5 Positive Ways to Introduce Your Child to High School Tutoring
Many years ago, there may have been a stigma attached to high school tutoring. Children may have felt embarrassed, as though they were failing by needing extra help. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and it’s important that children understand this. It’s also important for parents to understand it too. If your child is experiencing struggles at school, it isn’t a reflection on your parenting. In fact, it’s testament to your good parenting that you’re considering getting them the help they need.
If you saw a future for your child in tennis, you wouldn’t let them struggle away hitting a tennis ball against a wall. You’d seek out professional coaching. The same should apply to their education.
Here’s 5 ways you can positively frame a discussion with your child about high school tutoring.
Give Children a Choice Over the Style of Tutoring
If you’ve made the decision that high school tutoring is going to benefit your child, try to include them in the process. You’re not giving them a choice of whether or not they do it, but they can still be involved in choosing the tutor.
It’s extremely important your child can relate to the tutor, and the type of tutoring they receive. For you as the parent, the process will also go a lot smoother if your child feels they still have options. The tutoring will also be far more productive when your child can make a connection with the tutor they’re working with.
Most tutoring services should offer a free trial session – encourage your child to give it a go, and if they don’t like it, you can try others.
Explain You Are Helping and Believe in Your Child
It’s important to explain that high school tutoring isn’t a punishment. For a teenager who doesn’t want to participate, it can feel that way to begin with. As the parent, it will be your job to let them know they’re not being punished for bad grades. It’s all about helping them improve and work towards their future goals.
Make sure your child understands you believe in them, and you want to give them the very best chance of succeeding. High school tutoring really is about giving students the skills they need to succeed and make school life easier on them. Once they realise it’s an opportunity for them, they should be more receptive to the idea.
One Hour Tutoring = 3 Hours of Study
Following on from the point that high school tutoring can give students the skills to actually make school easier, there’s also an added benefit. The progress they can make in 1 hour of weekly tutoring can sometimes be equal to around 2-3 hours of actual study. Unfortunately high school tutoring can’t take away their homework, but it can certainly be a time to plan and work on homework tasks with a tutor.
Most students find this a productive way to structure their tutoring sessions, and it’s a great way of identifying knowledge gaps. It’s an hour they would have spent doing homework anyway, so why not spend that hour doing homework and learning some skills to make other homework sessions easier?
Make it About Your Child’s Future Goals
It’s important to remind your child about the benefits of high school tutoring. One of the best ways to do this is to link it back to any future career goals they may have. If your child wants to join the Army, that’s fine. Remind them that the marks required to enter the Australian Defence Force Academy are quite high. If they want to run their own business, remind them there’s a whole range of skills required behind the scenes of any business.
Once a child sees that improving their school work can have benefits for their long term goals, they should be more excited about getting started.
‘Trust Us – We Care’
Finally, there’s the ‘trust us’ factor. Even if your child is resistant to the idea of high school tutoring, they should still have trust in you as a parent. The biggest thing to remember is that tutoring is not a punishment – its an opportunity to make their lives easier and give them the skills required for success. As parents, show your child you care about them, and you want to get them back on track before they fall any further behind.
At Big Improvements Tutoring we aim to provide a supportive, confidence-building environment for students. If your child is apprehensive, we’re confident our awesome team of tutors can turn them around. If you think your child would benefit from positive, individualised high school tutoring, click below to book your free session today!