by TutorUp | Mar 27, 2020 | Parents and Home
According to a recent Department of Education report, the number of students with special needs is on the rise. Not only did the total number of students in need of special education services jump, but these students – representing a variety of needs and abilities – also make up about 13% of the entire U.S. student population.
But that doesn’t mean finding a qualified tutor for special needs kids is any easier. At TutorUp, parents often wonder how to choose the best tutor for their child’s needs and learning style. This quest can become even more difficult for parents who have children with special needs – and who require additional educational support outside of the classroom.
Even certified teachers might not have extensive experience working within special needs populations, which is why we created this guide especially for parents on the hunt for extra support. Here’s how to choose the best tutors for special needs kids – including questions you can ask to make sure you’re hiring the best fit for your family.
1. Look for Certified Teachers with a Background in Special Education
The very best thing you can do to support your special needs student outside of the classroom is to hire a certified, experienced teacher. Not only are certified teachers expert educators familiar with your local curriculum, but they’re also familiar with the educational laws that govern special education, like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
You want someone who feels comfortable navigating the specialized instruction requirements in an IEP (Individualized Education Plan), or the accommodations outlined in a 504 Plan. For example, does your student have a learning disability that requires someone else to take notes, or to lead them through instructions? That’s certainly the kind of information that your tutor would need to know to be effective — and it’s also an accommodation a certified teacher with classroom experience will know how to fold into their tutoring lesson.
Types of questions to ask:
- What’s your experience teaching special needs students in the classroom?
- What kinds of learning accommodations have you provided for your students in the past?
- Which specialized instructional methods do you have the most experience with?
What the answers will tell you:
As a parent, you want a certified teacher who is both comfortable and enthusiastic working with and accommodating students who have learning disabilities or other special needs. Tailor your questions to address the specific styles of instruction or accommodation outlined in your student’s documentation so you can gauge your tutor’s familiarity with these forms of instruction.
2. Ask How Comfortable Your Tutor Is Varying Their Teaching Style
Students with special needs often require a range of teaching strategies – many of these needs can be outlined in an IEP or 504 Plan and shared with a tutor if parents feel this is appropriate.
For example, students who have a specific learning disability, like a disability in math, might require manipulatives for addition or subtraction. Still, other students with speech or language impairments might require visual aids, hearing aids, or sign language instruction. And students with ADHD, dyslexia, or autism will need additional kinds of support.
Aside from the technical skill and expertise of a certified teacher, your tutor must have the ability to change their teaching approach on the fly. Throughout a one-on-one tutoring session, teachers learn what engages and empowers your special needs student and can make changes accordingly. Whether your student needs help taking notes, extra test-taking time, a quiet environment to limit distractions, or visual learning aids, make sure your tutor is familiar with how to provide that specific type of instruction, method, or approach.
Working with a certified teacher is one of the best ways to ensure that your special needs student receives the level of professional support they need to be successful in the classroom, which is why TutorUp only hires actual certified, experienced teachers.
Types of questions to ask:
- What type of learning style would you use to engage my child?
- How would you handle disruptions or other types of negative behavior?
- How do you decide on the length of each tutoring session?
What the answers will tell you:
Specific, detailed examples will give you a good indication of your tutor’s comfort level and experience with students like your child. You’ll also get a good sense of your tutor’s ability to stay calm, remain patient, assuage your child’s frustrations or fears with the learning process, and create a positive learning environment. Have a child with attention issues? Make sure your tutor knows when and how to shorten tutoring sessions – without losing ground in the content area.
3. Gauge Your Tutor’s Expectations and Measures for Success
At-home tutoring with a certified teacher is still an extension of your child’s day – and that can be difficult for students who need extra help. Talk with your tutor about how to manage expectations around learning, creating a fun, positive teaching environment at home, and varying teaching styles to keep your student engaged and positive.
Make sure you’re both on the same page about what success looks like for your special needs student, too. Maybe your child needs a little bit of extra help mastering a specific math concept, or maybe they need extra time to break down study questions or a detailed project assignment.
