Helping Students Discover Their Light

Firefly Tutors, presented by A+ In Home Tutors, was built on a simple belief: every student deserves the chance to reach their full potential. Since 2003, we've helped families across all 50 states find personalized, one-on-one support through in-home, online, and pod tutoring. Get to know our story, our founder, and the team dedicated to helping every student discover their light.

Our Story

What we believe

We believe every student deserves the opportunity to develop to their highest potential. Unfortunately, many students fall through the cracks with traditional education. We offer customized multi sensory integration to maximize the learning experience.

What we do

Every student has a unique spark of potential waiting to be unleashed. Finding the perfect mentor shouldn't be a burden on your family. During your free consultation, our education experts carefully analyze your child’s needs to select the ideal tutor for them. Our exceptional tutors bring subjects to life by weaving your student’s personal hobbies and interests into every lesson. This powerful combination builds real confidence and resilience. We don't just raise grades. We empower your student to reach their absolute highest potential.

What guides us

What is best for students is what guides us. For any action we take, our strategic lens, or North Star, is “how will this benefit students?”

Meet Our Founder

Diane Cutler Lewis is an educator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist committed to helping students reach their highest potential. She began tutoring a friend's daughter and within one year, had 21 students from referrals. The best part was that she loved her students as they poured laughter and joy into her heart. Tutoring quickly became Diane's passion and life purpose.

She founded A+ In Home Tutors in 2003 to promote educational awareness and customized learning for students of all backgrounds and grade levels. The organization has grown to be one of the leading tutoring vendors to many Charter Schools and community partners throughout California. In 2021, Diane launched Firefly Tutors, presented by A+ In Home Tutors, to continue to expand tutoring services with the goal of more positively impacting greater numbers of students in all 50 United States.

Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University Northridge, majoring in Liberal Studies and Education with a California Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential in K-8th grade learning.

Diane's career in education was inspired by her father, Morris Cutler. In 2019, she published Education Warrior, an inspirational memoir of her father that highlights his global impact on education in Afghanistan, Kenya, and California. Also, as a tribute to her father, she founded Education Warrior, a not-for-profit created to provide much-needed tutoring for vulnerable at-risk children of families with high hopes but little money who are the most likely to drop out of school.

In addition to her passion for making education accessible to all, Diane embraces travel, people from diverse cultures, delicious foods, art, music, theatre and enjoys an active, healthy lifestyle in Anaheim, California.

Diane Lewis

Founder and CEO

Our Leadership Team

Tyler Cunningham

Education Consultant

Tyler is deeply passionate about individualized learning that brings out the best in students. With over five years of experience managing and developing arts education programs, he excels in problem-solving and relationship-building, the magic formula that makes learning possible. Based in Virginia, Tyler pursues his long-term quest to beat his chess partner and become fluent in German.

tyler.cunningham@fireflytutors.com

Rachel Chianese

Education Consultant

Rachel is passionate about building strong relationships with schools and families, identifying customized learning solutions, and helping students access high-quality academic support that drives meaningful outcomes. In her free time, she enjoys taking walks in her neighborhood and finding small coffee shops to try.

rachel.chianese@fireflytutors.com

Sophie Warner

Tutor Talent Scout

Sophie is a teacher and tutor who loves to share her love of learning. Based in Los Angeles, she is dedicated to getting students the support they need. She enjoys nature, reading, singing, and learning new languages.

sophie.warner@fireflytutors.com

Tracy Davis

HR & Accounting Manager

Tracy leads the HR & Accounting department here at Firefly Tutors. She has over 20 years of HR and Accounting experience. When Tracy isn't working, she's homeschooling her daughters. In Tracy's freetime she enjoys reading, working out, and teaching others about budgeting and health & wellness. Tracy resides in Virginia with her family.

tracy.davis@fireflytutors.com

Anna Kasson

Marketing Director

Anna leads our Firefly Tutors marketing team, providing effective communication to our parents, teachers, school administrators, and tutors. She brings 6 years of experience with the past 3 years managing teams of marketing specialists. Anna’s strengths soar in website management, social media, content creation, and advertising.

anna.kasson@fireflytutors.com

Seth Alfarero

Administrative Assistant

Leseth, a seasoned corporate sales professional, has become a versatile virtual assistant, supporting businesses across various industries for over a decade. Based in Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines, she takes great pride in balancing her professional endeavors alongside the joys of motherhood, caring for her six sons alongside her supportive husband.

seth@fireflytutors.com

Seth Alfarero

Administrative Assistant

Leseth, a seasoned corporate sales professional, has become a versatile virtual assistant, supporting businesses across various industries for over a decade. Based in Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines, she takes great pride in balancing her professional endeavors alongside the joys of motherhood, caring for her six sons alongside her supportive husband.

seth@fireflytutors.com

Frequently Asked Questions

There are a lot of options for tutoring services. What makes Firefly Tutors different?

