Living in the shelter wasn’t easy on Daniela. At 12-years old, she wanted nothing more than her own group of close girl friends, but she had no home to invite them to. Between taking care of her pregnant mom and little brother while living in a homeless shelter, the chances of developing a friendship group were extremely slim.

Katherine wanted a better life for her kids, and she knew that obtaining an education was vital to this goal. She worked hard to save enough money to move into an apartment doing whatever work she could find, but Katherine’s exhaustion from juggling work, financial demands and her pregnancy made it difficult to help her own children with their schoolwork. Katherine was relieved when School on Wheels offered to help her kids with their education.  She routinely checked in with the tutors to check on Daniela and Eric’s progress, and took on a more active role in the lives on both children.

Daniela did decently in school before the School on Wheels tutoring began, but she had just moved schools and struggled with the new demands of the high-level pre-algebra homework. Nikki, a School on Wheel’s volunteer, committed to helping Daniela several times to sort through her homework.

Eric was a different sort of challenge for his tutors. An eight-year-old bundle of energy, Eric bounced off the walls of the shelter, and his mom struggled to handle his behavior. He frequently argued with his tutors or wouldn’t sit still, but his tutor, Scott, was committed. Scott eventually connected with Eric, and soon enough, the homework started getting done. His behavior too became less of a problem under his tutor’s strong guidance.

School on Wheels didn’t just help Eric and Daniela out with their homework. Both Eric and Daniela’s backpacks were worn thin by years of rough use and a tight budget. School on Wheels provided them with new backpacks, uniforms and other badly needed school supplies. The pair started to feel more comfortable around their peers at school.

Eventually, the family’s time at the shelter drew to an end. Katherine saved up enough to move the family into an apartment – just in time for the arrival of the new baby. Everyone was relieved to move on, but both Eric and Daniela were sad to leave their tutors. Once the children found out they were moving, they hugged each tutor after every tutoring session.

While it’s exciting to everyone when a family moves out of the shelter, it’s bittersweet for the volunteers; they know the probably won’t see the people children they have learned to care about again. Sometimes the families leave a drawing to remember them by — but the best part for a tutor is hearing the excitement in the kids voices when they announce, “We’re getting an apartment and I get my own room!”

For their protection, we aren't showing Daniela and Eric's photo, but there are over 3,000 homeless kids with similar stories in Indianapolis on any given night.

Discover what we do to help kids like Daniela and Eric and parents like Katherine rise above their situation.
Donate to our programs and help provide tutoring, confidence and advocacy to homeless students and their parents.

Then, they directed that energy into action. They created a donation page on First Giving’s website. They collected items of clothing that students were running low on. All-in-all, they raised $7,000 to go towards required school uniforms for our kids.

To thank them for their kindness and hard work, we made this video highlighting their efforts.

When the rest of Defender Direct heard about their work, they were inspired.  At their 2011 Christmas party, they donated $10,000 to help fund tutoring for homeless children in Indianapolis.

And on top of all that, those same 5 employees began tutoring with us this semester!

Thank you, Defender Direct!

(from left to right) Nathan from School on Wheels; Danny, Drew, Mark, R.J. and Pat from Defender Direct

- Learn about other groups who gave given in creative ways.
- If you’d like to help raise funds or supplies for our kids, contact Nathan Hand via email or call 317.202.9100.

While this may create a stressful reading environment for your student, there are many ways you can help foster a love of reading during the tutoring hour:

Before You Read
1. Let your child pick a book that interests him. As the saying goes – those who don’t like to read just haven’t found the right book yet.

2. Make sure the book is appropriate for your student’s reading level, not just their age or grade level. Have him read through the first page of the book. If he misses no words, the book is too easy – and if he misses many, it’s too hard. Make sure the book is challenging enough to help improve your student’s reading ability but not so difficult that he becomes discouraged.

3. If your student feels overwhelmed by being asked to read an entire book out loud, take turns reading every other sentence, paragraph, or page. Also, never be afraid to read a book out loud to a student, even if they’re in high school – children of every age like to be read to.

4. Before you begin the story: Read the title, examine the cover, and look through the illustrations or chapter titles together. Have your student predict what the book will be about by asking questions such as:
          - Have you ever read another book by this author?
          - What do you think will happen in this book?

While You Read
5. As you read together, emphasize previous connections your student may have with the subject matter of the story. Asking questions such as, “Has anything like this ever happened to you before?” will keep your child connected.

6. Check comprehension as you go along by asking questions related to the story. If your student doesn’t seem to understand what they have read, have them read it again. Many times, students can’t concentrate on the content of what they’re reading because they’re so concerned with pronouncing the words correctly. If your student stumbles over a word, don’t have him sound it out. It seems counter-intuitive, but it will help him more in the long run to figure out the meaning from context clues.

After You Read
7. Have your student summarize what he just read. Ask basic questions like, “What was the main idea of the story?” or “In your own words, what happened in the story?” This will help with retention. You can ask more story-specific questions as well.

8. Have your student draw a picture of part of the book.  They could choose to draw the main theme, or their favorite part of the story.  This will help assess reading comprehension and is also a great tool to help a child with learning disabilities by demonstrating successful completion of a book or story.

9. Most importantly, make sure you praise your student’s reading constantly. Praise encourages confidence, which will make your student more likely to read to you (or another tutor) in the future!

Have any other strategies that have worked in your tutoring session, or at home? Comment below and share them with us!
Want to know learn more tutoring strategies? Check out our Tutor Tips and Techniques.

I have good and bad news for you.  We’ll start with the good.  We know that our tutoring programs are working because most of our kids (74%) are maintaining or improving their grades despite being homeless.  This is well above the standard for homeless children and youth.  However, the bad news is that, in Indianapolis, there are now more kids than ever in need of our help.

In just one hour a week, you can help make an impact on that number.  By tutoring a homeless child, you can give them the help, hope and confidence they need to succeed.  We are still accepting applications for our Tutors in Action program for the Spring 2012 School Semester.

Visit our tutoring section to learn more or apply.  Can we count on you?

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