Your grade-school
child is struggling in school and the teacher has suggested you hire
a tutor. While a tutor can be an enlightening experience, having one
can also be expensive and the time a tutor spends with your child
is limited. Instead, consider tutoring your child yourself with the
subjects he is having difficulty with in school.
Assess the problem areas
Begin by assessing the areas and
subjects your child is having difficulty with. Is your child struggling
with reading or math concepts? Is he working too slowly and unable
to complete tasks? Are his comprehension skills good but organizational
skills in need of work? Analyze what some of the trouble areas are
so you can set up a plan on how to help your child succeed.
Talk to his teacher
Set up a meeting with your child's
teacher to get her view on what your child's strengths and
weaknesses are in academics. Maybe your child is distracted easily
and cannot concentrate in class. Or your child may learn better
by interacting and touching rather than reading long chapters. Getting
a second opinion will help lead you in the right direction to help
your child.
Also, for specific subjects
your child is having trouble with, ask the teacher for a copy of
the curriculum so you can help supplement it at home. Ask for copies
of any worksheets or workbooks that the teacher has that may help
you work with your child. It might be your child only needs a little
extra work in these areas to master them.
Get materials
Depending upon the subject your child
is struggling with, purchase or borrow learning tools such as workbooks,
flashcards, and games. You can buy these at almost any bookstore
or borrow them from the school or local library. Work together with
your child using these materials to help build on the skills he
already knows and to learn new ones.
Organize your time together
Put aside time each day to help your
child with his current homework on the problem subjects and to work
with him on additional materials to help supplement what he is learning.
Start with only a few concepts and build on those as the days and
weeks go by. Don't overwhelm your child with too much extra
work or concepts because this will only frustrate him. Learning
a little extra each day will help to build on what he is doing in
school so he can catch up with the other children.
If organization or stress over
timed tests are your child's big roadblocks try teaching your
child better ways to organize his time or relaxation techniques
for stress. Sometimes a perfectly good student can lapse because
of one of these issues, so it's important to teach them the
skills they need to conquer these problems.
Be Internet savvy
There are many sites on the Internet
that offer ideas for lessons for all subjects and grade levels.
They have free worksheets, word search puzzles you create yourself,
handwriting worksheets, reading comprehension tests and even flash
cards you can print plus much more. These are great tools because
you can create materials to suit your child's needs. Try abcteach.com
or atozteacherstuff.com
There are also interactive
learning sites your child can use. These have learning games for
all age levels in a variety of subjects, puzzles that you can put
together, Sudoku, mazes, word search puzzles and much more. Try
funbrain.com or primarygames.com
Be patient and have fun exploring
these subjects with your child. Often, as parents, we expect to
see results instantly but that isn't always the case. The important
thing is for your child to try to catch up and keep up with his
class and age level. Some subjects may always frustrate your child
but it is comforting for him to know that you are there and willing
to help him when the times get tough.- Deanna Lynn Sletten