That’s where TutorUp’s tutoring reports come in handy – you’ll be able to review exactly what your child and your tutor accomplished during each lesson, and what they plan to work on in the future. Whatever the specific learning goal for your child is, make sure both you and your tutor know what progress looks like when you see it!
We also help you connect your tutor with your student’s teacher, so the experts can chart your student’s growth in specific content areas. By letting these two professional educators interact, you’ll see bigger and better improvements – and improve the confidence of your special needs child.
Types of questions to ask:
- What kind of experience do you have measuring the progress of special needs students? How do you define success in tutoring?
- How would you motivate my student if they felt tired or frustrated?
- How would you change your teaching methods or approaches if our tutoring plan suggested my student still needs help?
What the answers will tell you:
By walking you through their tutoring success stories, your tutor should be able to demonstrate how they’d give your student positive reinforcement, as well as how they might address challenges or push-back from a tired or frustrated student. You want someone who’s enthusiastic, patient, and flexible – and who knows when making even a little progress in a concept or content area should feel like a big win.
And while an at-home tutoring environment isn’t designed to measure student success and learning outcomes with the rigor of a public school, your special needs student must still master content areas or show improvement. Assess how comfortable your tutor is with providing detailed tutoring reports, changing course as needed, and working with your child’s teacher to achieve greater success.
If you have any question about tutors for special needs kids, you can get in touch with us here.
by TutorUp | Mar 20, 2020 | Parents and Home
Get the kids to school on time. Ace your presentation at work. Run errands. Manage after-school activities. Cook dinner. Spend time together as a family.
The to-do list never ends. It’s no wonder you’re having trouble figuring out how to balance at-home tutoring with everything else. Tutoring is yet another time and financial commitment, as well as a decision that’s crucial to your child’s academic success.
Here’s how to make more time in your home life for tutoring – even if you’re already juggling too many commitments:
1. Simplify the Hiring Process
One of the biggest barriers to finding the right tutor for your family is the hiring process. Not only is this process time-consuming and stressful, it can be expensive, too.
After all, you’re looking for a tutor who understands your child’s curriculum, and one who can help them succeed in the areas where they need more support. That level of expertise doesn’t always come with an affordable price tag.
At TutorUp, we simplify the hiring process for you by connecting you with the very best tutors at even better rates. We’ll help you identify the teachers with the right experience at an affordable rate.
Once you’re connected with your new tutor, it’s up to you both to find the right time during the week to put your student on the path to academic success.
2. Make a Consistent Schedule
When your weekly schedule is packed to the brim, finding time for tutoring can be a challenge. But establishing a routine with your tutor is important for your family – and for your student.
Pick a consistent day and time, so you can manage your to-do list around your student’s tutoring sessions. Consistency gives your student the structure and stability they need to learn successfully over time, too.
Planning doesn’t come naturally to everyone, though. If you struggle to keep all of your after-school and work commitments organized, it’s time to change your approach:
- Invest in a family calendar and keep it in a prominent place.
- Or, if your family is tech-savvy, use a scheduling app like Google Calendar or Cozi to keep everyone’s commitments straight.
- Make notes about who is responsible for which commitment.
- Commit to planning ahead. When you plan one or two weeks out, you can limit the number of surprises that disrupt your day-to-day routine.
3. Drop a Commitment
Sometimes we just can’t do it all. And our tendency to over-schedule could actually be hurting young students, distracting them from the kinds of activities that make a difference in their education over time.
“In our desire to fully engage with our children’s education, many of us gravitate to time-intensive activities that may not actually have much impact on their success in school,” Ariela Rozman, an expert in K-12 education, explained to Harvard Business Review.
Rozman suggests that paring back on school events to focus on homework help or reading as a family might make all the difference in your student’s overall academic success.
The same could be said for prioritizing tutoring over other activities – if only for a short time. Make joining after-school clubs and sports a goal for the following semester, or help your student choose one activity they really enjoy, instead of juggling three or four.
