Questions to Ask Your Personal Tutor

Is your child having difficulty coping with school? Are you looking for a way to improve his grades? Even if you did want to tutor your child yourself, chances are you may not have as much time on your hands. One of the best options to help out your child with school as well as you with your busy schedule as a parent is to hire a home tutor for your child. Personal tutors or private tutors have been proven to be effective in helping kids improve on their school work, as well as helping parents monitor the progress of their children.

Before you start hiring a personal tutor for your child, here is a quick list of questions you need to ask or check with your tutor of choice. Because children have different learning needs, it is imperative to clarify these details with your private tutor. These questions will help you gauge the skill and capabilities of your tutor, so you and your child can gain maximum benefits from private tuition.

1. What educational background do you have? - Whether you are hiring a high school student, college student, or a graduate, this helps you know what level of knowledge your tutor has. Inquire about specialties in subjects, or major courses taken in college.

2. Have you had prior experience tutoring? - Though it is always a plus to get an experienced tutor, most parents do not see this as the only criteria for choosing. Sometimes fresh graduates or newbies who are zealous, reliable, and who want to try out jobs as personal tutors can work just as effectively as seasoned ones.

3. What tutoring method do you employ? - Not all home tutors work in the same manner. It is good to know if your personal tutor uses various forms of media like books, magazines, the internet, and others as part of his teaching routine. Variety is effective in helping children grasp information faster, as well as to keep their interest in the task at hand.

4. What is your schedule? - Perhaps one of the most important points to clarify with your private tutor. Specify how many times a week you wish to have your child tutored, and what times your child is available to start the private tuition. Along with this question comes the per hour rate and payment terms.

5. How do you deal with a difficult child? - There are instances wherein a tutee is non-receptive to the assistance given by his or her personal tutors. A child may be too shy, is aggravated by the added school load, or simply does not want to participate. In this case, ask you tutor how he deals with such tutoring obstacles. It is ideal to choose a tutor that is firm but at the same time understanding about your child's personality and academic needs.

These are only some of the questions you can ask with your tutor. Don't hesitate to make everything clear with your home tutor, so you can both be sure that your child will be well-aided towards a better academic performance in school.

Author Info:

You can learn more on how to get a home tutor, personal tutor or private tutor when you visit UK Tutors.

Home School Curriculum - Should I Buy a Packaged Curriculum?

There are many home school curriculum's available and sometimes it can be hard to know which one to choose or whether to choose one at all. Here are some features of ready-made curriculum that you should consider before buying:

1. You may tend to spend more time on desk work and not feel the freedom to take advantage of home school support group activities, outdoor projects, or community activities.

2. Packaged curriculum tends to be expensive and leave you with less money for field trips or other supplies you might want to purchase.

3. You may tend to keep using the curriculum even if it is not working because you spent the money to purchase it.

4. Some packaged curriculum requires a great deal of teacher preparation and reading through manuals before you are able to teach the material.

5. There is a higher rate of burnout on homeschooling when people purchase a ready-made curriculum. It may cause you to grow weary of the preparation and your child to grow weary of filling in workbook pages and not engage his curiosity.

6. Packaged curriculum tends to be one-size-fits-all and is based on the average student. If your child is advanced or delayed, you may be disappointed with your purchase.

Packaged curriculums were originally designed for private school classrooms, but they do have their place in some home schools. If the parent and child enjoy structure and advanced learning, then a packaged curriculum could work for them. Many people adapt the curriculum to fit their needs and goals and some follow it exactly and have success. Once you assess your goals for homeschooling and take into consideration your child's learning style, you will be able to make an informed decision on what you need to purchase for homeschooling.

Author Info:

For more tips on homeschooling, grab your free report "How to Homeschool using the Best Resources" at http://www.homeschool-how-to.com Heidi Johnson specializes in helping families find resources to simplify and improve their lives.

Teaching Sounds in Reading - Uncover Some of the Most Successful Methods in Teaching a Child to Read

In a previous article I covered the pre-reading activities and skills needed as a first step in teaching a child to read. The second step in the reading process is teaching the letter sounds to your child. This step is the foundation of all reading and should be emphasized.

Keep in mind that a child doesn't have to know the letter names before he is taught the letter sounds. In some children teaching the letter names first will produce greater confusion because the letter names are different from the letter sounds. You will have the most success when you teach the sounds if you have a multi-sensory approach that includes writing the letters, seeing the letters, and saying the letters.

Make sure each sound is said in a quick short manner which involves clipping the sound (you can have your child use a scissors like motion after saying each sound to remind them that the sound cuts off). To teach the letter sounds, you can use:

-A sand tray where the child writes the letters in the sand while saying the sound

-Flashcards without a picture to make sure your child is actually learning the sound of the letter and not the picture

-Glue letters or sandpaper letters where a child traces the letter while saying the sound

-Skywriting where a child writes the letter in the air while saying the sound

-Table writing where a child writes the letter on a table while saying the sound

-Walking around a letter outlined on the floor while saying the sound

-Forming the letter with the body while saying the sound

-Any other activity that will combine having the child saying the letter while writing it and visually seeing it or experiencing it through movement

Remember that the fastest way to teach letter sounds is by combining a multi-sensory approach so that your child is speaking, writing, reading, and spelling all at the same time. This type of approach will ensure that children with different learning styles will all learn the sounds equally well.

There is a method of teaching reading that encourages having the child initially learn all of the sounds each letter makes, as opposed to just learning one sound per letter. If you use this method, you would teach a child that the letter a has three sounds (a as in hat, a as in made, and ah as in water). The idea behind this method is that you give the child all the tools they need to crack the reading code from the very beginning instead of waiting. Once you teach all 26 individual letters, you would go on to teach the rest of the 70 written sounds (phonograms) in the English language. I personally prefer this method and have been very successful using it.

Teaching the letter sounds can be a fairly straightforward and pleasurable task if you remember to use all of a child's senses in the learning process while using a method that presents the sounds in a logical way. By teaching the letter sounds to your child, you'll be opening up a world of many possibilities.

Author Info:

Isa Skrobola received her teaching degree at the University of Michigan. She has taught in various settings and has studied the best methods of education for over 10 years. She is currently homeschooling her six children, and wants to offer you more free information about reading fluency at http://www.childfluency.com