I've tried everything to help my young teen daughter, she is a very sweet child . I'm a single parent of 2 and cannot afford a tutor, she suggested to me yesterday that maybe we can try sylvans learning center.  She really is trying to make an effort to do better but I cannot afford it and it is makinging me sick, I cannot sleep at nights.  How do I help her to do better at school.  She does'nt have any distractions at home besides her little 3 yr old brother who always wants to play with her .  Please help me.
206548
Schedule a parent/teacher meeting with her teacher. See if the teacher is willing to stay after school a couple of days a week and give her one on one tutoring.\n\nMy little brother went through the exact same thing with his math and english lessons and his teacher was more than happy to stay late with him since teachers are always at school after the kids to home.\n\nAlso, it may be a tough decision to make, but it is almost the end of the school year. If you daughter just quite doesn't grasp what she is trying to learn, maybe it is best if she is held back a year. If she is struggling so hard now, how in the world would she survive in a higher grade?\n\nGood luch!
134866
You can always home school kids that need it. Or volunteer your time at a library, school, lots of places need volunteers to help tutor the children.
70373
Are you home schooling her? If so, I have provided some links with some ideas that may help her?\n\nIf not, you should speak with her teachers to see how your activities at home can help their activities at school. Reading her stories at night and then having her read them is a good idea.
584784
I'm having a hard problem understanding why you did not know he was failing long ago. Was there no communications from the teacher? Did you ever see a report card? Your son may have been lying about his grades because he was embarrassed and ashamed. You may be thinking that your harsh punishment of him is because of lying, but he thinks it's because of the grades. For our children to succeed in school, they need our daily help and involvement. So I ask again, where have you been all this time that your son was failing? What are you doing now to help him succeed and rediscover his love of learning that obviously has been lost somewhere along the way? All your harsh punishment will teach him is that in the future he'll have to figure out how to lie better. I would suggest some family counseling, because I think you are off-track in how you are handling your son and it's only going to get worse when he hits puberty, any second now.
167067
Hire someone or homeschool her at night and on your days off.  If you hire a babysitter for the daytime then have the baby sitter go over the workbooks that you use for homeschooling. That could be the time that she does homework or even have the babysitter teach her. Thats a good job for a college student and most would be free some times of the day. She could help you educate. It would be good for an education major.
76248
Yeah, I know what you mean. Read my answer to your first question, too, b/c maybe another teacher might be a better match for you as a tutor.  My daughter is having the same problem as you right now, her teacher is so boring she is killing the class slowly and surely. Used to be my son could tutor her, but he is in college now. I can't help b/c you kids are doing math I never ever heard of.  She tells me that you can go to some websites that give math help, if you google the math term you don't understand.  Good luck and don't give up, please?
291271
bring this up at your next parents meeting,the chances are hell have a friend at school who he needs separaing from in class,it worked with my son,they were distracting each other so now they can mess around but only at playtime!good luck!
323144
This is a fascinating question; how does one advise a young person who is going to college but doesn't have all the makings of a student?\n\n1. You mentioned this girl doesn't read. Is that the issue? Does she avoid reading because she doesn't read well or because she has a learning disability? In either case, she is GOING to NEED to read to be in school. College requires more reading than high school. Much more. Why not talk to her best teachers in school and see what they say about her reading skills. There are plenty of private and public services to evaluate and tutor reading and improve her skills. This will be a LIFELONG benefit for her. Everyone needs to know how to read, to read critically and well and to comprehend and remember what they read. If nothing else, get her reading evaluated and get it up to a decent level.\n\nIf she isn't reading because she thinks reading is boring, but she CAN read, then find books that interest her and make her READ them and do BOOK REPORTS to you every week. OR else. Benjamin Carson, Baltimore brain surgeon, had an illiterate mother who made him do this. He stopped being a goof in school and became a world-famous doctor. She made him read and she listened to his reports and if he didn't do them, there was hell to pay. \n\nSome people like books ABOUT people, so find what she's interested in and get books from the library and have her read and write reports and read them aloud to you. Be firm on this.\n\n2. A student who gets B's and C's is obviously able to do some good school work, and she is going to college so she's probably more likely badly taught, lazy and uninspired, not stupid. Don't accept laziness or apathy. Schools don't inspire the average because they are too busy to worry about individual kids and making them better. But you have to do that. Don't accept apathetic behavior. \n\nIf she can use a computer, she's not dumb. She's just bored. Get her into some outside activity, volunteering charity work is a good idea. Get her to see the world, its problems and challenges. Have her see how hard it is to make any money on a minimum wage job. \n\nIf you get her out of her apathy, and into good reading skills, next you want to make sure she can write coherently. That's where the book reports come in. Have her do reviews on Amazon.com. They will publish anyone's reviews. She can read a book, do a report, and publish the report as a review on Amazon. You can critique the review and get her to correct her English.\n\nIf she does this non-stop all summer, she will be ready for college and she is likely to find something she is interested in. It will require PUSHING on your part, but you will be giving her a priceless gift; the GIFT of being interested in life, in being skilled at learning and good at written communication. You can do nearly anything with those skills.  Trust me on this!
