糖心原创

has crafted a fine Code of Ethics for its members. While I am well aware that most tutors do not belong to a national organization such as the NTA, nonetheless the NTA's Code of Ethics presents a set of guidelines by which you and I as parents can evaluate the tutors we hire for our children. For sake of this discussion, I also include any teacher who primarily works on a 1 on 1 basis as a tutor. For example, piano, art, and dance instructors, as well as the math and English tutors you will expect to encounter.

Using the NTA's Code of Ethics I have offered comments on each of their tenets. Use these comments to help you assess and evaluate any tutor you hire.

Code of Ethics

The National Tutoring Association is dedicated to providing its members with opportunities to achieve and maintain high professional standards for tutors and administrators of tutoring programs and services.

I understand that my role as a tutor is to enable students to do their own work using the best learning approach possible.

RK: The extra time and attention which a tutor affords his students make it possible for them to understand the material presented. More importantly, a tutor can take time to explain the variations and possibilities inherent in the original problem so that his student is able to recognize them when they do occur. Equipping students to do their own work is vital.

The independent school admissions process varies greatly from one school to another. There is, however, one critical requirement that is truly universal--the interview. Students who apply to an independent school for admission to grades 6-12 are required to meet with an admissions officer in a one-on-one or small group setting. You worry as a parent that your child simply can鈥檛 have the maturity or know-how to converse in the manner required with a strange adult who is lobbing questions at your child. Yes, this can be anxiety-producing for even the most savvy-minded parent. But, I鈥檇 like to help reframe your thinking on the admissions interview.

In this video a director of admissions explains how the interview process works.

A Window into Your Child's Personality

The interview offers an admissions committee a window into your child鈥檚 personality--his or her academic and extra-curricular interests, unique passions, and other skills that matter to your son or daughter. Keep in mind that the interview can be as short as 10 minutes for a younger child and up to 45 for the high school candidate. The interviewer is focused on evaluating your child鈥檚 academic potential and overall personality by engaging them in a guided conversation that centers on your child鈥檚 current school experience, particular strengths--academic, as well as, athletic, artistic, service, leadership, and other special interests.

It may help to think of the interview as a detailed conversation for your child

Are you thinking about sending your child to a private school?

• There are many reasons why you should consider sending your child to a private school.
• Most of us parents have had the same concerns as you do.
• We all want our children to receive the very best education possible so that they are positioned for success in later life.

Here's how to make that happen.

1. You want your child to receive specialized instruction from well-qualified instructors.

• Your local public school can develop an for your child.
• This is mandated by the .
• While your child's needs will indeed be identified and an instructional program devised for her, she will probably not receive as much individual attention as if she were in a private school with smaller classes.
• Depending on your area's public school district, resources are often spread very thin.
• When you send your child to a private school for special needs, she will be taught by credentialed, highly skilled teachers and paraprofessionals throughout the school day.

This video explains an IEP.

When your child has a learning difference, enrolling her in a private school with specialized teachers can be beneficial. I know this was the case with my eldest son who had never learned how to read before he came to live with us.

• Hundreds of private

This is the first of three articles addressing the advantages of sending your child to private school. Private schools offer several advantages specific to students, of which you, as a parent, need to be aware. Here are three of them.

1. Your child will build a network of friends that she will have for life.

Some may wonder why I would put this benefit for students at the top of my list. That's because I sincerely believe networking is the key to success in almost everything. Because most private schools are relatively small communities, your child will have a perfect chance of getting to know almost everybody in the school community, especially her classmates. According to the , private schools generally have smaller enrollments than public schools, creating opportunities for closer relationships among students and teachers. While your child may come from an entirely different background, perhaps even another country, from her classmates, she will get to know everybody in the classroom, on the playing field, and on the stage. With social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and other messaging apps providing instantaneous communication, it is relatively easy to keep that high school network of friends going after she graduates.

This close-knit network of friends from school will help open doors for years after she graduates. The bonds of friendship developed in private school are an essential advantage for a private school student as she begins her career.

Private

I am often asked what benefits there are for parents when they send their children to private school. The quintessential "What's in it for me?" is a legitimate question. After all you are thinking about sending your baby off to a school where you are being told she will work hard, learn how to get along with others and be involved in all kinds of activities. And it is going to cost you a small fortune to boot.

Your concerns are well-founded. So against that backdrop let's examine what I personally consider to be the three main benefits for us parents of sending our children to private school. Lest you think that I am speculating or theorizing, all four of our children went to private school. All grades too. Nursery school. Elementary school. Middle School and high school. So I speak from my own experience as a private school parent.

1. Knowing that your child will receive a comprehensive education: academics, sports and extracurricular activities.

Private schools educate the whole child. Educating the whole child requires an integrated program of academic studies, athletics and extracurricular activities. Essentially a private school is going to pick up where you left off when you sent her to school.

You have invested some serious time raising your child. Remember how you did it? Always a variety of activities. Always encouraging your child to do things she didn't know she could