Still, this process can be tricky for students who may already feel down about needing a tutor in the first place. However you and your family decide to fit tutoring into your after-school schedule, make sure your student understands that it’s not a punishment – and that it can be an exciting, challenging way to keep improving their skills.
4. Use “Flex” Work Time
Office jobs are more flexible than ever, and your company likely has a policy about “flex” work time or flexible schedules. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of these policies – especially if you don’t have additional money for childcare, or nothing else in your schedule will give.
Communicate openly with your partner or your family members, so you can determine who has the most wiggle room in their schedule and which workplace is most supportive when it comes to childcare. Maybe it’s possible for you or your partner to work at home in the afternoons during after-school tutoring. Or maybe one of you can head to work an hour earlier, in order to leave the office at 4 PM and accommodate your tutor.
Be open with your boss about your afternoon schedule on tutoring days, so you can prioritize tutoring without shirking your duties at work. Have a plan you can discuss with your supervisor about how flex time might work, how long you think you’ll need to maintain your alternate schedule, and how you might avoid future scheduling conflicts or make up for “lost” time and productivity.
The more prepared you are to address potential problems or pitfalls, the easier it will be to negotiate your schedule with your supervisor – and stay on top of your work projects without missing a beat.
5. Trade Responsibilities With Your Partner
Balancing the needs and schedule of an entire family can be tough – but it’s even tougher if one person is pulling more of the weight.
If you know you or your partner struggle with delegating tasks, take the time to sit down with your family calendar and hash out the commitments, errands, and to-dos that take up everyone’s time during the week. Which tasks can be delegated, outsourced, or traded off? What can you take turns doing for one another?
Don’t be afraid to shake things up, either. Even if you’re the one who usually does the grocery shopping, that doesn’t mean your partner can’t pick up dinner a night or two a week, or stop at the store on the way home from work. Divvy up responsibilities equally, and consider when it makes the most sense to delegate or share tasks you tend to take on yourself.
While it might take some planning and negotiation, you’ve ultimately created more time and space in your life to accommodate your child’s education – and that’s worth the balancing act.
6. Ask for Help
No one expects you to do it all. In fact, it’s impossible – which means it’s ok to ask for help from friends, neighbors, or relatives as you figure out the best way to manage your family’s to-do list. Can your other children get a ride home from soccer practice with a friend? Can you trade off after-school pick-up with another parent in your neighborhood?
Look to your school, friend, and family networks for connections across all your activities to help make scheduling easier. Consider how sharing tasks like after-school pick-up might ease the time crunch on tutoring days – and which days you have wiggle room to help out other parents or family members in return.
Using your networks will help free up your time during the rest of the week, and make it easier to find a reliable emergency backup contact for those days when life takes you by surprise. All parents need a dependable friend, neighbor, relative, or babysitter they can call in a pinch. Do you have a backup contact for the days you’re running 20 to 30 minutes behind, or when your other kid’s ride bailed and you have to arrange an emergency pick-up?
If you don’t have an emergency backup for your tutoring sessions, it’s time to designate someone to be the adult in the room if you or your partner are suddenly unavailable on tutoring day. Remember, tutors aren’t necessarily caregivers, and it’s important to respect their time and their role in helping your student improve academically.
This may require that you ask an additional adult who can play the role of caregiver to be present, even if they’re not actively watching or monitoring the tutoring session. Remember to introduce tutors to your emergency contacts or babysitters, so everyone feels comfortable working together in your home.
If you’re interested in hiring a tutor who also has experience with caregiving, you’ll likely shell out a higher hourly rate. Be sensitive to the idea that pairing childcare with tutoring is a different kind of expectation and plan accordingly. Highly trained tutors consider themselves educators first, and you should be clear about what the tutor’s responsibilities in your home are throughout the hiring process.
