https://www.benca-tutoring.com/about daily 0.75 2024-04-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ce435d6bea1ed00016ba287/1558964652247-5MWXNMFZVOPGE4TY6U2Q/MHeiderich_ReflexionenZwei-05-copy.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60d2a641819bc8556d52b3d3/1633993500238-IDNN3ZP70CHAUFSULJSJ/IMG_7559.jpeg About - Growing up, I was a wisecracking overachiever with a gnarly overbite, an unstoppable ‘80s perm and a knack for telling stories. https://www.benca-tutoring.com/contact daily 0.75 2023-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ce435d6bea1ed00016ba287/1558964652247-5MWXNMFZVOPGE4TY6U2Q/MHeiderich_ReflexionenZwei-05-copy.jpg Contact https://www.benca-tutoring.com/classes daily 0.75 2026-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618497259178-6XJGK9GR6YAVBQL5L519/20140301_Trade-151_012-2.jpg Classes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1607694583486-2PQT0LQ193RL7MCB6DX4/20140228_Trade+151_0046.jpg Classes https://www.benca-tutoring.com/faq daily 0.75 2026-04-08 https://www.benca-tutoring.com/home daily 1.0 2026-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60d2a641819bc8556d52b3d3/6c5c8ba9-1132-44b7-960e-7b9b584b3a86/sharon-mccutcheon-eMP4sYPJ9x0-unsplash.jpeg Home - A passionate approach Hello, and welcome to my website! Since 2010, I have been helping children find the joy in Writing and Reading. As a lifelong writer and former journalist, I specialize in helping all kids, regardless of their initial interest level, find their “inner Shakespeare.” I am the go-to person if you want your child to become a faster, sharper, more enthusiastic reader and writer. Does your child: Only read or write when forced to? Have great ideas but fail to fully express them on paper? Receive poor feedback on their “analysis” from teachers? Use limited vocabulary and repeat themselves when writing? Show reluctance to write more than a few simple sentences at a time? Struggle with grammar? Struggle to organize their ideas into smooth, coherent sentences and paragraphs? Struggle with “reading between the lines” or understanding the “deeper meaning” of a text? Struggle to write descriptively or creatively? Sometimes miss key details when they read? Lack confidence in their reading or writing? EXCEL at reading and writing but need an inspiring mentor to help them reach their full potential? Then you have come to the right place. My mission is to develop a Reading and Writing foundation that will last a lifetime - by instilling a genuine love of literature in my students and teaching them how to excel in the art of written communication. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60d2a641819bc8556d52b3d3/d12f37ec-309c-4e2a-88b2-ef6fb5019cb9/IMG_7649.jpg Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60d2a641819bc8556d52b3d3/408060df-a3a2-4a35-9af1-294bf27e4c0c/unsplash-image-DUmFLtMeAbQ.jpg Home - Why in-person group classes? The first time a child witnesses his classmates laugh appreciatively in response to his silly, handwritten story, something magical happens: he stops seeing writing as a chore and starts seeing it as an irreplaceable vehicle for connecting with others. Writing becomes a form of social currency in his mind. From my 15-plus years of teaching (including during the pandemic when I was forced to put my classes online), I have become convinced that there is simply no substitution for in-person connection - an idea supported by “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community.” That is why I strive to make my classes as lively, joyful, and interactive as possible. Students share their work, compete in writing competitions, conduct peer reviews, debate current events, analyze literary themes and characters together, participate in vocabulary bees, and share food and games during holiday parties. So much of what we parents took for granted as children in the 1980s and 90s - freedom from electronics, freedom to roam independently outdoors with other kids - has been lost to time. My classes are one small attempt to recapture some of that lost spontaneity and give it back to our kids. https://www.benca-tutoring.com/login daily 0.75 2023-03-10 https://www.benca-tutoring.com/news daily 0.75 2024-02-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60d2a641819bc8556d52b3d3/0b68f6de-40d9-4154-b438-71d5d550378c/Screenshot+2024-02-01+at+10.18.43%E2%80%AFPM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60d2a641819bc8556d52b3d3/69bfdb6e-4b92-4493-802d-ca601ac21a76/Screenshot+2024-02-01+at+9.28.05%E2%80%AFPM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60d2a641819bc8556d52b3d3/1681873425389-RQS0T94DTG0C7J4DHVRV/unsplash-image-8CqDvPuo_kI.jpg