The girl is an exceptional student, and will be in grade 7 when the family move. She is doing extremely well in a very good private prep school. She excels across all her subjects, particularly writing. She is a perfectionist and is willing to put in the sustained effort and constant personal review to achieve her goals. Indeed, she is disappointed with herself when she occasionally misses the mark. At the same time she is a realist and, though still young, is mature enough to understand that these faltering steps contain important lessons.

She is popular at school, involved in sports and drama, and she is a talented violinist. She is looking forwards to working intensively with her Tutor when the family relocate to Florida. She feels that what she may miss from collective learning in school will be more than made up for by the personal attention that private tutoring offers. The additional freedoms that come with full time private tutoring provide an opportunity to extend the breadth of her studies in a way that a school, no matter how well intentioned or resourced, cannot. Her favourite teachers expect the best and hold the bar high, but they do so with fair and light touch, with good humor and kindness.

The older boy is 9 and going into grade 5 this fall. While yet to mature like his older sister, there are early signs that he may be even more capable and driven than she is. It is true that his reading level is average for his grade, but he aspires to academically high standards, is relentlessly curious, and loves to learn interesting facts about the world around him. He feels that fairness is important both in the way he is assessed and in the way he performs. Like all his siblings, he speaks Spanish and German at home, and English everywhere else; it could be that his English writing development has been affected by this multiple language acquisition. If there is a small grade-level deficit it is certainly not significant. He is learning the cello.

The younger boy is 5. He is a bright and cheerful little boy with a talent for arithmetic. His ability is far in advance of his grade level and he is consequently somewhat bored at school. While his class are still adding pairs of numbers up to ten, he can reliably add four-digit numbers and he understands the comparative value of his results. He enjoys the challenge of mental arithmetic and gets pleasure from working out the answers. He is looking forward to having the opportunity of working with a Tutor to develop this talent as far as he can.

In addition to a first-rate personal education and teaching history, the Tutor must have excellent German. Bilingual fluency would be better still. While by no means essential, it would also be useful if the Tutor had some Spanish. This is not only because the children are learning the language but because of the location in Florida.

The Tutor’s main responsibility is to deliver a rounded curriculum incorporating Math, Science, English Literature, History and other Humanities, and of course German. The school subjects will need to be offered at a level commensurate with the highest standards of the children’s current school so that if the family decide to return to their home in Boston they can reintegrate smoothly. If the family should return, the Tutor will continue for the remainder of their contract term in an after-school role.

The Tutor will be working alongside a locally hired teaching assistant (TA) who will be able to take one child while the Tutor is working one-on-one with the other. It will be the Tutor’s responsibility to provide suitable guidance to the TA to ensure that the TAs work is also productive. The Tutor will also be responsible for coordinating a number of other local Tutors who will be appointed by the family to teach Spanish, cello and violin, and for ensuring that the tutoring time fits seamlessly with all the demands on the children’s time, such as for sports and travel.

A room will be set aside as the schoolroom and it will be the Tutor’s responsibility to ensure that this is kept clean, organized, and well-resourced.

It is not envisaged that this time will all be indoors in formal study. In addition to visits to museums and art galleries, the Tutor should also include periods of recreational learning, perhaps through games devised to reinforce or prepare for a recent subject of study, or to encourage and develop sports, music and other skills.

It has not yet been discussed how the week will be structured. Whatever is decided, it will be essential for the Tutor to develop a timetable. This will need to be firm, yet able to accommodate the flexibility that comes with a role that includes several itinerant teachers, in a home-school environment.

Meals that occur during tutoring time will provided for the Tutor if he or she eats with the family.

The Tutor will have a minimum of nine weeks (45 working days) paid vacation per annum. The dates for this will be at times convenient to the Client.

The family will arrange all travel for the Tutor and cover all their reasonable daily expenses while traveling.

When they are with the children, the Tutor should be nurturing and protective by nature. The Tutor will need to complete a recognised first aid qualification or already hold an up to date certificate.

Access to a car will be provided for the Tutor. The successful candidate is free to bring his or her own car to Florida — if they choose to do so then this will be entirely at the Tutor’s own expense.

Tutors International will not have time before the start of the contract in January 2013 to apply for a work visa for the successful candidate, so only applications from those who possess the paperwork required to work legally in the USA will be considered.

If the Client asks the Tutor to accompany them when they travel, the Client will ensure that the Tutor has appropriate accommodation and privacy in each location.

The Tutor should be a non-smoker, physically fit and able to run and play with the children. He or she should have a keen sense of humor, a can-do attitude, and plenty of energy and enthusiasm. He or she will also need a clean driving license.