Talk to Maths Doctor about (online) tutoring - £200 John Lewis voucher prize draw NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Maths Doctor have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters think about (online) tutoring for children.

Here's what they have to say, "Maths Doctor is the UK's award-winning maths tutoring company with an inspirational approach to teaching. Our one-to-one, private tutorials for students aged 7-18 are delivered live over the Internet using a shared virtual whiteboard and live video feed, so that our 500+ tutors can teach anyone, anytime, anywhere. We're the UK's largest provider of this innovative digital education method that helps boost students' grades."

So, have you ever tried tutoring with your child? If so, why did you decide to get a tutor? Did it help? If not, is it something you'd ever consider? Do you think tutoring is the same as giving your child music or sports lessons, or does it put other children at a disadvantage? What do you think about Maths Doctor's approach with online tutoring? Whatever it is, we'd love to hear your thoughts!

Maths Doctor also want to give six Mumsnetters the chance to trial the Maths Doctor service and share their thoughts on this thread. The Mumsnetters who are selected will receive two free lessons for their child, which will need to be taken before 3rd February. To apply for the free trial please PM me with the age of your DCs and why you would like to trial Maths Doctor before Friday 17th January. We'll then select six Mumsnetters at random.

Maths Doctor may use posts on this thread for further marketing purposes (anonymously, of course), so please only post if you're happy with that.

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

PS: For those Mumsnetters who miss out on the free trial, Maths Doctor will also be offering a 20% discount for all subscriptions purchased in January (lessons can be taken at a later date but need to be booked by 31st January). Simply mention the promo code MUMSNET to receive the discount.

[RockinHippy]

Problem seems to be solved :)

it does work with the MAC, just doesn't need the disc/app loading


I can't review the actual lesson yet, but got to say the assessment & troubleshooting service is impressive :)

[angell74]

We used a tutor to prepare our child for his 11+ tests - I don't think on-line tutoring would have worked because they worked to a regional specific set of criteria.

If I am honest it was a pain in the neck ferrying him over to the tutor once a week and was difficult to fit into our schedule so I would consider on-line tutoring if he needed help with something more generic like parts of the national curriculum.

Both my kids love the computer so it would hopefully be less of a chore than trying to get them to do paper based homework!

[Reinventmum]

I've not yet tried tutoring as DD is too young . However, I have tried online tutoring myself and found it a flexible and simple way to learn at
Your own pace.

If required, I would be open to trying it with my DD but would probably prefer to be given the instructions myself and then teach her.

[Wjjkl]

Every person has a different way of learning, so what may work for one, might not work for another. That said, for children nowadays, the internet & computers are simply part of their lives and an engaging learning tool online gives a positive option for parents who wish to try it.

Tutoring is a personal choice, and I would do what feels right for my child's needs.

[HamletsSister]

Is this the right place for testers? I hope so!

1. What did you think of the tutor and tutor matching service? Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

We were initially telephoned by James who was courteous, interested in our issues and seemed to listen very carefully. He first spoke to me (Mum) and I outlined the issue. Essentially, my DD is in a mixed ability Maths class (S1 Scotland so Year 7) and is miles ahead of everyone. Not a boast but the school is tiny. In another school of a normal size she would be in a class of 30 Maths whizzes, here (we only have 130 in the school in total) she is in a class of 17 of all abilities. Our main issue is she is bored, learning nothing and the teacher does not seem able to differentiate. James listened carefully. He then phoned back to speak to DD and gave her some questions to do, showing her how to log on to the site and use the online "board" for writing. He "tested" her with a few questions and then spoke to me about his conclusions and promised a tutor match. She was matched with Holly, a cheerful, wonderful, enthusiastic teacher who has made my DD feel part of an exclusive club of girls who love Maths /Physics and left her enthusiastic about quadratic equations and desperate to learn more. She came off the computer last night buzzing.

The only negative is there is a kind of strange pie chart on the website about how they match the tutor to the student which just looks like a lot of bollocks really. My DD was given a lovely tutor but, as teacher myself, I did not really rate the personality / matching stuff as being particularly scientific or necessary.

