How to hire a tutor?

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I'm thinking of hiring a reading tutor for Mo.

He actually loves books, as long as I read to him. We read together every day. When I suggest he read to me he gets incredibly sad. When I force him to read to me he gets incredibly angry. I don't think I'm the person to help him with this.

The weird thing is -- he actually reads pretty good, but there just seems to be a wall when it comes to actually doing it. I'm hoping a tutor can give him the confidence he needs.

I've looking at some of the programs (Sylvan, etc.) but I really would prefer an in-home tutor. There are a lot of these in our area but I'm not sure how to go about picking one.

Mo's really resisting this idea. How do I pick a tutor who will be compatable with him and his resistence? (I've pointed out that his music teachers and sport's coaches are really just tutors -- someone who helps you improve on a skill -- and this has tempered his hesitation a bit.)

How much should I expect to pay?

How many sessions per week is best?

How long should I expect him to require tutoring?

How do I go about finding one? Would the school have referrals? We live very near a good college -- might they have a tutoring program? Craigslist has several licensed teacher who do tutoring -- would that be a good place to start?

Do you have any advice for me on how to hire a tutor?

Much appreciated!

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Type: Question • Score: 23 • Views: 14,101 • Replies: 98

[+3] - boomerang - 01/23/2010[quote]Is it possible to give him something nice, to soothe him and mellow him out a little ? [/quote] I have considered hitting my pothead friend up for some of her stash but I'm not prepared...

@boomerang,

Do you live near a college? I think if you do you could get an enthusiastic student and Mo would think it was a blast.

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@boomerang,

Talking to the school and to the college seems like a good idea, especially if the college has an education program. College students on their way to becoming teachers are poor and looking for cash in small time increments, but often very skilled.

I'd think a male tutor would be good for Mo.

Probably two separate things to look for -- how well the tutor knows the subject/ pedagogy (knows how to teach effectively), then also what sort of a personality the tutor has and whether that works with Mo.

I'm thinking a male 22-yr-old education grad student with big ideas, a lot of compassion, and a pierced eyebrow would be about perfect.

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@Gala,

Whoops, I just saw you said you live near a college. Just call the education department. $15 an hour would be a good price to pay.

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That pretty much describes every student at this particular college!

I was going to contact them today about something else -- Mo wants to tour their nuclear reactor (http://reactor.reed.edu/about.html) so hopefully we'll be up there anyway. I don't think Reed has actual "departments", it's kind of a design your own curriculum school. What part of the college would I contact about someone to tutor?

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@boomerang,

Education department.

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@boomerang,

Although, you might try the English department too-- they'll have some people there who love to read, etc.

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@boomerang,

Speaking as a former English major who then went on to Education grad school, I really think you want someone who has been educated on HOW to teach, not just someone who has experience in the subject matter. Someone well-intentioned and smart but clueless re: teaching reading to kids could set things back a bit I think.

So if they don't have an education dept. per se, either find the equivalent (future teachers) or else maybe look elsewhere...

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I'm coming at this from a different angle. Does Mo really need another "teacher"? If your college has a marine biology department, veterinary department or music department there may be a kid friendly good reader there that will share some of Mo's interests and who Mo might want to impress with his knowledge of a particular subject.

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@Tai Chi,

Ah. didn't see your post soz. Education is not my background. I'll defer to you.

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@sozobe,

I think she would be able to get a good student who's not necessarily trained in education who could put a fire under Mo's keester. All learning doesn't have to be formal, sometimes it just takes a really smart intuitive person.

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@Tai Chi,

Agreeing with Tai Chi. Finding a tutor from one of the departments that has subject matter that interests Mo might be the best way to get him going. Reed College seems to have a pretty well-established tutor development program going on - looking outside the traditional education group might be best.

There is at least one business there that advertises in-home tutoring with knowledge in the area of applying IEP's. It looks like you live in a city with a lot of good resources.

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@boomerang,

Boomer, how is Mo doing in school? How are his grades in reading? does his teacher have concerns?

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What I've seen at the Reed website is for their SEEDS program which is directed at low income students. They might be able to point me in the right direction though.

Are you talking about the Craigslist ad for tutoring, ehBeth? I saw one that looked good on there but wanted to collect a bit of information on hiring tutors before I started contacting people.

Yes, Swimpy, his teacher is concerned. Like me, she thinks he can do the work, but he is just so tentative about it. Many days, he won't even try reading.

Otherwise he's doing really well in school. Great in math and science! It's just reading. I've made an appointment to have his eyes checked again just in case that has something to do with the reading problem.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

When my daughter was in third grade, we had a math tutor - a girl from the
local university whom we found through a tutor agency. Jane and the tutor hit it off so well; Jane was so willing to learn and please the tutor; she caught up in math at school in no time. I had the tutor for about 6 months and paid $ 30/session.

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@Tai Chi,

I can see that too. I just know so many smart people who don't know how to teach kids. It's definitely an art to pitch things at the right level -- hard enough to be challenging/ interesting, but not so hard as to be frustrating. People without training can get it intuitively, but I'm not quite sure how to test for it (how to know ahead of time if a given person "gets it" or not). Also this really seems to be about reading as opposed to content/ subject matter, and reading is one of the trickier things to teach.

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@boomerang,

If MO hires the tutor,
so that it is clear that the tutor is working for HIM,
then he has an emotional investment in making
the enterprise succeed that has HIS imprimatur on it,
demonstrating HIS wisdom in personnel selection.

David

1 Reply

@boomerang,

After re-reading your post, it seems to me Mo is probably picking up on how nervous you are about the whole thing. Maybe if you loosen up a little bit he will too.

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@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

If MO hires the tutor,
so that it is clear that the tutor is working for HIM,
then he has an emotional investment in making
the enterprise succeed that has HIS imprimatur on it,
demonstrating HIS wisdom in personnel selection.

Now there's suggestion for what? a seven year old? she may as well enroll him in an MBA while she's at it.

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Maybe Mo woud like to go with speedreading.

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How to hire a tutor?

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