Mom Seeking Affordable Tutoring

I see that you have already received some good advice. I also noticed that you are in Richmond. I am a teacher in your area, and I know many other teachers in the area as well. Several of them tutor for free or for a very reasonable rate. If you are interested, you are welcome to e-mail me privately. I know teachers at many of the Lamar CISD schools and might be able to help you find a convenient (and affordable) tutor.

Also, have you gotten any information about the extended day program at your son's school? All of the elementary schools in the area, to my knowledge, offer an extended day program for those students not performing well in reading and math, sometimes other subjects as well. Some schools are already holding extended day, and other schools are waiting until closer to the TAKS test.

You may not be aware of it, but the district's third graders should all be taking a practice reading test some time this month. For students who do not do well on the practice test, the district will probably be providing tutors called ARI tutors; they have done so for the past several years. The district ARI tutors generally start in January. Your son's teacher will probably get results of the practice test in December or January. He/She can then tell you your son's score and also which objectives are giving him the most trouble.

The bad news, as you stated in your post, is that he is required to pass the TAKS Reading test for promotion to fourth grade. The good news is that the state will offer three chances to do so. If your son doesn't do well in February, he will get another opportunity to retake the test in April. The third opportunity is during the summer.

I hope this helps!

If you are in Houston, you could try the St. Catherine Montessori's Reading Center. Sr. Edna Ann Hebert has been teaching children to read for many years. She is located at 9821 Timberside, Houston, TX 77025. ###-###-####. You'll appreciate her fee schedule too. Blessings to you and your son.

See if one of his teachers would be willing to tutor him on the side for some extra cash. That's what I did in high school with my Algebra 2 class. My dad paid my teacher to tutor me for a few hours a week. It worked wonders! Also, you could go to Lakeshore Learning Center. It's a retail store but they may have some info on private tutors & they have a whole section on Reading where you could buy workbooks, etc. for him to do at home. Start with 1st grade level & work your way up to his current grade & even beyond b/c firming up his prior grade level reading skills might help a lot. Best of luck!

L., We are in the exact same boat and we have been told that if you will reach out to your local high school that there are students that can tutor your child in return for yes points. High School students do community work like these to earn yes points for college resumes. All you have to do when you find someone is fill out a form similar to a time sheet that states how long the student tutored your child and you get free help. We actually have not taken advantage of this yet because of the approaching holidays, so we have decided to wait until after the first of the year and get someone to work with my son on the reading and get him prepared for the TAKS test.
Also, I dont know if you are aware of it because I just found out about it myself. Your child has 3 chances to pass the reading portion of the TAKS test. If he/she does not pass the first time, then there are measures taken thru the school to up his skills to take it again and so on. This is not passed on to the parent and I am not sure why, but unless you have a kid that has already been thru this, you are not going to know this.
Also, if you think that there is more going on than just having reading problems, I would love to chat with you about what we have done to improve my sons reading. We are still a work in progress, but maybe our experience would help you as well. If you would like to contact me, my email is ____@____.com or my phone is ###-###-####.
Good luck!!!

Can he spell? Is it possible he is dyslexic? Ask the school to have him tested if he is reading below level. First ask the teacher - by email so you have a record. If nothing happens, ask her again by email and copy the principal and the counselor. They may put you off- but usually the school WANTS the kids to pass the TAKS test so they are willing to do what is necessary to help the kids. Third grade is the prime time for getting that help. Give them a coulpe weeks between requests- but stick with it. If he does not seem to have any learning difference and he just needs that extra reinforcement- call the High School and see if they have any student tutors. Frequently the Honor Society students will tutor. Your son may respond really well to a younger tutor- and they are usually less expensive. Also ask the counselor at your school if she can recommend tutors- there are many teachers that tutor for extra money. In Ft. Bend I used Tutorial Services run by Jack Paschal ###-###-####. He is a teacher that acts as a clearing house for teacher/tutors. He'll interview you and set you up with a teacher that will work with your son. He totally saved my son's fanny through elementary and middle school!! Good luck.

Do you attend church? I'll bet there's some high school student who would like to tutor him for a small fee. Or pay a visit to the local high school and ask a counselor to recommend a good student who could use some extra cash. If it's just reading, a high schooler can handle that.