COLORADO SPRINGS — Several parents are wrestling with the difficult decision to send their children back to school in-person or online.
Karrah Martin, a local mother and former teacher, came up with the idea of an online tutoring business to help parents take control of their child's education.
With her business, "Team Martin Mama Teaches", she'll offer 30 or 60 minute tutoring sessions via ZOOM. She'll review homework assignments, answer any related questions, and provide additional instruction to help children better understand the academic subject and specific topics. She'll also have daily check-in sessions to ensure children are doing their course work.
"I will be more of a check-in for parents who don't have the ability to call from the office and call from work and say what are your assignments today, what did you get done last night," said Martin. "I also have the option to work with parents and say this is what I think you should do at home, this is how I would approach that."
Martin said she will not provide or create a curriculum. Instead, she'll work with the curriculum the child already has in place or any concerns parents have.
She doesn't want parents to fear teaching at home, because there are several free resources out there to help them.
"Dollar Tree and Target both have amazing workbooks for $1. If you want to create a classroom in your house or something that looks normal, the Dollar Tree has everything on doing classrooms," said Martin.
With a background in special education, Martin developed strategies for teaching children with disabilities. She recommends parents focus on visual and tactile learning. Parents should expect to have less dedicated time while at home.
"Do it in 15 minutes, break it up. Your house is not going to look anything like that classroom. Your child is not coming to you at 8 a.m. and going to be done at 4 p.m.," said Martin.
Martin says parents who feel overwhelmed can head over to her website or Pinterest page for ideas on curriculums, free resources and activities.
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