Term 1 starts this weekend! I thought this would be an excellent time to give some tips on how parents can help their children get the most out of their tutors. Whether your child needs maths tutoring, help with their English, or their science needs addressing, you want them to get the most out of the time they have with their tutor. Obviously, as tutors, we try to make your job as easy as possible. We do the hard stuff. We ensure that each student know exactly what they have to do and has all the necessary information required to get the most out of their classes. However, there are a few simple ways in which you, as a parent, can help.

1. Make sure your child has all the necessary resources.

This includes any pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, rulers and calculators that they will need throughout the lesson. If your child is attending more than one class, it is also a good idea to make sure they have a snack and a drink. For more information, check out this post on our help centre.

2. Make sure they complete their homework each week.

Each week your child will be given an amount of homework to complete before the next class. The point of this homework is to ensure that your child retains the information that they have learned during the class and to prepare them for the next week’s quiz. Students who do not complete their homework are unlikely to get the most out of the class, so students, parents and tutors have to work together to ensure that this task gets done. Sometimes students may be asked to complete tasks online and print off their homework. If you don’t already, it may be useful investing in a printer, such as mobile printers that are wireless.

3. Make sure you sign the homework schedule every week.

On the second page of each week’s book is a homework schedule. Each week, students will be required to write their homework in this section. There is a space for the schedule to be signed by the tutor, the student and the parent each week. It is important that you sign your child’s book each week. This is not just so you can see what homework they have; this section of the book is also a valuable place for the tutor to write messages for you to read or for you to write messages for the tutor to read. See this post on our help centre for more information. By signing it every week, you can ensure that a line of communication is established between you and your child’s tutor.