<p>My daughter (HS Juinor) wishes to academically help out elementary and middle school kids who have missed school due to medical issues and she wants to provide this kind of help either in person or online. Having been sick herself for a few years and coping up with the missed classes on her own, she realizes how important it is for kids to be able to get academic help outside school. So she wants to do her share of helping out to families of such kids who have had medical related absences. Can you suggest some places/websites that she can contact to inform them about this intent of hers?</p>
<p>Thank you for any pointers you can provide.</p>
<p>But her opinion is the district could have ther own special services teachers who could be doing this kind of tutoring and so her services may not be encouraged?</p>
<p>I think that most school districts welcome student tutors. Some students even do tutoring for their community service. </p>
<p>I have a number of concerns about her just going out on her own. First, where is this tutoring going to take place? In the child’s home? How do you know that home is a safe place for her? If she’s working with some outside group, how do you know that’s a safe or reputable group? How do you know the other people at that group are safe and reliable? Another problem is the tutoring itself. Tutors need to be working closely with the teacher, so that the child is getting consistent help, and working on what the teacher believes is most important. </p>
<p>Don’t misunderstand – I applaud your daughter’s desire to help, and that should be encouraged. Have her talk to her own guidance counsellor or school principal. They will be able to help her find an opportunity that’s good for her, and for her little pupils.</p>
<p>I agree with the issues raised above. It’s wonderful that she wants to help but I’d suggest that she start with her school and/or school district rather than free-lancing. I would suggest she NOT go to anyone’s home or anywhere where it would be just her and a studentj–public locations like public libraries, shopping mall, coffee shops or other public locations are better for her protection as well as the student’s.</p>
<p>If she’s tech savvy and the school and pupil are able, Skype is a possibility. Does she have the skill set to tutor? Has she tutored others? It takes mastery of the material AND ability to help the student grasp it to be an effective tutor–unfortunately not everyone has that skill set.</p>
<p>One of the issues of kids with medical issues is that their stamina can be unpredictable, so it’s hard to gauge how much tutoring they would be able to tolerate at any given time (from experience with my two kids who had severe stamina issues due to health conditions). This can make real-time tutoring very problematic, for the student as well as the tutor.</p>
<p>Very nice points raised…thank you for such prompt replies. I will surely discuss what you say here with my D. yes, she was thinking about Skype and YouTube as modes of tutoring.</p>
<p>When she had her health problems, did her school or a hospital provide her with tutoring services? If so, she could start by contacting the program coordinator, or one of the tutors or teachers who worked with her. Those people would be able to advise her on starting this project. One young person I know has become a regular volunteer at the pediatric unit that saved her life. No one can understand the kids there quite the same way as she does except another person who also survived those experiences.</p>
<p>Wishing your daughter much success as she starts this project!</p>
<p>My daughter had a home hospital teacher coming home but honestly, she did not provide any help whatsoever course-material-wise, and pretty much, my D did everything being a very motivated girl herself and all that the teacher did was carry her HW and assignments and projects to the teachers and proctor the tests that the teachers used to send – in summary, she was just a messenger/carrier of work!
My D had to do exactly the same work that her peers did during her hospitalization and in an even shorter period of time. That is another complaint I have – when kids are sick and have had to undergo major surgeries, isn’t it fair on the teachers to atleast waive some mundane projects that do not help in teaching anything substantial ? But I remember my daughter starting working right on the day she was able to sit up from her spinal surgery and she used to work like 9-10 hours every day just so she could make up for her 4 weeks of absence. It has been exactly one year from her surgery but she still has that lingering lower back pain (which she has learned to live through) and I blame the school system for that (because she used to keep missing her PT in order to complete all her missed work).</p>
<p>And when I had written to the teachers before she went through the surgery, we were told ‘yes, yes, health is more important and so please take care’ by which I had assumed that she would get some leeway in her projects or HW and I was disappointed.
But my D being a fighter, managed to do everything as expected and in fact pulled off a 4.0 GPA that semester in spite of her hospitalization and absences.</p>
<p>Oh well, I went off on a totally diff topic but sometimes, I feel so sad and helpless with the way her recovery happened this past year! :(</p>
<p>My D tutors kids, has for the last few years. While she hasn’t concentrated on medically fragile kids, she simply walked down to the elementary school nearby and asked if any kids needed after-school help. They were thrilled to have such an offer.</p>
<p>This year D is working with an after school program for needy kids. She was asked after helping with their summer program, but they have several tutors who simply volunteered by coming into the office. Your D could call around to any such program and ask about those with medical issues that need more intensive help, or, as has already been suggested, talk to the local children’s hospital or ward.</p>
<p>The church I work at gets calls and letters constantly from schools desperate for volunteers to help tutor the kids. It’s not for everyone, and the hours make it difficult for some to do it. So I would guess your D will have plenty of takers of she calls around, even if she doesn’t start her own program.</p>
<p>Have her check with a local Ronald McDonald house. They have teachers and volunteers that come in and help kids with school work. In our state schools are required to offer home tutoring services for kids that miss 2 weeks of school or more. They use certified teachers to do this however. Not many parents would hire a high school kid to come in and tutor like that though, maybe for extra help in a subject but not being the main teacher while a child is out with an illness. Our high school has peer tutoring available at the school for kids that want help in math or whatever. Maybe she could check into volunteering for something like that or starting a program at her school?</p>
<p>Yes, she did check with Ronald McDonald House in the nearby cities and was told that most of the children who come to their places are kind of sick and do not go to school as such.
She in fact coaches for Science Olympiad for 5th and 6th graders at home but is very inclined to be helping out kids who are lagging behind due to medical issues…her repeated hospital visits/stays have made her very sensitive to such kids like her. And the issue is how do you get to such kids and looks like most of you are suggesting to go through school district or another independent organization which I guess should be her approach too.</p>
