What’s Going On At Oxford Tutoring

The new school year is several weeks in and Oxford Tutoring is in full swing.  Our students are receiving help for many K-12 subjects including math, science, reading, writing, history and more.  And many of our loyal customers have returned for another school year.  We wanted to take a few moments to update everyone on some Oxford Tutoring news, discounts, and processes.

Congratulations to our SAT students!

Recently, many Oxford Tutoring students who took our summer class got their official SAT results back.  Their hard work, focus, and dedication definitely paid off because their scores significantly improved.  We even had a student improve by 230 points!  Check out the chart below for more of the results.

We are very proud of our students and happy to see that they find our classes beneficial. We are currently gathering data from the ACT official test and can’t wait to share those results with everyone too!

There will be more SAT and ACT classes starting in the New Year.  Both our ACT and SAT school year classes are 8 weeks long and meet on the weekends.  They come with 2 free private tutoring vouchers, weekly practice tests, homework, practice work, test taking tips, strategies, and content coverage.  Sign up for either of these classes 4 weeks early and you will receive 15% off the cost of the class.

Practice tests are available on the following days:

Mon-Thurs: 4pm – 6pm

Fri: 2pm-6pm

Sat & Sun: 9am – 1pm

Call in to set up an appointment for taking your practice test.

Our next SAT class begins January 6 and will last until February 8.  It will be meeting on Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM.

The next ACT class will start on February 3 and end on March 25 .  Classes will be held from 12:30PM – 3:00 PM.

Call to sign up today! (949) 681-0388.

Follow us on Facebook

We regularly post updates, news, holiday hours, discounts and more on Facebook.  Click here to follow us. 

Refer A Friend

As a way of saying thank you to our loyal customers, we will give you a free tutoring session for every friend you refer.  We appreciate you recommending us to your friends.

Don’t forgot to review us on Yelp.

Oxford’s Annual Savings Bundle

Purchase a Silver or Gold Bundle and receive tutoring at a discounted rate.  With purchase of either bundle you gain access to Bundle owner benefits.  These include, a bank of sessions, a family plan, fixed savings rate for a full year, priority scheduling, 10% savings on “a la carte” services, and forgiven no shows.

Access your invoices online

Your invoices and notes from your child’s tutoring sessions are now available at scanmytests.com.

To set up your account give us a call.

We look forward to seeing you around the center!

 

Thank You, Jim Trelease! – The Power of Reading Aloud to Children

My son, Matt, reading to my four grandchildren.

Reading aloud to my four children is one of the fondest memories I have of their growing up years.  They are all adults now with their own families and busy lives, but I have wonderful memories of cuddling on the couch with them, reading stories together, watching their eyes light up as we traveled to other lands and other times through story.

As a teacher, reading to my children seemed a natural part of the parenting process.  Even when they were babies, they would sit on my lap as we enjoyed books like Pat the Bunny.  As they grew older, we graduated to story books.  Some were fairy tales, some were Bible stories, but all were chances to bond together over printed word. They had their favorites that they asked to be read to them over and over and over. We went to our local library’s story time and listened to books read aloud that we would then books that we checked out to take home to enjoy again and again.

However, it’s a common belief that when a child begins reading on his or her own, there is no longer a need for parents to read aloud to their children.  I confess that I held that same view until I met Jim Trelease, author of The Read Aloud Handbook. He was advertised as a guest speaker at our local library.  The title of his book sounded intriguing, so I went to hear what he had to say.

I am so glad that I did.

Jim Trelease’s idea that reading aloud can and should continue long after a child is an independent reader powerfully impacted both my parenting approach to reading as well as my own teaching  philosophy.  His belief was that children will be excited about reading if we are excited about reading.  They will think it’s fun if we think it’s fun. That evening, Trelease read aloud to us, an adult audience, the Bernard Waber classic, Ira Sleeps Over. He read it with energy, enthusiasm and wonderful vocal animation.  That’s all it took.  I was hooked!

Read-alouds became a fixed part of our family routine.  We cried together through books like Where the Red Fern Grows, laughed together through books like The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and experienced the  thrills and adventure of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia.  I am happy to report that I have raised children who love to read.

Now, as a grandmother, I am enjoying reading some of those same familiar stories to my six grandchildren.  What is even more rewarding to me is that my children are reading to their children; the torch has been passed!

I have never forgotten the way Jim Trelease closed his evening talk, reading from a poem by Stickland Gillian, titled “The Reading Mother.”

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
“Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings–
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be–
I had a Mother who read to me.

About the Author: Kathy H. is a tutor at Oxford Tutoring who enjoys tutors because she can make a difference in the lives of her students.  Her goal is to make learning fun by teaching to each student’s unique method of learning.  For fun, she likes to read, binge-watch TV shows on Netflix, serve at her church, and spend time with her grandchildren.

A Teacher’s Advice: Managing the Classroom from Home

With schools settling into a hectic hum of activity, students and parents need to guard against the complacency that can take place when students get lulled into the mundane details of school, forgetting to keep up with its demands. Deadlines slip. Important papers are left unsigned. Projects get pushed to the last minute. Days become shorter and shorter. All the while, progress reports and grades loom. As a classroom teacher for over a decade, I had to worry about managing twenty-five students making sure they had what they needed to be successful. However, a student’s academic prosperity first depends on what happens at home. So, as a guard against the overwhelming big picture students and parents have to face, I’d like to offer a teacher’s perspective on helpful practices at home that will make a student’s time in the classroom more productive.

