Oh, also how common is tutoring in your area?  It seemed like half the kids in the math course accepted for sciences in university had a tutor by grade 12 when I was in high school.  I actually tried to tutor for that subject (volunteering), but I always got the lower levels because parents wanted to hire someone who had taken university math courses.  Some were great at finding retired math teachers.

I have paid for 2 tutors for 2 of my kids. Both math

. One was the wife of a teacher I worked with-she  was not currently teaching-home with the little kids but had taught the course lots.

Here in BC we used a just retired math teacher.

There is a gal who has set up a tutoring storefront-especially for the hockey players and other students needing a boost. She does not have any post secondary courses but does a great job with the high school courses.

(We have a hockey academy and a junior team in town. Hockey players are neccessarily slow-they just miss class fairly often!)

Thanks Tabitha!

It will be a little different not being given the materials directly, so might require a bit of an investment besides my time as well.

Probably not pertinent to your ssituation, when my daughter was slipping in her high-school sciences I realized that she neede help that neither her father nor I could give her.  I couldn't afford to pay much.  I think most places charged more than I made in an hour.

I hired a neighbourhood boy - a friend of my son.  He had taken the same courses two years earlier and was good in science.  He came to the house a couple of times a week and worked with her on her, helping her do assignments and making sure she understood the principles of the current lesson.  I forget what I paid him, but it would be meaningless in todays currancy - probably something like five dollars an hour.  He was embarassed to acept anything - said that he would do it for free. 

Incidently, my son was also good at science but family dymatics meant he couldn't explain it to her, and she couldn't learn from him.

When I was in elementary school, I was the best reader in my class. So our teacher instructed me to act as a tutor for the poorest reader in my class. Every day after school I read with him. I didn't get paid for it, but he became my friend, and I learned a lot from him. I was a shy and bookish boy, and he was people-smart and street-smart. I taught him some of my smarts, and he taught me his. A fruitful exchange.

Seeler, that sounds similar to the peer tutoring I did in high school that was all volunteer based.  We did get a pizza party at the end of the year, that was the extent of 'payment'.

Arminius, I forgot about some of the things we did in elementary.  There were days when the older grades were paired up with younger ones to do some reading, sometimes from stories we wrote ourselves.  Different idea, but fun nonetheless.

Teachers would also pair some of us up, nothing like what you had though.  Sounds like you two complimented each other well :)

I was blessed with a crew of tutors, none of whom were paid. Most the elderly who lived with us were retired teachers. Even after all these years, if I think of a subject, a name comes from my memory.

I also tutored in highschool, for those who had special difficulties...Various outcomes, one I told the parents to quit wasting their money.

I tutored a young adult when I was a young employee.  Our HR manager had asked me if I would be interested in helping somone and explained the situation:  young woman who had a brain tumour, gone deaf from treatments, was trying to get into Gallidet College but needed upgrading.  I said yes, but wouldn't accept payment.  Turned out, when I met her, it was his daughter.  She taught me sign, I taught her math and english...and helped with her self-esteem and social which was pretty darn low.

It is a wonderful gift to give someone, ChemGal, for you to consider doing as a paid position.  It takes someone special to be good.  

SG, you don't hear about those types of retired teachers very often anymore.  Most of the ones I know of charge.

Thanks Pinga!

Chemgal-I think you still have U of A library card. Go to the Education library where they have a copy of current text books-and probably study guides as well.

When my wife graduated with her PhD, she couldn't find work for a while, so she applied at Kumon. I think they were going to pay her $12/hr (vs. $10 for non-PhDs), so she walked away. She got a job directly for a mom whose one son was struggling in high school math, and another son in grade 7 who was looking to get ahead and enter math competitions, which my wife has experience with.

(And which of us won the grade 8 Gauss mathematics contest in our school? Me. Of course, my wife will argue that winning it in a farming community school, vs. my wife's school for all the gifted kids in Scarborough, is a little different. To which I say, "Nya, nya nya nya, nya!"

/aside

I think she made about $20 an hour, though that was 10 years ago.

What she learned in her tour of Kumon is that it's mostly about sample problems and repetition. There is no "secret" formula (sry) for learning math.

The mom treated her well and paid her every week, and the kids were great. She moved on when she got a job, as everyone expected. It's a win-win when the parent would have ot pay more at Kumon or Oxford or whatever learning centre, and the tutor would get paid peanuts there.

Tabitha, it's so obvious I didn't think of it!    I might want to purchase my own eventually, but that's how I should start off.  I can see if it's something I really want to do and how much help having the book myself really is.  Thanks!

Chansen, I wouldn't want to work for any of those companies.  I can't believe what they charge and then pay the tutors so little.  I also knew people who worked at Kumon in high school - they weren't top students.  I don't know if Sylvan is any better, I hear of it more for learning disabilities.  I've worked with those students in the past and it's not who I want to tutor in the future.  I just felt like I didn't have the training to know how to help them best and it's not what I'm looking to learn either.

I've tutored 3 types:

1.  the ones who are lazy and basically need a babysitter to make sure they sit down and get it done.

2.  Those who just need a bit more time or have concepts explained more than one way.  Sometimes they just have a bad teacher, some are average and want above average grades.

3. Those with major learning disabilities.

I feel like the 3rd group is beyond what I do.  I like the 2nd group the best, and the first group is easy.

I just hope there's still quite a few parents of groups 1 & 2 who want independent tutors!

They are out there. Post an ad on Kijiji and Craigslist. Back when Jenn was looking, I think she either posted or responded to an ad posted in a grocery store.

Good luck.

Yes, chemgal, we complemented each other very well.

Although I was supposed to be the tutor, the person I tutored taught me lessons that were at least as valuable as the ones I taught him. He taught me that book learning is not the only valuable knowledge. From him I learned that social and practical skills are as important as knowledge derived from books.

To this day, I still get angry when people with poor reading or writing skills get labelled "stupid,"  "unintelligent" or "learning disabled." 

Do schools have tutor lists?  My high school used to allow tutors to advertise in our math help centre and there was a list including rates that I think included external tutors.  I'm not sure if it's seen as being too risky now.

If I do decide to go with it (I have too much going on right now), I'll check with the nearby schools anyway.  Just wondering if it's still commonly done.