Sylvan Learning Centers

[KT27]

My DH's ex wants to send our daughter to Sylvan Learning for some writing & math workshops. I do not know anything about this company. The prices seem very high to me. Their budget rate is $38.00 per hour & that is only if you prepay. I was wondering if anyone else has used them or if anyone has anymore information before my DH pays for this. Thanks!

 

[lsyorke]

We used Sylvan for DS when he was in 8th grade for Math. His teacher was VERY good. He had him back to speed on 3 months and he's had no Math problems since then(he's 18 now). Money well spent!

 

[swanmom]

They are a franchise. So they have specific subject matter materials and similar methods but the quality of the centers varies depending on the director and, more importantly, the staff. What your DD will get from the instruction is totally dependent on the teachers working directly with the students. Some of these centers are great - the director hires well-qualified people who really work well with kids. In these cases, they can really help kids. Others are not so great and just have a 'whatever staff can work the hours' mentality. These can cost the parents enormous amounts of money and do real harm to the kids confidence. Your DH should go to the center he is considering and talk to the staff as well as parents who are waiting for their kids. That'll give you a much better idea of the potential benefits of the tutoring at that particular center.

 

[barkley]

tried it several years ago with dd-was not impressed. i found that getting a private tutor (college student, teacher) was much more effective and price appropriate. did'nt care for the group tutoring approach (if she was'nt getting it in a group approach at school i did'nt see the benefit of simply doing the same thing there) and REALY did not care for the whole "rewards" concept (each session resulted in the kid aquiring some number of points they could then "spend" in the "sylvin store"-it reminded me of the ticket center at chuck e. cheese-nothing that would enhance learning like workbooks or flashcards, just little junky toys).

esp. with the summer coming on there may be several teachers at your child's school who could provide much better one on one tutoring for $20 an hour.