<p>My older son is a math wiz, so this is new for me. My daughter is struggling with high school math and I would like to find her a tutor before she falls too far behind. Is it best to ask her teacher for a recommendation or try to find one on our own? How else would you go about finding one?</p>
<p>Does the teacher offer before or after school tutoring? It is required at our high school that the teachers be available in their classrooms at least two days per week for after school tutorials.</p>
<p>If not, then I would probably ask the teacher for recommendations first. If (s)he has none, then I would possibly check with the other high school math teachers in your area to see if one would be interested in an after school tutoring session on certain days. Sometimes another teacher may know someone in the field who is retired or working in another field presently that might be willing to help. </p>
<p>My brother's three kids had a regular tutor for math who was a bachelor working at a local industry. Part of their deal with him was to feed him dinner on the nights he tutored in addition to paying him. He enjoyed having a homecooked meal from time to time!</p>
<p>I'm not sure that a regular math teacher would be best either as a tutor or as a source of recommendation. Sometimes, it is the teacher who is the cause of the problem. Some teachers think that if only they keep on repeating the same thing, some of it will stick when in fact, "the same thing" is clear as mud to the student. The 10th grade math teacher announced that "geometry is boring, but I'll make sure that the students get it; they'll do lots of exercises until they get it." That's one way of going about it, but a better way would have been to make geometry less boring (or at least, not to tell students a priori).</p>
<p>Is there a college or university nearby? How old is your D? Is there another student in the high school who could help her? (my S used to tutor kids before school). Another source of help for specific problems is Ask Dr. Math on the Math Forum (<a href="http://www.mathforum.org)%5B/url%5D">www.mathforum.org)</a>. Parents may also be good sources for leads.</p>
<p>At my son's school, members of the National Honor Society are either required or strongly encouraged to tutor other students. Maybe that would be an option?</p>
<p>Marite,</p>
<p>I think you hit the nail on the head and why I am concerned with contacting teacher directly. Daughter is also very aware of big brother's accomplishments and has difficulty admitting she may need some extra help. She would certainly not want it publicized.</p>
<p>We had this issue with D in 10th grade. After one month, the teacher tried to kick her out of the class (lots of problems -- some of it was his teaching style, some of it was secular turmoil in her life that made math seem not worth her attention). We had to pry the name of a tutor out of the school -- their attitude was that tutors were for kids who really needed help, not depressed, lazy smart kids. But in the end, we got the digits, and it was magic. Within a month, she was an A math student again. The tutor was a former master teacher at the school who had realized she could triple her income by going free-lance.</p>
<p>That spring, I was approached by a parent of one of her classmates, who told me that my daughter had saved their family. Their daughter was also having a lot of trouble in math, and my daughter had told her about the tutor and taken the girl with her to meet the tutor. (As with us, the school had refused to recommend a tutor for her, and the parents hadn't pushed hard enough.) The other family was extremely grateful that my daughter had been willing to admit her own problems in order to help their kid -- who was not a close friend at all.</p>
<p>So: Private tutors -- can be great. (Can also be expensive, but one hopes not long term.) Talking about it -- can also be great.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what is available in your area, but when one of our sons needed foreign language tutoring we found a student through the local college. They connected well and it helped him to learn from someone a little closer to his age. Some of the teachers from other high schools in this area will tutor for students from a different high school. Also there are teachers at the local private day schools that do tutoring on the side. When my D. was having some problems with math, it was enough for her to get in with a study group and essentially have peer tutoring. I agree that is it best to start with something early on-- she may not need it long-term, but it will build her confidence.</p>
<p>we found Kumon, to do a good job filling in the gaps left by many districts math programs. However, if the math weakness is compounded by a disability they will not be as helpful as you need.</p>
<p>She is in the 10th grade taking Geometry honors. So she is a good student, but having a little trouble grasping some of the concepts and keeping up (and I'm certainly no help!). She did poorly on the last quiz and she takes these things to heart. So it is partly a confidence issue also.</p>
<p>holymomma:</p>
<p>Lots of students seem to have trouble with geometry, mostly because it is more proof-oriented and conceptual than arithmetics and elementary algebra. A tutor who can go over the concepts with your D would do wonders for her understanding.</p>
