In recent years, the private tutoring business has been growing steadily with people spending hundreds of billions each year. Is it worth it for your kid? How will you pick the best among all the options?
The purpose of tutoring is to assist your kids to help themselves or to guide the child to the point at which he or she becomes an independent learner.
Are you considering hiring a tutor? Consider the following tips before settling on any tutoring package.
Identifying Your Goal
Is your child trying to pass a class or a test? Are they learning something? If you want your child to pass a test or get short term results, then it is referred to as a performance goal. On the other hand, when the student wants to understand a concept and transfer it to a different situation, then that’s a learning goal.
As a parent, you may have both learning and performance goals for your child but it is recommendable that learning goal is considered more than performance goal. After all, learning will lead to improved performance.
What will happen if you are settling for tutoring to achieve a performance goal? You should be prepared for pitfalls. In case your child requires excessive test prep to excel in a class or get into a college program, the student might fail in whatever comes after tackling the current problem.
Consider the Tutor’s Actions
You should be aware that good tutoring is not all about the tutor teaching the student. The tutoring is effective when the student is actively involved in the discussion, not just to sit there silently listening to the tutor.
Here are some tips to check out when the tutor is working with a student:
- What happens if the student does something right? What does the tutor say? Does he say “good” and move on or does he or she ask the follow-up questions to check thinking? Follow up questions are important because sometimes students will come up with conclusions that will help get correct answers on the current type of problem but then make a mistake on a different problem.
- What happens when the child makes a mistake? Does the tutor ask the student to explain their choice or does she just say “No, it is done this way”? Asking the student to explain their answers will help the tutor understand the insight of the child about how the student goes about solving issues. If there is an error in their thinking, the tutor will be able to correct it.
Consider Teaching the Kid Yourself
You should instil the love of reading in your home. When your child is struggling with reading, read to your child, read together with your child and in front of him or her. You should do this whether you have younger or older kids.
If your child struggles with English or writing, you can assist by using a wide set of words when talking with your child. You can also seek a homework helper who will guide your kid on how they can tackle certain problems.
Even if you are not good at English, you can teach your kid in your native language. Research shows that children benefit from first learning to read and write in the language in which they think.
Don’t Forget About Free Options
It would be beneficial if you as a parent don’t sign up for paid tutoring sessions, but first, explore the available free programs.
Free options will include peer tutoring programs at school, after classes help from classroom teachers, tutoring programs in city libraries and community centers, and professional tutors paid by the school, after school, or on weekends.
Other options will include online tutoring, tutor-student program, and small group tutoring. These services are offered by both individuals such as college teachers and tutoring companies.
The common phrase “what you pay will affect the outcomes you get” will not necessarily apply in tutoring. You should be aware that price will not predict the effectiveness of the tutor and sometimes free options might work for your child.
Have reasonable expectations
You should be aware that in, some cases, tutoring might not pay off. While your child is likely to benefit from tutoring, a lot of factors will contribute to whether it is successful or not. Research has shown that spending too much time tutoring might harm students.
For instance, tutoring knowledge in a subject may increase the performance of the student but it might also make not a reasonable learning difference.