After you have a tutor

Guest Blogger Dr. Rick gives more advice about tutoring:

What To Do After Your Child Has a Tutor
by Dr. Rick

In the last Dr. Rick Blog we talked about the effectiveness of tutoring, its power in helping kids reach their potential, and what parents can do while their children are being helped by a tutor. Click here to review the tips.

I’ve long advocated for tutoring to be an open option – never really “ended” – useful whenever a student needs help, which occurs from time to time. It’s confidence-building for a kid to know there’s someone there, ready to assist when an elementary student gets stumped by long division, a middle-schooler needs help organizing for several subjects, or a high-schooler is flummoxed by writing college application essays.

I’ve seen far too many kids whose school lives have been turned around by tutoring to say that it’s a one-time-only fix. That would be like saying, “My child had a physical last year. He’ll never need one again.”

But for today, let’s discuss what we can do when a current tutoring stretch comes to an end. Your child has just finished a period of time at a Sylvan Learning center (the company I work for), and he’s back on track. What now? Here are some tips.

1. Keep those expectations high. It was high expectations, yours and his, that made him brave enough to seek help in the first place. Keep up those grades and his confidence by expecting continuous improvement.

2. Keep up periodic checkups. We’ve discussed the importance of academic skills assessments. It’s wise to keep this an option for whenever you’re concerned about his grades or his progress.

3. Keep in touch with the tutor. Don’t lose touch with Sylvan once the current tutoring has ended, especially during those high-stress times like oral reports, long-term projects, or major exams. Think of it as a “booster shot” of confidence.

4. Keep in touch with the classroom teacher. The more people who know you’re actively interested in your child’s progress, the better. Communicate with her teachers through parent-teacher meetings, email, informal notes, or the school’s website.

5. Keep up the monitoring. Just because she’s had some tutoring, that doesn’t mean you can lessen up on checking homework (even if you don’t understand all of it – pretend you do and insist on neatness), keeping her to helpful routines, and helping her to study for tests.

6. Keep the rewards and consequences. Nothing wrong with a reasonable reward for a job well done. Or a reasonable consequence for an unmet goal.

7. Encourage study buddies. I’ve written about study buddies more times than I can remember. I strongly encourage kids to study together, to help each other figure out problems, to challenge each other, to compete a little bit, and to celebrate each other’s successes.

8. Keep to those routines. Another of my favorite subjects – routines. Kids need them to keep on track, to provide structure, to know what’s next, to know what our expectations are.

9. Encourage “stretching.” After tutoring, students feel greater confidence, ready to tackle greater academic challenges. Encourage him to read a book that stretches his mind a little, to take a new or more challenging course (a foreign language, say, or a higher level math), or to try an extracurricular activity that he wasn’t ready for previously.

10. Be alert. Be aware of important dates, like when the science fair is scheduled, when major book reports are due, and when mid-terms are given. Be on the lookout for changes in your child’s attitudes about school, his teachers, or his friends. Be watchful for drops in his grades. These can all be danger signs.

Remember to stay positive. Kids, especially adolescents, go through peaks and valleys – academically, emotionally, physically, even spiritually. One day they’re on top of their worlds, the next day, their worlds are crumbling. Our sometimes difficult job is to let them know we love them, we’re there for them, and we’ll keep them safe.

Even if it takes a couple of tutoring sessions.