There. I said it. I have two kids in middle school and I've finally admitted it to myself - I have no idea how to do middle school math. I graduated from high school when Madonna and Michael Jackson were the chart toppers so I can't believe that mathematics has changed so dramatically. Now the concepts are "set theory" and "number bases other than 10". Did you know that sometimes 1+1 doesn't equal 2? Neither did I, but according to my 6th grader it's true!

So what's a well-meaning mom to do? Aside from going back to middle school myself, tutoring was the next best option. I started my tutor search online and after a visit to our middle school website, I made an interesting discovery - our school offered free tutoring. It's a little known fact about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law - schools that have been identified as "in need of improvement for 2 years in a row" have to offer free tutoring to eligible students (eligibly is based on financial need and budget).

The school guidance counselor told me about a non-profit company Free NCLB Tutoring and a website they operate called www.FreeNCLBTutoring.org where you can determine (1) if your school is required to offer free tutoring and (2) if your child might be eligible. Lucky for me, my children were eligible and I no longer have to rack my brain trying to subtract 173 from 342 in decimal and octal - yeah! They get all the help they need with a qualified math tutor after school twice a week - ahhhhhh (that's me breathing a sigh of relief.

Moral of the story for me: you can discover great things when you finally admit you don't know what you don't know.