Finding a tutor with impressive credentials on paper is easy, but finding one with the right tutoring style to help your child is considerably more difficult. There are other important factors to consider as well. The tutor you hire will be spending a lot of time around your family, so it is important that he or she fits well into your home environment as well. For both reasons, it is a good idea to involve your child in the tutor selection process.
Discuss It
One of the first things you should do is simply ask your child what he or she is looking for in a tutor. For example, many children prefer tutors that are closer to their own age, like high school or college students. Boys may feel more comfortable with a male tutor, while girls might feel more comfortable with a female tutor. As long as your child’s expectations are realistic, then you should listen to his or her opinion. Children will do a better job with tutors they like than ones that are foisted on them by their parents.
Include Them in Interviews
Allow your child to sit in while you interview prospective tutors and let them ask questions. Your son or daughter may think to ask a tutor something that is really important to him or her that you might not immediately think of. This is always a good way to see how your child and the prospective tutor respond to one another. If they seem to “hit it off” right away, then there is a good chance you’ve made a great match. However, if the tutor seems to have trouble speaking to your child directly, then you can be almost certain that he or she will not be an effective mentor.
Delineate Authority
Another key thing to discuss with your child is the fact that the tutor’s job is to teach him or her. While you do want them to get along well, it is vital that your child understands that the tutor isn’t there just to be his or her new best friend, but to make sure that he or she is learning. It is important for the tutor and child to have a good bond, but the tutor should be able to form a friendly relationship with your child while still maintaining a reasonable amount of discipline to make sure that your child stays focused on learning.
As a parent, you sometimes have to make choices for your child that he or she cannot make on their own and you can visit here to find some places to get started. If your child is resistant to getting tutoring, then you may have to make the decision that you feel is best. However, in most cases, children would rather have some say in who their tutor is and be involved in choosing him or her. If you let your child help select his or her own tutor, your child will respond better to the tutoring process and learn more.