Flint Tutoring Services

01/04/2022

Is your child falling behind in reading, writing or math? I provide 1-1 or small family group tutoring for elementary aged students in the Muskoka region. Please message me for availability.

07/07/2020

As we begin to emerge from Covid I am beginning to think of strategies to be able to offer in person tutorials. Watch this space!

03/24/2020

Today I did my first tutoring lesson using Skype. It requires some creative thinking but I think it was a success.

03/20/2020

I’m sure many parents are feeling anxious amongst other things about their child’s education. As a teacher with many years of experience, please try not to worry. Children often learn despite our interventions and not because of them. A few months of missing school will NOT have a lasting impact on their adult lives. Children in Scandinavia don’t start formal learning until they are older and still end up as fully functioning adults! I took my own two children out of school for 6 months at age 10 and 7 and they have both reached adulthood with no ill effects. Educational establishments will work out a system to recognize our older students’ achievements. Maybe we will learn from this to value not just academic achievements but other values too, like kindness and generosity and above all the value of people who do jobs that are not well paid but are critical to all our lives.

I am self isolating myself after a trip to the UK so have plenty of time on my hands, so I will put up a few activities that you can try with your children. There’s so much stuff out there already, almost overwhelmingly so, so I will put just simple one off activities with an educational value, but above all, fun and engaging (at least I hope they will be!)! Enjoy the last day of March Break!

03/15/2020

A post with suggestions for free online learning sites if children are off school https://swingeducation.com/resources/20-online-learning-resources-to-help-you-get-through-coronavirus-school-closures/

03/02/2020

This is my most widely shared post. And rightly so, it’s an important one. These are “prewriting patterns”, with the average (not prescribed) age at which children are developmentally ready to achieve these patterns listed below them in years and months. Being able to process visual information and produce a movement in response (e.g. copying these prewriting patterns or letter formations), is known as “visual motor integration”. ⠀
⠀
Note that an X is not typically achieved until 4 years 11 months, and a triangle at 5 years 3 months. If a child can’t form these basic shapes...then they probably won’t be able to form letters. ⠀
⠀
It is quite concerning then that there are 3 year 7 month olds starting formal schooling, where they’re expected to write. Not only are their visual motor integration skills not developed enough, their hands are also physically under-developed. In addition, recognising letters, understanding phonics and beginning to read are all needed in order for a child to write meaningfully, skills which children starting kindy typically don’t have. We also know that when a child learns something that doesn’t hold meaning, it‘s unlikely to stick. ⠀
⠀
So if you have a 3-4 year old who spontaneously asks or attempts to write letters, that’s great; otherwise, there is no need to initiate or worry about this. Unfortunately there is a misconception, particularly with the way that the current curriculum stands, that earlier is better. Earlier is not always better.⠀

Source: Beery Buktenica Test of Visual Motor Integration, 6th Edition
⠀
⠀

04/06/2019

Silly sentences! Great for developing detail in a sentence, identifying parts of a sentence, reading for sense and adding punctuation.

11/03/2018

There is nothing more valuable than reading to your child. Not only is it a lovely time spent together but it is an early stage of your child becoming an independent reader. Don’t stop when they are older and can read to themselves. Sharing a ‘chapter’ book can bridge the gap between your child sticking to safe familiar books to exploring new authors.

For preschoolers, books with rhymes and repetition can encourage them to join in from memory, spot rhyming words and engage with the text themselves. Try out Green Eggs and Ham, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Each Peach Pear Plum, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, The Cat in the Hat, ....

11/01/2018

Teach YOUR monster to read!
Is your child struggling with phonic blends? This app has been used successfully in British schools and homes and was created by Usborne, the educational publisher. It’s great fun, while teaching your child to recognise those all important sounds and pronunciations. Best of all, the computer version is FREE and the app is only a few dollars. Well worth it, and something I’ve used in my tutoring lessons successfully.

The groundbreaking reading and phonics game.

10/29/2018

There are some great cheap apps out there to help your child read! I recommend Maelstrom’s interactive sight words apps. There are three levels which target the most commonly used words that don’t necessarily follow a phonic pattern. I don’t have any affiliation to this company - I’ve just found the apps really useful and engaging for early readers.

Maelstrom Interactive, Kirkland

10/04/2018

You can use your multiplication tables to solve much large calculations quickly!