There are three children, a 7 year old boy in second grade, a 6 year old girl in first grade, and a 3 year old boy in preschool. The children come from a warm, welcoming and relaxed family where everyone pitches in to help one another. They are lovely children who have a healthy respect for their parents and each other and are being brought up in a robust, no-nonsense environment, in which it is clear they are thriving.

The two elder children attend an excellent private school. This is an exemplary educational environment that offers an exceptionally focused understanding of individual learning strengths of each of its students. The school is well set up to help those who need extra attention, and they are very open to working with families who have unusual circumstances. Such is the flexibility of the school that they have developed their own excellent online learning platform that enables students to watch recorded classes, or even participate in lessons from remote locations. The teachers are kind and caring, knowledgeable and proactive, all of which means that both children have settled well and are very happy in the school, even though they are away for varying periods.

The oldest boy is a charming young man who tries hard at school. He is a kind and considerate older brother and a talented musician (keyboards). He has written and recorded several pieces already and his developing a style of his own that will be brought on by appropriate encouragement and support. He has a wide range of interests and is easily able to entertain himself through an active imagination and sports. He enjoys being outdoors, swimming and playing ball sports, and is gregarious and willing to try new things when the opportunities are offered. Although he works very hard at school and wants to do well, he is struggling with reading and shows outward signs of anxiety when asked to read aloud or to himself. The school does not think that there is a single cause for this beyond the need for more practice and confidence, but they do think that he would benefit enormously from working with an Orton-Gillingham trained Tutor who can help him develop suitable techniques. Exposure to the Davis Spelling Mastery system may also be beneficial rather than sounding out the phonics as a way to access reading and writing more reliably and so build success. Aside from reading issues, he sometimes also finds mathematics challenging, and his class teacher has recommended that any tutor placed in this role take a Constructivist approach when teaching the subject.

His sister is a lively, fun and interesting 6-year-old who has embraced school and learning with considerable enthusiasm. She is quick-witted, sharp, comfortable with her siblings and popular with her class-mates. She, too, enjoys a wide range of activities and also has a warm demeanor that allows her to easily negotiate with her older brother. She has no issues with any aspect of school, and to date is performing well in her studies. Although only 3, it is already clear that the youngest boy is a great child to be around – he is cheerful, funny and engaging, and it will be a pleasure to watch him develop his interests and personality as he reaches full time school age.

The two elder children are the main focus of this role at first.

Although based in Austin, the family often travels. This is mainly in connection with their father’s work commitments. While in Austin, the children will continue to attend their current school, and the role of the Tutor will become one of after-school support from an educational angle. This could include helping the children do homework, practicing skills such as reading and multiplication tables, helping with art projects, or watching documentaries. For the most part though, the Tutor should aim to spend time with the children doing enrichment activities; playing educationally based games, and generally helping to keep the children entertained and occupied in a positive, active and inspiring way.

While travelling, the Tutor must provide a full-time home schooling program for the children in concert with materials provided through their school. The Tutor is expected to work with the school during these times, blending work from the school’s online platform with their own lessons and extension exercises to ensure that the children get the best possible experience from their time away from the classroom, but not get ahead of the school and so make reintegration as smooth as possible when they return to Austin. The Tutor will be in charge of their timetable, and it is anticipated that her or she will spend a couple of hours a day with the children individually before working with them both on an activity in the afternoons. Where possible, the youngest child should be included, so the Tutor must be comfortable designing material that can span the age differences while still challenging each participant at their own appropriate level and, when the youngest is capable of it, he should also receive individual attention just like his older siblings. The children’s mother is often involved in childcare during these periods and there is also a nanny, so it could be that the Tutor will also be responsible for designing and guiding these other adults on the content of the time they will spend away from their Tutor while she is working individually with each of the children.

There is extensive travel involved in this role, and it is likely to take place in a range of settings. This can mean that the Tutor will work from a hotel or apartment room on one occasion, or from a caravan or – on some occasions – a campsite of sorts. This variety of accommodation, not to mention the different geographic locations, will come with its own challenges, and it is important to remember that this can make technology unreliable. There may be times when the printer breaks, or there’s a power cut, or the Internet goes down… Indeed, there may be times when the Tutor will need to be independent of all such modern conveniences. The Tutor needs to be able to take these events in their stride and make embrace the opportunities they bring for creative alternatives rather than getting frustrated or seeing them as impediments to their work.

