BENEFITS OF PRIVATE TUTORING
1. A private tutor is not a student’s teacher or parent. As hard as this is for parents to admit (including myself) students tend to listen more to a private tutor than they do to us. It especially helps when a tutor is younger and closer to your child’s age. But the key is that they are not the child’s parent or teacher.
2. Private tutors, especially those that provide one-to-one instruction, have proven effective in providing results for a child. If the tutoring environment is free of distractions this can further open up the communication lines with the student. Often students are apprehensive about asking questions when their friends or classmates are around but a distraction-free environment can get past this apprehension.
3. Tutors can bridge gaps created when a student doesn’t fully grasp a concept and then falls behind as the teacher builds on these missed concepts. This is especially common in elementary-age math students. For example, a student may struggle with fraction or decimals but in fact, it could be that the student doesn’t fully grasp division concepts.
4. Tutoring supports one-to-one learning. Most students are in a class with 20 or more students so it is difficult for a teacher to provide one-to-one assistance to any child. Private one-to-one tutoring allows a student as much time as necessary to learn new concepts and ask as many questions as necessary to master a concept.
5. Tutoring helps students build confidence and self-esteem. As we just discussed in No. 4, one-to-one tutoring in particular, allows a student sufficient time to master a new concept. Once a student masters new concepts and can see the results, either through successful homework results or exams, a student starts to believe that “I can do this”.
6. Tutoring is a good way for students to maintain what they learned through the summer. Students during summer vacation on average lose 2 months of reading skills and 2.6 months of math skills. Tutoring in the summer not only can prevent these skills losses but can also prepare a student for the next grade starting in the fall.
7. A tutor can effectively help your student prepare and excel on standardized tests. Even if your student has a good understanding of tested materials, there are strategies for such exams as the SAT and ACT that are essential to understand in order to maximize their test score. Most universities will have a minimum SAT/ACT score required for admittance and higher test scores can have an impact on scholarships.
While each child class issue is different, a private tutor is often a good way to help your student get catch up to their classmates as well as provide enrichment program for students needing extra work.
