TL;DR: You can guide tutors and caregivers by setting clear teaching hours and creating a queue of approved lessons. This ensures your children learn exactly what you want, even when you aren't the one teaching.
Why Set Teaching Boundaries?
When you bring a tutor, nanny, or family member into your LearnSpark experience, you want them to feel confident and prepared. By setting boundaries, you remove the guesswork for them. They won't have to wonder "What should we do today?" because you have already laid out the path.
This feature is perfect for staying in control of your child's Mastery Profile while getting the extra help you need during your busy week. That's it — you're all set to lead the way!
Setting Active Teaching Windows
The first way to set boundaries is by defining Teaching Hours. This tells the system exactly when school happens. If you have a tutor who only visits on Tuesday afternoons, you can set the schedule to reflect that specific window.
Go to your Account Settings and find the Teaching Hours section.
Select the days of the week your caregiver or tutor will be helping.
Adjust the start and end times to match their shift.
Click Save Preferences to lock in these times.
💡 Good to know: When you set these hours, your Weekly Schedule will automatically suggest lessons only during those times. For more details on setup, check out "Configuring Your Account Preferences and Teaching Hours."
Creating an "Approved Lesson" Queue
To make sure a caregiver teaches the right topics, you can "pre-approve" content. This creates a clear list for them to follow so they don't accidentally start a project you wanted to do yourself!
The best way to do this is by using the Batch Generation tool with SparkAI or using the Schedule tab. By populating the calendar in advance, your caregiver simply needs to log in, look at the "Today" view on the Dashboard, and click start.
Schedule in Advance: Use Sunday evening to drag and drop lessons into the tutor's upcoming time slots.
Use Lesson Status: Keep lessons as "Draft" if you are still working on them, and move them to "Scheduled" when they are ready for the tutor.
Specific Notes: You can add Teacher Notes to any lesson to give the tutor special instructions on how you want the material handled.
⚠️ Heads up: Make sure you have already invited your tutor as a collaborator so they can see your schedule! See "Inviting Collaborators and Managing Permissions" for help with this.
Guiding Tutors with Student Profiles
SparkAI helps your tutors by showing them exactly where your child is at. By maintaining an accurate Student Profile, including the child's Operating Level, the tutor will always see lessons that are at the right difficulty.
Every time your tutor leaves feedback after a lesson, it helps SparkAI learn more about your child. This feedback personalizes your LearnSpark experience, making future lessons even better. This prevents a tutor from teaching something too easy or too hard!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a tutor change the lessons I have scheduled?
That depends on the permissions you gave them! If they are an "Editor," they can move things around. If you want them to only follow your plan, you can set their access level to "View-only," though most parents prefer giving tutors full-access so they can mark lessons as complete.
How do I see what the tutor actually taught?
Every time a tutor completes a lesson, you can view the Lesson Feedback. This will show you what was covered and how your child performed. It's a great way to stay "in the loop" without being in the room.
What if the tutor wants to do a spontaneous activity?
They can use the Quick Activity function! You can tell your tutor that they are allowed to use this for nature walks or museum visits. Keep in mind that using SparkAI to generate new activities or lessons uses your AI credits, so be sure to let your tutor know your preferences for spontaneous planning.
Will I get notified when a tutor starts a lesson?
You can check your Daily Dashboard at any time to see real-time updates on which lessons are "In Progress" or "Completed." This gives you total peace of mind throughout the day. Great job keeping the learning on track!