437012
Only you and she can really know the answer to this question. Why don't you speak with her? Tell her what you'd like to be able to do and ask her why you are not allowed to help others, particularly if you are her "assistant"\n\nSigh. Thumb trolls strike again. My answer is a valid possible way to handle the situation. Talking with the teacher is a good way to try to resolve the issue.
23000
I understand your worry.  How disabled is your daughter?  Is it possible for her to get along in a group home with others with her same condition where they have people to help and monitor the situation? Maybe to start introducing her to prospective situations or people now so that she is familiar with them.  Do you belong to a religious community?  Since I don't know how much help your daughter needs its hard to think of ideas but you are welcome to e-mail me - I will try and help you think of ideas for the future.
73648
What is happening to your child atrocious.  Talk to the principal.  Does your school have a special education teacher?  Ask for a meeting with all three together - principal, special education teacher, and classroom teacher.  YOu have a right to be assertive and make sure your child receives more appropraite programming.\n\nIf you can set your anger aside when you go to this meeting.  YOu will get much further I expect if you present the case logically and point out how absurd and meaningless those homework assignments are for your child.  \n\nYour child's teachers should have access to all kinds of information to properly program for your child.  In any case refer them to the website I've attached.  It provides specific information about appropriate school programming for students who are blind.  It is a Canadian source, but it is the one I am most familiar with, and it is excellent.\n\nI hope this helps.  Good luck with it!
223040
First of all does he hate to read cause it's boring or because it's difficult.And what school district retains a student three times. I would go to the school and demand some answers. Meanwhile Read Naturally is an awesome program and Reading A-Z  \nhas great guided reading books on line so you can figure out where exactly he is. Also try the leap frogs for phonemic awareness, is he hearing all the sounds letters make. Then \nthere are some great after school tutoring like Sylvan \nlearning, but first start at school be strong he's your son and you have rights. Look under IDEA and "No Child Left Behind". Good luck!
570824
Please read this all the way through, my heart is with you. I have two boys 10 and 6 that did the same thing (flushing). Charging 10 cents every time I found the bowl full stopped my problem. But your daughter seems like she has hit rebellion already. My 6 year old became very sore and he learned his lesson at 4 about wiping. But with your daughter "dirty down there" is not going to work. She's 10 not 4, don't patronize her, think back to when you were 10. Let's face it we were all picking up info from friends about sex. You 3 parents have to get together as a group and realize she is not a child she is a young lady/woman. Lectures and threats are not going to work anymore. She needs to start making her own decisions, educated decisions. Talk to a gynecologist get facts about what could happen if she doesn't clean up her act. Pictures if necessary, of what these diseases can do to her body. She could pick up staf infection just to name one, and wind up in the hospital. (My husband being a fire fighter had a call at one time about a woman with an upset stomach. She wasn't a wiper either her whole body smelt of crap. When they got her to the hospital because no one wanted to check between her legs (which was where the real discomfort was) they found her vagina was infested, stuffed with maggots.)Please do everything in your power to educate her in a way that will help her to help herself make the right choices. Also is she happy with herself, looks, school, and friends. These are all very important to her right now. If she doesn't have it yet soon she will be starting her cycle. You think you have problems now, wait. This is the summer of change for your family. Make it that way, help her, she needs you all just to hear her, and realize she is not a little girl, or even a big girl, she is a young lady/woman. A new hair style, a light colored eyeshadow if not wearing makeup, a few new clothes, you might want to rethink the panty thing. Is she wearing panties that make her feel like a young lady/woman, or is she wearing widebottomed, widesided diaperwear. Help her to feel different about herself. Chin up, no one ever said this parent thing was easy, but think of the good times, keep an open mind, and email me if you need to. We have all been there in one way or another.
