Homework Help Today - A Tutoring Blog for Students and Tutors Where Students and Tutors can help each other out!

Repetition can be extremely helpful in the learning patterns of students and should be used on a daily basis when tutoring children with their homework. Skills such as math, reading and writing, and learning a new language can be easily learned with the assistance of some suggestive repetition.

Repetition is especially useful when tutoring as children may not have been given the chance to repeat the information that was learned within the classroom setting. When the child is tutored using repetition they are given the chance to use the information learned in the classroom setting and combine it with the practice that they have been exposed to during the tutoring session.

In the past few years learning by repetition has been associated with forming the connection of synapses in brain cells.  This assists in not only learning the information, but in recalling that information throughout the lifetime of the child. Once this information has been committed to memory with the use of repetition, this information may be more easily recalled in the future.

Many skills that are learned through childhood homework assignments are skills that are going to be called upon for further learning. The pyramid of learning that is created can be based upon the repetition of the skills that children learn in their formative and early years.

Repetition is not the end all be all of learning. The learner begins with a limited amount of information (be it words or concepts), and adds in concepts as the process goes along. Gradually, the child will need less and less repetition as he or she learns the concepts which are built upon in the future.

Repetitive teaching techniques can be extremely useful with homeschool tutoring.

Posted under Math Tutoring, Reading, Tutoring

Homework help can be a daunting experience, especially for those parents that have been out of school for years. Use these tips to make the process easier while helping your child to understand the concepts that have been taught that day at school.

1. Provide a quiet place for the child to study and review the concepts that have been learned that day. This could be a time after dinner when the table is clear or any another designated study area within the home or the bedroom.

2. Keep track of assignments. The more you are involved in the child’s school schedule, the more the child is going to consult about it with you. Remember when assignments are due, when assignments need to be started and when any tests or quizzes occur within the classroom.

3. Help children with basic skills including math skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These basic skills are required for any further math concepts to become developed throughout their academic career.

4. Use everyday situations to help your child learn math, English and scientific principals. This will ensure the child will realise the importance of the lessons that are being taught while reinforcing the information that has been covered in the classroom setting. Repetition ensures that the child will retain the information.

5. Use worksheets, computer software and educational games to further develop and practice the concepts that have been taught within the school. Using the skills learned on a daily basis will help to solidify the lesson within the child’s brain.

And finally, don’t be afraid to seek professional tutoring help if you’re in over your head or if your child is simply struggling too much.  Tutor Match has thousands of Math tutors, English tutors, and Science tutors available either in your neighborhood or offering tutoring services online.

Posted under Parents and Children, Tutoring

A few people have been bugging me lately by mistreating the English language, and I thought I might get my frustration out and clear the air about a few myths at the same time.  The following are a few phrases and oft-used words which shouldn’t be so oft-used at all.

1.  The saying is “for all intents and purposes,” NOT “for all intensive purposes.” You can check out Wiki Answers on this if you don’t believe me, but it’s an old legal saying from English law.  It is used to compare two different acts, such as “He just asked me to sign the divorce papers, which for all intents and purposes means our marriage will soon be over.”  You can think of it as “for all practical purposes” or “in effect.”

2. Irregardless is a word.  That’s right, I said it - according to the Merriam Websiter online dictionary, irregardless is a word, just not a very good one.  A nonstandard form of the more proper “regardless,” “irregardless” originated in the early 1900s and is still popular today.  Most people will correct you if use it in a sentence because it is basically a synonym of “regardless,” which is the preferred spelling.

3. You do well; Superman does good.  When someone asks you, “How are you doing?” don’t answer them with “I’m doing good,” instead say “I’m doing well.”  Unless, of course, you happen to be foiling a bank heist when they ask you.  The difference is you (as a person) can do something well, but things (inanimate objects) are good.  The notable exception is Superman, who “does good,” meaning he is performing acts of goodwill.

In case you’re looking for more assistance with your grammar, or just anything else related to English language studies, check out some of our many online English tutors over at Tutormatch.com.  Or visit TutorMatch to find a tutor locally near you for private tutoring sessions.

Posted under English and Grammar, Reading

I found another great website which I felt I had to share with you - GrammarNOW.com.  This site is an awesome resource for anyone looking for help with grammar, usage, composition, or editing.  Not only does it provide a one-stop shop for just about everything related to the English language (spelling, definitions, grammatical usage, etc.), but you can also have all your questions about grammar answered here by a true writing professional!

I felt it was such a valuable site that I sent the owner, Linda, a few questions to answer about the site so you could get a better idea about what GrammarNOW.com is all about:

Please tell our audience a little about what GrammarNOW.com is all about:

GrammarNOW! is a site dedicated to offering resources that help with grammar and writing. I offer a Q&A Club that answers individual grammar or writing questions, a Tip of the Week by email, an editing service, and a wide variety of resources for all kinds of writers: students of all levels, teachers, business professionals, fiction and nonfiction writers, and many others, including those who are just curious or have a nagging grammar question. In addition, there are links to language discussions (e.g. jargon), and software or other products I have researched and think will be helpful to my visitors.

When did you start GrammarNOW.com and why?

I began the site in 1998 because I saw a need to help people with grammar. I originally just offered free answers to questions, but eventually I had to begin the Q&A Club because the demand became overwhelming. The site has evolved over the years to offer the many resources that it does today.
 
