Study/Extra 'help' groups

[RachelB1990]

Hey everyone, first post.

I have a 9 YO son in P5 who is seriously struggling with his work. I'm currently a student myself so can't really afford any private tutoring and certainly won't be able to look at private until I graduate.
Both my mother (former teacher) and I find it almost impossible to do extra work with him because of his frustration at not being able to comprehend the work to the point where we have tears and tantrums almost daily now. He is behind in every subject and it's slowly tearing our family apart.
One week into the new term and all of us are stressed.
I have approached the school about it before, but realistically, they can't do much more 1 on 1, he is actually at a very very good state primary in the city.
I'm at a loss with what to do now. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi Rachel,

I just typed out a long post and it disappeared! Bah.

In short, I understand your frustration, it can be hard to work trying to get through to children when they shut down to their frustration with the work.

I would suggest looking on gumtree for a student that could do some work with him. I used to have a student working to complete her teaching degree (primary) helping my DS out. Actually found her on here! She ended up tutoring a few friends kids for years however she is now fully qualified and doesn't have the time anymore.

Students tend to be at least half the price of the normal going rate.

Another aspect I would look at is if he has missed some key building blocks in the subjects he is frustrated in. It might be an idea to go back a few levels and consolidate those.

There is a Scotsnet forum under mumsnet otherstuff, it has more traffic and you will get more responses there.

Hope that is of some help.

A