GREENSBORO, N.C. – This year has turned parents into teachers as kids go through virtual school.
Sonja Thompson has twin girls in fourth grade, Katie and Kennedy. They're enrolled in a virtual academy, but Thompson was concerned about math.
She didn't want them to be behind when they went back to in-person school, so she looked for a tutor. She found Say Yes Guilford.
Say Yes Guilford is offering virtual tutoring for kindergarten through eighth grade students. It's free, and the tutors range from high school students, to college students, and other adults around the community.
Thompson says the tutoring has helped her daughters but also taught her new ways of teaching. She's no longer relying on memorization to teach multiplication.
"Because that’s how I learned. But that’s not how these kids learn today, they learn by grouping, and I saw that with her tutoring with Kennedy that grouping is easier for Kennedy, so now I’m going to tailor the way that we go over multiplication," she says.
High school students earn service learning hours for their time.
Caroline Cross is a junior at Grimsley High School and is also tutoring a fourth grader in math. It's her first time being a tutor, and she likes when she's able to help the math lightbulb go on for her student.
“Her mom told me that before I started helping her she wouldn’t really want to do her math, but now that she like understands what’s going on, she’s more inclined to practice it and do it," Cross says.
Thompson says she's thankful for all the tutors involved and for the program, because she thinks everyone can use all the help they can get in 2020.
Tutoring Connects Students And Helps Parents
PUBLISHED 6:13 PM EDT Sep. 17, 2020