Finding The Right Math Tutor For Your Teen

Your teen is struggling in math class and you have decided that a tutor might help. How do you go about finding a good one? You want someone who relates well to your student, is knowledgeable, and is able to communicate effectively.

One possibility, and perhaps the most economical, would be a peer tutor. Someone in the same class who is doing well or someone who did well in the course a year or two earlier might be interested in doing one-on-one tutoring. If you choose to go this route, you might ask the teacher for names of capable students.

The high school counselor’s office is another good place to investigate possibilities. Many times they keep a list of available tutors in different subject areas. And if they don’t have a list, many times they will lend assistance in trying to locate a suitable tutor.

A certified teacher or retired teacher can be an excellent choice for private tutoring. Many schools have rules that prohibit a classroom teacher from tutoring his/her own students for compensation, but another teacher in the school or a teacher in another district might be available. Many teachers welcome tutoring jobs as a means of supplementing their income. However, you should expect to pay more for a certified or more experienced person.

If your community has a local college, consider hiring a college student as a tutor. When I was teaching I often referred parents to the chairman of the math department of our nearby college. He always had a list of students that were interested in tutoring high school math students.

Talk to other parents of high school students. Word of mouth can be a wonderful source of information when seeking out the right tutor. That parent sitting next to you at the soccer game might just have found a gem of a tutor who is looking for more students.

You might also consider running an ad in your local newspaper to find a tutor. Of course you want to be sure to carefully screen applicants and ask for references.

Lastly, your teen might be a good candidate for on-line tutoring services. There are a multitude of those services available today and they are growing in popularity.

A word of caution about choosing a tutor for your teen…teenagers are such individuals. What works for one student might not work for another at all. Some relate better to a peer tutor, while another might be more comfortable with a college student. Be sure that your teenager is an integral part of the process of finding just the right math tutor. This will help insure that you (and your student) reap maximum benefits from the tutoring experience.

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Linda Hinkle is an educator, having taught high school mathematics for 29 years. She wishes to help empower parents of high school students struggling with mathematics. Find more information about high school topics and sign up for her free newsletter at www.highschoolstuff.com

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