1. What did you think of the online format? Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

The online format works wonderfully well. You don't have to invite someone into your home. Lessons are stored so you can access them again for revision purposes and DD was sent a sort of computer pad to plug into the laptop to make writing on the screen easy. Her rapport with the tutor was as good as it would have been IRL and she feels in control of things as she books the time of her own lessons. We live somewhere in a remote corner of Scotland and this is our only possible route to tuition and it works very, very well.

1. If you've had experience with face to face tutoring, how does it compare? Do you prefer it or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

For us, this is the only option. However, we have used face to face tuition for our son (Latin) and that works well too. I think, however, Maths lends itself to the online format. As a teacher myself (English) I would struggle to tutor someone online with blocks of text to discuss but feel the Maths material works very well.

1. Do you think it has helped your child? If so, how?
   

My DD is back thinking Maths is cool. She has finally (7 months into her High School career) learned some new Maths and she is crowing with joy. My only concern is that we are the Scottish curriculum here and, while I know Maths is the same wherever you live, I would want to be very certain that the course was tailored to the exams at the end of it, once they become an issue. We will probably have to agree to use a particular textbook if we carry on and we would want the tutor to set questions for her to complete during the week.

1. If it came up in conversation would you recommend the service to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

Yes, I would recommend it wholeheartedly as it has been a real joy to see my DD so fired up. The only negative is the price and the rather complex packages on the website for carrying on with tutoring. One package is for 6 lessons a month (more than we want) and is 144 a month (more than we can afford). However, we are hoping to carry on with a lesson a week from now on and my DD, having had her 2 free ones, has booked a 3rd for the first Saturday of her half term (yes, she is that keen) and is already looking forward to it.

Is there any chance of the Mumsnet discount being extended for longer and given to testers to allow us to carry on. We could even report back again later so that people could look at longer term benefits / issues.

[Kelbel34]

Would be interested in online tutoring for 12 yr old dd who struggles with Maths. We live in the sticks so it may well be cheaper. Also, I need to take Professional Skills numeracy test for teaching and panicking about it, so it might help me too1

[GoldenHares]

I'm considering tutoring because:
I didn't do well in maths at school something I've always regretted and wished I'd had help.
I don't feel confident supporting my children's maths homework or when they get stuck.
My children often say they ' don't get' aspects of maths in class and perhaps extra help would support them here.

I'd consider the Dr Maths approach as realistically don't have enough money to afford 1:1
Also my children are confident with a web based approach.

[OddBoots]

I'm going to give it a go with my 14yo ds, he is already pretty good at maths but he wants to do further maths at A Level and I think for that you need to be be very very good. He is also doing physics a year early (as the school's way of fitting triple science into the timetable) and wants to take that at A level too so we are doing to mix in some physics sessions as the site seems to offer them too. I'm hoping this will make the difference between an A and an A* but that might not be realistic.

[Beccie77]

Currently paying for two hours a week tutoring, one English, one maths to try and get DS through the 11+, currently looking for something online to support the face to face sessions for his new ipad. Maths made easy and bug club not currently supported by an app or by safari, so hitting a bit of a wall...

[RockinHippy]

Tester Reporting In :)

*My interest in this was based on having a very bright spark who was thoroughly demoralised by the current undermining teaching methods of a quite odd maths teacher, and OTT year 6 SATs pressure on top of problems of ill health. She has become so stressed by maths in school that she's come to hate a subject, that she has always loved and excelled in, worryingly so as it was affecting her health further. DD has already mastered the work she needs to know for SATs & more, but now feels she is "useless & stupid' and she is also very bored by repetitive learning of the same thing that she already knows well. So we were looking for confidence building and to reignite her previous love of maths by teaching her something new & stretching her abilities further.

