I have a young nephew (12 years old) who will be starting 8th grade in the Fall. He has always struggled with math. This last year it became apparent that he is not getting concepts (like fractions, multiplication tables) from earlier. His mom is worried that his problem will only get worse as his math classes continue to advance.
He hates math (understandably) so doesn’t want to do his homework which only compounds the problem.His mom wants to hire a tutor to work with him over the Summer to try to set him up for success when school starts again.
I’ve been tasked with finding a tutor, and don’t know how to go about it. Where do I advertise? What should the ad say? What do I need to look for? How do I interview? DO I need to interview? I assume this person would need to provide their own curriculum since it’s the Summer.
How much should I pay? I’ve been trying to do some research, and hourly rates vary from $8.50 to $30.00. The tutor would need to come to the house. I anticipate 2-4 hours per week.
Also, I suck at math. Perhaps I should have him tutor me, too, and I’m 44 years old. Ha.
You live in a very inexpensive place, if you can get tutors for $30 or less.
My son, after being a very solid math student through middle-school, fell apart this past year (freshman year of high school). If I wanted to be a math teacher, I’d be highly qualified to teach all levels of high school math (with the possible exception of AP Statistics), so I tried to help him, but parent-child dynamics being what they can be, that didn’t work too well. We found a tutor by speaking to math teachers (at his school and the one where my wife teaches). That’s probably the best way to find someone competent. Unfortunately, he didn’t respond well to the tutor, but we’re trying something different for the summer:
ALEKS. They have somewhat game-ified online math courses at all levels, and it costs about $20/month to subscribe to each course (auto-billed; you have to explicitly stop the subscription when you’re done). Parents get a separate log on to monitor the kid’s progress, and can assign quizzes and reviews at any time.
Still to be determined if it works out for my son, but he’s at least doing the work. He’s kind of introverted and also embarrassed by his performance this past year, so using an online “tutor” suits him, since he doesn’t have to deal with an actual human (who would be either a relative stranger or his dad).
Could you tell me more about how your son didn’t respond well to the tutor? I think nephew would respond to a kind, patient guy. He likes to please kind authority figures, and sis thinks he gives guys more authority than women.
I like the ALEKS idea. I’ll tell my sis to keep it in mind as a good additional tool in the toolbox.
His response to the tutor was a combination of introversion, stubbornness, embarrassment, despair over his situation, and refusal to take anyone’s suggestions on ways to improve how he was doing. Also, it was basically too late in the year for an intervention to work. He passed both semesters (barely) but really doesn’t have the skills to progress to the next level. He’s doing ALEKS to review, and will retake the class this coming year (he was 2 years ahead of the standard curriculum, so he will still end up one year ahead).
BTW, Khan Academy is also a great idea (and free) but I don’t know if it has the feedback and parental monitoring ability of ALEKS. So it depends what level of help he needs.
This is right in Khan’s wheelhouse. His cousins actually found out that they preferred the videos over face-to-face instruction.
Eventually, [Khan’s] cousins preferred YouTube to in-person tutoring, and that, he said, led to the realization that video instruction has certain advantages. “The first time you’re trying to learn something, it’s stressful when someone is waiting for you to learn it,” Khan said. With video, “you can pause, rewind and review stuff.”
When I was in Jr High, one of the little kids on the block had a sort of hero-worship thing going on with me. I taught him how to ice skate one day when a bunch of us were out on one of the local ponds. Anyway, he was struggling in school and his mother hired me to tutor him after hearing how “one of the big guys had helped him skate”. He was so excited that “one of the big kids” was giving him some attention that it worked out great.
If he knows some older kid who is pretty good at math, maybe you can recruit him to be a sort of big brother to your nephew.
We found a tutor through the local college. Call the math department and see if you can post something there, or ask if they know any good students who could use extra cash.
My sister’s thought was to post an ad on Craigslist, but I admit I like the idea much better of contacting a local college. I’ll try his junior high, but they’re already out for the summer.
John Mace, I like your idea a lot for when school starts up again in the fall. Right now he needs someone with a structured plan, but it would be great for him to have a mentor that he admires to help him with homework during the year.
A tutor can be a very good option. I recall reading somewhere that one of the best ways to manage homework is to have a consistent time where a student has nothing else to do but the work or stare at the walls. A tutor can do a lot to provide that kind of structure.
A local college is a good option. It may also be helpful to ask coworkers. One of them may have a kid the right age who can help out.
Cost is going to really vary based on experience level, where they tutor (do they come to you, or you to them), and if they are making tutoring their career or if they just want to pick up a few extra dollars. I’d expect $12 an hour for a responsible high school kid up to $50 for a professional tutor who comes to your home. Like all freelancers, doing it right is pricey.
Better tutors are probably not going to have enough time to make house calls. IME, it usually takes kids ~2 years to catch up in a situation like this, assuming active parental engagement. It’s not just a matter of getting help with the material, but getting a solid understanding of the basic arithmetic that is the foundation of algebra.
Are there any Kumon centers in your area? He’ll hate it, and they’ll probably start him off with simple addition, but I’ve found good results there. It’s ~$100/month.
I charged $50/h over 5 years ago for chemistry tutoring.
I was (and technically still am) a tutor for a tutoring company called Varsity Tutors. I hope I don’t get in trouble mentioning them here, but they might be available in your area. They work very well to match you up with a suitable tutor, and in my estimation, they treat and pay the tutors well (as private contractors).
I thoroughly enjoyed the math and physics tutoring I have done over the years, and hope it works out well for your nephew.
And yes it’s perfectly reasonable to expect a tutor to have his own curriculum. I did this once for a student entering into physics. Just make it clear to the tutor that you do NOT have any textbook, materials, etc. In my estimation, this is going to cost you more because most tutors are honestly just homework helpers and are expecting the student to have the books, worksheets, etc that they will be working with. If you don’t go through a tutoring company, expect to pay more for a private tutor who will essentially need to be a teacher, having the full resources needed in a case like this.
There are tons of postings on craigslist for tutors, you can wade through those. You can also post an ad for free asking for wanted tutors, where you can specify exactly what you need for your nephew, and possibly how much you are willing to pay per hour.
That’s good info. I’ll set my sister’s expectations on how much she should be prepared to pay.
As I get to know him more, I don’t think taking him to a professional tutoring location is going to work. He will simply refuse to get in the car. I think he’s very sensitive to feeling ashamed that he’s not as smart as the other kids, and it makes him angry and then he will not comply.
It’s interesting, I looked on Craigslist and there was nothing! I guess this is a hot market for tutors and they don’t need to advertise.
Carol, Varsity Tutors is not an organization where you go to them. They just work as a sort of tutoring pimp, and send the tutor out to you. You even get to pick the tutors from their website and profiles. See if they work in your city, I think you’ll be pleased.
Since you faild to put an appropriate “location” in your profile and also didn’t mention in the OP where you lived (Europe, NYNY, Little Rock, China???) I can’t really give any type of meaningful answer.
WRT traits a math tutor should have, I found the following article a very good read: high school math tuition blog. It gave me a good starting point with what to look for in a good math tutor.l
