How To Hire a Tutoring Provider for Your Child

Hiring someone to assist your child with school work can be daunting.  It is hard enough to watch your child struggle in school, it takes a toll on their self esteem, which you work so hard to help them build.  There can be many factors to your child's struggle, huge class size, chemistry with their teacher, learning disability... whatever it is, it is vital to get to the heart of matters quickly.

Here are a few ways to help you find the perfect company to help your child. 

• Customer Service Sounds like a no-brainer, but sometimes even a small bump in customer service should send up red flags. You can tell a lot about a company in the first few minutes of dealing with them. Did they call you back quickly?  Were they present during your conversation on the phone?  Did they answer your questions well?  Did they take time for you?

• Contract?  Do you have to sign a contract to work with them?  If they are a great company who stands behind their work, you will be happy to stick around, no contract necessary!

• Google them, Do they have a Facebook or Twitter account you can review, how are they rated on Google, can they give you a few references to contact? 

• Support  Do you feel like they are going to go the extra mile for you?  What have they offered above and beyond the call of duty?  Do you feel like they are truly connected to your child's success?

• Gut Feeling!  Seems archaic, but in this line of work it is the most important!  Sometimes you need to take your head out of it and follow your gut.  You know your child best and when dealing with academics and emotions, getting it right the first time will save time, money and most importantly your child's self-esteem.

We hope this gives you a place to start when you open up the internet to the many tutoring options.  If you plan to call a few places for due diligence, keep notes and it will be easy to remember who's who and what they are willing to do for your child's success.  

Bright Tutoring wishes you all the best in your search, feel free to call us with any questions, even if you are out of our service area.  480-203-1873  brighttutoring@gmail.com

Math? Fun & Games?

Remember when math was all tedious flash cards and drills?  How lucky are kids are today to have some fun ways to grasp their math facts. My kids are constantly borrowing my smart phone or laptop, to pass time and I make sure it is loaded with thinking games.  The best part is they are calm, content, focused on these games and LEARNING!!  

Here are some great games put together by the National Council Of Teachers of Mathematics. 

You might be interested in some of the following games for classroom use. They are labeled ELEM, MS, or HS to sort them easily for the appropriate grade band.

The Game of 9 Cards from MTMS, online as Deep Sea Duel from Illuminations (MS)

Number Twins, an online game from Primary Games (ELEM)

The Product Game from a Unit of Lessons in Illuminations, online as Times Square fromCalculation Nation (upper ELEM & MS)

Dice Wars, an online game from Hooda Math (MS & HS)

Rock n Roll Roadtrip, an online game from Arkansas Educational Television Network, featured on STEMCollaborative.org (MS)

Scale Factor X, an online game from Math Playground (HS)

Railroad Repair, an online game from Cyberchase, part of PBS Kids (ELEM)

Civiballs from Coolmath (upper ELEM, MS)

If your child needs help finding the FUN in math, check out our website, Bright Tutoring we have exceptional tutors who can help you out.

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habit

Published: September 6, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

By BENEDICT CAREY

Published: September 6, 2010

Every September, millions of parents try a kind of psychological witchcraft, to transform their summer-glazed campers into fall students, their video-bugs into bookworms. Advice is cheap and all too familiar: Clear a quiet work space. Stick to a homework schedule. Set goals. Set boundaries. Do not bribe (except in emergencies).

Ellen Weinstein

And check out the classroom. Does Junior’s learning style match the new teacher’s approach? Or the school’s philosophy? Maybe the child isn’t “a good fit” for the school.

Such theories have developed in part because of sketchy education research that doesn’t offer clear guidance. Student traits and teaching styles surely interact; so do personalities and at-home rules. The trouble is, no one can predict how.

Yet there are effective approaches to learning, at least for those who are motivated. In recent years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what matters most: how much a student learns from studying.  

Great Educational Gift Ideas for Kids in 2010

 

When the kids shred open their gifts this year, make sure they have some to stimulate learning.  Here are a few ideas they will have so much fun they will likely not realize they are learning!

• The Settlers of Catan - A game of building and trade
• Connect Four- Teach them to strategize
• Apples to Apples- Comparisons
• Scrabble - Improves Vocabulary
• Beat the Parents- Kids love to win
• Sorry- Teaches how to be a good sport
• RLC- Use to teach a child their right and left
• Wii- Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader
• Wii - Big Brain Academy

 We love our Bright Tutoring Family, thank you for a great year!!  

