The Benefits of Employing A Tutor As Part of Your Homeschooling
Homeschooling is a wonderful experience for children and parents alike, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. Hiring a tutor to supplement or fully manage your child’s education can bring a host of benefits to your family.
From individual expertise to emotional support, a good tutor can make the world of difference to your kids’ homeschooling experience. Plus, with a tutor, you might even have a little more free time to pursue your own interests (or just take a much-needed break!).
Let’s dive into the benefits of having a tutor as part of your homeschooled children’s education.
Benefits of choosing a tutor
There are a multitude of reasons why you should look at supporting your kids with an expert tutor. Here are just a few of them to get you started on the tutoring journey.
Specific expertise
If you know your child struggles in a subject or have older children looking to study specific topics, then a tutor will have specialist knowledge and expertise in a topic. This can be immensely beneficial if you’re not confident in the subject matter yourself, saving you hours of time.
Similarly, if your child has special needs you can look for a tutor that has experience in helping to understand any difficulties or different ways of schooling they might need to support their learning.
One-on-one teaching
With large classrooms, it’s easy for children to get lost in the crowd. Many kids therefore benefit from the structure and focus that one-on-one teaching provides them.
Your tutor can adjust the pace and difficulty as needed, spend extra time working through complex issues, and give your child the confidence to solve problems.
Flexibility
With homeschooling, you have complete flexibility over the schedule and content of your child’s education – and this extends to using a tutor. They can work with you to put together a programme that’s fun, educational and totally personalised to your child’s needs.
You can also make the schooling work around your available time so you can also fit in appointments, play dates and anything else that works best for your family.
Accountability
Sometimes, keeping your kids on track with their schooling can be difficult if there’s less structure. A tutor can help to fill that gap by adding some accountability.
Your tutor can work with your child to set goals and keep them motivated towards achieving them. This gives them a great sense of responsibility and ownership over their actions.
Time-saving
Your tutor can take away a significant amount of the legwork needed in planning lessons, teaching and marking any homework, freeing you up to focus on other things.
They’ll also be able to spot and tackle issues more quickly, which will help your child to pick up a subject faster.
How to choose the right tutor
How do you decide which tutor to help with your children’s education? The stakes are high, so it can be a tough call to make.
Here are some top tips on choosing the right tutor to help your child excel.
Think of your child’s needs
You’ll know that every child is different and has a unique set of needs to thrive with their homeschooling. Each child will also have their own strengths, weaknesses and support needed.
Think of how best your kids need to be tutored: would a solid routine help, or do they prefer to learn at different times? Do they need help with soft skills like communication and resilience? The better you know your child, the more you can focus on the right expertise in your new tutor.
Assess the personality match
Equally, every tutor has a different approach that should also be considered before picking the best educator for your child. Look for someone who is positive, enthusiastic, and able to provide constructive feedback without being overly critical.
When interviewing, ask the tutor questions about their approach and beliefs on teaching. This will help you to get a feel for their personality and whether they’re a good match for your family.
Schedule a trial session
If you’ve narrowed down some contenders, be sure to get a trial session in the diary to test how it might work with your kids. A trial session gives you and your child an opportunity to get to know the tutor, ask questions, and learn more about their teaching style and personality.
You’ll quickly get a sense of whether the tutor is the right fit for your child and your family, leaving you feeling more confident in your decision-making process.
Check references
It’s important to check references before deciding on a tutor. If you have a good feeling about a tutor and their references check out, then you’re on the right path.
Don’t be afraid to utilise the local homeschooling network to ask other parents about their experiences and recommendations for tutors. You’ll feel a lot more confident with a personal recommendation for someone than an unknown entity.
Set expectations
Once you’ve settled on a tutor, be clear about your expectations to ensure your child is getting the most benefit from the extra help. The choice is yours whether that looks like specific goals and objectives or just an informal discussion.
Make sure that the tutor is accessible and communicative, and establish a protocol for how you will get in touch with each other. You should be able to speak about any concerns and ask questions during the process.
Wrapping up
Many parents underestimate the amount of time and resources needed to bring their kids a full homeschooling programme. A tutor can be a part of the team that ensures your child thrives with this style of education.
Putting in the work to find the right person will pay off in spades. Before long, you’ll have a happy and engaged child that’s enjoying learning with their tutor.
At Fleet Education Services, you can guarantee a home school tutor that’s fully qualified and experienced in their subject matter. Our team can help with all aspects of homeschooling to help your child succeed.