I am needing a tutor for my almost 5 year old son. He just missed the cut off to start kindergarten this year so he has one more year of preschool. He goes to preschool now & is in speech twice a week. I know there is no way he is ready for kindergarten so I'm hoping to really work on getting him ready this year for next. Does anyone know of any good tutoring places or any good tutors? I looked at Sylvan & Kumon but wasn't sure if it was what he needed and if they took children his age. Has anyone had any experience w/ either of these places with younger children? He needs basic number & letter recognition and letter sounds etc. I have tried working with him but he just won't do it for me. I find fun ways to work in learning but it just isn't enough. I need someone who is patient with experience and knowledge of what children should know pre-kindergarten.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Try calling the Kim @ The Reading Ranch in Allen ###-###-#### or ###-###-####
She is AMAZING!!! My daughter did some tutoring with her this summer and she not only moved up to an entire level Kim was able to clearly identify what her challenge areas were. My daughter will go to school on Monday with a clear evaluation to hand to her teacher.
i am a former kindergarten teacher but i now stay at home with my almost 3 year old daughter. when i worked for plano isd, i tutored after school privately and for at risk kids. i taught for 3 years and have a masters degree. i am definitely qualified to help prepare your son for kindergarten next year.
i would love to talk to you to see if i can help out.
~T. strain
Something to try at home, www.starfall.com , for letters and reading. My son is three and has been playing with it for about 1 1/5- 2 months and know all his letters and how they sound. It's sure to help your son and it's fun to play with. Hope this helps!
As a parent myself and an educator may I suggest you find a private daycare/school that has an accredited kindergarten program. My son missed the cut off as well. Since he had been in their PK program I didn't think he needed to repeat this as he was capable of doing more than the PK program his daycare/school provided. So I placed him in the kinder program. When he entered public school he of course entered kinder again which was one of the best things that could of ever happened. He is doing so well in school both socially and academically. I'm so glad he had the opportunity to have two years. My son is going into first grade way ahead of the game. Realistically, I know that this doesn't work for all kids, but for my child it was a gift from God. It gave him a year to grow and mature. Side note the daycare/school I put my son in did eye and ear checks as well as speech test. They contracted out with individuals to provide these services to the students. They also provided testing age appropriate for the children to determine skills mastered and skills needing to be strengthened. Shoot me an pm if you would like the name of the school and the director's name.
I worked as a Director of Education at a Sylvan Learning Center from 2000-2005. At that time, they had a great Beginning Reading program that worked with children as young as 4. It was a great program and I would highly recommend it. I don't know what changes have happened since then, but I would definitely check Sylvan out.
My son started Kumon in 2nd grade. I sure wish I had known about it earlier. He did very well and his grades reflected it as well. I think that Kumon will take preschool children. It is a great program and very easy to do. My son is going into the 4th grade this year. We will continue with Kumon as long as needed. It is priced much better than Sylvan and less days at the tutoring office.
I would goto Sylvan or Kumon and have them give you a placement test to see where your son is to get a starting point...
They can assess him in both reading and math. The programs work b/c they are specifically designed to start where HE is and take him where he needs to go. Testing/teaching/assessing/checking for retention and then/re-testing. good luck!
I know it's kindof late, but it sounds like your son needs a good pre-k program, not just a MDO. The school my son went to did a great job and was more than ready for kindergarten.
I also agree with the LeapFrog Videos and games. My son learned all the letters, phonics and beginning reading from the videos. Now my younger son, 3 yrs, is picking up on it too!!
Good luck!!
Something to do at home: My son knew all his letters and sounds by age 2 1/2 from the Leap Videos. He LOVED them. He started reading the BOB books at age 3. My daughter didn't take to all of it quite as quickly but easily knew all her letters and their sounds at age 3, is currently 4 and reading BOB books and other beginning phonics books.
Really, try the Leap videos. My kids loved them and easily learned all their letters, sounds, and beginning words from them. I give the videos to all my friends to borrow and they agree.
The first one is Letter Factory and the second one is Word Factory.
Good luck!
Hi K C,
Well, I sure admire your proactive stance on preparing your child for Kindergarten. However, I just started my son in K and he never went to preschool or had any tutoring and he's doing just fine. I never even thought of sending him to speech...did your son have a particular problem with his speech? Hope all works out for you and your son.
