How much per hour for a private tutor is reasonable?

[winkywinkola]

Dd aged 7 is really struggling with maths at school.

I can see she's developing the same blocks and fears that I did when I felt so alone, not understanding the subject at school.

I thought perhaps a private tutor for a few hours might boost her.

I've found one who said £30 p.h. Is this the going rate? We 're in Bucks.

It's £20-25 here but that's oop North!!

Yes, that is the going rate.

It's at the high end of normal.

£40 in our area

£30-ish in the Midlands

£40 an hour here but we are in a grammar area where a lot of tutors offer 11plus coaching and can pick and choose their pupils! £30 sounds reasonable.

if you are looking for something cheaper have you considered asking a TA at the school for a session after school. Many of ours do this for £10 for 30 mins and they talk to the class teacher in order to ensure they are working on the right 'gaps'.

Alternatively, ask the teacher for specific areas to work on eg number bonds or tables or angles-find out exactly what she is finding difficult. then ask for some extra work/games/ideas for how best to support your child at home. then you could do it yourself-little and often, which usually works best anyway.

South-west up to £35 per hour. I found a student who worked with my DC (Y1) two, three days a week since mid Feb. DC went 2 levels up and it cost me £8/hour :)

I meant 2-3 hours a week:)

I pay £27 for a hour of y4 maths. I'm in Cheshire.

Yep , reasonable where you are.

I thought it would be reasonable. I just can't afford it.

OK. This isn't a problem.
Go and speak to the teacher. Explain your concerns and ask for a detailed breakdown of your daughter's weak areas. This is the best time of year for it-assessment time and so lots of recent analysis.

Ask for a detailed breakdown of the ways in which you can support your child in these areas of learning. I am sure the teacher will be delighted to help you support your child ( I would and am always happy to provide information and support in order to help parents support their child's learning-most teachers are the same). I f you don't understand any of the terms-ask for clarification.

Once you are clear about what you need to do, make time each day to work with your dd. 10 mins each day is a lot more effective that 1hour once a week.

look for more advice on the TES primary boards or the home ed area on mn if needed.
you can do this :) Don't worry about not being able to afford an expensive tutor once a week.

Thanks EnchantedForest.

I will do exactly as you suggest.

I can personally highly recommend online learning tutors - tend to be far better vfm as no travel time etc. and more flexible in terms of how many you can have and when. I have tried MathsDoctor after the thread on it on here recently and think its a fantastic service - from Macmillan Education. My dd loved the interactive notebook and pen they provide.

I agree enchanted, and it's also important to be positive, and not make the "I'm not any good at this" comments about anything within earshot.

The teacher will go over the main points with you if you ask her, and then you can work everyday with your dd.

Be careful not to project your own feelings of inadequacy.

Good luck - think positively- perhaps you can learn the things you blocked out too!

Unfortunately £30-40 is the going rate for primary age. You could see if you could find a tutor who would take him for half hour sessions.

Other things you could try is to see if there are other mums with primary age teaching experience among those you know who would help him. Really, the first person to ask is the class teacher. He might be able to have some 10 minute lunchtime sessions with a different teacher. It is in the school's interest to help him out now to stop it turning into a bigger issue.

Have you looked at Conquermaths online. Everything broken down into tiny lessons with practice questions. I pay about £16 a month for 2 children and you can do some every day. Agree 10 mins a day is much better than an hour once a week.

winkywinkola:

apologies because yes here I go again.

Nothing against tutors - but you can do tons of maths, with clear instructions and lots of practice for far less a month on-line.

We went with mathsfactor - presented by Carol Vorderman (www.themathsfactor.com/) - and signed up for the arithmetic school. DD1 started arithmetic school May of Y2 - really struggling at that point barely able to add numbers totally up to 20 and unable to even take 1 from 10. DD2 started in summer before Year 1 because she was jealous of DD1. Both have had great success, enjoyed the games/ practice and have been inspired to see a woman so enthusiastic about maths.

There are tons of other options out there - others here on MN have suggested:

Komodo Maths: komodomath.com/
Maths Whizz: www.whizz.com/
Mathletics: www.mathletics.co.uk/

all will start from where your child is at and I think they all have free trials - so you can see if you like it.

The ideal thing about doing this kind of thing on-line is that it can fit around busy family life, special occasions, illness, etc.... You can just do it as and when.

HTH

sorry link to mathsfactor here: www.themathsfactor.com/

forgot to put in [[ symbols.

I second what PastSellByDate has said, if you can not afford a tutor it really is not the end of the world. I brought my DD back on track myself and I'm no mathematician. We did half an hour every single night religiously and still continue to do so (she is now 12). Keep it very light hearted there are so many ways to make maths fun.

The school has just signed up to mathletics! Dd has a user name and a password.

Is mathletics a good site? I'm clueless mathematically, you see.

Thank you all for your input. I really appreciate it.

I just remember dreading all those double maths classes and I don't want dd - or anyone - to have that same knot of anxiety.

Hi Winky:

I haven't used mathletics myself, but I know that many parents have posted here on MN about how much their children like it and that many schools are now regularly using it. There's a competitive element to it - I think you play games and can see how you do against other children - but it's not very personal (name & school - but it kind of reinforces the idea that other kids are playing on it too, which encourages your child to see doing a bit extra as normal and fun).

My advice is why not encourage your DC to play mathletics but don't avoid it yourself - sit down and watch it. Do a bit of research - go on to the mathletics site (www.mathletics.co.uk/) click 'about' and find out more about the programme.

I realise you've had bad experiences with maths but that doesn't necessarily mean your child will. First off certainly video games makes maths a lot more fun. I had to memorise my times tables and have endless quizzes as a child - my DDs play videogameas and don't even realise their practicing/ memorising their tables. At this level it really is about basic skills in addition/ subtraction/ multiplication and division. Get those right and the rest will follow - naturally and fairly easily.

I also think you should work hard to be positive about maths - don't think about it as Ugghh not maths - think about it in terms of being determined your child won't be hung up about maths.

Your 7 year old is going to need help typing in answers at this stage, probably, so why not do some of the work with them - it may help reinforce concepts you've struggled with, refresh your own skills and give you more confidence as well. I certainly know my time spent helping my girls with mathsfactor - typing in answers, helping them on 'the hard ones' etc.... has been fun to do with my girls and has really improved my own mental maths skills. I've also found the games funny and inventive and frankly have been really jealous that I didn't learn maths like this.

Finally: I highly recommend the games on Woodlands Junior School Maths Zone: this is entirely free and you just have to look up the subject and explore what the games options are and opt for the one that best addresses the issues (maybe it's adding numbers >20 together or multiplying by 4 - there genuinely is a game to help work on that): resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html

Hang in there Winky. Maths genuinely can be fun - it doesn't have to be a drudge. It can be a challenging puzzle which feels great to solve!