Do your kids have tutors?

[Anonymous]

Ma & Pa do the tutoring in our house. I think a lot of people kind of get scared off from doing it, but it's not that hard, and the money and, more importantly, time saved from doing it on our own is significant.

The exception is OT; we have outsourced that in the past, but we do try and take notes of what's done so we can work on it at home in the same fashion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a tutor for my 5 year old to prepare him for k next year and make sure he does not fall behind. Sounds crazy, I know… but he likes it and we are not paying for super expensive tutors. It’s like an activity he does (learning letters and numbers) at home while I finish working.

My older kids never had a tutor (4th and 2nd grade) and are doing very well in private.

Most 5 year olds learn from their parents because we all have the ability to work with a five year old. You don’t have time?

My child when younger loved to play educational games with me. One game she loved was a game to identify states and their capitals. When they had a test with a blank copy of states in the US and no list they needed to fill in names of capitals and states. She did it in ten minutes and got them all correct. That wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t play that game 100 times. We now play games about countries around the world which we both love.

Same with math. We played numbers games, cards, coloring math games. Reading books.

I think what we did was equal to tutoring at that age but more fun.

My son has a tutor in middle school because of a learning disability. The tutor is able to travel to the school during free time so it all stays in school.

English is my second language and I have never learned phonics. I am 100% unable to teach phonics to my son. Also, I don’t know how to teach numbers either. I can help him memorize them and write them of course, but the abstract concepts are something that teachers are much better than me at. Also, playing games that are fun is important. Finally, my son learns much better from someone that is not his parents.

My older kids don’t need tutor because I am 100% capable in helping them learning the states and capitals or multiplications/divisions and fractions.

The money I spend on tutors for my son are probably the best money I could ever spend!

[Anonymous]

One of my high school children does. We cant help him with his math-- multi-variable Calculus-- so he has a tutor. He really just reviews concepts and homework with the tutor so he feels more confident. Math was easy for him until he hit Calculus.

[Anonymous]

Tutoring is a function of wealth more than anything else.

In my wealthy neck of the woods where the public/private school breakdown is 50/50, nearly all kids are tutored, whether for remedial or getting-ahead purposes.

My oldest has ADHD and needed tutoring by us in elementary, and outside tutors in middle and high school, to get straight As. The costly kind: one-on-one, in-person by excellent people, from $90 to $250/hr.

My second is gifted, organized, and everything you could wish for academically. We're still going to get her SAT test prep to ensure a perfect score.

This has financial repercussions:
A. It's cheaper than 70K a year at Sidwell, and the kids in private still get tutors.
B. Oldest got merit aid in college for his high stats. I expect second kid to do the same.

[Anonymous]

Sort of.

DS has excelled at math since a young age, and his teachers suggested he try the AMC8 contest beginning in 6th. The coach charged a fee for the prep sessions.

That turned into Math Counts. He made the school team. Coach still charged $$ for weekly online classes with other children.

We told him he could quit the coaching anytime. He wanted to continue (his idea). Has done geometry in 8th & just accepted into TJ. But I think it’s more him than the online coaching for mathcounts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure I'll get some heat or unhelpful comments from this post, but I'm curious if you use a tutor, how often, and if you started using one for a specific reason,or just to keep your child competitive or worried school isn't meeting their needs.

We have been using a tutor for my 6th grader for several years now since we realized she had dyslexia and was very behind in reading. It's been extremely helpful in getting her caught up and helping her confidence.

In the fall, I had my 4th grader see a tutor just to prep for private school applications. My 4th grader seems to do well in school—probably average or slightly above. We never really stopped the tutoring after the fall, but recently Ive started thinking, Why are we still doing this? Especially since she complains about.

I'm not looking to stir the pot!! Just curious how others take on tutoring and why you do or do not do it. 

Yes. DC has severe adhd and a math disability and other. He’s had a math tutor since 6th grade and is in the 11, also has has English tutor and Spanish tutor for all 3 grades.

[Anonymous]

Spouse and I are the tutors. We supplement a fair amount of work and teaching home, I help my one that struggles with executive function stay organized and on top of things. Not gifted in the sense that no one is graduating high school at 12, but highly accelerated for their age/grade. Public school- where they would learn very little if entirely left up to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a tutor for my 5 year old to prepare him for k next year and make sure he does not fall behind. Sounds crazy, I know… but he likes it and we are not paying for super expensive tutors. It’s like an activity he does (learning letters and numbers) at home while I finish working.

My older kids never had a tutor (4th and 2nd grade) and are doing very well in private.

Most 5 year olds learn from their parents because we all have the ability to work with a five year old. You don’t have time?

My child when younger loved to play educational games with me. One game she loved was a game to identify states and their capitals. When they had a test with a blank copy of states in the US and no list they needed to fill in names of capitals and states. She did it in ten minutes and got them all correct. That wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t play that game 100 times. We now play games about countries around the world which we both love.

