HOMEWORK HUMDRUM
A tutor will help busy parents avoid nagging kids about worksheets, math and spelling tests
Whether cajoling kids to get started on a diorama or tackling a math problem, helping with school work is a major source of stress for parents,
With the return to school comes what could be the most unwelcome aspect of shipping the kids back to class — sparring with them over homework.
Whether we’re cajoling our kids to get started on a diorama due next week or feeling their wrath for showing them the wrong way to do a math problem, helping with school work is a major source of stress for parents — and a strain on relationships with our kids.
And right now Ontario teachers are struggling to respond to last-minute directives from the Ford administration on math curriculum, meaning there could be added confusion trickling into homework hour this fall. In fact, one tutoring business owner said the phone starting ringing with worried parents earlier than ever this year, well before the end of summer.
The good news is that the breadth of services available for tutoring is increasing to meet demand, and with a little effort to find the right fit between tutor and child, families have a shot at a lot more homework harmony.
Vanessa Vakharia, founder of the The Math Guru, a math and science tutoring facility on Toronto’s Yonge St., says the parents she hears from report younger and younger kids declaring that they hate math — even, sadly, some in kindergarten.
“Our bread and butter used to be high school students and now we’ve got so many younger kids,” says Vakharia. At a time when anxiety about school work is already on the rise, the political drama around Ontario curriculum hasn’t helped, she says. “Now parents are, even more so than they were before, really going to be looking for tutors who can make sense of what’s going on and give kids what they need.”
Her approach is to match student with a tutor who not only suits their learning style, but helps them picture themselves as the kind of person who can excel in math and science.
“If you have a kid who’s super sporty and really doesn’t care about school, I like to match him with a tutor who loves sports, but also loves math so they can see, ‘Oh, there’s this type of person that I can be. I can actually like both things.’”
Making that connection was key in Vakharia’s own experience because she failed math twice in high school before switching to a school where she was challenged to re-examine her perception that she was an arty person who’d never be good at STEM subjects.
“I wanted to be the next Britney Spears and I thought I couldn’t do both,” she says. “Now I’m in a rock band and I’m a math tutor. I love telling people that because this role modelling is so important.”
Vakharia also pairs students who are suffering from high anxiety and lack of confidence in math with tutors who are great at giving pep talks.
“We’re kind of like educational therapists, in a way, trying to help kids navigate their emotions and feel competent.”
Kirk Langford, operations manager for Scholars Education Centre, which has 23 locations in Ontario, most of them in the GTA, says it’s often difficult dynamics between parent and child that prompt families to turn towards tutoring programs.
“The students aren’t necessarily doing poorly in school, but the parents are tired of the homework fights, the tears at the table,” says Langford. Parents push their kids out of love, he says, “but it just becomes too frustrating for both sides.”
Carlos Patricio, owner and manager of Mathnasium of High Park, says parents shouldn’t get down on themselves for not being whizzes at teaching kids math.
“Even those who are engineers and architects can’t get it across to the kids. There’s anxiety because mom explains it different than the teacher. We’re outsiders of the family environment so they’re more likely to listen to what we have to say to them. It’s just the way kids are,” Patricio said.