Teaching in a variety of locations offers able tutors unparalleled opportunities to illuminate the standard curriculum and enhance the learning experience in ways that should make this experience for all three children something special that they reflect on fondly and look forward to with excitement. Although the children’s school largely governs the content of the curriculum, the Tutor should use the local environments as resources wherever possible.

The Tutor will need to be well organised, flexible and adaptable. Although the family will try to maintain a routine there may be occasions where their location dictates the content of the days’ lessons. For example, if they are near a site of historic or geological importance, the Tutor should incorporate that site into their lessons. Alternatively, if there is particularly good snow on a mountain one day, it may be decided to take the lessons outdoors and learn about the different states of water while building a snowman or trying out skiing. It is important to roll with these occasional interruptions, even to join in with the family, and certainly never to complain.

The successful candidate for this role will need to be upbeat, inspirational and have plenty of energy. Ideally they will be able to build good working relationships with the teachers at the Austin primary school and the youngest child’s nanny, highly competent in curriculum design as well as being creative and imaginative. It would be helpful if they also have musical ability, as the oldest child is already good on the piano.

Clearly, this role requires a resourceful, intelligent and knowledgeable educator who is sensitive to the unusual circumstances of the position, relaxed and easy-going with a sunny disposition on the one hand while firm, encouraging and directed on the other. They should be able to ‘muck in’ with the family on a daily basis – if the Tutor sees a job which needs doing (such as rinsing dirty plates in the kitchen) they should roll up their sleeves and get it done. They should set a good example for the children through their behaviour and conduct as much as through their academic abilities. It is important that the Tutor remembers that although the family and working environment may be relaxed compared to formal schooling in Austin, and even by comparison to many private service positions, it is essential to remain professional at all times and respectful of the family’s privacy.

The Tutor should be a well-educated individual with a wide range of interests and broad subject knowledge. The family is liberal, broad-minded and quite European and South American in outlook. It would be helpful to have a Tutor that shared these values, or at least does not have strong ones of their own, and who has broadened their own mind through travel or experience of non-American cultures.

The Tutor should be eloquent, able to explain concepts simply and able to inspire with his or her enthusiasm for any given subject. He or she should have a wide knowledge base and a range of extra-curricular skills and interests that they can share with the family. The Tutor should be a natural communicator with a kind and caring disposition, and a firm-but-fair approach to their work.

The Tutor is expected to work up to an average of 40 hours per week contact time, with preparation time in addition. For the most part the hours will follow a stable timetable agreed with the parents, but the Tutor should also allow for flexibility, especially regarding travel. This tutoring periods are not expected to be all formal study – quite the contrary. They should include excursions, periods of outdoor activities and plenty of hands-on and project work. Of course, there should also be periods of formal one-on-one study to develop good independent study habits. Travel time does not form part of the tutoring time unless tutoring takes place while traveling.

The Tutor will normally get two consecutive days off per week, but this will not always be possible due to travel commitments. Also, the Tutor should be aware that days off may not be the same days from week to week. Flexibility in this regard is essential.

The Tutor has a minimum of nine weeks paid vacation per annum as per the Terms. These will be taken at times convenient to the Client, and will likely break from the pattern of school holidays, with during term-time while the family are in Austin. Family holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas however are sacrosanct, and it is likely that the Tutor should expect to have time off during these periods. The Tutor is expected to work on any public holidays Monday-Friday that are not part of the arranged vacation periods.

While in Austin, the Client will provide private, furnished accommodation near to their family home.

The Client will pay for all bills on this accommodation, except for the Tutor’s personal phone bills. The Tutor will be provided with a car for his or her personal use.

While travelling, the Client will provide accommodation for the Tutor. On occasion, the Tutor may be required to share their accommodation with other staff such as the family nanny. They should also be prepared for a range of accommodation – from good hotels, to shared caravans or rooms in a motel, and even tents.

There will likely be frequent of travel in this role, primarily to destinations in the US but potentially to Europe or further afield, and the Tutor will therefore need to ensure that he or she has the requisite travel and health insurance, has received the required vaccinations, and has the necessary visas.

The Client will be responsible for the Tutor’s full expenses arising from any travel required for the position throughout the contract term.

The Tutor should be a non-smoker, lead a physically active lifestyle, and be healthy and fit. He or she should be engaging, have a good sense of humor and a sunny disposition, and yet be a serious educator who understands his or her responsibility in this important role.