Finally, be sure to exchange cell phone numbers so you can reschedule if life truly gets the better of your family calendar. As every parent knows: it happens!
by TutorUp | Mar 13, 2020 | In-Person Tutoring
Teachers have a calling to help students
Think about the best teachers you had growing up. Maybe you had a teacher whose passion for learning kept you engaged and excited no matter how mundane the topic, or maybe you had one with saint-like patience who went the extra mile to make sure you understood the material. Now let’s compare these options for an Algebra tutor: a college student who scored 99th percentile on the Math portion of the SAT, or a 3rd-year Algebra teacher in your local district. Which of them is more likely to have the energy and thoughtfulness you’re looking for in a tutor? We’d prefer the person who chose to make a living as an educator.
Teachers know how to teach the subject matter
You may be thinking “well yeah, but teaching certificates aren’t required to help a child with homework.” That’s true! However, don’t discount the training in pedagogy and instructional methods that comes with a teacher’s certification. That training gives teachers practical tools and methods by which to channel their calling to educate students. Let’s revisit the whiz kid Algebra student who tutors on the side. They certainly have sterling credentials and can probably teach your child some tricks to find the right answer, but the professional teacher not only knows the material backwards and forwards, but also knows the specific learning objectives that your child will be tested on when district and state assessments come around.
Teachers have experience meeting your child’s learning needs
We value on-the-job experience for everything from handymen and heart surgeons, there’s no reason tutors should be any different. Beyond the classroom, every state requires teachers to complete annual professional development. Many teachers earn extra money and go a step further by participating in mentorship programs, pilot programs, and conferences. These formal and informal channels keep teachers abreast of the latest instructional methods, tools, and activities. Besides being subject matter experts, teachers are trained to assess and evaluate student progress, and adapt teaching methods to match student needs.
Teachers are vetted professionals
All teachers must pass a rigorous background check as part of their hiring process, and rightly so. When you and your child meet with a teacher for tutoring, you know you’re sitting down with a vetted professional. With other tutors, the best case scenario is a word-of-mouth reference from a friend or colleague.
by TutorUp | Mar 6, 2020 | Parents and Home
updated August 2022
Enrolling your student in a well-ranked primary or secondary school has never been harder. So it’s no wonder that parents have responded by hiring tutors for their children at younger and younger ages.
Suein Hwang, an education reporter for The Wall Street Journal, discovered that competitive tutoring programs for preschool-age children were attracting more students between the ages of 2 and 4 than ever.
Despite reservations from early childhood development experts, this trend isn’t going anywhere, says Hwang. “Industrywide, Boston education-consulting firm Eduventures forecasts that the estimated $4 billion market will grow an average 12% to 15% a year,” Hwang reports.
But how young is too young when it comes to hiring a tutor for your child? At TutorUp, we believe hiring a tutor is a deeply personal decision. We have certified, experienced early childhood education teachers to tutor your preschool or kindergarten age child.
Here are three questions you can ask if you’re unsure whether your child is ready to work one-on-one with a tutor:
1. What are my child’s needs as an early learner?
Addressing a developmental delay or learning disability: Ages 0 to 5
Each state has early childhood intervention (ECI) programs that evaluate the needs of young children who may have a learning disability or developmental delay. These programs are meant to assess whether a child has a demonstrated learning disability in an area like reading or math, or a developmental delay in an area like speech or movement.
While the process of evaluating your child for a learning intervention program can be a stressful and uncertain time for parents, it doesn’t mean you should panic. Health providers can point you in the direction of state services for young children with developmental delays. Free services, like speech therapy or physical therapy, can help your child address their developmental needs, even from a very young age.
One-on-one tutoring may be appropriate for children in preschool or kindergarten if they have a specific learning disability. TutorUp tutors are certified, experienced teachers who understand what early learners with disabilities need to be successful in the classroom.
A tutor with expertise in Early Childhood Education or Special Needs can give your child the extra support they need to develop foundational learning skills crucial for future success.