<p>Marite is absolutely correct. My son, who just got 800 on SAT I and II had a lot of difficulties with geometry because it is so proof-oriented as opposed to arithmetic. You can't do proofs in your head like the more arithmetic and computational kinds of math.</p>
<p>My DD is gifted in math but was having trouble with Honors Algebra II/Trig. Long story, but I wanted to find her a tutor and after I had talked to several (found through word of mouth) on the phone, the head of the math department finally said, "Well, if you want to get a tutor, don't get anyone but Mrs. XXXX. She's the only good one!" Mrs. XXXX had worked at the HS for more than 40 years and as soon as I called her, I knew she was the one. Today, a year later, she loves DD, she's become a good friend of the family, and she's just great. PLUS she knows the math curriculum at the HS like the back of her hand AND she knows the teachers. So I would say get recommendations from the HS and pursue those first. It can really make a big difference. </p>
<p>BTW, I had a friend's (very bright, high-achieving) HS-senior daughter tutor my DD for the SAT II biology and I really wasn't thrilled with the results. It cost less, but DD's score wasn't as high as we thought it could be. I think for these bright kids, it pays to use an experienced adult.</p>
<p>Just went to back to school night. Math teacher (algebra 2) mentioned all the hours math teachers (not just her) were available for before and after school tutoring. She also had a list of math tutors available if the parents wanted to go that route. </p>
<p>She also mentioned that the Calculus kids tutored math for service hours. As EK said, though, these kinds of tutors aren't particularly useful if there is a math disability at work.</p>
<p>Why a school wouldn't let parents know all of the resources available to them is a mystery to me!</p>
<p>Prepping for SAT 2 Biology brings back memories...</p>
<p>D's TWO years of biology at the local hs still left big gaps in the coverage of the material on the SAT 2 Bio test. So poor H read the review books, make a stack of index cards with questions and answers on them from which D studied. Much better than any paid tutor! (And he was cheap!)</p>
<p>We found exceptional tutors thrugh Princeton Review. They were very well trained college students from a UC near us. It was expensive but worth it.</p>
<p>
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Why a school wouldn't let parents know all of the resources available to them is a mystery to me!
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<p>ellemenope: In our district it is no mystery. By agreeing to recommend tutors, they would be admitting to a possible weakness in the teacher's ability to communicate and teach. They will pretend that the need for tutoring is so rare that there is no need for them to be ready with suggestions. Our district does a lot for show, like brag about the large number of AP courses offered. The passing rates, however, are burried so deep that you must access them through the state Dept of Ed website.</p>
<p>StickerShock, amazing attitude for a school board! Sorry to hear that you've got to deal with all that.</p>
<p>math is one of our areas of contention in the schools
But I do agree that strong teachers of math are rare. generally, and I am making a sweeping statement I realize, if you are really good in math, you aren't necessarily going to go into education, especially in the younger grades.
Also, we have found that(some) math teachers, have difficulty explaining things any differently than they already have. If you like math so much that you want to teach it, things may seem obvious to you, but isn't to kids who are having trouble.
Even my older daughter in a fancy prep school had a teacher who would just tell her she hadn't read the chapter throughly enough, when she had a question/
Additonally, although D was doing fairly well in school in math, computation/arithmetic is the most difficult even with drilling, her sister is the same way.( but she made it through college calculus and organic chem)
So for them- algebra was a pain, possibly because they have some dyslexia, but geometry seems to be a different part of the brain.</p>
<p>If there are learning challenges going on, you may need a tutor who has a bag of tricks for that, but if it is just a little weakness in maybe the curriculum or classroom instruction, then a peer tutor or college student could be enough help.</p>
<p>When I was struggling with Geometry, my mom's friend told her of a professor at a local community college. She is awesome and her prices are reasonable. She got me through Geometry, Algebra II, and the SATs. Without my tutor, seriously doubt I would be at a 4-year college now. Failing Geometry was a serious possibility (mainly because of a HORRIBLE teacher!!!), and a D or an F in the class would have dropped my very respectable B average GPA like a bomb! I never did get an A with my tutor (Ha, she's good, not magic!), but she helped me learn what I needed to know, and became a good friend along the way.</p>
<p>At my kid's hs, all the math teachers were the coaches of the winningest teams at school. I feel they favored their atheletes, and were chosen for the strength of their coaching, rather than their ability to teach math.
One of them used to flick my son on the ears with his fnigers to get my son's attention. I got him transferred out of that class, but they were all pretty bad.</p>