As parents, we are always looking for ways to help our children. Many times we are the ones that have to step up and help them where they need help the most. Here are 5 Helpful Tips for Tutoring Your Child.

 

5 Helpful Tips for Tutoring Your Child

There’s a very high chance that it’s been years since you’ve last been in school, right? Whether it’s secondary or college-level education, it’s most likely been a few years. It’s natural that you can’t entirely remember what you learned, especially if it’s elementary or middle school education. To make matters worse, sometimes the rules just completely change and some things don’t have the same meaning that they did when you were younger.

A great example would be math. If you’ve ever watched The Incredibles 2 then you might remember the scene where Mr. Incredible is tutoring his son over math. Mr. Incredible then you might remember him said “Why would they change math? Math is math!”, you may have already been in this situation or you can at least expect something similar. The math just keeps changing just like other rules for topics! It’s hard to keep up with this as a parent, and it’s even tougher to even help out your child if the rules have completely changed.

It makes things so difficult as your child is struggling, probably stressed over their grades or work, and you’re stressed about that and the fact you’re unable to help. It’s not a pretty sight to see or to even think about. It can even be one major headache as well, right? Unfortunately, some things just can’t be avoided, but regardless, even if you’re still hoping to help your child keep good grades and help them out with their homework there are still ways to do it. So these are some helpful tips for tutoring your child.  

Figure out what could be making the assignments difficult for your child

Sometimes it could just be a complex topic, it’s understandable if some things are a little more complicated than others to understand. It happens to the best of us. However, you should try and talk about what exactly they don’t understand to get a general idea of why they’re struggling. There may always be the chance that your child is just a dyslexic learner or even stressed out. So just to get to the bottom of it so their needs can be accommodated.

Ask yourself if you’re able to help out

Since school was so long ago, will you be able to help them out? Are there any topics that you know you’re good at and can do? Sure, your memory is most likely going to be pretty fuzzy. The style and lessons that your children are taught are going to massively differ based on what the topic is, and even the amount of years ago it’s been since you’ve learned the topic. Topics are constantly changing, history is constantly changing and it can be a little hard to keep up.

As a parent you’re not expected to be as knowledgeable or as experienced as your child’s teacher. So it’s okay if you’re getting confused or feel lost on a topic. There are thankfully other things that can be done to help your child. Even if you can’t help with certain topics, you can still do a lot by just providing the right tools for them. If they’re stuck doing math then you can look into getting a fraction calculator for them. Even just providing the right tools can help a lot.

You can also look online to see if you can find other resources such as free maths worksheets or wherever they are struggling and help them work through. Even if you don’t know how to do it yourself, the internet can help you out.

Be patient

You should try to be patient with yourself but you should also aim to be patient with your child as well. They’re doing the best they can and some topics are just too confusing. You’ve been in their shoes before where something can be explained over and over and it makes little sense. Sometimes there are topics that just take more time and explanation for your child to understand. If your patience is wearing thin, then just take a break.

Look into fun ways to tutor

Depending on the topic, you can have some fun with your child in tutoring. Are you familiar with the old cartoon The Magic School Bus?  The teacher took her students on fun adventures to learn topics. You can try doing something similar. If your child is struggling with science, take them to a museum, zoo, or even a botanical garden. It gives them the chance to learn and have fun at the same time. Plus it makes the learning and tutoring experience far more light-hearted as well.

Create a designated learning space at home

Tutoring isn’t easy, but it may help if you create a designated spot at home that’s meant for learning. This doesn’t need to be anything big or fancy.  It can be nothing more than just a desk in a corner of a room. You just want to ensure that this is a space that will have minimal distractions.