Sylvan and Huntington Learning Centers

[soleft]

Anyone of any experience dealing with either of these? My 15 year old son needs help in rehabing his study skills. Kid should be getting A's and a random B, and he's just starting to pull in B's, but still averaging around C - mostly because he gets so distracted trying to do his homework it takes him hours to do what should take half of the time.

[phylny]

1. I don't have personal experience with having my kids go to either

place, but I will say that about 15 years ago, I was looking for a job and answered an ambiguous one - it was from Sylvan, and they would train me to be a teacher.

At the time, I had a BA in Communications with virtually no teaching experience except a bit of YMCA preschool.

So, I'd ask about the education/quality of staff, and what models they use to teach.

My oldest daughter DID take a study skills class a long time ago, and it was wonderful. It was through a local community college (she was in middle school at the time, FYI).

Hope this helps.

[LeftyMom]

2. My step-daughter goes to Sylvan

It's cost her mom a fortune and her grades haven't improved a bit. She still has no math skills and writes like a child half her age. She needs a different school, not a tutor, but her mother prefers easy fixes to effective ones.

[LeftyMom]

3. sorry, double post, pls delete

[silverlib]

4. Sylvan

I am not familiar with Huntington, but my daughter, who is 16 now, went to Sylvan at 14 because she was so behind in math. She had two years of very weak teachers in the public school system.

She is fine now and says that everything she ever learned in math (and to this day) was at Sylvan.

I also put her in a larger group class for study skills. It turned out to be a disaster. Sylvan refunded my money. That's another plus for them, in my opinion.

I'm in Austin, and I would suppose that how good they are depends on what teachers they have in their program. I may have just gotten lucky.

[FourStarDemocrat]

5. It's hard to tell with outside organizations because there's virtually no

oversite of them. There's no board, or any outside agency that is designated to review their methods, standards, hiring practices, and accomplishments, so results can differ in every location, depending on the quality of the teachers/tutors and administrators. Before trying out one of these places, I would try asking around at your son's school to see if any of the regularly employed teachers there are interested in tutoring him privately after school. Oftentimes, there are teachers who do this work in order to make a little extra money.

[soleft]

6. Well, I decided I am going to make an explatory interview

with Huntington. A teacher at his school might be able to tutor him in subject matter, but what I need is a professional who can teach study skills and help him learn techiniques to become focused and block out distractions.

I'll report back on what I find out. Thanks!

[tigereye]

7. I used to get referrals from Huntington

although it isn't cheap, I really like those folks! Good luck.

[soleft]

8. it ain't cheap

I met with them and they tested my son, I was impressed with the nature and depth of the tests, and how much time the director spent going over them. Trying to figure out now how to pay for it.