Both children and teachers are very different. But in most cases, circumstances are such that it is impossible to change anything in the school, for example, to move to another class with another teacher. It remains only to find ways to interact. In order not to lose knowledge, parents often decide to hire a tutor. They sometimes find it difficult, literally have to “combine the pleasant with the useful”. How can you achieve this combination, avoiding violence of all kinds? Let’s try to figure it out together.
Step 1. Searching for a tutor.
This step raises most of the doubts of many parents. As a rule, they actively poll all acquaintances, friends, and parents of classmates on the subject of whether there is a tutor they know. And that can be a great decision! But don’t set yourself any limits. It’s quite possible that the tutor you know just got used to and didn’t get many results from working with him or her. Expand your search horizon, read websites or ads. Talk to both of them, even over the phone, and invite the candidate you like to a meeting.
Step 2: Getting to Know Your Tutor.
For the first meeting with the tutor to be as informative as possible, try to ask all your questions. Have your child present at the meeting as well. First, his acquaintance with a completely new person should take place not in direct work on the subject, but an informal setting. Secondly, he should also draw his conclusions about the teacher’s personality. Observe the communication: how sincere and open seems the tutor to you? How interested is he in his work? Allow your child to ask all the questions he or she is concerned about, and pay attention to the tutor’s answers. Express your wishes for the work, tell whether you need to pause in the work with the child and how long they can last to prevent unwanted overload. Regarding the assessment of a professional’s preparedness. A good candidate will usually come to the meeting with originals or copies of education documents and will want to show them. If they don’t, don’t hesitate to ask about it. You are entitled to it, and it only further proves your willingness to cooperate with the tutor. After the meeting think it over again and consider your child’s opinion.
Step 3: Professional or student?
The decision is very individual. Both professionals and students are different. But let’s try to tie the question to your goals. If the goal is only to get a programming homework help, for example,
maybe communication with a student will be enough. If the goal is broader and you want to motivate your child to study the subject, to show him or her the prospects for development in this subject, it is probably better to give preference to a successful professional. He can tell your child about the latest achievements and brilliant people in his field, make the lessons not only informative but also awaken a desire to look at the subject on a wider and larger scale. In addition, a professional in his field can advise on further steps to promote the child: Olympiads, international competitions, foreign schools, and courses. It is only a myth that studying abroad is paid and generally expensive. Firstly, many foreign foundations are ready to finance the education of talented children, and secondly, for example, concerning Europe, the study, in general, is free. You only have to pay for rent, the cost of which differs from the USA to a lesser extent. A professional should know about it, and if he has been working for a long time and is good at it, have examples of his students’ enrollment in such organizations. So, lessons with a professional are good if you associate your child’s future with the subject the tutor teaches.
Step 4. The learning process itself.
If you have started a collaboration with a tutor, don’t leave it to chance. A contact tutor will want to share impressions of the study and communication with your child, report how far the work in the subject has progressed. Do not leave your child’s condition after the lesson unnoticed. How inspired or depressed, tired or full of energy. Of course, a big influence on this is the child’s motivation to study the subject, the presence of his/her own desire to learn. If the motivation does not appear, and there is no direct goal to learn the subject, perhaps classes should be suspended. For example, you could always buy an essay. Don’t try to make your child a writer, if he doest have any abilities to do it.