1. What did you think of the tutor and tutor matching service? Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

Positives - We were also assessed by James, who telephone & spoke with both myself and my 11 year old(yr6)DD at length, whilst having us sign into the website where we could also see him and DD could do the work on the grid. He was lovely and DD had a fantastic rapport with him and she really enjoyed the assessment session she had with him, he assessed her as "exceptional" and she came away absolutely buzzing and looking forward to the lessons starting - really great start and it was so great to see here so enthusiastic again :)

Negatives - None at all with James, though the information he had, and that was repeated by others I had to contact with teething issues, was that the writing tablet Maths Doctor send out would be compatible with out MAC computer, we got closer to it working after following the MD advice to by pass the disc & just plug it in, but it wasn't accurate to write with at all & on contacting the manufacture, presuming it was just my being thick - its not MAC compatible at all - though once we knew this, we got past this pretty easily, by using either our own Graphics Tablet, or the mouse to write with, DD preferred the mouse as it was more comfortable as shes recovering from an elbow injury


*I also agree with Hamlet that the pie chart personality test is too simplified and "a load of bollocks" This is born out by the fact that we were allocated the same tutor, for similar reasons, yet had a completely different experience in that my own DD didn't gel with Holly at all, she seemed very nice, but so laid back and very hesitant with DD that I wondered if she was recovering from a hangover I could hear that DD was getting frustrated and wasn't surprised that on completing the lesson, DD complained that she hated it and didn't want to do it again, lots of long drawn out eeerrrrms & hummmmms between questions meaning that not much was packed into this lesson - which really doesn't suit DDs punchy slightly hyper personality at all, DD also felt that Holly spoke with her as if she was a child - she is of course, but a very mature one who gels better with people who speak to her as such. So again I feel the personality test & tutor matching system could be be improved.


For DDs second lesson, she had PHILIP - who was much more suited to her personality, spoke to her as an equal & she once again came away buzzing & wanting to do it again :)

1. What did you think of the online format? Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

*We had some technical issues which makes this a bit difficult to fully evaluate, issues that could have been avoided if we had better info as regards what set up we needed before the start of the lessons.

We don't have a microphone on our main computer as we used Ipad for Facetime etc. so just don't need one. We are very much a MAC household & feel that, though we eventually got past this, MD do need to look into how better to serve MAC users & be much clearer in what users need to get the best performance from the site & tutors BEFORE lessons begin.

Naively I thought because James had rang us & assessed DD via the computer whilst speaking to her on the phone too, thats what would happen with the lessons - which of course wasn't the case and Holly didn't seem at all pleased to have to ring us, understandable if its her own phone bill of course, but the embarrassment & awkwardness could have been avoided with better information at the offset.

&I was also a bit put out to have follow up calls telling me to buy a microphone, quoting them as £15 on Amazon (which wouldn't have arrived quick enough anyway) or after I had complained that I wasn't happy to buy something we didn't need just to review MD, I was told I could probably buy one cheaper at about £6 close to home - again a lack of understanding of MAC computers(accessories almost always more expensive) & IMHO in the circumstances of my being a tester - pretty cheeky*

We did try to rectify this for the second lesson by digging out a PC laptop given to DD as a gift a year ago, but gathering dust as she prefers MAC too, I spent some time getting it up & running again - only to find when connection to the MD site, that the built in mic wouldn't work - though it had worked when I tested earlier

Though the MD tablet did work well with this and we found Philip to have a much better attitude to trouble shooting, in that nothing seemed to much trouble & he and DD worked out that she could hear him & reply with the chat box or pen. Though it turned out that the PC was't great, it froze & crashed, so we had to revert back to the MAC using this format of DD hearing Philip & replying using chat - which worked well - she did comment that it would have been nice to see him too though, as she could with James in the assessment, but was more than happy using chat to communicated with him and didn't feel she missed too much not having the microphone


I actually like the online format - IF it had worked better for us technically, I would have LOVED it. We live city centre, so finding & getting to a tutor are no big deal for us, but not having the hassle of inviting them into your home or having to trek out to them & being able to swap to a more suitable tutor so easily, without the embarrassment of a face to face let down, is actually pretty damned fantastic :)

1. If you've had experience with face to face tutoring, how does it compare? Do you prefer it or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

