After-School Tutoring
No two students learn at the same rate. Even if your older child — or you — breezed through a certain class, your daughter may have trouble with it or say she does not like it, which is a sure indication that she will not do her best in this subject. What a perfect opportunity this is for you to investigate what is going on, and then come up with a solution, which may be after-school tutoring.
Tutor Time
Most schools have a list of tutors. So have a conference with your daughter's teachers any time she brings home a grade lower than a B-minus. Of course, before that, talk to her about it. Sometimes just a little more time spent on a subject can raise the score.
Also encourage her to ask her teacher for a retest, more practice sheets and homework, or an extra-credit project.
Teachers enjoy seeing students take the initiative to learn more about a topic and often will provide an alternate textbook, quizzes from a previous year, and a chance to come in at lunch and redo a unit of work that was bungled.
But sometimes after-school tutoring is the best option. It can be remedial or enriching, and should be used early as intervention, after an educational evaluation has taken place. If, for example, your girl has missed acquiring some early grade basics, they need to be dealt with first before she can really advance.
Tutor Types
Tutors are like teachers in that they specialize: Some will work with your girl according to subjects such as reading or writing. Others focus on teaching study skills and getting your daughter organized. Still others can test for, or identify, learning disabilities, such as attention deficit and dyslexia, or help ease the transition from one grade level to another.
Alert
The hours from three to six have been dubbed the “danger hours” for kids, meaning that this is the time period when kids most often get into trouble. The reason is that these are the hours when most school programs are over while many parents are still at work. Make sure your daughter has regularly scheduled activities for that time span.
You will find tutors that can teach foreign languages or ESL (English as a second language), prepare your daughter for AP (Advanced Placement) classes, and assist you if you home-school your girl or if she is homebound due to an illness. They can also be your best support group in revving up your daughter's skills in the two school subjects that matter tremendously for girls but are too often neglected.