All the best,

Sheila Jones

www.brighttutoring.com

brighttutoring@gmail.com

Why Learning English is Rough!

Dearest creature in creation,

Study English pronunciation.

I will teach you in my verse

Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.

I will keep you, Suzy, busy,

Make your head with heat grow dizzy.

Tear in eye, your dress will tear.

So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,

Dies and diet, lord and word,

Sword and sward, retain and Britain.

(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)

Now I surely will not plague you

With such words as plaque and ague.

But be careful how you speak:

Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;

Cloven, oven, how and low,

Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,

Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,

Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,

Exiles, similes, and reviles;

Scholar, vicar, and cigar,

Solar, mica, war and far;

One, anemone, Balmoral,

Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;

Gertrude, German, wind and mind,

Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,

Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.

Blood and flood are not like food,

Nor is mould like should and would.

Viscous, viscount, load and broad,

Toward, to forward, to reward.

And your pronunciation’s OK

When you correctly say croquet,

Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,

Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour

And enamour rhyme with hammer.

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,

Doll and roll and some and home.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,

Neither does devour with clangour.

Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,

Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,

And then singer, ginger, linger,

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,

Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,

Nor does fury sound like bury.

Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.

Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.

Though the differences seem little,

We say actual but victual.

Refer does not rhyme with deafer.

Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.

Mint, pint, senate and sedate;

Dull, bull, and George ate late.

Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,

Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,

Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.

We say hallowed, but allowed,

People, leopard, towed, but vowed.

Mark the differences, moreover,

Between mover, cover, clover;

Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,

Chalice, but police and lice;

Camel, constable, unstable,

Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,

Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.

Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,

Senator, spectator, mayor.

Tour, but our and succour, four.

Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Sea, idea, Korea, area,

Psalm, Maria, but malaria.

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.

Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,

Dandelion and battalion.

Sally with ally, yea, ye,

Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.

Say aver, but ever, fever,

Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.

Heron, granary, canary.

Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.

Phlegm, phlegmatic, ###, glass, bass.

Large, but target, gin, give, verging,

Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.

Ear, but earn and wear and tear

Do not rhyme with here but ere.

Seven is right, but so is even,

Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,

Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,

Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)

Is a paling stout and spikey?

Won’t it make you lose your wits,

Writing groats and saying grits?

It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:

Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,

Islington and Isle of Wight,

Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough,

Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?

Hiccough has the sound of cup.

My advice is to give up!!!

-- B. Shaw

30 Places to Buy, Sell and Trade Books Online

Shopping at the local bookstore is becoming increasingly expensive. If you're a voracious reader--or a college student--the smartest thing you can do is develop a go-to list of websites where you can buy, sell and trade books online. This article will get you started by providing you with a list of the 30 best places to buy, sell and trade books and textbooks on the Web.

Buy Books

The following websites are great places to buy inexpensive books online. In most cases, both new and used books are available. Sites that are marked with an asterisk allow users to buyand sell books.

• AbeBooks* - There are nearly 14,000 sellers selling 110 million books on AbeBooks. Abe booksellers guarantee the condition of the books purchased and ship directly to the buyer. Buyers also benefit from a 30 day money back guarantee.
• Alibris* - Book buyers have access to more than 60 million new, used and out of print books and textbooks at Alibris. Free shipping or discounted shipping is available on most titles.
• Amazon.com* - You have to be living under a rock to not know about Amazon.com. It had to be put on the list though. It is undoubtedly one of the best places to buy inexpensive books online.
• Biblio* - More than 5,500 booksellers sell used, rare and out of print books and textbooks through Biblio. The site has excellent customer service, amazing prices and a solid reputation. The company also donates a portion of their profits to literacy causes.
• BookFinder - You can't buy books on BookFinder, but you can compare prices on more than 150 million books for sale through 150,000 booksellers. The site's search engine allows users to look for new books, used books, rare books, textbooks and out-of-print books.
• Buy.com - Buy.com's online bookstore is a great place to find new books at a low price. The site offers free shipping and 10 percent off Amazon pricing on more than 900,000 titles.
• Campus Books* - This site offers more than 8 million new and used textbooks at up to 95 percent off the cover price. The average student saves 61 percent. Campus Books also provides a free comparison service so you can be confident you are getting the best price.
• Cheap Books - Cheap Books is a lot like BookFinder. You can't buy books, but you can see which vendor is offering the lowest price on the books you want. Cheap Books also provides links to coupons to save you extra money.
• Half.com* - This ebay site has millions of new and used books for sale. Buyers can compare prices and shipping costs before making a commitment. They can also check out feedback ratings to see which Half.com sellers are reputable and which aren't.
• Powells* - Powells is the largest independent bookseller in the world. They offer a wide selection of new books, used books, rare books and textbooks at fair prices.