Please tell us a little about yourself, and your background:

I taught English at the high school, junior college, and mostly university level for 25 years, primarily composition and literature. After that, I began freelance copy editing, which I still do, and enjoy very much. I have clients from around the world and get to read a wide variety of materials. My resume is online at http://grammarnow.com/resume/. (I also have a web design and development business that began about the same time as the grammar site. When I started teaching writing students to create simple web pages for their personal or collaborative writing projects—this was in the early days of creating web pages for all of us - I learned html myself and, well, things just took off after that in unexpected ways.)

What kinds of service does grammarnow.com offer for students and/or teachers?

Aside from the Q&A Club, which offers immediate replies to individual grammar and composition questions, both students and teachers will find very helpful relevant links in my Resources list and in the software offered on the site. I am very selective when choosing resources, trying to make sure that they are useful for my visitors. Just to reassure teachers, my copy editing service is not available for students who are graded on composition or for essay writing classes. It is only available for upper-level students in fields other than English or for graduate students.

How often do you update the site, and where do you get new content and ideas from?

I update it whenever new content becomes available. People write to me asking to be included in my resource list or to advertise on the site. I analyze my stats in detail so I know where my visitors are coming from and what they’re looking for. So when someone new requests inclusion on the site, I research them and consider whether they’ll add value to the site, and then add them if so. Otherwise, I may update my resume or testimonials. Just this week, I added a new resource (yours!) and a new advertiser to the site to provide more value for visitors. I am always updating the Tip of the Week. Sometimes I consider redesigning the site, and have done so once, but who has time?

Are you planning any new additions or features to the site?  What’s next for grammarnow.com?

The next big step is my searchable CD of grammarNOW! Tips. Right now, visitors can sign up for a free weekly grammar Tip of the Week by email. I am working toward putting about 200 of them on a CD that can be searchable by word or phrase. Anyone who is signed up for the Tip of the Week will receive a notice when the CD is ready for purchase.

Posted under Tutoring, Website Review

I recently came across a new website, called TeachersServant.com, which I thought might be useful to tutors.  It’s a time management solution for teachers and tutors which need to organize lesson plans, schedule tasks and reminders, and generally stay on top of any kind of schedule.  It offers a basic free plan for less than 10 students or classes, and a premium service for under $10 monthly.  I emailed the owner, Dmitri, in order to ask him a few questions about this new service and see if any of our tutors can find it useful.

Q. Please tell our audience a little about what TeachersServant.com is all about:

Teacher’s Servant is a web-based service for self-employed teachers and tutors. The luxury of being your own boss requires the burden of wearing many hats.  Not only are you the tutor but also the accountant, scheduler, marketer, and sales representative. Teacher’s servant steps right there and minimizes managing overhead of tutoring. Teacher’s Servant provides easy student, class, schedule, payment and expense management services. We offer a free plan, so teachers and tutors could start using Teacher’s Servant without any commitments and expenses right away. Our integrated schedule gives an ability to have personalized schedule linked to student and classes. On top of the “typical” scheduling capabilities Teacher’s Servant helps keep track on attendance, payments and expenses. Teacher’s Servant also gently “reminds” with notes from the previous lessons and helps stay organized with integrated To-Dos. Reach reporting functionality gives teachers and tutors instant outlook on any data that they might need – from simple invoice for a student to a complete “Income vs. Expense” report that would minimize tax preparation or just help analyze financial performance.

Q. When did you start TeachersServant.com, and why?

The idea of the service belongs to my wife Marina, who is a private music teacher. She was overwhelmed with papers, spreadsheets and calendars and was looking for a simple to use integrated solution to manage her teaching data. After extensive marketing research we’ve discovered that this need is really unaddressed despite substantial interest from the tutoring and teaching community. So, we’ve decided to fill this niche and in August 2008 Teacher’s Servant was launch.    

Q. Please tell us a little about yourself, and your background:

I have more than 15 years of experience in IT industry where I worked as a developer, architect and for the last 10 years as a project manager delivering customized solutions to my clients. Recently, I have established my own company – ZoomOnTime, Inc. The first product ZoomOnTime launched was a web-based timesheet solution for small and medium size businesses. ZoomOnTime also provides time management consulting.

Q. What kinds of service does TeachersServant.com offer for students and/or teachers?

Teacher’s Servant is oriented for teachers and tutors. We currently don’t provide direct services for students (however, they could receive automated lesson reminder from tutor’s calendar).

Q. How often do you update the site, and where do you get new content and ideas from?

Being relatively new service, we have new releases quite often (usually once or twice a month). Teacher’s Servant is customer oriented service, so majority of ideas are coming from our customers – teachers and tutors. We receive direct request/ideas from our users and also periodically reach out them soliciting feedback. Also we are actively working with local tutors and teachers in one-on-one and interest group set-ups to better understand their needs and challenges.

Q. Are you planning any new additions or features to the site?  What’s next for TeachersServant.com?

We have a number of minor additional features in our pipe-line that are scheduled for roll-out in the next 4 months. Among them are email reminders for To-Dos, reminder integration with SMS, automatic student invoicing and a number of reports. For mid-term future we are considering to provide our users with personalized web-pages, student collaboration services and lesson plans integration. We a looking for our teachers and tutors to help us prioritize these additional features so we can deliver what is mostly needed first.

Posted under Website Review