Accelerating a child’s academic development: Ages 0 to 5
Few studies show that traditional one-on-one tutoring helps accelerate a child’s academic development from a very young age. In fact, an overemphasis on rote forms of learning, like drills or worksheets, might even prevent young children from developing important skills only acquired through free associated play.
“Instead of focusing solely on academic skills, such as reciting the alphabet, early literacy, using flash cards, engaging with computer toys, and teaching to tests (which has been overemphasized to promote improved test results), cultivating the joy of learning through play is likely to better encourage long-term academic success,” finds a recent study from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Play helps young children in preschool and kindergarten learn everything from fine motor skills to negotiation, collaboration, and problem-solving – all skills that are important for academic learning down the road.
According to Joan Almon, the executive director of the Alliance for Childhood, attempts to accelerate learning and academic development in young learners can backfire in other ways, too.
“There is absolutely no research showing that children who read at age 4 or 5 do better at age 10 or 12 than children who start reading in first grade,” Almon told NBC. “But there is research showing if you push 4- and 5-year-olds too hard, it backfires.”
As academic tasks in kindergarten become more difficult, for example, student retention often decreases and incidences of bad behavior or absence increase.
If you decide your young child needs additional academic support in the form of one-on-one tutoring, work with your tutor to make developmentally-appropriate goals that tap into your child’s sense of play, imagination, and love of learning.
Preventing achievement gaps: Ages 5 to 10
Working with young children to develop and maintain fundamental reading and math skills is crucial, especially for students from at-risk populations who experience more inequality throughout their educational careers.
These gaps often worsen during after-school and summer vacations, when at-risk children have less access to learning support. Research shows that achievement gaps in children as young as 5 years old can persist well into adulthood if left unaddressed.
One-on-one tutoring, whether through private tutoring or after-school programs, can prevent learning gaps. On its own, however, tutoring isn’t enough to address the social and economic conditions of the achievement gap.
According to one study from the Economic Policy Institute, parents play a big role in preparing their child for academic success. Parental expectations and participation in pre-K learning activities can begin to address learning gaps at home.
The study found, however, that additional support from the community, including teachers, school administrators, and policy makers, is what makes the biggest difference in closing learning gaps caused by inequality.
2. Is my child suffering from a lack of confidence?
Identifying learning disabilities and developmental delays in very young children often ensures students get the help that they need. But even young students with normal academic abilities might benefit from additional emotional support and confidence-building, which an experienced tutor can provide.
Watch for signs of low confidence or low self-esteem in your child, like negative self-talk or giving up when a task is difficult or frustrating. Even if your child is academically capable, a lack of confidence in their own abilities could be a roadblock to future success.
According to Dr. Ken Shore, a school psychologist and the author of Special Kids Problem Solver, students with low self-confidence have difficulty concentrating and taking the creative risks that lead to greater learning.
“Although you cannot teach a student to feel good about herself, you can nurture her self-esteem through a continual process of encouragement and support,” Shore writes at EducationWorld.com.
In addition to strong support in the classroom, one-on-one tutoring can be a great way to address the emotional needs of children as early as kindergarten and first grade. Young students who work with tutors can be coached to develop better problem-solving skills, receive more positive reinforcement, and see visible signs of their progress, all of which improve confidence in the classroom.
Personalized learning also helps students with low confidence by giving them the learning strategies they need to reach their own “ah-ha” moments with difficult material. At TutorUp, our tutors are certified teachers with expertise in Early Childhood Education who know how to identify your child’s most effective learning style, adapt their teaching methods, and provide the positive reinforcement your child needs to achieve success.
3. Is “homework drama” getting in the way of learning at home or in the classroom?
Even though students in primary and middle school don’t face the same set of rigorous academic expectations as high school students, hiring a tutor might help parents work around a sore spot for many families: homework.
According to the Toronto Star, the pressures of completing homework after school can cause perfectly capable students to rebel, struggle, and even fall behind in the classroom – even from a young age.
