Wisconsin (WIS 0124)

The Tutor’s primary student is an 8-year-old boy. He is the youngest of four brothers, the eldest two of whom are studying elsewhere. The family are delightful – the parents are hard-working, calm, and intelligent, and have created a very loving and stable environment in a vibrant university town. They delight in their son’s independent exploration of practical engineering concepts, and they desire to do everything they can to support his further growth.

The student is a thoughtful child who shows consideration for the needs of those around him. He is deeply attracted to technology, and explores it in active, hands-on projects that he designs himself. He fluently uses Tinkercad and can quickly design and produce projects using 3D printing and laser cutting. He prefers to learn new concepts by doing and has tremendous curiosity about how something works.

He has attended the same school since pre-kindergarten and is now in third grade. He can learn very quickly if he wants to but can also be very stubborn. Sometimes, he does not want to participate if he is not interested, and likewise can become a little rowdy or disruptive if he is not engaged by the material at hand. He has a very strong personality. As a result, his parents are concerned that he has been ‘labelled’ as a behaviour problem by the school. Tarred by the brush of lowered expectations, they are concerned that he is not being taught to the level of which he is truly capable.

Although he has many strengths, he is not naturally gifted in being social. If he is not treated respectfully, he gets angry and has a hard time controlling himself. His natural interests and ambitious struggle to grasp difficult concepts mean that his interests diverge from most kids his age. Because he is used to the company of his older brothers, he does not fully know what his peers are interested in sometimes. He also tends to be impatient with his brothers.

He is not a traditionally sporty child, but he excels at skiing and mountain biking, and is enjoying learning basketball. He also enjoyed karate, although now he has stopped it due to an overcrowded schedule. He has been learning piano and would like that to continue.

His least favourite teacher, in first grade, was mean, immature, and not good at answering questions. Conversely, his favourite educational experiences have been those in which a patient and knowledgeable instructor is able to work alongside him to explore the kinds of practical concepts that he really loves.

The Tutor will also spend some time helping a 15-year-old boy. He is currently a freshman in high school, and has recently been diagnosed with inattentive ADHD. He enjoys working with his hands, especially in fixing broken dirt bikes, which he then sells for profit. He likes watching YouTube videos about riding them and spends social time as an adrenaline junkie by skiing and other high-intensity physical activities. He loves going out to rural farmland to ride dirt bikes and all terrain vehicles. His best teachers have been understanding, relaxed, supportive, and helpful.

He dislikes teachers who give busy-work for no purpose, are disorganized, strict, and short-tempered. His challenges include memory retention of course material; he is best at remembering math but is terrible at showing his work. He much prefers finding his own way to the right answers rather than repeating patterns taught without deeper comprehension of concepts.

This role calls for an enthusiastic and creative Tutor, preferably with a background in science and engineering who has experience working with students who have attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The 8 year old boy has received a combined ADHD diagnosis, and the symptoms he displays make it difficult for him to function effectively in a traditional school environment.

The primary student is struggling to have a good fit in a school and to have the classroom resources he needs to excel. Everything about school is stressful, and his family wish to ameliorate that to enable him to embrace education fully and to put him into a position in which he is comfortable learning.

In the ideal situation, the Tutor would homeschool the student for the Spring 2024 semester, at which point his parents will consider whether to re-introduce him to traditional school in Autumn 2024. The goal in the short term is to enable him to function effectively in a traditional school environment by helping him to cope constructively with the symptoms he experiences. He can be very pessimistic, and having a Tutor who can focus him on the positive is imperative, unlocking the human personality puzzle with education. He must learn to be patient and motivated even in subject areas and tasks that are not his favorite. Helping him to think more positively and excel socially are the two top goals alongside helping him to achieve his full academic potential.

At the point at which he will be re-introduced to classroom-based learning, it is currently envisioned that the Tutor will serve as a support to him both in the classroom and at home. The details of this are yet to be determined, but ideally, this will be a long-term role in which the Tutor provides teaching, guidance, and mentorship holistically. Through multifaceted support, the Tutor shall enable him not only to flourish academically, but also to approach situations with greater maturity and motivation – whether he is intrinsically interested in the subject material or not.

Bearing in mind his love of practical engineering, candidates who have experience with engineering as well as project-based learning are desirable. He loves electrical circuits and has shown an interest in computer programming. He likes to create with his brain in a practical, hands-on way. It is essential for the Tutor to light a fire within him to maintain his attention and engagement. He has the typical ADHD symptom that when he is engaged in an activity he really loves, he can have periods of hyperfocus for many hours at a time. The Tutor would be wise to take advantage of this tendency for the student’s benefit. Creating an engineering project that the entire family could participate in, for example, might be an excellent avenue. It would also be helpful for the Tutor to know Spanish; the student has begun learning it, but not very effectively yet.

In addition to academic endeavors, the Tutor must also ensure that the student is kept physically active during the teaching day, since this is likely to be helpful for his ability to concentrate. The Tutor should also seek out social activities with other children for him to enjoy. It is important that periods of homeschooling are not socially isolating, and his continued social development is crucial.

With the 15-year-old, the Tutor’s role shall be more straightforward. He is not performing to his best academic potential. It would be helpful for the Tutor to assist him with homework concepts that he might not have grasped during the school day. Much like his little brother, he shows strong engagement with activities and ideas that he has a natural interest in. A Tutor who can use those natural inclinations to stoke his academic fires would really help him to succeed.

The two brothers have a close emotional bond, although it might not always be obvious. The older brother has deep respect for the younger brother’s natural abilities in science and engineering. “I want to make him like me…or maybe slightly less than me,” he said with a glint in his eye. This fraternal esteem can be utilized to empower both to become better together.

The Tutor will typically work on 5 days and have 2 consecutive days off each week as their ‘weekend’. The Tutor will work for an average of 40 hours each week with preparation time in addition. The Tutor will be entitled to at least nine weeks off per annum of the contract, per the Standard Terms, and this allowance will not roll over from year to year.

The Tutor should follow a structured timetable as much as possible but should look to adjust this to fit with the family’s needs. The Tutor should collaborate with the younger student’s school in terms of curricular decisions.

When desired and appropriate, the family may request that tutoring be conducted virtually if, for example, the Tutor must be physically absent from the student for any period.

Accommodation will be provided by the Client. It is possible this may be in a house that will double as a school space, but this is yet to be determined.

The successful candidate must hold a clean driving license, and a car will be provided for the use of the Tutor. Likewise, since international travel is likely, a valid passport and the ability to travel outside of the country are required.

The successful candidate will be able to offer more than the minimum requirements of this position and must have been raised in a socially appropriate background. She or he will not only be an excellent educator, but also a good role model: educated and polished, with excellent manners and personal values.

The Tutor should be fit and healthy, a non-smoker. They should enjoy staying active and should embrace opportunities to try new sports and activities with the student.

The family have dogs, so the Tutor must be comfortable working in an environment with domestic animals.

The Tutor must have permission to work in the USA. This is likely to mean that they will be a US national, a dual US/UK national, or a Briton who already has the right to travel to, live, and work in the US.