private tutoring for 5 year old good or bad idea?

[southeastastra]

my ds(5) is quite behind with maths and reading at school. he is just at the end of year one.

would it be worth getting him some private tutoring? or shall i let him go at his own pace. what would the school make of it?

[SSSandy2]

Well I don't think tutoring is necessarily a bad thing. It depends how it is done.

FWIW I think I tutor my dc a great deal. If I didn't feel able to help her with schoolwork patiently and in a relaxed, fun atmosphere, I wouldn't see the harm in paying someone else to do it. It may give him a positive boost to see he's getting the hang of things that puzzled him (maths) where he felt he was floundering. It needn't be a long-term thing. You need the right person though and a short period not a dry formal one hour session obviously.

Maybe with some good maths material you could do it yourself though. Have you had a look around at books?

[NKF]

What would put me off tutoring is the amount of time. Presumably they want to do an hour minimum. And that's a lot of time for a five year old. I think you'd get better results with 10 minutes here and there.

[SSSandy2]

Yes, I agree that is a problem. When I noticed dd needed help with maths. I bought a book to teach it to her myself and did very short sessions at first, just a couple of minutes. ALl very fun and positive and then we did something COMPLETELY different. Maybe another couple of minutes later on etc..

THink you're right about the amount of time being a problem. Don't know the answer to that one.

[gess]

I used to be a tutor & I'd be very wary about tutoring a 5 year old. They're shattered when they get out of school. AND believe me there are some dodgy tutors out there- you would need to choose very carefully. Agree with fio- workbooks, or perhaps some of those slightly ridiculous "brainy child" books (you know the ones that have all the developmental games etc in) so he thinks he's playing.

Do you have anyone else who could do some work with him. I always get one of our direct payments girls to do ds2's homework with him as he's much better with her- messes me around- I'm mum not work iyswim.

If you really want to drill basics (which can help some children I think) then I'd look at something like kumon - short & apparently they give you lots of worksheets.

[foxinsocks]

hi sea! I too have an August child (dd).

Firstly, I would speak to the school and see if they want you to do anything extra at home. If he has an IEP, they may have some ideas for what you can do to help him at home, should you want to.

Dd has always had a terrible time with her writing. Only now, at the end of yr 2, have we been given extra practice stuff to do at home with her - they felt, until now, trying to get her to do extra work would have backfired because she wasn't ready for it (and they felt it would have turned writing into a 'battle' which they really didn't want to do).

[southeastastra]

i think also it's because i work with children and see that other five year olds seem more mature than him. and i asked the teacher at parent's evening if he was below average for the year or because he's the youngest and she said it was based on age.

also was looking at the local paper at the weekend and there are so many tutors, some from 4 years old.

his older brother has the most patience with him and he's very good at maths and the little one loves spending time with his brother. but again it's trying to get the older one to sit down with him.

will look out for books. i just wish the school didn't have to judge him so young.

[Cammelia]

I agree no formal tutoring. I would keep him off the computer completely, do other stuff like reading to him instead. With dd I didn't let her near the computer until she could read very competently. I think using the computer too young hinders development.

[Hulababy]

I think 5 is too young for tutoring. Maybe the school can offer additional support or advise first.

[Idreamofdaleks]

Is he dyslexic? If so he will really benefit from help asap

[1dilemma]

Cammelia interesting re the computer. I hope that's not the case they have them in dc nursery, love to talk to me about the mouse and which button to press.(Especially when I'm mumsnetting!) I was also going to suggest trying to get a computer maths/reading programme. We have one and it allows them to do things when they can't write by clicking iyswim. Local library might have them or school /friends might lend them, was also going to suggest 'educational' DVDs for a bit of down time although he might be getting a bit old for them.

[katelyle]

I would have issues with he school labelling someone so little, to be honest! He's only 5 - in practically every other European country they haven't even started formal school at 5! My ds is in year 1 as well and there is a huge range of abilities in his class - from one little boy who's reading Harry Potter to one who is still on the beginning levels of the ORT.
Read to him as much as possible, do lots of cooking and shopping and buying little sweets with his own money and play snakes and ladders and simple card games like Go Fish and RELAX! And suggest to the school that a policy of more positive report writing would be better for children and parents.

[katelyle]

Oh and I think that the judicious use of the computer can be hugely helpful - particularly with slightly reluctant boys. We use a timer and don't allow more than half an hour at a time and none at all the the 2 hours before bed time. Try the BBC learning zones or find out which sites the school uses so that you can maintain continuity.