Same with math. We played numbers games, cards, coloring math games. Reading books.

I think what we did was equal to tutoring at that age but more fun.

My son has a tutor in middle school because of a learning disability. The tutor is able to travel to the school during free time so it all stays in school.

English is my second language and I have never learned phonics. I am 100% unable to teach phonics to my son. Also, I don’t know how to teach numbers either. I can help him memorize them and write them of course, but the abstract concepts are something that teachers are much better than me at. Also, playing games that are fun is important. Finally, my son learns much better from someone that is not his parents.

My older kids don’t need tutor because I am 100% capable in helping them learning the states and capitals or multiplications/divisions and fractions.

The money I spend on tutors for my son are probably the best money I could ever spend!

He’s five. You don’t need to teach him phonics or whatever it is you’re talking about. Unless he has a learning disability he will learn all these basic skills in class with his classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2nd, 4th, and 6th and we haven't had a need. Kids self-prepped for private school applications with the help of work books and I've worked with them to fill in other academic gaps.

If my kids had a demonstrated learning disability like dyslexia that responded best to specialized training, we would absolutely have a tutor.

Will probably need a tutor Algebra 2 or later if any of my kids are struggling. Even though I got a minor in math in college, I just don't remember enough!

This. My kids are still little (PK, 1st, 4th) and we haven’t seen a need yet. Growing up I did kumon and had a latin tutor for a bit so I would get rotors for my kids if I saw a need. If we didn’t pay $50K/year in tuition for each of them to go to private school on top of a nanny to help with driving in the afternoon (I work full-time as does my husband) I would consider paying for kumon because math seems to be taught poorly everywhere. But since we pay so much for school I would rather spend money on sports and other enrichment.

[Anonymous]

Started in 11th grade for SAT and whatever else she wanted to use it for. I bought hours and she decides when and how to use them. She doesn’t complain and I think she likes it. She’s a good student but sometimes needs support in things like calculus. Tutoring means that she can use lunch breaks for other things. Honestly, it just reminds me that I have money to burn because it’s not a necessity at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure I'll get some heat or unhelpful comments from this post, but I'm curious if you use a tutor, how often, and if you started using one for a specific reason,or just to keep your child competitive or worried school isn't meeting their needs.

We have been using a tutor for my 6th grader for several years now since we realized she had dyslexia and was very behind in reading. It's been extremely helpful in getting her caught up and helping her confidence.

In the fall, I had my 4th grader see a tutor just to prep for private school applications. My 4th grader seems to do well in school—probably average or slightly above. We never really stopped the tutoring after the fall, but recently Ive started thinking, Why are we still doing this? Especially since she complains about.

I'm not looking to stir the pot!! Just curious how others take on tutoring and why you do or do not do it. 

Each kid had a math tutor for a period of time when they needed it. One also had a Spanish tutor for about 6 months

[Anonymous]

My kid had a language tutor because the teacher at the W school sucked. All she cared about was making sure the native speakers would get 5s on the AP exam so she looks good.

[Anonymous]

We did a math tutor for DC in 6th grade and it was absolutely worth it. Her learning style and the teaching style was a mismatch. I'd definitely do a math tutor again. I'm more confident in other areas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sort of.

DS has excelled at math since a young age, and his teachers suggested he try the AMC8 contest beginning in 6th. The coach charged a fee for the prep sessions.

That turned into Math Counts. He made the school team. Coach still charged $$ for weekly online classes with other children.

We told him he could quit the coaching anytime. He wanted to continue (his idea). Has done geometry in 8th & just accepted into TJ. But I think it’s more him than the online coaching for mathcounts.

This makes sense. He has a specific goal and has a tutor to help him get there.

I only know of tutors for struggling kids or kids with a learning disability. The ones that went to the top colleges didn’t need or want extra help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH. I’m an engineer, so I’ve been the kids’ tutor as needed. I’m comfortable through AP Calc, certainly AP Physics.

My oldest is a paid tutor in MS math for neighbors.

Hmm. You sound very smug, but I can assure you many people gifted in math are not capable of tutoring.

I struggle tutoring my kids because math is so intuitive for me. I don’t know how I do it, I just know the answer. I look at a calc problem, visualize the math in my head and know what the answer is. I can’t explain to my kid how to do multiplication tables.

PP did not sound smug. I think you didn’t like their response because their arrangement did not work for you.

We hired a Latin tutor for our son when he was in 8th grade and failing the class. He eeked out a C and wanted to stay with Latin in high school even though we encouraged him to switch languages. Wouldn’t you know it - he ended his freshman year with an A and has all A’s this year, both without a tutor, so now we just think his 8th grade teacher was horrible.