volunteer tutoring/mentoring ideas

[Portia]

I've realized that I'm very passionate about tutoring (especially STEM and languages), and that I'm experienced and good at it. I no longer need to do it to eat, so was wondering if anyone had experience doing volunteer tutoring, or mentoring programs like Big Brother/Big Sister.

[Whistler]

My husband did Big Brother for a while, and after we got married I helped him with it for about a year. They (my husband and the boy he mentored) never really did homework together, it was more so he had exposure to middle-class values and a positive role model. It'd depend on whoever you mentored though--I'm sure some kids would love help with their homework.

[Portia]

My husband did Big Brother for a while, and after we got married I helped him with it for about a year. They (my husband and the boy he mentored) never really did homework together, it was more so he had exposure to middle-class values and a positive role model. It'd depend on whoever you mentored though--I'm sure some kids would love help with their homework.

Middle-class values how?

[Whistler]

well, the boy he mentored was from a blue-collar family. Being mentored by my husband, (I'll call him Acius here) he had someone to tell him he could go to college and didn't have to settle for a job straight out of high school. He encouraged his mentee to fiddle around with computers, while the mentee's parents saw them as something less changeable/hackable. His parents didn't have a lot of middle-class "street smarts" like saving money and avoiding credit card interest, which Acius was happy to lecture him on.

[Portia]

If he's not supported, financially or emotionally, to go to college, how is he going to finance it? Debt he ill understands?

My middle class friends and friends' parents are by and large much larger credit spenders and worse money savers than my working class friends. (My upper-class friends/friends' parents are a different story, as we're talking about capital gains and building wealth).

Not criticizing your husband, just something to think about. I want to help kids, and think being realistic about real-world repercussions and the limits of the so-called American Dream isn't so bad. Is there something less worthy about being a mechanic or salon stylist or nurse? Is college for everyone? Is saving even viable given Fed policy of next-to-zero interest rates? I think about these things a lot, and given our inequality in public school funding, I don't see a lot of this getting better.

[Whistler]

um, I think about these things too, which was why I mentioned it. I don't think there's anything wrong with not going to college, but it should be an option. Any 11-year-old still has a lot to learn about saving and spending money. And if you work hard in high school, you can get a scholarship (or if you don't get one, you can probably afford to go to community college for a few years while you're working).

[Portia]

And if you work hard in high school, you can get a scholarship

True story! And highly selective colleges have much better financial aid packages than mediocre ones.

Any 11-year-old still has a lot to learn about saving and spending money.

I think that's fair, and it sounds like in this case, your husband had advice to offer (after all, he has a huge house and he's like what, 31?).

I don't think there's anything wrong with not going to college, but it should be an option

I'm very torn on this, much more than I used to be. Utah is home to lots of industrious, busy-bee types, but for a lot of people, college is primarily about boozing and getting laid and taking unpaid internships on your way to the corner office. I really, really, really wish we could go to a European system of apprenticeships/subsidized university tuition/fewer generals and schmoozing.

I was a very, very high-performing student (by some measure, possibly the best in my grade), and a moderately good college like BYU was still a hurdle academically, emotionally, and financially. Sadly, it's a very changed world since the early '00s, and I think that to really make a difference, I would have to fund the actual scholarships and such myself. Getting better ACT scores is great, but is only one step among many.

[Whistler]

yeah, I hear you. I wish we had more apprenticeships as an option for education, because college doesn't teach a lot of important business skills (besides, I don't know, dealing with bureaucracy?).

[Portia]

yeah, I hear you. I wish we had more apprenticeships as an option for education, because college doesn't teach a lot of important business skills (besides, I don't know, dealing with bureaucracy?).

You'd think I'd have learned that one, but that's one middle class value I still despise. Hopefully the nightmare of college application prepped by brother for the bureaucratic maelstrom that is France. :D

Have you ever worked with kids? I'm pretty sure I'd be in second heaven if I were an eleven-year-old boy and met someone as into video games as you are. :-)

[Cindy]

I volunteer with a group that tutors refugee kids. Most of the kids don't have parents who can help them with their homework (or who even understand why it's important), so it's definitely a population that can use some help.

[Portia]

I volunteer with a group that tutors refugee kids. Most of the kids don't have parents who can help them with their homework (or who even understand why it's important), so it's definitely a population that can use some help.

Wow. Is English the kids' first language, ever?

[Cindy]

Most of the families in this program have actually been here for several years, so the kids are pretty comfortable with English even if their parents aren't. I think all of the kids are bilingual, although they tend to have gaps in their English vocabulary and knowledge that most non-immigrant kids wouldn't.

(I think most of these families have been in the tutoring program since it started up about six years ago, when the families were pretty recently arrived in the US. I guess the lady in charge doesn't want to kick any families out, and we don't have enough volunteers to expand to more families. It's unfortunate, since more recent immigrants might need the program more, but I understand where she's coming from.)

[Whistler]

Have you ever worked with kids? I'm pretty sure I'd be in second heaven if I were an eleven-year-old boy and met someone as into video games as you are.

Haha, yeah, I'm a cub scout leader right now and they love gazing at my videogame collection.