[SofiaAmes]

My ds is 6 and in first grade (in usa). He is the youngest in the class (birthday just a few weeks before the cutoff date) and over a year younger than several boys who were held back a year. At the beginning of the year the teacher was complaining that he couldn't keep up with the class and wasn't reading as well as the others. I thought that she was exaggerating as ds is very dreamy and was probably just not paying attention. However, I talked to ds about it and he complained that the books that they were reading were "boring." So I tried out various different books at home and he become completely intrigued by the Goosebumps series. Everynight before reading him a chapter, I would have him read me the first page of the chapter. He ver quickly became proficient at reading and is now one of the better readers in the class. The teacher had actually sent him for extra tutoring to a program within the school, but they were using the same books as in the classroom and it was a waste of time in ds' case. Also, his handwriting seemed fairly poor, so I bought some of the specially lined paper that they use in class and had him write 5 lines of each letter every day. We would then sit and pick out which "A" he had done the best, which "B" he had done the best. By the letter "C" he was making a real effort to do each letter perfectly so that I would "have a hard time picking the best one because they were all so great." For maths, ds is actually quite advanced, but I try to keep maths present in our everyday life whenever possible. I give him little problems to solve during dinner and try to teach him tricks that his friends won't have learned yet so that he feels smart (he is the smallest as well as the youngest and not terribly athletic in a class full of jocks...). (11 times tables are a good one).

[Kaz33]

My August born boy couldn't read at all at the beginning of Year 1 and now coming to the end of Year 1 is flying ....

Yesterday he found the word duplicate in a power ranger manual and explained what it meant in context

It will come when it comes.

[southeastastra]

it's easy to get in a state about reports. i don't think he is dyslexic as he sort of knows the words he's trying to read. the computer thing is hard to judge really. there are so many great sites, but it's always the star wars/dr who that he's drawn to. have another meeting next week with the school so will talk more to them then. he does keep coming out with surprising words too atm so guess it will come in time

[tigermoth]

Just another message to add to all of these. I have an august born son, the youngest in the class and at 5 years old, he was behind in most academic things. He had little inclination to learn and sometimes, when I looked at the weekly homework sheets, I just knew he was too young for them and it was pretty hopeless to try them. We did our best but sometimes I just wrote a note of apology to the teacher.

I did try some fun phonics workbooks in the school summer holidays between year 1 and year 2, which did help a little bit. He was still not 'getting' reading, but it helped him retain some of the stuff he had learned in reception so after the 6 weeks break, he started year one up and running.

I was also reacting against a slighly pessimistic report from his year one teacher, so I know how you feel,southeastastra. I really felt his year one teacher was not seeing the imaginative, funny little boy that he is and was seeing him as a problem because he did not hit targets.

He had a much better year two, and really gelled with his teacher. His reading (well everything really) came on in leaps and bounds and has continued to improve in year three. He is still only 7, but seems to be now hitting the average in his year group.

I was amazed when he got a 3a in his SATS test for reading at the end of year 2, when the average mark nationally is around a 2b. This from a boy who had little idea of simple phonics 18 months ago. (proud mother moment). As others have said, reading and the rest can happen in fits and starts. Do keep a careful eye on things and encourage him, but IMO a tutor may be a waste of time right now.

[southeastastra]

thank you tigermoth. these messages have really made me feel a whole lot better

[tigermoth]

...and thank you again southeastastra, for the pyramid info. We made it in the end, helped by those templates. It is unusually hard to make a perfect pyramid btw.

[southeastastra]

it is! i did one last year (with the help of that template too)

[newgirl]

i think he'll be just fine too

i get my dd to have a go at writing birthday cards and things like that so its fun not really 'practicing'

apparently lots of drawing and colouring help with handwriting skills too

[DonkeyOaty]

Spam off, spammer.

[Ferguson]

This is the information I use to help with number concepts. If you want anything additional on Reading and Literacy, let me know:

Practical things are best for grasping number concepts - bricks, Lego, beads, counters, money, shapes, weights, measuring, cooking.

Do adding, taking away, multiplication (repeated addition), division (sharing), using REAL OBJECTS as just 'numbers' can be too abstract for some children.

Number Bonds of Ten forms the basis of much maths, so try to learn them. Using Lego or something similar, use a LOT of bricks (of just TWO colours, if you have enough) lay them out so the pattern can be seen of one colour INCREASING while the other colour DECREASES. Lay them down, or build up like steps.

So:

ten of one colour none of other
nine of one colour one of other
eight of one colour two of other
seven of one colour three of other
etc,
then of course, the sides are equal at 5 and 5; after which the colours 'swap over' as to increasing/decreasing.

To learn TABLES, do them in groups that have a relationship, thus:

x2, x4, x8

x3, x6, x12

5 and 10 are easy

7 and 9 are rather harder.

Starting with TWO times TABLE, I always say: "Imagine the class is lining up in pairs; each child will have a partner, if there is an EVEN number in the class. If one child is left without a partner, then the number is ODD, because an odd one is left out."

Use Lego bricks again, lay them out in a column of 2 wide to learn 2x table. Go half way down the column, and move half the bricks up, so that now the column is 4 bricks wide. That gives the start of 4x table.

Then do similar things with 3x and 6x.

With 5x, try and count in 'fives', and notice the relationship with 'ten' - they will alternate, ending in 5 then 10.

It is important to try and UNDERSTAND the relationships between numbers, and not just learn them 'by rote'.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out!) can help learn tables by 'repeated addition'. So: enter 2+2 and press = to give 4. KEEP PRESSING = and it should add on 2 each time, giving 2 times table.

There are good web sites, which can be fun to use :

//www.ictgames.com/

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/page/default.asp?title=Woodlands%20Junior%20School&pid=1