On the day I married my husband John, he couldn’t read. Today, he's a surgeon.

We married in our early twenties. John was a classic example of a student who was "failed by the system." Despite his high IQ, he was diagnosed as dyslexic, a label which allowed him to be passed over by the system. When he proposed to me, he was already a successful car mechanic, and managed the garage at a prestigious racetrack. I knew that the teachers, and the psychologists, and even his own family, were wrong about him: he was not "stupid." I knew I could teach him to read and to write.

His parents were educated, but they didn't know how to help him. Neither did the schools. As a new teacher, it never occurred to me to doubt my ability to give him the knowledge that the rest of the world had failed to impart.

It changed our lives when he agreed to let me tutor him. For the next year and a half, every day after he came home from work, we met in front of a small blackboard in our living room, where he became literate. Some years later he entered medical practice as an orthopedic surgeon, and still enjoys practicing medicine. The truth is that John’s potential was waiting to be discovered, and once he had been given the tools to mine it for himself, he excelled.

My experience teaching John was just the beginning of my journey. Since then, I have had singular success in teaching students of all ages and types: those labeled “special needs,” those labeled “gifted,” (including AP students), and those in-between. Most have gone on to successful careers in both the STEM and humanities fields. My students have been accepted at MIT, Johns Hopkins, Westmont, Hillsdale, Stanford, and many other prestigious schools.

The philosophy I have developed over the years involves three principles which have worked for John and hundreds of other students I’ve taught, no matter what their ages, interests, or personalities, so I’d like to share them:

Principle #1). All students can succeed. If a student isn’t progressing, the problem is usually mine, not the student’s. This includes students who have been diagnosed with learning problems.

Principle #2). Diagnoses by “experts” are not always relevant to a student’s success and may even be harmful. These assessments are often based on poor science or are misapplied. They leave the false impression that a student who is not “normal” cannot succeed, or that a student who is “gifted” must be given some magic pill to be properly challenged. Instead, listening to the parents’ views of their children’s struggles and strengths is the beginning of understanding each student’s academic needs.

Principle #3). Each student is uniquely motivated to learn. Discerning individual students’ thought processes is part skill, part art. People learn by being inspired, so finding out what makes individuals “tick” is key to teaching them. People learn through inspiration and individual guidance, rather than by impersonal prescriptives whose results have often not been validated. My approach is outside the box because I identify what your student needs, without any preconceptions. I am also familiar with communicating with all types of students (including relating to teen-aged boys who might not be thrilled about learning to write!). All students can succeed, but their teachers must believe in them in order for them to believe in themselves.

My school, Integritas Academy, recently won the prestigious i-Learning award from Practical Homeschooling magazine (placing first in the Writing & Composition category). This award is based on customer satisfaction. I believe my school won the i-Learning Award this year because parents recognize that my courses teach students how to think, not just what to think, and because I address my students’ individual needs in ways which they can apply across the curriculum.

Does your student have a bent towards STEM courses, or have a mechanical aptitude, but struggle with writing? Maybe you have a son like a student of mine whom I’ll call Mike. Mike announced in a defiant voice the first day of class that he couldn’t stand writing and literature, and was sure he would hate the course. As the class progressed he gradually began to participate, and at the end of the year he told me it had been his favorite class.

Teaching a scientifically minded student to master writing skills is a strength I have developed through years of working hand in hand with such students, learning how to help them when others had failed, and never giving up on them. Because writing is a way to develop logic and thinking, all students need to learn how to do it well, no matter what their individual interests and strengths are. And the secret is, all students can learn to write well.

I hope you will investigate my school and our courses. If you have a student who struggles with writing and textual analysis, I can help! And if you have a student who wants college prep honors courses, my courses are for your family, also! Sign up for the Integritas Academy newsletter so that you don't miss any updates.