Sell Books

If you want to make some quick cash from your used books, you'll definitely want to check out these websites. Each site offers a fair price for used books, free shipping and guaranteed payment.

• Blue Rectangle - Blue Rectangle has an excellent book buyback program. Sellers simply enter an ISBN number, agree on a price and ship the book or textbook to Blue Rectangle. The site provides a postage-paid mailing label, which means shipping is free for the seller.
• Book Scouter - You can't sell books on Book Scouter, but you can find out which book buyer will give you the best price. Book Scouter searches all available sites to see what they are willing to pay for the book you enter into their search engine. The service is absolutely free; no registration required. (Best suited to textbook sellers.)
• BookByte - Widely considered to be one of the best places to sell books online, BookByte sends payment within five days of receiving your books. The site pays for all shipping costs and offers instant quotes on popular books and textbooks.
• BooksIntoCash - This site is designed specifically for people who want to sell used textbooks. BooksIntoCash offers no obligation price quotes, fast payment and free shipping.
• Cash 4 Books - This website buys all sorts of books, providing they are in good shape. Cash 4 Books covers all shipping costs and provides fast payment via PayPal or check. Sellers can get instant price quotes and may even be able to get this site to match the price of another seller marketplace.
• CKY Books - CKY pays cash for both new and used books. The site buys nonfiction, current fiction and textbooks. Shipping is free and pick-up is available for people who live near one of CKY's branch offices.
• eCampus - eCampus is different than some of the other sites on this list because they will buy used books that have writing in the margins, highlighting and other marking. Perks include free shipping and guaranteed buyback prices on books and textbooks.
• Jitter Book - Jitter Book is a high volume site, which means they pay slightly more than other buyback sites. Right now, all they buy is textbooks. Jitter Books offers all of the usual amenities and they provide $50 in bonus cash every day to the person who sells them the most textbooks.
• SellBackBooks - If super-fast payment is what you're looking for, SellBackBooks is the way to go. This site offers a direct deposit option for sellers who want to get rid of their used textbooks. Like the other sites on this list, SellBackBooks pays for all shipping costs.
• Textbook Buyer - This site has specialized in buying used textbooks for nearly a decade. Textbook Buyer has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and other respected publications and has a good reputation for fair prices, free shipping and fast payment. The site also pays out special prices for new textbooks.

Trade Books

Sometimes, the best way to share your love of reading is to trade your books for someone else's. Trading books is also a good way for college students to save money on textbooks each semester. The following sites have no cost exchange services that you can sign up for.

• Book Mooch - This site gives you points for every book you give away to someone else. You can then use your points to buy books from other people. Users need to give away at least one book for every three they receive.
• Bookins - You can get any book or DVD for $4.49 using Bookins' trade service. The site allows you to print free postage to send your items and guarantees the quality of what you will receive in return.
• Monster Trade - Monster Trade is an online student marketplace that encourages users to trade books, electronics and other school supplies. Users can select the school they attend to find swappers in their area.
• Novel Action - Novel Action keeps things simple by allowing users to trade books even up. Simply select the number or books that you want and send in a corresponding number of books to make the trade. The average cost to ship 12 paperbacks is $4.80.
• OurSwaps - People can trade all kinds of things on OurSwaps, including books. Users can combine cash offers with products if necessary.
• Paperback Swap - More than 2 million books are available at Paperback Swap, which means you are almost guaranteed to find what you are looking for. Users get two free book credits for the first ten books that they list on the site to trade.
• Swaptree - Swaptree users can list books, CDs, DVDs and other items they have to trade. Then, using Swaptree's algorithms, see everything that they can get in trade for their items. The service costs nothing, but you do have to pay for what you ship out. (Usually less than $2.50 if you use media mail.)
• Text Swap - This free textbook exchange service allows students around the world to trade textbooks online. There are a number of universities that participate nationwide, including Columbia University, the University of California and Utah University.
• Title Trader - This free service lets users trade books, movies and music. Registered members of Title Trader get credits every time they send out an item.
• What's On My Bookshelf - This site connects both people and books. Users can find other people who have similar reading interests and trade books using a simple point system.

http://educhoices.org/articles/30_Places_to_Buy_Sell_and_Trade_Books_Online.html