A Vancouver Island couple is bringing the Sylvan Learning Centre to Comox.
Susan and Russell Crowe are set to open the personalized tutoring program for children at 282 Anderton Rd.
Russell says that while they’re helping students catch up with their current programs, there is much more to the centre.
“If they’re in a certain position where they’re ready to get ahead, and they’re young enough, we can do that, we will move them ahead,” he said. “We can do homework help, there are opportunities to help with study skills, their writing program, it is amazing. It has so many opportunities to prepare you for later essays, to get you into college.”
Susan says it’s their way of supporting students who are struggling with their education.
“Sylvan was really good for our kids and we’re really excited to bring it to the Comox Valley. Honestly it’s just going to be wonderful. I’m a certified teacher and my husband’s done a lot in business so we’ve just had this lightbulb moment where we could do something together that could really help a lot of people.”
After countless therapies and tutors, the Crowes’ said their oldest son, who is on the autism spectrum, was still struggling to find academic success.
“The regular classroom was really tough for him,” she said. “Once they moved past his level, it was really a slog for him.”
Susan says that’s when they turned to Sylvan Learning.
“They’ve got a really cool program that gives you a lot of information on exactly the skill levels that the kids have maybe missed, just for whatever reason,” she explained. “It goes back and fixes those gaps before it tries to move them forward.”
Russell said it’s not a cookie-cutter approach: “We have programs that are pretty standard, but each program can be tuned to the individual students’ needs.”
Susan added, “So you do a lot of very individualized assessment and then they get a very individualized program.”
Determined to see her son succeed in school, Susan decided to try Sylvan Learning.
She says she was shocked to see how quickly Sylvan’s personalized learning system began to work for her son.
When her youngest son also began to struggle, Susan enrolled him with a tutor from Sylvan and said he was reading at grade level within the year.
Now, after seeing so much success from Sylvan’s methods with their own children, the Crowes are bringing Sylvan to their own community.
Russell says the new location was nearly a half year in the making.
“We’ve been planning and working for a good chunk of this year and it’s just coming to fruition now,” he said. “Of course we’re in the last little bit of hustle and bustle.”
Meanwhile, the couple is looking for a math instructor to assist with the program.
For more information on the program and the new location, visit the Sylvan website here.
