Where did the years go?
As a parent, what's my role in helping her prepare?
With all the new technology out there, you'd think I was just a parental annoyance...yeah, in some ways I am.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "parents are too tired, too busy--or too mystified to help" with homework.
And now "digital tutors" are taking their place for about $24 to $45 per hour (and even prorated per minute).
For example, on Tutor.com you can get on-demand tutoring to text chat and do calculations on a shared screen with your kid.
Tutor.com has about 1,200 tutors, 95% from Bangalore, India staffed by "moonlighting or retired teachers, college professors, or [other] professionals."
Other online resources include Khan Academy with educational videos, Chegg.com with answers to homework problems from 2,500+ textbooks, and StudyBlue.com for sharing "study guides, notes, and flashcards."
While these online tutoring resources can be a huge help for students, I think that parents can still play an important role.
Recently, my daughter and I have carved out some time every night to sit down at the dining room table with books, scrap papers, and our own flash cards to study, together.
What I am finding is that this is a really special time for us to bond and sort of be in this SAT rite of passage together, where I can provide emotional support and some structure for the studying.
We also have signed her up for a more formal review class as well as some online resources, but I am glad to be a parent to my children and not rely only on canned cloud solutions.
While I don't know most of the answers and she does--I take that as a good thing. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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