for a year or two and save some money– although my card is out there. Found out today that it is in the hands of the principal of one of the charter schools. I gave some to the aquarium store manager!

Funny thing, pattim, is that I have Aspergers/autism on my card. I will not be the place to be in denial I guess. But I am sure that someone somewhere is always looking for what they want to hear. I have surreptiously called some of the “competiton”. Sylvan is particularly interesting. They informed me that “my son” would be just all smiles as he will be feeling so good about himself! I was almost giddy myself with all the possibilities of self-betterment and enhancement til I realized it was all a ruse and I have no son! :twisted:

—des

Des,

I just took Lindamood Bell On Cloud Nine Math on Saturday and Visualizing and Verbalizing on Mon. and Tues. I will have to say that V/V is a brilliant program for increasing language and language comprehension whether oral or written. I highly recommend taking that training. The math was helpful in that you learned a few techniques that I didn’t know, particularly with learning math facts and doing word problems. That program is really a supplement for whatever you are using in math. Next year I plan to at least take Seeing Stars even though I like PG very much. I think LiPS is really only necessary for a few kids, but if I have extra money, I might take that one, too. The LB programs add another dimension that PG does not and that has to do with symbol imagery. I felt as though I learned something really important these last few days.

Janis

I also have the Seeing Stars manual. I am planning to take the training on LiPs at some point but not sure about the SS or V/V as I feel they are much more understandable. Perhaps the SS if it was one or the other.
I am waiting til it comes closer to me or to St. Louis where my mom is.
That would cut expenses down a lot.

I understand that they impart a great deal of info in a short period of time.
I have never heard of anybody thinking the training was a waste of time.

I would agree that not many kids would need the LiPs. Although I am of the opinion that it might work were nothing else will. It is certainly the penultimate breakdown of the language.

The imagery is quite an interesting thing that I don’t think anyone else has touched on. I’ll probably get the On Cloud Nine manual at some point. Another interesting touch of theirs is the questioning technique they use. I believe that if kids discover things themselves the recall will be higher.
I have worked a bit on figuring this out, and took the little test at the end of one of the chapters. Didn’t do badly but then it was multiple choice. :-)

I have to say with all my reading, etc. lately including from this list I have probably learned more about reading than I did my whole time in special ed education classes. I have also figured out why almost nobody spells too well on the net. There are kids on some of the other forums and I am more or less appalled at some of the stuff they come up with. It is clear that these are not strictly fast spellings or typos.

The only exception to my otherwise dismal reading background in spec. ed. is that during my practicum in ld I had I taught a bit of OG. The kid I worked with was maybe a second grader and under very close (one might say excessively close) supervision, I did some beginning sounds and blending. I’d say I had more than most special ed teachers. It is fairly appalling how little they know about reading, considering what is out there.

—des

Hi, des,

I am in complete agreement that special ed. teachers are poorly prepared to teach with effective methods. I have also learned a great deal on the internet and from the trainings I have attended the last couple of years. I plan to tutor privately eventually. I am reading “Overcoming Dyslexia” by Sally Shaywitz now. It sort of restates most of what I have already learned, but it would be a great book to put in the hands of all special ed. teachers!

Janis

Janis, not just not informed, I would think kind of anti-informed. At least school districts anyway. I have advocated for a dyslexic kid. When the subject of reading came up, his mother mentioned OG. This was a very good (supposedly) school district. They said “It is old”!!! Then I mentioned some newer revisions of OG as well as LMB. They didn’t know of them. Aside from that no one in the district was trained to use anything. Anthony eventually went to a private school where they used Spaulding. I think he learned more in two years… Anyway no one in the public schools ever taught him to read or any decoding at all. I think most of his progress prior to the private school was from his mom. She didn’t know much about decoding but she did other thigns to assist him. The IEP goals (though I tried) had such silly goals in reading that they were laughable if it weren’t a real kid we were talking about. Things like “will tolerate decoding for 5 minutes”. (Why should he tolerate what he can’t do and they won’t teach him!!!) This was not limited to reading. I handed them Handwriting without tears (too bad as I never got it back). They must not have looked at it. He is severely dysgraphic and spent the whole school year making loops on a page. He *might* have been writing, and the private school did get him writing as well.

I’ll have to look up this book, as you say I might be familar with most of it.

—des

des,

I think that scenario is very common in school districts, too. We are going to have an interesting situation arising here. A child with educated parents who I have been teaching with PG may get shifted to another resource teacher this fall who does not have experience in good methods. They will fight it, I am certain.

I do think the Shawitz book would be handy to defend what we do and why, if nothing else!

Janis

I have taken the LMB workshops (LiPS last summer and the rest this summer) and I have to say that I think that their programs are all excellent. I agree with you though that one could just read the manuals and study them except for LiPS. Well I was able to teach it but I had to study the manual for the entire summer 2 years ago and I had to read it every night and I mean EVERY night right after teaching it in the morning. When I eventually took the training last year, I was able to ask more questions because I have already used it. I didn’t get anything new (probably because I have virtually memorized the book LOL), but I still believe in training because some parents do ask for it.

Re: the rest of the programs, Seeing Stars, V/V, and On Cloud Nine, you can just read the manuals. I did learn a lot from the training that I just took because it so happened that Phyllis Lindamood gave the training herself except for OCN and the LAC test. She is so great at it and she was able to answer all the questions that I asked. It was worth it! And did I say that her mom, Pat, dropped by at the workshop, too? Was I glad that I brought my camera with me :lol:

Maricel,

I wondered who did your training since you had it at San Luis Obisbo! Wow!

While I agree with you about the possibility of reading the manuals and using the techniques, I just loved my V/V training and I just don’t think I would have grasped it as fully from just reading the manual. So I would just add that the training is worth it if you can do it.

I have pretty much decided to focus on Phono-Graphix and Lindamood-Bell to cover the reading area. I will take the other Lindamood Bell workshops next summer, hopefully.

Maricel, do you teach in a school or are you a private reading therapist?

Janis

Hello again Janis,

What’s even good was Phyllis brought her daughter along so we could practice responding to the response with her as our student :wink:

I teach in an international school, but I am planning to tutor also using the LMB training. I am likewise trained in Slingerland, but the LMB simplifies everything and it works faster in my own opinion. I also bought the Reading Reflex as an added resource. LMB is not for everyone though. I’m still not convinced that it can work for slow learners and ESL students. But I’ll try this August. LMB people said that I just have to pre-teach the vocabulary and modify the language.

Have you finished reading the OCN book? I have. I have also finished Math Their Way. Right now I’m reading Marilyn Burns. She focuses on problem solving. I’m gettiing ready for school opening in August. Ooops this is not the Math BB, sorry :)

Maricel,

No, I haven’t had time to read the OCN manual yet. We went on vacation the day after my trainings, so I am still catching up on many things!

(I also had the opportunity to take Language! training at a bargain price this summer because it was sponsored by the state. They claim it is very good for ESL students. You might want to contact Sopris West and get the Language! brochures. I agree that certain programs are better suited to some students more than others.).

I teach in a school also and hope to privately tutor as well.

Janis