With the school year coming to an end, our kids are scrambling to finish up their homework assignments. They may be hesitant to ask you for help, or may have questions that you aren't able to answer - especially since new teaching styles may be different from what you learned in school. My daughter's 4th grade math is being taught quite differently than when I learned it, even for simple things like fractional division.

We hired a tutor last year to help her get over some humps with math assignments, and felt that it was money very well spent. There were some drawbacks though, such as having to make an extra trip to the school to pick her up after tutoring, and it wasn't cheap either (about $35 an hour). The main drawback though was that we had to wait until the scheduled tutoring sessions to get the answers she needed to complete her assignments.

It would have been nice to have an on-demand tutor available whenever we needed answers, and kids love the computer and the Internet... so I poked around a little to see what's out there for online tutoring software and services.

I found an online tutoring resource - Tutor.com - that provides on-demand online tutoring from over 1,200 professional tutors. Founded in 1998, they've helped over 2 million students with their educational studies, through over 1,600 public libraries and schools in 42 states.

Their expert tutors cover math, science, English and social studies for 4th - 12th grades. Every night, thousands of students connect to a Tutor.com tutor for help with homework, studying for tests, working on research papers and essays, or just to ask a question about their schoolwork.

What's unique about Tutor.com is that their service is completely on demand, 7 days a week. Tutors are standing by, ready to help, so students never need to schedule an appointment in advance. Rather than getting frustrated or giving up, a student who is stuck can connect to a professional tutor to get the help he or she needs within minutes.

Here's how it works:

1. Your child works with a professional tutor in a secure web environment, using your existing computer, web browser and broadband Internet connection - no special equipment or software is needed.
   

2. Tutors work with each student to provide help, not answers, and to bring every session to an educationally sound conclusion. They chat using instant messaging, draw problems on an interactive whiteboard, share files to review essays and papers, and browse educational resources on the web together.
   

3. Your child connects to a tutor as often as he or she needs help. With each session, time spent working with a tutor is simply deducted from your account, and the first five minutes of every session are free. You can choose to Pay As You Go, and add minutes to your account whenever you need, or select a more cost-effective Monthly Plan to automatically add minutes each month.
   

4. There are no minimums and no time limits. You only pay for the actual tutoring time your child uses, and all of your unused minutes roll over each month for up to one full year. Every session is guaranteed. If you or your child are ever dissatisfied with a session, for any reason, you can request a credit online.
   

Here's a link to a free Tutor.com online video demo, and a 60 minute trial of on demand tutoring session.

If you've used Tutor.com's online tutoring services, I'd like to hear about it. Please add a comment to this article with your experiences.

Designed as a game your kids can't wait to play, ClickN' READ Phonics is the first ever reading program to teach just like a live tutor. Meeting federal requirements, it teaches the entire phonics curriculum required for K-3rd grade reading students.

Over 60 countries use the ClickN' Read Phonics program in 1,000’s of schools. The program is used online just like viewing standard web pages. Your child can use it at home, at Grandma's, at the office or while on vacation (well, assuming you aren't going to Disneyland).

The onscreen instructor, ClickN' KID, gently guides your child through interactive letter sound exercises where the letter sounds and their corresponding letter shapes are learned and practiced. Each lesson introduces a new letter sound which is then practiced along with five other previously introduced letter sounds.

The user testimonials on their website have some pretty impressive comments from happy parents, like this one from Debra Bond in Duarte, CA:

"Well, my just turned 4 1/2 daughter is reading at a high 3rd grade level due all to your program. She is reading chapter books and is so proud that today she got to her 100th lesson. The program is short enough to keep young ones attention. We started her only 7 months ago and because of the program she spells, writes fluently and loves it. Learning has just been fun. Easy, fun, quick and packed with everything that she needed to get to a 3rd grade level and is not even starting Kindergarten for 6 more months. The head start she has gotten is unbelievable all with only 15-20 minutes of fun a day. Thank you."

Here's a link to the ClickN' Read Phonics information page where you can learn more about their program and services.