No real experience of it, as I don't count, but I can see that this suits us quite well. I don't want to feel I have to invite someone into our home on days I might be feeling pretty ill & don't want to paint on a smile & be welcoming don't want to tidy up (I have chronic health problems), nor do I really want to drag us out of the house again to drop her off somewhere, even living city centre this seems just so much easier and much more accessible

1. Do you think it has helped your child? If so, how?
   

With James & Philip, YES, definitely, she has a buzz about her having finished the sessions with James and Philip. The one SATs area DD had owned up to struggling a bit with, was remembering what was what with perimeter and area. She understands the work, just couldn't get which was which to stick in her mind, so she worried she would get these questions wrong, teaching problems at school meant she just wouldn't ask for help as the teacher was already making her feel she wasn't capable of her real level - one session with Philip and she is now very confident that she remembers it really well, and even though they covered work she knew, it was done in such a way that she still felt it exciting

1. If it came up in conversation would you recommend the service to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

*Yes, to PC users, yes without doubt, I would recommend it to MAC users too, but with the advice of asking in depth questions & maybe a quick trial to make sure you are happy with how it works with your own personal MAC set up.

I agree too that the rather complex pricing packages would put me off continuing, it needs to be far more flexible so that families can fit it properly around their needs. Had DD been staying in her current school, then I would have liked to been able to have a lesson maybe once a fortnight as a fun exercise to stretch her, build her confidence and to keep her fired up about maths, where the school have failed. We wouldn't need nor can afford more than that, I would struggle to afford that to be honest, but if it's keeping her buzzing, then it would be worth it

As it stands, we are hoping to get her into a new school quickly, but look likely to be home school for a short while at least, if I was more confident about the technical issues we've had been improved on and had more detailed feed back to view on what she has done each lesson (this might be available, but not with our computer set up)*

Also I think some sort of level achievement scoring system - ie, year 6 maths "perimeter and Area" - mastered, Year 9 maths ???, good etc etc would be helpful to look back on and be a good confidence booster too, DCs do love a certificate :)

[JS06]

I tried tutoring my own daughter in maths and english in order to prepare her for 11+ tests. It didn't work, we bickered, no progress was made, it was soul-destroying for both of us. I clearly was out of my depth and wasn't helping matters so we looked for a tutor and found a diamond. He could only fit us in for an hour after school on a Friday. I groaned at the thought of trying to keep daughter positive and engaged but I needn't have worried. The skill of the tutor was exceptional, he was able to get results week after week with our daughter and she was delighted to do the 'homework' she'd been set and to show off her work. In the end the 11+ was passed, she got into the school of choice and has flourished there.

I do think that the Maths Doctor's approach would well have worked for us and I would have tried it had I known and had it been available at the time. I'm all for helping support children in their studies but now have experience that I'm not the best placed person to do it. Alternative strategies are great.

[mummyofcutetwo]

DS1 is currently going to Explore Learning. Not because he's struggling with his maths (he's ahead of where he should be) but because he gets bored if not being challenged mentally and I don't think his school (though excellent) is stretching him, because he pretends he can't do things at school in order to fit in.

I found Explore by accident last summer when I was looking for things to do with him over the summer hols as he'd have got bored and stroppy through lack of stimulation not being at school (I couldn't give him as much concentrated attention as I'd have liked due to illness and young DS2).

[OddBoots]

Well the telephone assessment went well, my ds has his first lesson booked for Friday so we'll see how that goes. :)

[impartialme]

Our DD is using an online revision programme called Tassomai - www.tassomai.com - for her Science and Maths. It was recommended to us by the school. She's in Year 10. It's obviously cheaper than a private tutor and Tassomai sends weekly emails to both me as her mum and to the school, so we keep tabs on her progress. The guys who run this online tutoring guarantee that anyone who 100% completes the Tassomai GCSE science course will get an A or A* ... We know Tassomai students who achieved that last year having been predicted Bs or Cs, so here's hoping ...

[MNetterretteNM]

DP works for MD doing the initial assessments and wanted to say that those coming from MN are some of the nicest people that he gets to speak to (not that other customers aren't nice of course!) but not only are you nice but you all seem to be quite clued up on what it is that MD do.