One-on-one tutoring support from an experienced educator – crucially, a non-family member – can alleviate this pressure on parents, says Diane Montgomery, a Toronto-based tutor and teacher whose son happens to have a learning disability.
“[When] a student is accountable to a third party, they feel they have to produce the results because of that,” Montgomery told the newspaper.
Not only do students who work one-on-one with tutors receive tailored academic support, but they also get more experience working toward goals set by educators who aren’t their parents. This helps frustrated students stay on top of homework, develop confidence in their abilities, and even discover interest in subjects they thought they didn’t like.
Vanessa Vakharia, the founder of Toronto-based tutoring agency The Math Guru, has found that even kindergarten-age children develop early aversions to subjects like math. As young as age 5, students may feel they simply aren’t good at subjects and decide they’ll never develop the skills they need to succeed.
For Vakharia, one-on-one tutoring can change this self-perception. “If you have a kid who’s super sporty and really doesn’t care about school, I like to match him with a tutor who loves sports, but also loves math so they can see, ‘Oh, there’s this type of person that I can be. I can actually like both things,’” Vakharia explained to the Star.
By working with a tutor who has multiple interests, even young children see that it’s possible to develop competency – and joy – in subjects that might frustrate them in school. With increased confidence, these young students not only overcome their dislike of specific subjects, but learn how to persevere in – and out – of the classroom.
by TutorUp | Feb 28, 2020 | Parents and Home
Today’s kids are notoriously over scheduled. They have sports and music lessons and clubs and playdates to manage on top of homework, studying, essays, and group projects. It can all feel like too much, especially when you have a child who needs extra help to stay on track in school.
How do you help your child find time to be a kid, especially when they need after-school tutoring?
At TutorUp, we connect you with certified, experienced teachers who know how to customize lesson plans based on your child’s interests and learning style. Personalized learning makes tutoring sessions more effective and fun, and it can be one small step in finding the right school-life balance.
Here are 5 tips for making sure your tutored child has enough time for homework and hobbies without feeling overwhelmed:
1. Carve out time for homework, play, dinner, and sleep
For children who need tutoring, staying on top of homework can be a big challenge. That’s why it’s so important for parents to establish what after-school “homework time” looks like.
Do you check in with your kids about homework when you get home after work? If you’re already at home, do you make sure they spend quality time on school work, free of other distractions?
Establish expectations about finishing homework and meeting study goals early, and watch for warning signs that your children are having trouble balancing their activities.
Do they seem overtired and stressed? They might be trying to tackle too much and not getting enough rest. Are they quiet and withdrawn? They might be down after spending too much time slogging away on schoolwork and not enough time with friends.
After all, your children spend eight or more hours each day trying to focus in school. It’s ok for them to take a break, play outside, hang out with friends, watch TV, or pursue other hobbies after school, too.
Perhaps most importantly, children need structured times for sleep and family dinner. Without enough sleep, kids have difficulty solving problems and focusing, while a regular dinner time gives children an opportunity to forge stronger bonds with their family.
By creating a stable structure around their most important needs, you’ll help your kids find the room in their days for everything from school work to play.
2. Embrace your child’s interests
Whether your kid is obsessed with princesses or can’t stop studying bugs with a magnifying glass, it’s important to encourage and embrace your child’s interests.
Seek out the activities they seem most drawn to, so they have both creative and social outlets that help them thrive.
As a parent, it’s also important to help your child prioritize. If they want to take saxophone lessons, join marching band, play soccer, and attend the French Club after school, will their grades suffer?
According to Oren Amitay, a Toronto-based psychologist, too many after-school activities could make for a more anxious kid – especially if the schedule’s starting to overwhelm you, too.
“Being busy isn’t necessarily bad, but kids pick up on the atmosphere around them,” Amitay told Global News. “It’s the tension, the frustration, the panic in trying to arrange all these things.”
Are you worried that your child is taking on too many after-school clubs and activities? Help them identify one or two activities that are most meaningful to them and encourage them to stick with it.
