How Often Should a Child Be Tutored?
Perhaps your child has recently been struggling in the classroom. You may have noticed grades slipping and homework becoming a bit of a struggle. If this is the case, you may need to try extracurricular activities such as last fish here, which is perfect for learning math skills. One of the most prominent extracurricular solutions is to invest in a tutor to help your child get back on track. US News states that tutoring can be integral to bringing students out of a slide.
Regularity Of Sessions
Once the decision is made to get a tutor, the next question is how often should they teach your child. The answer depends on how much work (i.e. homework, review, exam preparation, etc.) is initially required. Ultimately, the amount of catching up that is needed will dictate the frequency of the sessions.
To establish a good routine and allow the tutor time to adequately follow up and reinforce learning, it is recommended to schedule two sessions a week, although a minimum of once weekly will suffice. Additionally, if the student has a significant amount of catching up to do, you may need to start by scheduling several meetings close together. However, once the student has made some strides towards catching up, you and the tutor can re-evaluate the frequency of the meetings.
The time of the year may also affect the frequency of the meetings. They need not be as closely scheduled at the beginning of the school year, but will likely need to increase towards the end, with exam season. At this time, the number of meetings per week can increase to help your student prepare for their tests. Homework help may also need to be more frequent and can take place during the week, or on the weekend.
With this plan, the tutor can do a review of what has already been taught in class, and focus on the ideas that were not well understood. This can help the student prepare for new topics to be covered soon after. Of course, affordability is a factor that might impact the frequency of sessions. You can shop around and look for online alternatives that could be cheaper, and potentially safer during the pandemic. Compare options like Kumon prices to others to find the best option for you.
Length of sessions
What about the length of a tutoring session? One hour of tutoring can seemingly go by quickly, especially after everybody gets set up, books are opened, and progress is checked. Also, when you think about the preparation and traveling that the tutor must do, any meeting that is less than an hour in length is not worth the time. One hour is usually the minimum required time for a tutoring session, and should be enough.
You have to consider that a full day of school may have already been demanded much from your child, and that asking for more time of concentration could potentially be difficult. Students in high school can concentrate for longer, so you can discuss with them and the tutor what is needed. Meetings could also be scheduled for a longer time at the weekend. Based on experience, it is often noticed that students are more receptive and better rested when they haven’t been in school all day. Therefore their ability to concentrate is greater.
The Effects Of Tutoring
In a recent article, the New York Times sites a study that demonstrated that, with a strong tutoring program, ninth and tenth graders with weak math skills were able to learn three years’ worth of math in eight months. There are also many other research-backed theories showing the benefits of tutoring support on academic achievement. The bottom line is that both consistency and frequency matter when it comes to successful tutoring.
While it could be tempting to cut back on sessions or end sessions all together once your student begins to succeed, you should be wary, as old habits can quickly resurface once the tutoring support and accountability stop. Parents are frequently looking to restart tutoring sessions a month or two after they have ended because the student has started slipping again. There are many tutoring companies available online to help with this, for example, visit https://www.solvedtutoring.com/ for more information. It is important to remember that tutoring is not a quick fix, and should be ongoing.
It has been proven that students do best over time with regular tutoring sessions past the point of moderate achievement. A tutor will be able to reinforce the concepts taught in the classroom and ensure that the student stays on top. Regular sessions conducted once or twice per week throughout the school year can provide a student with the boost needed for continued academic success and confidence.
