Question: I just moved and really love the new school system. My sons have excellent teachers (10th grade and 3rd grade). The problem I am running into is my children are behind the children here and are struggling to do average work. As a mother, I want them to do more than average work. I want them to excel.
I am a newly divorced mom, and it is financially hard for me to afford a tutor for two children. Can you please advise me of other avenues or programs that can help my sons excel in their schoolwork? -- Need Help
Answer: Sounds like your sons need to get a little help right now catching up with their new classes so that they will not be struggling. We would like to point out that not all children can excel in every class. So concentrate first on helping stop their struggles before pushing excelling.
Talk with their teachers to find out exactly where your sons may be having problems. Be sure to ask what free tutoring help is available in your area. Perhaps the teachers themselves have before- or after-school tutoring hours. The high school might even have a student-helping-student program. Also talk to your sons' guidance counselors to make sure they are taking the right classes.
Other places that you should consider checking for free tutoring help for your sons are local libraries and universities. You also can go online and type in "free tutoring help," and you will find websites like Tutor Chat (tutorchatlive.org) and Kahn Academy (khanacademy.org). Khan Academy is a nonprofit educational website created in 2006 by educator Salman Khan to provide "a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere." It is definitely worth checking out, especially if your son is a visual learner, because everything is taught with videos or PowerPoints. TED Talks (ted.com) has many educational short, to-the-point videos that teach students math, science or language arts.