He just wanted to express his thanks for you all being lovely :)

[Lotstodo]

I would definitely use online tutoring for my children as this is a way that a lot of people nowadays find is their best way of learning. Especially good would be lots of sample questions and answers and the method shown step-by-step followed by questions to be completed one the student has grasped it. Obviously, there would have to be a mark scheme available. The different topics could then be referred to over and over again and be used as a revision aid.

[rhiannon88]

A fresh thought towards music education

I am often involved in conversations with mums and dads and friends about how they wish they had continued on the musical instrument that they were learning on. I ask them why they stopped and the reasons they give me are usually along the lines of:

• the tutor was dull and didn’t bring the enjoyment to lessons.
  
• they would learn the same thing every week.
  

We need to stop this from happening, especially as government funding is lacking in this department and music lessons are becoming more and more expensive.

Instead of a tutor dictating how the lesson will run each week, we should ask the student what they want to get out of their musical instrument and what path or journey they want to take with their musical instrument. This then makes it aware to the tutor what they need to introduce to the lessons and what they should focus on with the student.

The student will enjoy lessons because they have been given the opportunity to take the driving seat and inform the tutor what they would like to learn and what music they enjoy listening to.

To keep music lessons fun and make sure the student is fully benefiting from lessons, I believe that there needs to be a balanced approach towards music lessons. It is important to include a variety of projects/exercises within the music lessons too.

We should not be fearful of what a young person can achieve, even a very young person. I am surprised everyday with what a young person can achieve and it is great to see! Now and again we should place them “in the deep end” and allow them to achieve their full potential. There are so many tutors out there that don’t believe in their students. They take them through a monotonous process, and what they could have learnt in 1 lesson takes 5 lessons. In the end students give up because they get bored or don’t see an improvement in their playing ability or their musicianship.

One of the main points of learning an instrument is to perform. This could be in a school concert, a fete, at a party or a gig, or just round the camp fire to your closest friends - we learn to perform, even if we are performing just to ourselves.

Now, we know that parents as well as schools love to set aims and targets and this is why graded material can be great to get stuck into. However, taking grades or getting your child through grades should not be the most important part of learning a musical instrument. This route certainly suits many students and it is a fantastic way of boosting a student’s confidence but focusing on grades can prevent the student fully progressing on their instrument and from enjoying other areas of the musical experience.

These are the other aspects that I think should be included in music lessons:

• Composition (creating songs or pieces of music from scratch)
  
• Improvisation (playing a tune or melody on the spot)
  
• Rhythm (clapping and coordination exercises)
  
• Music theory (learning how to read music, the values of notes and key signatures)
  
• Chords (learning how to combine notes and which chords marry well together)
  

One last note (excuse the pun), is to say, well done to all those tutors out there that do teach with this ethos and use some, or all of these concepts and methods written above - We need more tutors like you!


By Rhiannon Price

B_KREATIV.
www.bkreativ.co.uk

[rhiannon88]

Oops, the above was supposed to be a new thread! I'm new to this site - my apologies.

[nobutreally]

Another tester reporting in - we had one free lesson.

1. What did you think of the tutor and tutor matching service? Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

Positives - We were assessed by Sophie who was lovely and got a good rapport going with dd. I wish I'd know that they were going to talk to dd as well as myself - I organised the assessment for near her bedtime, so she wasn't at her best. In retrospect maybe that should have been obvious to me though. In terms of the tutor matching - unfortunately Sophie and I couldn't get a compatible date with the tutor she wanted to match us with. It wasn't obvious what was done to match the tutor and the pupil - beyond the fact that dd was asked if she would prefer someone younger/older and male/female. I wasn't asked. I would anticipate that most kids would ask for someone young and of their own sex, so wonder how helpful that is. I couldn't really see how the spider diagram shown on the website came into play....that seemed a bit unrealistic/over promise.

