Effective Home Tuition Planning

It is said time and again that the addition of home tuition to complement regular schooling is the best option of all in educating and developing your children. The benefits are many and although there are certain drawbacks with home tuition they can be managed easily and effectively.

Within the broader requirements of following an agreed curriculum, parents have a great deal of flexibility in choosing both the study methods adopted to suit their child’s learning needs and styles as well choosing a variety of subjects within the curriculum.

That doesn’t mean that home tuition should not be taken seriously.

As with any process, flexibility can only be successful within the limits of a well constructed plan developed to achieve the goals and objectives of the home tuition process. Without this plan you would struggle to deliver the program effectively resulting in a poor performance by your child and you feeling inadequate as their tutor. Take the time to plan in advance of beginning the program and you will reap the benefits.

Start with developing your goals and objectives. What is it that you want your child to achieve? How will you that he or she has got there? Also think about why you chose the home tuition option and what you want to get out of it. If you think your child is old enough ask them to participate and discuss the goals with them. If they believe they contributed they are more likely to be more positive and willing to learn when the learning program commences.

If you can continue to work with your child, the better, it will be. The more he or she is involved the stronger the relationship will become and it will be much easier to deliver the program.

With a clear understanding of the goals and objectives, determine the subject areas to be covered, how long it will take to complete the learning required and measures on how you will know the learning has been successful. Knowing how long each subject is going to take, some taking much longer than others, and knowing how many hours a day you plan to spend on home tuition, you can develop a detailed learning schedule not unlike a regular school timetable but with one big advantage.

Teachers in regular schools must stick to the set timetable. As you monitor progress you can modify the schedule to take into account your child’s strengths and weaknesses.

Come up with your plan by looking at the expectations and requirements for a given subject level and then working backwards: how do you want to achieve that level of knowledge? What are the targets for each week? By setting these targets you can establish a timeline and curriculum that allows for effective home tuition.

We know flexibility can be a huge benefit of home tuition but, do not under any circumstances believe that planning is less important – it is actually more important. If you allow yourself to follow an unplanned program based on the likes and dislikes of your child (which may seem natural especially to the child), he or she will fall behind in their studies and you will fail to achieve the overall goals you set for both your child and yourself.

So, make a clear educational plan that allows for flexibility. Plan what your child is going to learn. The flexibility is in determining the “how” your child is going to learn.

Planning and goal setting are the foundations of adding a home tuition program to complement your child’s regular schooling. As the old saying goes – fail to plan and you plan to fail.