LONETREE, Colo. (KDVR) — Back to school means homework help at the kitchen table, but what if you need help with that?
The tutoring need is high for both kids and parents as one local tutoring company is still seeing two to three times more business since the pandemic.
An educational consultant from Tutor Doctor knows exactly the struggle parents are going through and why with a different person, like a tutor, you can get a different outcome with your kid.
“I have a 6th grader and a 3rd grader, over summer we try to work on summer work and stuff like that and there’s tears and pouting and I don’t want to do it and they love school. Me and my wife are professional educators, so we get it,” said Gregor Avison, an educational consultant.
Math is always a hard-hitting subject, but now elementary students are taking the biggest hit.
“We have gotten a lot more elementary clients because, during the pandemic, it was online schools so it’s really hard to do pre-k and kindergarten online. Even though we want it to work, it didn’t really work that well,” said Avison.
Over the summer, Tutor Doctors hired 40 new tutors to be ready for whatever your child needs.
“If they want drill practice, back to basics type of things that’s Kumon or Sylvan. If you are more, go through grades and strategies, that’s us”, said Avison.
Parents are also given things to do at home between sessions.
“Especially with elementary, just giving some guidance on bedtime reading. Hey 20 minutes of reading with your kids you’re looking at two grade levels difference in five years,” said Avison.
Just like how you want your kids to do the research, you should too.
“Talk around, talk with the teachers at your school, administrators, counselors — they all have great referrals. The big thing is if you are going with a company and stuff, do your research. See who has the actual good reviews not just the excessive reviews like that,” said Avison.
At most places, you can get a free consultation and prices range anywhere from $15 to $100 an hour.
One way to look at it is an investment in your child’s education and home-life balance.
“As they are doing well in school there’s less stress, there are less family problems, there’s less push back between parent-child stuff and that’s the big relief that we get. We get parents saying OK this is nice, this is manageable, we can do this because we have to work all day and kids are coming and going on. It’s hard, so having another expert in there to help that part really makes a difference,” said Avison.
Tutor Doctors’ busy season is right at the beginning of the school year through October as parents are seeing their children are maybe struggling or a little bit more behind than they thought.
So, if you’re interested you may want to look around and reach out to places now or the next couple of weeks versus later when school is a month or two in and they are booked up.