Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Hiring a Full-Time Tutor

I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to hire my son's current teacher as a tutor if we decide to pull him from his charter school.

This teacher is currently struggling with some serious health issues and may/may not be able to continue to teach at this school. I would be able to pay her a substantial amount to become my son's primary teacher; if she is willing.

DS is capable of working at least two years above his current level at this charter. His speed completing work is also beyond what they have considered.

I know that he'd be comfortable with her as his teacher, as would we. She is a lovely person and someone I would be confident could teach him at his level if she were completely able to go at his speed.

So, I'm wondering if anyone here has found a tutor from a school their child has attended? How has it worked out?

(I should say I haven't asked her about this and really don't know if she'd be interested. I also haven't run this by my spouse!)

Why can she no longer work at the school healthwise but could tutor with those same health problems?

OP,
Have you looked into putting the money into buying a house in Palo Alto, instead? My understanding is that the Palo Alto school district is superlative.

Re. private tutor, my concern would be that the kids would really bond to the person so you would have a major 'key person risk' on your hands versus a series of chosen online classes or a good school district which would spread some of that risk.

YMMV

Have I mentioned as a former teacher and parent of a gifted child who I would like to homeschool next year, I would love this gig as long as my son could be included too? I would say with the laws here you would have to pay me as a nanny officially even if I did tutoring in addition. This area in which I live does not have a high enough SES to have the client base for this type of job. But I have thought about it.

I agree with madeinuk. I would be very concerned that the tutor might quit partway through the year. Especially if she has health problems. And an all in one full time teacher is going to be very hard to replace.

Actually, I see that I mixed this thread up with the other private tutor one so please ignore my comments on Palo Alto.

No problem! I didn't see that title for another full-time tutor, otherwise I would have renamed my post!

I lived in California in that area for most of my life, and know Palo Alto is out of our price range. Nice if you can afford it, though.

The tutor quitting part way through is a significant possibility. If that were to happen, I'd be scrambling to either place him in the charter again or else have to home school him on my own. Neither of which would be my choice. I'd rather NOT pull him from his school to "experiment" with the full time tutor, in that case.

Yes, her health issues are such that she's taking things one day at a time and so perhaps she's not the right teacher for this job. DS would be upset if she had to quit part way through. I would have wanted her for many years, so the more I think on it, the less it sounds doable.

This is how we found my son's LA tutor/teacher when I home schooled. She was working part-time at the school by choice, and I asked if she had time to tutor. She came to our house 1xweek, but corresponded with him via email throughout the week. It was a wonderful arrangement.

I beg to differ.
1. Palo Alto has gotten even more expensive. The median price of homes currently listed in Palo Alto is $2,198,000. The annual property tax on such a home will rival a private school tuition.
2. There are other superlative districts in USA or California. That said, California spends very little per student. Perhaps move to New York.
3. Just because a public or private school has a good reputation, does not mean they understand gifted, and their intellectual, let alone social-emotional needs.
4. The vaunted Palo Alto district has abandoned IQ testing and their policy is now “all our kids are gifted”, which to me is a cop out.
5. See http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/...fted-emerge-as-state-cuts-public-funding
6. See http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/School-funding-leaves-gifted-students-behind-3265829.php

Hope this helps. Also, my bad, I started another thread recently on the same topic, Tutors. But it does have some interesting replies. http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/203115/1.html