Thanks for all the advice yesterday! The tutor idea is a very good one but Emily's been seeing one of the student teachers after school and hasn't made much progress. It's almost like we need a gimmick to get her motivated. And yep, this learning center has one.
I'm still... unsure about the whole learning center thing. We walked in (all five kids and myself) and the director wanted to put everyone on a computer. NO! It was bad enough that Zach and Ally greeted half the kids in there as friends. The director lady and I had talked quite a bit beforehand on the phone so she ushered Emily to a computer without a lot of fanfare. The concept is the kids work through "episodes" (little games) and earn rewards as they go. There's a "tutor" overseeing each set of computers (7) who helps as necessary (the kids raise their hands).
I hate hard sells. The kids and I returned after an hour (we walked down to the pet store and played with the adoptable kittens) and were put in a tiny conference room (well it probably would have been quite spacious if there hadn't been 4 kids in there who'd rather be on a computer or back with the kittens). She pushed to join up Zach and Ally too. There's a 20% discount on the 3rd child. Yeah right! She mentioned how many parents from our school district bring their on or above grade level children in for that little extra edge (again trying to get Zach and Ally in). I have to admit this is the part I'm most uneasy with. Stepford for Children: drop them off, stick headphones on their ears, and hypnotize them with a computer screen for an hour and call it learning.
So why is Emily a member for a month? Because... I don't want to say we didn't try everything. And there are positives. She'll be working at her own pace without being pushed by teachers to keep up with the class. I actually kind of like it's not completely one on one, I'm a bit concerned she's been pulling the "squeaky wheel gets the oil" routine at school for attention. Emily does like computers, this could be the gimmick that helps her confidence level.
The negatives? Zach and Ally are jealous. It's hard to downplay the program to pacify them while still keeping Emily interested in it. Plus after looking at their computer program and hard copy books, I swear it's practically "Hooked on Phonics" that I could buy for a lot cheaper. But then we're back to me working with Emily which often doesn't work. And then the biggest thing, it's an awful lot of money to spend for 3 hours a week in front of a computer monitor...
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