Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Reber.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
During my graduate training as a school psychologist, I always got most excited about learning academic assessment and interventions. It was so cool to see how we could use data to help figure out where a student’s skills were breaking down and then use high-quality programs and instruction to close academic gaps and build the student’s confidence. Working as a school psychologist in the public schools, I really missed the opportunity for direct services because I was spending most of my time with assessment and diagnostics. To get my academic intervention fix, I would work with students after school. That’s how the Chicago Home Tutor started. At first, I was The Chicago Home Tutor – working with students on social-emotional, academic, and life skills goals, but I wanted to serve more students and I wanted there to be an opportunity for team collaboration as well. That’s when I decided to start adding other members to the team. Then we would have the capacity to serve many more students and also to put our heads together to brainstorm when a specific student isn’t making expected progress, when a tutor is feeling stuck with how to move forward to support a student, or to come up with resources that make us all better educators. We are a now a team of learning behavior specialists, school psychologists, reading specialists, and more. The team work has become foundational to our work at The Chicago Home Tutor.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have had our fair share of obstacles, but I really feel lucky to be a part of the growth that has happened with The Chicago Home Tutor. I had no background in business. I was just a person who knew a lot about supporting students with all sorts of learning needs and had a vision about how to better meet these student needs. The biggest challenge was all the learning curves I had to go through at one time! As a small business owner, I have been the accounting department, the marketing department, the human resources department, the technology department and more! It has been an adventure for sure.
Please tell us about The Chicago Home Tutor.
I feel this statement from our website sums it up pretty well: “As a team of school psychologists and specialized teachers working together, we have the skills to help every student reach his or her potential. Our tutors have a variety of areas of expertise, and we consult one another to find creative, effective solutions for all of our students.
We begin with a thorough assessment to uncover our student’s precise needs and skill deficits. We then design targeted lessons, constantly monitoring progress to maximize effectiveness and, when needed, alter our approach based on the student’s response to our lessons.
Our graduate training in psychology has prepared us to work with diverse populations including students with ADHD, executive functioning difficulties, autism, learning disabilities, and emotional challenges. We also do psychological evaluations to help determine what services our student needs and can support our families to arrange creative solutions for homeschooling programs. We can serve students on-site where they need us like in private schools and medical settings.”
What sets us apart from other companies is our ability to work with students who have many different needs. Maybe they have been diagnosed with ADHD and their difficulties with executive functioning are really impacting their organization in math or the writing process. We can also make recommendations to the schools or help parents advocate for their child’s educational rights. Our services are comprehensive.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is when my parents took my four siblings and I on a month long road trip from my hometown in central Illinois all the way out to California. We camped along the way and saw so many national parks and beautiful mountains, forests, and cities. We saw the Grand Canyon, the Rockies, Mount Rushmore, and the Sequoia trees. The trip really gave me a sense of wonder for how big our country is and how diverse it is.
Pricing:
- Our services start at $75.00 per hour.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chicagohometutor.com
- Phone: 3126221494
- Email: info@chicagohometutor.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chicagohometutor
- Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-chicago-home-tutor-chicago
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