Policies

Arrival and Dismissal:

Please respect the start and end times of scheduled sessions.  Obviously, sometimes things come up and we all occasionally end up running behind or arriving a little late.  It’s understandable.  Please remember that I have multiple students and families in a day, and I have to keep to a very tight schedule.

Tutoring sessions start and end at their scheduled time, regardless if the student is late to their tutoring session.  

  • If I arrive late to a session at your house for any reason (I try very hard to not let this happen), I will stay extra to make up the time, or if that is not possible, I will apply it as a credit or make up the time at the next session.
  • If a parent is late arriving to pick up their child, I will allow the child to work quietly on their own at a separate table in an adjoining room.  If a parent is more than ten minutes late picking up a student I will charge a $10 late fee.  (Sometimes my schedule requires me to leave right away for another appointment elsewhere, in which case it is difficult for me to stay late with your child.)

Tuition Policy:

  • Tutoring sessions are on a tuition basis.   They are typically based on two hours per week of tutoring (usually M/W or T/Th), unless other arrangements are made.   Federal holidays will not be scheduled, but local school holidays (i.e. fall recess) will be scheduled unless other arrangements have been made in advance.    I create a monthly calendar for each family at the start of the month with days, times, hours, and amount owed for the month.  Sessions are paid at the start of the month, for the entire month.  

I have two different rates for tutoring.  One for students who come to my house, and another for students who I meet somewhere within my tutoring location zone (see website, “Contacts & Location”). 

        For the 2024-2025 school year, those charges are $50/hour if you bring your child to me at my home office, and $65/hour if I come to your home or meet you somewhere within my location zone.  Those rates are based on meeting one-on-one with a single child for the hour.  

  •  Payments can be made in cash, check, credit card, Zelle, Venmo, or Class Wallet. 
  • All checks can be made out to:    Ability Tutoring, LLC.
  • VISA / MC Credit Cards accepted

Cancellation Policy:

*Please remember that I am holding your time slot and that it is reserved exclusively for you, so when you do not attend a session, someone else could have used that available time.

  •  All students must give at least 24 hours notice when canceling or rescheduling a session.  If a student cancels a session within 24 hours of the session, they will be charged half ($25 or $30 depending on location) the price of a normal session.   If the student is a no-show, I will charge the full amount of the session. 
  • In case of sudden emergency or illness, please call or text me as soon as you know that you will have to cancel a session.  I usually have a stand-by list of families who might take the session if they know in advance.
  • Canceled sessions that are excused will have the opportunity to be made up.   We will look at the calendar and find an available time slot to make up the session within the same month as the canceled session.  I do offer Saturdays for make ups if necessary.
  • Excessive cancellations may result in discontinuing the tutoring with that family in order to open up that spot to someone else.
  • If I have to cancel a session for some reason, I will issue you a credit for the amount on the next month’s tuition.

Illness:

  •  If your child is showing symptoms of illness, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can reschedule a make up session.

Homework and Subject Areas:

  • Homework.     I generally do not assign homework to students who are attending school or working on a homeschool curriculum.   During the school year, I am here to help them be successful and while I am happy to help with school assignments, I don’t want to add to the workload they already have from school.   Exceptions to this would be if a parent requests certain practice activities on a particular skill, or if we decide together that extra practice would greatly benefit a student.
  • Planner.     I request all of my students to keep a planner in which they update daily lessons from school and any homework assignments (including due dates), or upcoming quizzes or tests.  This helps to develop study habits for staying organized.  It also allows me to see what they were taught in school and what we may need to focus on during tutoring.   Parents are strongly encouraged to check this planner on a daily basis so they know the school expectations as well.
  • Academic Subject Areas of Focus.      When we initially set up the schedule for tutoring sessions, we will discuss the school subjects and designate one area of focus.  Students may need help in more than one subject, but time limits how much emphasis can be reasonably placed on each subject.  If more time is needed to address more than one academic subject, and we have availability, then we can make individual arrangements and add more time to our sessions.  (For example, we cannot spend only 30 minutes on math and 30 minutes on reading, that is not enough time to effectively help in either academic area.  We could consider scheduling 1.5 hours in a day, 45 mins for math, 45 mins for reading, which would be three hours total per week.)  However, we can adjust as we go and if we need to switch our academic subject focus that is always an option we can discuss.
  • Homework Help.      One option for parents when choosing an academic emphasis/focus is Homework Help.  This option would be if you do know that you have more than one academic area of interest for tutoring, and you only want me to focus on helping with school assignments, and not bring in any of my own materials.  In this case, I can focus on more than one subject during the hour, but understanding that time is limited and we may not have enough time to get to everything in the hour session.

Materials:

  • Students are expected to bring with them everything they will need regarding their subject area of focus.  This includes the Planner (mentioned above), folders, assignments, notebooks, pencils, device (chromebook or laptop) if needed, and calculator if needed.    I also suggest bringing any assignments or assessments with teacher feedback on them from school so that I can see what skills still need additional focus.

School Contacts:

  •  Some families like me to be in contact with school teachers, counselors, and special education personnel if applicable.   Other families prefer that I do not contact the school.  That is something we can decide up front, and if you do want me to communicate with your child’s school for any reason, I ask that you let them know who I am first, and then pass along to them my contact information in advance.