405757
Please tell me, are you in the U.S.A.?  Including your location will help us answer you better, because laws and opportunities vary and mentioning your area may encourage answerers from your location.\n\nIn the USA the laws  are such that the public school which cannot provide the appropriate learning environment may have the option to send the child (until 21 years of age if needed) to another public school in the county or an "approved private school" (at least that's the term in Pennsylvania, USA) and the public school pays the cost of tuition and transporation.\n\nIf your son has a specific diagnosis, you may be able to find the right public or private school by searching on the internet using the diagnosis for example "autism", "private school", "reviews", and your general location fro example "Montgomery county, PA"\n\nThere are schools and knowledgable & caring educators out there!   Your teenager is not the only one who needs special attention and structure.  There are also parent/guardian support groups on line and probably in your local area, ask the doctors or specialists you've dealth with or the area hospitals or libraries as groups often meet there.  Depending on your situation, you may find some ways to teach or support his learning at home with specifically designed learning materials -- ask his doctors or therapists for recommendations and since he is 16 you need to get him "on board" with the desicions, if he can help make some of the choices and work with you as a team he will be better motivated to work hard and continue to develop.\n\nAsk more questions about specifics as you need to, there are teachers, parents, siblings, and child advocates "listening" who understand your situation (I'm all of the above and still advocating for my adult brother and my teenager)  God Bless you!
94025
#1, fight the alternative school thing (unless she has behavior problems as well).  If you want her to do better, you have to make school the focus of her life, not the externals (game boys, ipods, tv, friends, etc.).  You are not punishing her, you are helping her focus on school instead of all the other BS.  But this goes hand in hand with you taking an active role in making sure she is on task.  Just grounding her and taking away her privleges is not enough.  She has to know that school work is important to you as well.
161983
I don't know about free, but you can get student loans through the government.  I worked at a Sylvan Learning Center and I know they had student aid available.\n\nYou could call them to find out.\n\nSometimes, school districts offer free tutoring to low-income students.  Call your school district to ask for help.\n\nAlso, sometimes community centers/libraries and churches help with tutoring.  You might find some online homework help, as well.\n\nI am a certified teacher with a masters degree and have historically charged $25 per hour for tutoring (although Sylvan paid me only about $8.00 per hour to tutor 3 kids at a time with their pre-packaged materials and curriculum).  It really adds up!  You're smart to try to find some financial aide.\n\nGood luck!\n\nPS  As a follow up to the previous answerer, the district does not HAVE to pay for tutoring if your child needs it.  That is a misconception.  If your child has an IEP, they are able to receive additional support at school, but this would not be tutoring outside of the school day, most likely.  Talking to your child's teacher/principal is a great first step, though.
418232
I've played semi-professionally and taught the guitar- I would strongly recommend a teacher. If your community has a local nonprofit music school, start her there. Also, if you are a member of a church, and there's a 'contemporary music group', that can be a great resource- I'd also look for a teacher(preferably young) who could come to your home-a local university's music department can recommend someone-it'll save the hassle of having to taxi over to the music store. I'll put the local music store a distant third for lessons.\nI've found out that children lose interest in music for two main reasons -the first is that there's no one to play with, and \nthe second is cheap, poorly set up instruments. For the first, once she's able to play a few songs, suggest that she get together with a classmate or friend who can play or sing, and take it from there.  If she gets involved with a church group, then \nthere will be at least weekly practices.(And it's a sure guarantee of a wholesome environment)\nI'm recommending several items to buy along with the guitar-the first is an electronic tuner, it'll help your daughter develop her ear for what sounds right, the second is a metronome, to help develop a sense of rythm, and the third is a mechanical windup kitchen timer- once she starts her lessons, based on what her teacher recommends, have her practice 3-4 times per week for 15 minutes MAX-at that age, there's no point in stretching the attention span. If she wants to skip a day, let her.  Once the timer rings, have her put the guitar down-unless she wants to keep going(That's the best sign that it's working!)\n\nAll the Best,\nJim B