Backpack Check

This should happen every day! I have encountered countless assignments, office paperwork, flyers, food, and assorted classroom supplies stuck at the bottom of a backpack or trapped behind some internal zipper.  Every night, the student should completely empty out their backpack and go through any materials with a parent. Don’t forget to check between book pages and through pencil pouches. The daily backpack check will then set you up for a:

Homework Check

Parent asks, “Can I see your homework?” Student says “I did it already. At school.” The parent now has no way of knowing what their child has done at school and what to anticipate in terms of upcoming tests, school activities, etc. Make it a household rule: bring all work home. Even if it’s “finished.” A perusal will tell the parent what the child needs to do, and can praise accomplishments. Now, a parent does not (and should not) have to correct the homework, especially if the parent is not comfortable with the material. However, a parent should be aware of the homework, and make sure that it’s finished. A homework check will be followed by a:

Planner Check

Most schools provide and require a “binder reminder,” daily planners for students to write down their assignments. This planner should be coming home every day, and be found during the backpack check. A parent can see in the planner if the child has what they need for homework completion, plan for future assignments and activities, and help with organizational skills. This will then lead to a final check:

Website Check

All schools have a website that is updated daily. A parent and student together can look over the site (and its calendar) to be updated on the chaotic life of school activities and stay on top of what the student needs to anticipate, and engage in conversation.

With very little practice, these daily checks will become secondhand and not take up much time at night. Anxieties will be mitigated, grades will go up, life will become less stressful at these helpful routines becomes of part of everyday life.

Meet the author: 

Brendan with his Masters in Education, a Math Credential, and a Bachelors in Psychology is a highly-qualified tutor at Oxford Tutoring with over a decade of teaching in the classroom.  As a curriculum and lesson planning expert who knows the Common Core State Standards inside and out, Brendan can ensures that his students understand the material they are being taught, by making certain they articulate and express their comprehension.

 

© Oxford Tutoring 2015

Dear Parent: You Don’t Have to Do It All Yourself

“I only practice on the days I eat.”  The words of Dr. Suzuki, the father of the Suzuki music teaching method, ring through my head as I struggle to motivate my son to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano.  How is that I, as an educator and pianist, struggle so much to teach my son to play such a simple melody?  It isn’t for lack of effort or creativity, nor even lack of patience.  The practice finishes with him asking, “Mommy, can I just practice the piano at the teacher’s house?  I like practicing with her better.”  I am crestfallen but manage a composed, “Honey, it’s important to practice every day or you will not be ready to see your teacher,” but the truth was, his words hurt.  The experience got me thinking… thinking back through the scores of students I have tutored over the past 15 years at Oxford Tutoring.  I remember the sophomore whose mother was a PhD in English, who brought her 16 year-old son to study English with me, and the 4^th grader whose mother was a special education teacher who brought her daughter, a delightful child with severe dyslexia, to see me, a young woman in college at the time.  These mothers were highly-skilled, professional women who without a doubt were more skilled than I.  What value did they see in what I was doing, and what did they know that I have yet to learn for my own son’s sake?

The question is difficult.  The most obvious answer is that the parent-child relationship is often complex and “high stakes.”  The parent brings a vision for his or her child’s future, a deep gut-wrenching desire for the child to be successful, a history of positive and negative interactions, and expectations that on a good day are high, and on a tough day perhaps insurmountable. Furthermore, parents and children bring their day with them into the room:  the child brings the exhaustion, excitement, and frustrations of school, peers and teachers; the parent brings the challenges of bosses and deadlines and all the pressures we put on ourselves.  It all leaks in.  It leaks into our tone of voice, our questions and answers, how constructive our criticism is, and how heartfelt our accolades are.  Furthermore, when the assignment is done, there’s no cheering.  The crowd doesn’t go wild because you gave it your all.  The book closes, the pencil rests, and no one is watching.  Everyone is just relieved.  The homework is done.

But in thinking about it further, there is more to the question than stressed parents and kids.  Dr. Suzuki described an exchange between himself and the parent of one of his students.  The parent asked, “Professor, will my boy amount to something?” and Dr. Suzuki jokingly replied, “No, he will not become ‘something’.”  Her shock forced him to continue seriously, “He will become a noble person through his violin playing.”  His words awakened my mind.   The mothers of my students didn’t come to me just because they were too tired or their children were too difficult.  They came because they were in the business of building a fine young man and a fine young woman of noble characters.  They understand that it takes a village, as some say, to raise a child, and that association with quality people builds beauty of character. It builds strength and resolve. It builds understanding and commitment.  And ultimately, it provides purpose.  Over these long years, I have been given the gift of an opportunity to participate in that effort, and now, as administrator and instructor at Oxford Tutoring, I have the opportunity through the wisdom and strength of our instructors, to further that effort: an effort I will need for my own child, and an effort we will nurture for yours.

Special thanks to the writings of Dr. Suzuki, founder of the Talent Education approach to teaching children music.   Story excerpted from his seminal text, Nurtured by Love:  The Classic Approach to Talent Education by Shinichi Suzuki.

Meet the author: Rebekah, an ELA/SAT/ACT instructor and administrator at Oxford Tutoring has over 15 years of tutoring experience.  As a parent, her passion for furthering her student’s education stems from a first-hand understanding of the importance of learning in the lives of students. Combining her years of experience as a tutor and parent, Rebekah reaches her students through encouragement, incorporating various learning styles, and an awareness of tutoring methods that makes the learning experience personal and relatable to her students.

 

© Oxford Tutoring 2015