My 5th grade daughter had health issues up until this school year that caused her to miss up to 30 days each school year. She tests at or above grade level, gets "Masters Skill" grades in math, BUT she and I both feel there are missing things because of all this missed time. If you are absent on Tuesday when they explain what a pint, quart, gallon, etc. are then when you come back on Wed and they are converting one to the other you will be lost and the teacher isn't going to reteach the Tues lesson just for you. That's been happening her whole life basically. SO, we want to fill in those gaps and bring her to where her smarts COULD have been if she had actually been able to go to every day of school.
I want to know which of the various "tutoring" places would work best. I do not want a one on one tutor, just because of her personality and what we have done so far I know that is not the right way to go. I do not care about cost really, but of course it is a factor as I want to get my money worth so I want to check these out before we commit.
I really feel like she can catch up easily and quickly in the next 4 months. Our school, like all the rest in IL, is just this next school year starting the common core curriculum so that may be good or bad, but I kinda feel it will give her a chance to start fresh with a new curriculum and a new school since she is going into Middle School now.
How well does your daughter respond to online learning? We've used Khan Academy, which is free, to fill in gaps in my daughter's math education successfully. She likes the lessons, and they've been effective.
My daughter has done Mathnasium for the past four summers to keep her skills sharp (she is in sixth grade now). It's been a great place for her. She comes in, gets her binder and gets any new work; it is explaiined to her as needed one on one and then she works and gets it reviewed by the tutor. The tutors (one to two) are there circulating among all the kids who are in at that time --it's not a group class with group teaching at all but each kid works at his or her own pace on his or her own materials and the tutors go from student to student as needed, correcting and working with them. Of course the kids are all evaluated before they start the program and throughout the time they're working with the program. The times were very flexible -- there was nothing like "You must come from 4-5 on Tuesday" but it is more like, "We'll come around 4-5 on Wednesday" and if you're early or late it doesn't matter.
I would definitely check them out.
I do not have personal experience at Kumon but know at least one family that disliked the Kumon model because kids were expected to do daily worksheets at home -- which added up to a lot of work when the kids were in school and had school homework as well; however if you want to do this over the summer, the at-home work may not be an issue for you at all. Mathnasium does not have kids doing any work at home (in fact their worksheets are proprietary and they don't allow kids to take them off the premises). If you want the work to be self-contained at the tutoring center, Mathnasium would be the choice, if indeed it's still true that Kumon sends "homework" home with kids.
Math is a muscle and needs to be used daily or very frequently (we give our daughter extra math to help her practice for tests in school) but for tutoring, only you and your daughter can know which approach you prefer. I'd check them both out in person. Be sure to ask at both places who the tutors tend to be and what training the tutors have.
Kumon hands down.
They will start her at her current skill level, then advance her only after she has mastered each level. It builds tremendous confidence. Both of my daughters took Kumon at ages 3 and 4 just for a year and they remain far above their peers today (they are 10 and 13). Now I just buy the workbooks from Amazon for them to do over the summer and they love it!
My neighbor's daughter is also in 5th grade and has been going to Kumon for the past year. Her mother is very impressed by the impact it has made on her daughter's math skills. She is going from being below the class average to near the top of the class.
Kumon kumon kumon! Our daughters are in it. My sis in law had her sons in it (one was held back a year because he was so far behind) and now they are both in honors math. She actually took them out recently be ause they were 'to advanced'. The one thing though that some don't realize is that there style is a different way of teaching. It's best to keep them in at least a year if not long term. Math is soooo important academically (especially for girls). So many college students struggle in math. They current system is not as successful as it could be that's why we are moving to common core standards, which is going to be awesome by the way. ( I am an educator). Get her in and keep her there as long as you can.
Once they do an assessment and see where the gaps are probably any of the places will be fine. You could also work with her yourself going through a 5th grade math book.
I worked at a Sylvan Learning Center for several years and really believe in the program. We don't have one near us now, but I would send my kids for enrichment if we did! I know Sylvan does a 36 hour guarantee. If you child does not meet certain standards in the first 36 hours of instruction, your next 12 hours are free. The Sylvan ration is 1:3, but many times it was 1:2. I know Sylvan Learning Centers are independently owned, so they may differ in quality. Their program, however is very effective!!
