Literally every single MCPS kid I know has a tutor. Do YOU?

[Anonymous]

Everyone I know (myself included) has a tutor for their elementary MCPS student. Why? Because the curriculum is failing to teach fundamental basics (like basic facts, handwriting, and spelling) and because the topics they DO teach are like a foreign language to me. I'm a doctor and my husband is a mathematician. Sure, we can learn any math strategy and teach it to our kid but there's no guide, no textbook, no common vocabulary... I read my son's assignment and it says to solve using only the blah-blah-blah algorithm. When DS completes his HW and asks me to look it over, I don't know if he used the correct algorithm! Ask your tutor, I always say. (She's an MCPS teacher who tutors on the side; an insider!)
My reasoning (for now) is that paying a tutor $80/hr is a lot less expensive than private school. And then my kid gets help reinforcing the algorithms that leave me scratching my head AND he gets a little enrichment (or what they used to call "basics"). Friends and neighbors are all in the same boat. Isn't the school system failing our children if we ALL require tutors?

Do you have a tutor? If you don't, do you wish you did?

[Anonymous]

Yep. We've had a tutor since DD was in kindergarten. Perfectly capable student, always performs above grade level, we just don't know the lingo.

[Anonymous]

I believe that if your child needs a tutor, the teacher is doing a lousy job. I don't have one for my elm. Aged kids, but I do for my high schooler for math. Needless to say, her math teacher is lousy.

[Anonymous]

We do 3 neighborhood kids to the one tutor. They were all bored in class, so we "supplement" or whatever you want to call it.

[Anonymous]

Nope, two students in elementary school in MCPS and no tutors. So we don't ALL require tutors. And no, I don't wish we had tutors. On the other hand, if $80/hour is the going rate, maybe I'll start tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope, two students in elementary school in MCPS and no tutors. So we don't ALL require tutors. And no, I don't wish we had tutors. On the other hand, if $80/hour is the going rate, maybe I'll start tutoring.

You're only marketable if you know the curriculum inside out... in other words, you're an MCPS employee.

[Anonymous]

Huh? Nope, never considered one. Two elementary aged kids in Potomac.

[Anonymous]

No tutors here. My kids are learning just fine. My Kindergartner could not reader or write at all at the start of the year and is now writing full paragraphs with mostly correct spelling.

[Anonymous]

No tutor, and no plans to get one.

I get the frustration with some of the curriculum, especially with the weird math problems. But we got a paper from the teacher showing how the students are learning different ways to solve a math problem. I think they were learning six different ways to do it.

The first time we saw it we were flabbergasted. How can you ever try to do this strategy in your head if you had to do the math problem in your head? But as I read through the explanation paper the teacher sent home, I saw that the last strategy was indeed doing double digit addition the old fashioned way.

When I talked to the math teacher she said they do expect the kids to do math in their heads using the old fashioned way. They just want to make sure the kids understand the addition inside and out, hence the different ways to do math.

When I see DC do math in DC's head, I can see DC using various strategies, and it's pretty good. Not how we are used to doing it, but it works.

I don't love 2.0, but I can see how it can be useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe that if your child needs a tutor, the teacher is doing a lousy job. I don't have one for my elm. Aged kids, but I do for my high schooler for math. Needless to say, her math teacher is lousy.

Umm...no. If many students need a tutor, then the teacher is doing a poor job. If one to a handful of students need tutors, those students just don't grasp those particular concepts as well and need extra help. Nothing wrong with that BTW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No tutor, and no plans to get one.

I get the frustration with some of the curriculum, especially with the weird math problems. But we got a paper from the teacher showing how the students are learning different ways to solve a math problem. I think they were learning six different ways to do it.

The first time we saw it we were flabbergasted. How can you ever try to do this strategy in your head if you had to do the math problem in your head? But as I read through the explanation paper the teacher sent home, I saw that the last strategy was indeed doing double digit addition the old fashioned way.

When I talked to the math teacher she said they do expect the kids to do math in their heads using the old fashioned way. They just want to make sure the kids understand the addition inside and out, hence the different ways to do math.

When I see DC do math in DC's head, I can see DC using various strategies, and it's pretty good. Not how we are used to doing it, but it works.

I don't love 2.0, but I can see how it can be useful.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, two students in elementary school in MCPS and no tutors. So we don't ALL require tutors. And no, I don't wish we had tutors. On the other hand, if $80/hour is the going rate, maybe I'll start tutoring.

You're only marketable if you know the curriculum inside out... in other words, you're an MCPS employee.

Nah, I'll just advertise my bargain rate of $70/hour.

But OP, really? You pay a MCPS teacher $80/hour to teach your son handwriting, math facts, and spelling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, two students in elementary school in MCPS and no tutors. So we don't ALL require tutors. And no, I don't wish we had tutors. On the other hand, if $80/hour is the going rate, maybe I'll start tutoring.

You're only marketable if you know the curriculum inside out... in other words, you're an MCPS employee.

Nah, I'll just advertise my bargain rate of $70/hour.

But OP, really? You pay a MCPS teacher $80/hour to teach your son handwriting, math facts, and spelling?

Yes, in addition to deciphering the curriculum-based HW assignments and helping him prepare for quizzes. Some of my friends pay $100/hr. I think I'm getting a pretty good deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No tutor, and no plans to get one.

I get the frustration with some of the curriculum, especially with the weird math problems. But we got a paper from the teacher showing how the students are learning different ways to solve a math problem. I think they were learning six different ways to do it.

The first time we saw it we were flabbergasted. How can you ever try to do this strategy in your head if you had to do the math problem in your head? But as I read through the explanation paper the teacher sent home, I saw that the last strategy was indeed doing double digit addition the old fashioned way.

When I talked to the math teacher she said they do expect the kids to do math in their heads using the old fashioned way. They just want to make sure the kids understand the addition inside and out, hence the different ways to do math.

When I see DC do math in DC's head, I can see DC using various strategies, and it's pretty good. Not how we are used to doing it, but it works.

I don't love 2.0, but I can see how it can be useful.

I'm PP.

OP and others that have tutors, what grades are your kids in?

Mine are in 3rd and K. I've had a handful of HW where I was not sure how to answer the question. But for the most part, and certainly for tests and such, DC has done fine on DCs own. I rarely help DC for HW. I just check over it, and most of the time, it's correct.

K DC is also doing great. No problems with HW.

It must be the teachers that are bad. The teachers we've had so far have been pretty great at explaining things to the kids and sending home newsletters explaining what they are learning.

I think if my kids had bad teachers, I'd be having to research stuff online or something to help them better understand it. Not sure I'd hire a tutor though.

[Anonymous]

No, it has never occurred to me.