Library offers students help with their homework

The Canton Public Library has teamed up with the National Honors Society to offer students assistance help with their homework.

The Homework Help program serves third through twelfth grade. Usually, the library has between eight to ten tutors a night, said Anna Slaughter, teen services librarian. In all, about 25 students get tutoring help on an average night. Math is a popular subject that students ask for help with, she said. All the tutors have taken a class in the subject they tutor, which is a wide range of classes.

“We always have a kid who could do Spanish or calculus,” said Anna Slaughter, teen services librarian and founder of the program.

The program has helped out some students immensely. One student has been coming since the program first started, Saughter said. The middle school student, who lives with a single parent, comes every day the library offers it. Her grades have improved a great deal, she said.

The student's reaction has been really favorable, said Becky Kraft, a National Honor Society Advisor at Plymouth High School. To be eligible for the National Honors Society, a student has to have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, and be a junior or senior in high school.

"Elementary up through high school students attend the tutoring sessions," Kraft said. "We find it works very well to make it available on a regular basis." She said that between budget cuts to schools and conflicting student schedules, it can be difficult to arrange after school tutoring.

The program was started in March 2009. It was a more affordable choice to the online tutoring service the library had offered previously.

“This is a good alternative to that service,” said Slaughter.

Slaughter and the teen librarian from the Plymouth District Library met with the head of the honors society. Students in NHS need to complete a certain amount of community service. The homework help program is a way to fill their need and the library’s need, Slaughter said.

"Absolutely, we see this program continuing," said Kraft about working with the Canton library. She added that NHS really appreciates how Canton libraries provide the space.

 Sign up begins at 6 p.m. and it’s on a first come, first serve basis. You don’t need a library card to sign up, but you do need to be in grades third through twelfth. The tutoring sessions are half hour time slots, and you must sign up at teen reference desk.

 Homework Help runs Monday and Tuesday, from 6-8 p.m. The hours coincides with Plymouth-Canton Public School’s calender. When there’s no school, there’s no tutoring. Spring break is the week of April 16-25. The homework help ends the last week of May.

 For more information, the library can be reached at 734-397-0999 or online at http://www.cantonpl.org/.