That doesn’t mean their interest will last forever, though, says Hilary Levey Friedman, a sociologist at Harvard University.
“Childhood is the time to try out many different things, so not all music, art, and sports classes will stick for the long run,” Friedman told NBC’s Today. “But kids should try to get a complete experience with a class or team before moving on to something else.”
If you think your child has given the activity a shot and simply needs to pare back, give them permission to take a break from after-school clubs, sports, and other activities that have lost their luster.
They’ll feel more excited about being able to focus on one or two hobbies that mean the most, and you won’t have to worry that they are spread too thin.
3. Schedule regular, short tutoring sessions
When young children need after-school tutoring, it adds even more instructional time to an already long day.
Not only are kids and teens often getting more homework than they can handle, but some after-school tutoring programs can wind up adding more to the workload.
How much is too much? According to a poll from Statistic Brain, teens are often spending more than three hours on homework every night.
That’s way more than the recommended 10 minutes per night per grade level, says Raychelle Cassada Lohmann, an education columnist for U.S. News & World Report.
“Regardless, research has shown that doing more than two hours of homework per night does not benefit high school students,” Lohmann writes. “Having lots of homework to do every day makes it difficult for teens to have any downtime, let alone family time.”
Work with your tutor to establish regular, short sessions that maximize one-on-one instructional time – but that won’t make it impossible for your kid to be a kid.
Perhaps it’s appropriate for your tutor to offer homework support that can help your child lessen the load from their teacher. Other sessions might be devoted to tackling fundamental concepts that can help your student be more successful in the classroom – and cut back on homework time after school.
Be in communication with your tutor about the best ways to juggle homework with additional instructional needs. By using TutorUp’s tutoring reports, you and your tutor can also communicate directly with your child’s teacher about their workload and progress.
4. Encourage your tutor to incorporate your child’s interests
Your child’s hobbies are an important way for them to socialize after school, but their interests can be insightful for a tutor to know about, too.
One of the biggest perks of one-on-one instruction is the chance for children to experience personalized learning. Expert tutors incorporate your child’s interests into their lesson plans, making tutoring sessions more enjoyable and effective.
From art and science projects that help your child understand fundamental concepts, to self-directed learning, the work your child does with a tutor can be informed by their natural interests and curiosity.
By working with your tutor to personalize tutoring sessions, you’ll help your child develop a genuine rapport with their tutor. A positive rapport helps tutors make progress with students more quickly, especially when there’s difficult material to cover.
Instead of balking at the latest round of calculus or physics homework, your child will be able to fall back on a positive, nurturing relationship rooted in their strengths and interests.
Done well, tutoring can deepen your child’s ability to learn by drawing on their hobbies. It might still be homework, but at least it’s fun!
5. Show your kids you value their accomplishments at all levels
We’re socialized early in life to associate our value as people with the work that we do. That’s why studies show that kids who receive “bad grades” also struggle with self-confidence and self-esteem.
Too often, we don’t encourage students who achieve lower grades because we don’t view those grades as an accomplishment. Instead we attempt to “remediate” them, and one-on-one tutoring can unfortunately feel like this approach when a student is struggling.
The remedial mindset can begin a bad cycle that winds up killing a child’s natural curiosity or interest in subject material. A genuine love of learning, on the other hand, might actually produce a healthier, more positive attitude toward school – no matter what grades your student earns.
It’s the job of both parents and educators to nurture a child’s curiosity and interests, says Maurice J. Elias, Director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab. This produces not only more competent learners, but learners who are motivated to challenge themselves in the future.
“Competence is propelled by curiosity and interest,” Elias writes at Edutopia. “As children come to feel effective in accomplishing something, they are more likely to try to replicate that feeling by trying to accomplish more challenging tasks.”
Encouraging curiosity and interest can be a healthy way out of the “bad grades” and “low self-esteem” rut. Work with your tutor to positively reinforce your child’s accomplishments in every session. Together, you can instill a lifelong love of learning that will benefit your child for years to come.