Negatives - I wasn't hugely impressed with our tutor. She seemed nice enough, but I didn't feel she was very dynamic, and she said a couple of things that put my teeth on edge 'add a zero to times by ten' for example - dd looked confused and explained that you have to slide the numbers up a position. My impression was that she wasn't used to teaching 'basics' and would have been better with an older child who knew their way around. She made some assumptions about things dd could do, which she can't - for example column addition. When I pointed out she hadn't learnt that yet, she then explained column addition in a way that was totally unclear imo (in her first example she had to borrow from the next column etc). Given that clear explanations of basic underlying concepts was a key priority for me, this was offputting. The lesson she had prepared was much too tricky for dd - whilst the tutor became aware of this quickly, and started making up her own questions for dd, I didn't feel it would exactly help add to dd's confidence to hear 'all these are too tricky for you...'
I can imagine (& discussed with Sophie) that this would be ironed out after a couple of lessons but it did make you wonder how well the communication between the assessment and the lesson worked - the lesson certainly contained things that Sophie & I had discussed that dd hadn't covered yet.

1. What did you think of the online format? Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

I love the idea of something that can work around your availability, and the dcs were positive about maths on the computer, which they associate with online maths games!

We are also on mac, and I did feel the set up was pc based. I managed to get the tablet working, but it wasn't immediately obvious how to do it (although very simple for us once I figured it out). I think making clear what tech is expected up fron would be really useful (skype/mouse etc)

Negative for me was that dd is a very physical/visual learner - and needs things make concrete. Whilst I think this is possible through remote learning, it needs some thinking about, & my impression was that the approach is much more based in practicing rather than having good resources set up for teaching concepts. Me & dd did work on division using smarties for example - and work on fractions cutting up paper plates. Of course good graphics online could do the same., but we were really just presented with pages of sums.
Sophie to be fair was much better about going 'off piste' and drew number lines etc for dd which helped.

1. If you've had experience with face to face tutoring, how does it compare? Do you prefer it or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

No real experience of it, but I can see advantages: easier to fit in time, cheaper. But for dd, also disadvantages. There were times when I could tell she wasn't following what was going on, but I think it was much harder for the tutor to assess this with only a little box to view dd's face. Of course getting to know the child (not possible in one session) would also make a difference.

1. Do you think it has helped your child? If so, how?
   

Honestly? Not really, no.

1. If it came up in conversation would you recommend the service to friends or family? If so, why? If not, why not?
   

I think it would depend on the child - I can imagine ds - who loves maths and devours maths problems - would have had a ball. I think it's probably better for stretching engaged kids rather than engaging less confident/able ones. I also think dd was about as young as you could go (y3) I suspect it would be better for older children

One other recommendation - I don't know the maths curriculum. It would have been helpful to have a tick sheet or similar to go through in advance to clarify what dd had, and what she hadn't covered - I think that would have made a much easier starting point for us.

[TheRoundTable]

If a parent/child feels that the tutor selected is a wrong match, can they request a change?

[nobutreally]

The Round Table - that was my impression certainly. Sophie seemed very flexible and helpful, so I'm sure if you decide the match wasn't working it would be easy to swop.

[MrsLoada]

I would considers tutor if my kids were struggling at school but at the moment we are managing our selfs with down loading old test paper to practice on and helping them ourselves but as the work gets harder we may now be able to help as much

[TheRoundTable]

May I ask how it works exactly? How do they assess levels if a parent doesn't know the exact NC level their child is working at? How do they know where to start or what areas the child's struggling with?

If tutor selected is a Maths graduate and not a qualified teacher, do they teach according to the curriculum? I mean, do they use the same methods used in the schools, so as not to confuse the children?

I'm very willing to try this, but DH isn't. He thinks nothing beats face to face, where body language can be decoded and some kind of relationship and trust develops over time. It isn't just the teaching that helps understanding and success; it's also about some rapport and trust.

[OddBoots]

My ds is having his first lesson now (physics), they dived straight in to discussing waves but now the tutor seems to keep falling offline so ds can't hear anything. We're only 10 mins in so hopefully it's just teething problems. I'm feeling daftly anxious about it all.

[OddBoots]

Well once they moved to skype for their voice stuff it seemed to work well, ds is keen to do more and has booked the next couple of sessions.