It's The School's Job To Teach Children!

At parents' evening it often comes as a bit of a shock that your child is not doing as well in class as you had thought. Naturally you worry about whether they can catch up and reach those dreaded SATs levels that the government says they should attain. Then in January or February out of the school bag comes extra homework with a letter asking you to help them. For many parents helping their children is difficult because of time issues; for others they may not understand how questions have to be answered and the parent/child homework session becomes a bit of a battle. At this point many schools will begin a Homework Club, or will offer extra sessions at school in some form, to help children who have to complete the SATs in May. If this doesn't happen and you are at the end of your tether what then? Some parents decide to employ a private tutor, after school, to help their children reach their potential. And don't be fooled into thinking that people who employ private tutors are wealthy parents; the kind of people who want their sons and daughters in the best school in the area. The majority of children I teach are from families on average incomes. These are the parents who see their children struggling with schoolwork and decide they will do something about it. Do you remember trying to sort out the difference between a noun and a verb? Or trying to remember how to calculate perimeter and area? One of the first comments parents say to me is that they remember how worried they used to be about getting their schoolwork wrong, and they wished they could have had a tutor to help them. However, not all parents feel like this. For some, they consider that it is the job of the school to teach children and parents shouldn't have to work at home with them, or pay extra just for their son or daughter to reach targets that the teacher should have had sorted long ago. While for the most part I understand this sentiment, as a private tutor I have also seen the difference 1-1 tuition can make to a child. They not only learn quickly and more thoroughly, but they also gain a great deal in confidence and self-esteem. They develop the ability to ask questions without being afraid of being laughed at by their friends at playtime. They feel comfortable with the tutor and ask if the points can be explained again as they didn't understand it the first time. Although the task of learning is paramount, a good tutor will also try to introduce an element of fun so that the child enjoys learning. Making learning enjoyable is necessary for anyone who wants to progress; without it, it makes learning another chore; boring, hard work that has to be completed as soon as possible. Once thing I can say is that if children find learning fun when they are young, they will continue learning throughout their life and who knows what success awaits them if they are prepared in this way?