Firefly Tutors believes every student deserves the opportunity to develop to their full potential. We take the time to understand your student’s learning style to match your student with the tutor that has the experience and skills that are right for your student. Our experienced tutors design a personalized multi-sensory learning experience for your student based on their learning needs. Unlike other tutoring firms, Firefly Tutors helps students learn valuable life skills beyond the classroom. Our goal at Firefly Tutors is to help your student discover their light and illuminate their potential.

What cities or locations do you offer tutoring?

We offer tutoring across the United States. No matter what your location in the U.S., we can help.

What results should I expect from tutoring?

At a minimum, you should expect that your student achieves learning success in the subject or subjects needed. With Firefly Tutors you can expect more. Our tutors help your student learn the academic material but also help your student build life skills and confidence for successful learning in the future.

What about pod learning? How does that work?

Pod learning is designed to teach groups of students. Participating students can be from multiple families or within the same family. Often pods are created by parents who have joined together to help their respective students as a group. Learning pods can be as small as 2 to 3 students or as large as 4 to 6 students. Pod learning offers the benefit of social interaction with other students along with the learning experience. Depending on the situation, pod learning can also be less expensive per student. Firefly Tutors can help assess if pod learning is a good fit for your student or family.

How do you select a tutor for my student?

At Firefly Tutors, we spend the time upfront to understand your student’s learning style, hobbies, and specific learning needs. We then match your student with a tutor who defines a personalized plan for your student. We do not offer ‘cookie-cutter’ learning plans. Everything we deliver at Firefly Tutors is tailored to your student’s needs.

What is the best form of tutoring for my student - online or in-home?

It depends. There is strong evidence that in-home tutoring is the most effective for most students. However, with evolving tools for online learning, this model can be as effective as well. After learning more about your student and your family situation, we will recommend what’s best for your student.

How do I know if tutoring is right for my student?

If your student is falling behind or struggling in school, this could be a sign that tutoring is needed. Your student may seem to lack confidence or lose interest in learning. These are also signs that tutoring could help. Our first step is to learn more about your student’s situation. We will provide you guidance based on our years of experience to identify if tutoring is right for your student.

School & Community Partnerships

We support charter families, homeschool groups, and private schools.

Tutor Of The Month

September 2026

Gena Christ

Discover More Tutors

We're thrilled to celebrate Gena Christ as our Tutor of the Month for September 2026! Based in La Habra, California, Gena brings more than two decades of educational expertise and an unmistakable joy for teaching to every session she leads.

Gena earned her BA in Liberal Studies with a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles, followed by a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology from Azusa Pacific University. She has spent over 20 years in education as an Elementary School Teacher and School Psychologist, and has been tutoring with Firefly Tutors for the past two years. She tutors all elementary subjects from TK through 6th grade and has a special place in her heart for the littlest learners, whose joy and eagerness to learn she finds infectious.

What Gena loves most is helping students reach those breakthrough moments of understanding. "My passion is helping students find those 'Ah-ha!' moments; those are the keys that open the doors to learning!" she shares. Drawing on her background in School Psychology, she fills her sessions with hands-on activities of every kind - puzzles, games, arts and crafts, play money, play dough, stickers, and more - along with songs, chants, rhymes, and movement to help tricky ideas stick.

Her favorite strategy of all? Using books and stories to show students that everyone faces challenges. With one of her favorites, Bubble Gum Brain, her students learn that mistakes are an important part of learning and growing - nothing to be embarrassed about. Gena models making mistakes herself, finding them, fixing them, and moving on, giving students permission to do the same. We fix it and move on!

Outside of tutoring, Gena loves to read, travel, garden, create arts and crafts, cook, and spend time with friends and family. Her favorite adventure so far was cruising the Greek Isles and exploring the ancient sites of Olympia, Delphi, and Ephesus - and she can't wait to see more of the world.

Gena's experience, creativity, and warmth make her a treasured part of the Firefly Tutors team. Thank you, Gena, for the "Ah-ha!" moments, the encouragement, and the heart you bring to every student's journey.

Ready to Help Your Child Move Forward?

Tell us about your child’s goals and learning style, and we’ll connect them with a subject-expert tutor for personalized support at home or online.

Call 888-505-5930 Connect With Us