Could hiring a professional home school tutor help your child?
In the UK the law stipulates that children need to be educated, however, that does not mean, that they have to be sent to school. Parents may opt to home-school their children for various reasons: specific mental, emotional or physical health concerns; avoidance of bullying incidents; far distance to the closest school; overall dissatisfaction with the current education system; over-subscribed classrooms with an adult-to-child ratio of 1:30 at the best of times; or merely facilitating a more flexible approach to education, away from rigid timetables, with plenty of real-life experience and outdoor learning as well as an escape from the constraints of the national curriculum.
However, when taking the decision to home-school it is important for parents to consider whether they have the time, resources and capability to educate their children at home; what type of support network is available to them; whether they are able to provide sufficient social and cultural experiences as well as physical exercise; and finally, whether their children would indeed be happy being home-schooled.
Parents must also know that by law they are required to provide full-time, suitable and efficient education. Although these terms are slightly left open to interpretation, some form of evidence may have to be produced at some point during this educational journey to show that these regulations are being met.
Because a home-schooling parent is not required to have any formal educational qualifications, they might encounter situations at some stage, which may exceed their scope and capabilities, especially when it comes to children with special educational needs such as ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and general processing deficits. So, what can parents with children who face these educational hurdles do, if home-schooling remains their preferred (or indeed only) choice?
The answer is simple: they can enlist the support of a qualified home school tutor. Private tuition offers many benefits and advantages to any families, not only those with children with Special Educational Need (SEN). As tutors often specialise in a particular field, parents may choose to work with more than one qualified expert, which means they are receiving top-quality education by a skilled practitioner in that particular area; be it music, science, foreign languages (working with a native speaker!), mathematics, performing arts or SEN. Secondly, tutoring is extremely personalised to meet each individual child’s needs. After an initial assessment the home school tutor can build directly on what the child knows already (not wasting time to go through familiar and mastered concepts), address individual barriers to learning, design a curriculum based on the learner’s interest to keep them fully engaged, set tasks aimed at achieving specific educational goals, accommodate for the learner’s individual learning style preferences, provide regular feedback to the parents and work in close collaboration with them. Thirdly, hiring a home school tutor is flexible. Parents may choose to employ a tutor during the entirety of the educational journey, or they may need additional assistance at certain stages in order to achieve specific aims such as passing an exam, allowing the child to gain a better understanding of a particular subject, skill shortcomings in a special area (e.g. teaching a musical instrument or a foreign language) or simply needing professional advice and guidance for learners with SEN. So, whether it is full-time, part-time or only occasionally, involving a qualified professional will provide peace of mind that the children’s educational needs are being met fully.
In addition to that, it may also deliver a well-deserved break for home-schooling parents, because there is no doubt that the road of home-schooling is strewn with stumbling blocks of varying magnitudes. A tutor will have the knowledge, skills and resources to help families overcome these challenges and they will be up-to-date with the latest educational trends and developments.
There is a large pool of highly qualified home school tutors available to choose from, especially with the alternative of participating in online tuition becoming more acceptable and attractive to parents.
The collaboration between parents and the home school tutor will ensure a well-structured, stimulating, comprehensive, high-quality and foremost personalized curriculum that will give home-schooled children a great educational foundation to prepare them for their professional futures.
To find your perfect home school tutor click here, for any other support please don’t hesitate to contact us here.
If you would like to have a friendly informal chat with us regarding a tutor at any level please call a member of our team on: 0333 335 5139