The Lakeway Tutor

I can tutor at almost any time. In addition, a student can call me whenever they need help. I would suggest a weekly one hour session but the student can contact me at any time for additional help at no charge.

I have no homework, is it OK to skip tutoring this week?

I have no requirement for tutoring every week. However if you tell me you need tutoring and we set a time, then please be considerant and cancel early so I am not wasting my time waiting your your student to sign in.

My son has a test on Tuesday, can I move his session to Monday?

I will always try to accommodate students that need help doing a review before a test.

Where are you located?

I am located in Lakeway, not far from the Lakeway City Park, at 601 Peterson Lane. There is a map to my home on this web site. However, I will be tutoring OnLine for the near future.

How do I get started?

It is simple. Call me and tell me what you need help with. A mutual time can be arranged.

Why should I hire a tutor?

The roles of teacher and tutor are different. In school, the teacher follows a lesson plan that explains math to the average level of the class. Since the class is from 20 to 30 students, some must struggle and others might get bored. There is basically no way a teacher can devote very much extra time to the student that is struggling. If a student doesn't grasp an idea, it may not be learned, as the teacher has to move on.

The tutor, has to fill in the gaps that are not learned in class. The teacher has the advantage over the tutor in that the teacher knows before hand what they are going to teach on a given day and have time to prepare. Depending on the number of students, the tutor might have to be teaching quadratic equations to one student, probability to another, and matrices to another. The tutor has to be able to teach everything at any time. While a school teacher must move along to keep up with a state mandated curriculum, the tutor can continue to work with a student on a problem area until it is fixed.

During this period of either going to class or learning OnLine I am sure that there will be disruptions in the teaching cirriculum. This is where the tutor can really help. I do not care what school you are attending or even OnLine. I do not care whether you are using Schoology of Google classes or other technology. My philosophy is for the student to ask me questions about their assignment and I can assure I can asnwer the questions.

When should I start using a tutor?

The short answer is as soon as possible after the student brings home a failing grade on a math exam. A failing grade means the student has not learned some important concepts that will be needed later in the course and in future math courses. It is wise to correct the problem as soon as possible. It is possible that the first bad grade is a temporary thing, but maybe not. Monitor the problem very carefully.

My son has a test tomorrow, can you help?

Probably not very much. One cannot learn math overnight. Learning math is a process of 1) having the teacher explaining the problem, 2) having the teacher showing the student how to work the problem, 3) having the student work a problem themselves with teacher supervision, 4) having the student practice working many similar problems on their own, 5) having the teacher look over the students work to insure the problems are done correctly and re-teach if necessary. After a period of time, the teacher must reassign problems to insure that what was learned was actually retained. This process cannot be done overnight. It is important that the student retain what they learned because what they learned will be required to solve future and more difficult problems.

Thanks for your help. My son got a 88 on his test so I don't need your help any more.

Watch out here. Just because your son got a single or a couple of good grades doesn't mean good grades will continue. You came to a tutor because you saw a problem that needed correcting. Getting back on track doesn't happen in a few tutoring sessions. In fact, if your son is a slightly slow learner, or has missed some important skills in the past, it would be advisable to keep the tutor all year to make sure the good grades continue to happen. For example: I recently helped a student get a couple of good grades on his homework. During the tutoring session, I noticed that the student did not know their multiplication tables and had to rely on a calculator to divide 4 by 2. The parent stopped tutoring. The parent is in for a surprise later in the course when the scores drop.

Thanks for your help, my daughter has a friend that will tutor her for free!

OK....... but sometimes you get what you pay for. You considered tutoring because there was a problem. Make sure the friend is solving the problem. If not, I am still here.

Tutoring is so expensive.

Is tutoring worth the time and cost? Consider the alternative. The job market is competitive. If your son does not learn his math, or other subjects for that matter, when he gets out of high school, he will have a problem competing with others that have done well. Low school scores means it will be harder getting into the better universities, that is if this is a desire, and fewer good job possibilities if you are going directly into the workplace.

So, what do you do during a tutoring session?

I always start the session by asking the student if they have any specific questions or problems they need help with. If so, I address the specific questions. Next, if the student has brought any homework, I will help the student with the homework. Next, I will either re-teach math skills I think the student needs help with, or I will teach ahead if I have a list of upcoming assignments from the teacher. It is important that the student come prepared with questions, review sheets, and homework assignments.

Can I wait while my son/daughter is being tutored?

Yes, the parent can wait in my living room.

Can you tutor at my house?

No.

My son has a learning problem, is this OK?

It depends. It seems that more and more kids are being diagnosed with ADHD or Dyslexia these days. If the condition is controlled, as most are, there is no problem. I am not specifically trained to teach special education students but I will do my best. I have some students with supposedly these conditions but they do well. Sometimes, I wonder.