Does my child need a tutor?

Have you been considering tuition for your child? Whether you want to give them an extra helping hand if they’re struggling in school or challenge them if they’re excelling, there are so many reasons to consider private tuition. 

Let’s take a look at why you might consider tuition, how a tutor can help your child and how to get the most out of tuition. So you can answer the question for yourself; does my child need a tutor? 

Reasons to consider tuition

While private tuition can be a great way to help children that are struggling in school, there are plenty of other reasons to consider tuition for your child. Even if your child is performing well or exceeding academic expectations for their age group, tuition could be a real benefit for them. 

Here are some reasons you could consider tuition for your child:

• Your child is preparing for 11 Plus or grammar school exams
• To boost their confidence ahead of SATs exams
• Helping them with maths and English struggles to ensure they get the best grades in these important subjects
• If they’ve seen a dip in grades recently
• If your child’s teacher notices they’re often acting up in the same classes
• Helping your child catch up after an illness or family problem
• To provide additional educational aid if your child has a suspected or diagnosed learning difficulty
• Giving your child an additional challenge if they’re performing exceedingly well in school.

Signs your child may need a tutor

It’s good to know what to look for if you’re considering tuition for your child. Signs that your child may need tuition, whether they need extra help or a challenge, can be your deciding factor. Here are some reasons and signs that your child may need a tutor.

• They’ve missed a lot of time in school. It can’t always be helped, sometimes whether it’s due to illness, family problems or even school closures children can miss a decent chunk of time in school. Catching up can seem incredibly daunting for your child, and seem like an impossible task. A tutor can help your child catch up at a pace that best suits their learning style and speed, so they don’t get overwhelmed and the information sinks in. 
• Your child has additional needs. Some children may have special educational needs or a learning disability that impacts the way they learn. A tutor can help by giving your child the extra attention their school may not have the resources to easily provide. Private tutors can get to know the best way to help a child with special educational needs retain information and encourage them to reach their full learning potential. 
• Exam anxiety. Whether they’re preparing for their 11 Plus or GCSE exams, anxiety can really hinder your child’s ability to revise and even keep their schoolwork in class. Revision can be a little overwhelming for your child as it’s a self-led way of learning, with teachers only able to give direction on what to revise for exams. A tutor can provide structure to revision in line with the national curriculum, in a way that works best with your child’s learning style. That way your child won’t feel quite so lost with their revision and can go into their exams with confidence. 
• A drop in confidence. Even if your child normally performs well in school, a dip in confidence can knock their grades. Your child may have lost their love for learning or had the confidence knocked by a bad result or perhaps even a bad experience with a teacher. That’s where a tutor can step in, helping your child change their attitude towards learning and develop a growth mindset. Eventually, your child’s confidence in their learning will be back up, and so will their grades. 
• Needing an additional challenge. Your child may not be struggling with their learning, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t benefit from tuition. If your child is exceeding expectations for their age group, tuition could be just what they need to give them an extra educational challenge. If your child isn’t engaged with their lessons because they’re not being challenged, it can lead to behaviour issues and possibly even see their performance start to dip. A tutor can provide your child with a bespoke curriculum that challenges them and encourages them to keep doing well in school by maintaining their love for learning. 
• They struggle to keep up or have time management issues. Children will all learn at their own pace, but sometimes that can be an issue when schools have to teach at a set pace. Your child could get stuck on particular topics, meaning they struggle to keep up with other children. Or they could struggle with independent learning, homework and getting into a learning routine. Regular sessions with a tutor can help your child develop a learning routine that works for them, and give them the extra time they need to get their heads around those difficult topics they were stuck on. 

How can a tutor help my child? 

While schools will do everything they can to ensure every child gets the best education they can, some children may fall behind, struggle, have additional needs or exceed the academic level expected by their age group. That’s where a tutor can come in to help your child. 

A tutor can work with your child either one-to-one or in small groups. This means that if your child needs additional attention that their school can’t provide due to large classes, they can get in from a tutor. Tutors don’t have to cater to as many learning styles as a teacher in a full classroom might.

This means a tutor can pinpoint the areas that your child needs help understanding or needs an additional challenge in and focus on them in a way that works best for your child. Your child’s tutor can do this while helping them with homework, preparing for exams, helping them catch up or providing them with additional learning alongside their schoolwork.

How to know a tutor is helping

It may take a while before you start to see a real improvement in your child’s school work to know that the tuition is really helping them. So at first, you may be wondering if tuition is giving your child the help or challenge that they need. 

That’s why it’s a good thing to keep in contact with your child’s tutor and see how your child is progressing, rather than waiting for the results to show in school. At Explore Learning, we’ll always keep you updated on how your child is doing, and you can easily see reports on how their learning with us is going. 

After a short while of tuition, you can start to reach out to your child’s teacher to see if they’ve noticed an improvement in their work. Ideally, you want to wait until your child has had two or three sessions with their tutor before checking with their tutor. With Explore Learning, you can try your first session for free, to see if we’re the right fit for your child. 

Getting the most out of tuition

A tutor can do great things for your child’s confidence in learning. But to get the most out of your tutor, there are a few good practices to stick to. 

Good home habits

Making sure your child is practising good home habits can be the first and most important step to making sure they get the most out of education and tuition. So what are good home habits that can help get your child in the right headspace to learn? 

• Sleep hygiene. Children that are too tired or don’t have a regular sleep routine can have difficulty retaining the information from their lessons, they can become easily distracted or start acting up – we’re all familiar with tired children getting cranky!  So, make sure your child has a regular bedtime that’s not too late so they can get the rest that they need to learn. 
• Regular mealtimes. Concentration can be really difficult if your child doesn’t have a set routine for things like mealtimes, not to mention if they’re hungry. So make sure that mealtimes happen around the same time each day so that your child is fuelled to learn and understands their routine. 
• Independent literacy. Tutors will have their work cut out for them if your child isn’t regularly reading. While improving your child’s reading, writing and vocabulary can all be part of their tuition, to get the most out of their time with a tutor your child should be reading a little on their own each day. Or if your child is a reluctant reader, you can read with them or to them. 

Relaxation and rewards

School can feel like a lot of pressure for some children, even if they’re performing well academically. So it’s important to make sure your child is getting the relaxation they need. So many studies have shown that play and free time are important parts of a child’s learning and development. 

It’s also important to make sure your child is getting recognition for the work they put into their learning. If your child is doing well, make sure that you keep up the enthusiasm for their school achievements. Even if they’re always getting top marks, keep celebrating so that your child keeps feeling encouraged to learn. 

If your child is struggling with a certain subject, try setting realistic goals together. Just one or two more marks on their next spelling test, for example – and be sure to celebrate when they achieve those goals, so your child is always encouraged to keep trying to do their best. 

Making sure your child is getting the rest they need and feeling like their school achievements really sets a solid foundation for a tutor to work from. 

Should I get a tutor for my child? 

A tutor can really help your child excel in their learning or catch up if they need extra help. So, if you’re asking yourself if you should get a tutor for your child, think about how a tutor can help your child. If your child isn’t being challenged enough at school, if they’ve fallen behind in their learning or had a lot of time off, if they have exam anxiety or they’re really struggling with their maths and English, then it might be time to consider a tutor. 

Why not try out tuition to see if it’s right for your child? With Explore Learning you can book a free trial, so you can see how tuition can benefit your child in their learning.