All of these programs will help your child improve in math or reading, and can help get them excited about their homework. Sometimes just spending a little extra time with your child is the biggest boost they need, but other times some professional help is worth a visit to an online tutor or phonics software program.

The headline "Father killed trying to break up fight involving son" caught my attention this morning, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. Apparently a dad stepped in the way of a bullet intended for his son, who was in an argument out in front of their house.

Wow, talk about the ultimate heroic act! He makes a split second decision that saves his son but costs him his life. It's altogether tragic for his dad, but it loudly begs the most obvious question to me: "Would I do the same for my son?"

I remember when my first child came along almost 10 years ago, and I would have these stress dreams about crazy things happening to her that were out of my control. Or I would be driving along in traffic and a violent scenario would come to mind where I envisioned losing her to some freak accident. It always shook me to my core, and I found myself thinking through how I would react if that type of situation actually became reality.

Maybe it's because we're constantly bombarded with crime and violence from the media every day. Maybe it's more personal than that, such as the dad I went to college with getting shot to death when he tried to defend his disabled son from the jeering comments from the car next to them. Maybe it's because we just care so deeply for our family members and the thought of anything happening to them is more than we can bare.

I mentioned in my previous post that I'm not much of a sports guy, but I definitely want my kids to like sports - both son and daughters. One thing I did last year and a couple years before that was to coach my daughter's soccer teams. The first year I was the head coach and the second year I was the assistant coach.

I literally went on Google before hand to look up the rules of soccer, and to get some ideas for some drills to practice. I was that clueless. But we're talking 7-year olds here guys, and you can get away with just about anything at that age as long as you have a positive attitude and work hard to help the kids have a fun time.

The other thing I did last week was take my kids to Joe's to buy a bat, a few balls, and mits for everyone. I thought they'd be really excited about the new gear, but it was the baseball cards that drew all the excitement. And not just the gum inside. They divided the packs up evenly between them and read each player's stats; then they traded and did it all over again, and then they started fighting over who got which one... you get the picture. They had a new set of sports heroes and they were crazy about 'em!

My 5-year-old son started T-Ball a few weeks ago, and is learning the basic skills such as throwing, catching, and batting.

He has two older sisters who play Barbie, Littlest Pet Shop, princess dress up, and all the other "girl things" that little girls spend their time doing. So it's fun to see my son get excited about a "boy activity".

His coach has also encouraged parents to jump in and help with practice, which basically gives me a chance to play ball with him twice a week for an hour. I've asked him a few times after practice which part of practice he liked best and why, and his answer is always "because I got to do it with you!" Dads love to hear those words

Now I must admit that I'm not a sports junkie by any means. I'm not even very athletic, although I do like karate and cycling a lot, and I work out quite a bit. But I've just never really been into sports that much. I lean more towards technology than ESPN.

So when it came time to help my son learn to catch, I called up my sports junkie buddy Tom and asked him for a pointer.

Here's a tip he gave me for helping young kids learn to catch a ball: Aside from lack of coordination in many young kids, their fear of getting hit with the ball is their largest obstacle. Simply having them hold their mits out to the side is a good way to ease this fear and help them focus on the ball. If they miss the catch, the ball doesn't smack them in the chest... it just rolls by and they can run and pick it up. Once their coordination improves and they start catching more than they're missing, then you can have them move the mit in front of them.

Another trick we use in T-Ball practice to get them in the habit of trapping the ball in their mits is to use the "Alligator" analogy, where the trapping hand and the mit is the Alligator's mouth that wants to chomp into the ball. Kids love that one!

I found a great use for the small, round trampoline that my folks gave our kids for Christmas this last year - a rebounding backstop for baseball pitching! I set it up in our backyard and when I pitch the ball it bounces off the tramp and sends it right back to me. No more chasing after baseballs in the bushes, and it keeps the pace plenty fast for short attention spans of 5-year-olds.

Thanks for the tip Tom, and for those of you sports fan dads reading this blog, please leave a tip of your own to help me teach my son (and daughters) how to play better ball.