Wondering About a Tutor for Your Child? Here are Some Questions to Consider.

If you are thinking about hiring a tutor for your child, there are some key questions you need to ask.

First, you should ask yourself - why am I looking for a tutor for my child?  Are they struggling with a particular concept or an entire subject.  If it is a particular concept, perhaps spending extra time at school is needed.  Talk with the teacher to find out what can be done at home to support your child.  Are there any resources the teacher can provide for extra help?  Is this an ongoing struggle?  If your child is really struggling in a subject or more than one subject, then maybe it is time to consider an experienced tutor.

Now you need to find the right tutor.  There are a number of ways to find tutors - through print and online classifieds, business cards on community bulletin boards, phone directories and print and billboard advertising.  Obviously the key is choosing the right tutor.  Some questions you should ask any potential tutor is about their experience.  What is their background and have they tutored students in circumstances similar to what your child is facing?  If they are an experienced tutor, don't be afraid to ask for references.  Also, what are their qualifications?  Do they have or are they working on post-secondary degrees or certificates?  How is the tutor going to approach tutoring sessions and what resources will be used? 

Lastly, what are everyone's expectations?  Are you expecting your child to reach the next grade level by the next report card or by the end of the year.  What if the grade does not increase but your child feels more confident in themselves.  Would that be considered a success?  What are the tutor's expectations?  Really, a good tutor should help develop habits in your child that will help them achieve success on their own.  That might not happen during a report card cycle or even at the end of the year, but that should definitely be one of the tutor's expectation.

Choosing a tutor may not be easy.  You may have to interview more than one person before getting the right feel and choosing the right person.  Even after choosing a tutor, don't forget to ask your child how they feel about the tutor.  Is there a connection between the tutor and your child?  Are the tutoring sessions working?  If not, don't be afraid to stop the tutoring sessions and begin another search for the right tutor.  Those tutors are out there.

Stop Summer Brain Drain

Recently, I came across a very interesting article on student summer brain drain http://school.familyeducation.com/summer/cognitive-processes/38453.html.

Working in schools I've seen first hand the effect summer has on students. While the article mentions that students lose one to three months of learning, I wouldn't generalize it to that extent.  I would say the first few weeks of school are definitely a time of adjustment.  It's an adjustment for everyone - parent, teacher and student.  For students, the adjustment might be they are slow to process things as they begin to get back into a routine, for others the adjustment is more of a struggle.  It is this struggle that can lead to frustration and anxiety.  Being frustrated and anxious is definitely not a great way to start a new school year.

Keeping the brain busy during the summer is important to prevent brain drain.  The article mentions several ways in which parents can incorporate learning into summer activities by frequent trips to the library and consider learning opportunities when planning summer vacations.  In our area, the local provincial park has an excellent interpretation centre with a variety of kid friendly programming all summer long.  Campers and cottagers can spend time learning about nature in a fun way.

Lastly, there is summer tutoring.  Of course, being a tutor myself I appreciate the article's mention of summer tutoring.  Summertime sessions can be a little less intense and maybe more fun that tutoring sessions during the school year, but they are just as important.  Even one session a week can help keep the brain working.  Leaving the student with a question to ponder for the rest of the week is a great way to keep the thinking continue in between tutoring sessions.

Whatever strategy is chosen, ensuring learning continues throughout summer is a great way to avoid brain drain and have your child begin the school year on the right foot.

Homework Help and Tutoring

I recently came across yet another article highlighting the benefits of https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org, the online tutoring website I recently discussed on this blog.  The article available at
http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2014/01/29/online-tutoring-site-earns-top-marks has a great success story of a student who struggles in math and finds the online resource a great help.

I do however, take issue when the article twice dismisses the work of tutors when touting the online resource.  The article encourages parents to "say goodbye to high-priced tutors" and warns that "parents (are) paying for pricey private tutors...and they don't have to."   That could be dangerous advice for parents with kids struggling in math.

First, I don't see the availability of online tutoring resources, whether it is homework help or any other online resource, as supplanting the work of tutors.  Rather, I find the online tutor websites complement what we do.  Meeting face to face with a tutor once or twice a week is sometimes not enough, and when extra help outside of tutoring sessions is needed I think it is great there are a number of online resources available.

Second, the homework help website is only limited to kids in certain grades, on certain days, during certain times.  I think it is a great strategy to meet with a private tutor on Saturday morning and another day during the week right after school (both times when the homework help website is not available), and the online resource when extra help is needed outside of tutoring sessions.

Private tutors are a great resource that cannot easily be replaced by technology.  The benefits of one on one face to face tutoring sessions between tutor and students will be the subject of an upcoming blog post.  By dismissing the "high-priced tutors," the article is minimizing the work we tutors do for struggling students and is ignoring one of a great number of resources available in the student's backpack.

Help with Homework with Homework Help

Homework Help

     Homework Help - https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org/secure/login.php is a free site promoted on the Ministry of Education website. They provide an overview of Homework help which is run by TVO's Independent Learning Centre with support from the Ontario government. Schools, School Boards or individual students can register for access to this site that targets students in grades 7 to 10 who may need help with their math homework that parents just can’t help them with.  The site provides live, online math tutoring from an Ontario teacher.  Support services are available from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. ET from Sunday to Thursday.  The site also offers tutor rooms by grade, which allows students to see what questions other students are asking. It then lets them watch teachers walk through problems on the group whiteboard.

      Students do not have to be embarrassed to ask questions as the tutor is only given the student’s username not his or her real name.  Questions are answered in order but students do not have wait for their response.  An alarm will let them know when they can access the tutor, allowing them to move onto other things, like their other homework, reading or listening to music.

     This is a great tool for students who may not have access to a paid tutor.  Students in rural areas often cannot find qualified math tutors and can access the services they need.  There are also benefits for the student who does not always need help but occasional support.  A tutor can help talk them through a question that is challenging - especially when a parent is unable to help.

     Even though live support services are limited to evenings from Sunday to Thursday, there are a number of resources permanently available to students, parents and teachers.  The site's "Best Sessions" include sample step by step lessons, over 300 videos of past tutor-student chats as well as practice test questions sessions.  The resources can be used by those needing support in math but also by students with a firm grasp of mathematical concepts but are looking to be challenged. 

Of interest is a recent news item on Homework Help:
http://london.ctvnews.ca/ontario-offering-live-online-math-tutoring-1.1665292

Claiming Tutoring Fees on Your Income Tax

If you are paying for a tutor for your child, you can claim the fees you pay on your income tax.  In Canada, you can claim the tuition fees through the Children’s Art Tax Credit.  The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) provides a tax credit for fees that are paid for activities related to the “artistic, cultural, recreational or development of your child” (http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/bdgt/2011/qa01-eng.html).  Eligible expenses are for fees that “provide enrichment or tutoring in academic subjects.”

So, what do you need to know?  Some of the highlights of the credit include:

- You can claim $500 per year for each of your children under 16 years of age.  The $500 would include the total fees for all eligible programs – tutoring, music lessons or any other artistic, cultural, recreational or developmental activity.

- The program whose fees you are claiming must run for eight consecutive weeks or for five consecutive days.  When claiming tutoring fees, the most likely scenario will be claiming the costs of eight consecutive weeks of lessons.

- Ask for receipts but do not include them when you file your income tax and benefit return – keep the receipts in case CRA asks for them to verify your claim. Receipt should have the organization/individual’s name and address; name of the eligible program; amount received, date received, full name of payer, full name of the child, child’s year of birth and a signature.

Disability credits are also available, although there are some special rules that apply.  You should contact the CRA directly if you have any questions on how to claim credits for your disabled child.

Helping Students in Need of Extra Help

Just as school was beginning this year I came across an excellent article from one of our local newspapers - "Helping Students in Need of Extra Help" http://www.windsorstar.com/Helping+students+need+extra+help/8814313/story.html

The article outlines some steps parents can take to help their children reach their full academic potential.  If you feel your child is struggling, spend time doing homework with them.  It is the easiest way to figure out the areas where your child excels and where they are struggling. Secondly, talk with the teacher.  They work with your child everyday and may be able to confirm your suspicions or allay your fears. 

If you determine your child needs some additional guidance in a particular subject, develop a tutoring plan.  Some parents can tutor their child on their own.  Other cannot.  From personal experience, when I am tutoring my own child, I sometimes think she would respond better to a third party tutor.  It isn't because I cannot help her, but just because I am Dad.  When Dad asks her to do something, there is a natural reaction to sometimes question or challenge what I am asking her to do.

If you decide to seek help for your child from a tutor or tutoring service, talk to the tutor about your concerns.  Ask for regular updates to track how well your child is doing during the tutoring sessions.  Talk to your child's teacher to see if your child has made any progress.  Lastly, stick with the tutoring plan as progress might take longer than anticipated.  It might take the entire school year before your child takes it to the next level.

Why Blog about Tutoring?

It seems everyone is either blogging or sharing their opinion in some way through social media or by just commenting on every news article you read.  So why am I creating a blog on, of all things, helping children achieve their full potential?  Why blog about tutoring?

The aim of this blog is two-fold.  The first is to post and comment on items I come across that I find interesting or think it may be of interest to some people.  I'm not sure who the audience is, but I am thinking you are involved in education in some capacity- you're a parent who is concerned about your child's development; or you are a tutor looking for resources for your toolbox; or you may be someone looking at entering the education profession as a education assistant, teacher, or volunteer and care about issues in education.  I envision the makeup of the audience as such because I am all of these - parent, tutor and aspiring teacher.  Ideally, each post will provide a forum for discussion and a springboard for future posts.

Secondly, I am blogging to support my private tutoring business.  Blogging is yet another way to connect with the parents of my students.  It is an opportunity for parents to gain some insight into my philosophies on education, how I feel about certain issues relevant to learning and how they can get involved in their children's learning.  There are a myriad of things a parent can do outside the hour long tutoring session to help their children "take it to the next level."