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Planning to Hire a Private Tutor? Avoid These Five Mistakes

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Planning to Hire a Private Tutor? Avoid These Five Mistakes

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Nowadays, most parents don't trust both public and private schools to fully educate their kids. Tutoring is an excellent way to supplement learning outside the class. It can be beneficial to your kid if he or she is struggling to join the senior school of their dream or if they are struggling to hang on to a "gentleman's C+".

Hiring a private tutor for your kid is not that simple as it may seem. Since every tutor gives different results, you'll need to be careful in your selection.  

As a parent, you get can get a one-on-one tutor or a homework helper online from several legit tutoring companies available all over the world.

This might be easy if you avoid the following common mistakes:

1. Forgetting to Check Your Reference

How many factors do you weigh out before hiring a private tutor for your kid? For you to predict the future, you must study the past. For this reason, it makes sense if you research the previous clients, going through the testimonials and about the reputation of the tutor. 

Be sure to find someone with a legitimacy form and, if possible, conduct a background check. A tutor who has previously worked with several students and shown outstanding results might be the right candidate for you. 

2. Waiting Until it is Too Late to Hire a Tutor

Some parents wait until all the good tutors have been hired already. When this happens, you don't have a lot of options to choose from and you might not get the right tutor for your kid. 

Hiring the tutor during the last days or weeks before the exams and expect them to cover the whole semester in a session or two is not sensible. It might not be helpful to your child.

Some parents wait until a student is way far behind from the rest. Hiring a tutor at this time might not help your child catch up with the rest.  

It is always advisable you hire the tutor at the right time to avoid wasting your time and resources while the student is gaining nothing. 

3. Confusing Qualifications for Experience

Do you know the difference between being able to teach and being knowledgeable? It might sound similar but these are entirely different attributes. Recent graduates are much more relatable to students and can talk with them more clearly. 

As a parent, look for a tutor who can break down a hard subject and communicate with the child in the simplest way possible. This is more effective than holding a degree in a subject you graduated more than 5 years ago.

4. Giving Up After Failing the First Time

Tutoring can, at times, be expensive with charges even ranging between $25/hour and $125/hour. For this reason, most parents usually turn to friends or college students at a discounted price. 

But you might be forced to switch to a tutor several times before you get a suitable tutor for your kid. The process of switching tutors is repeated once the student moves to a new class or where they need help in a new subject or course.

It will waste the time of your child and even resources instead of saving as you were thinking. 

You should keep it in mind that an expert tutor can teach faster and more effectively. This implies that you may end paying for a few hours. Work with a company within your budget that has multiple experts and you are ensured of their services. 

5. Not Taking Regular Feedback from Your Kid During Demo Class

This is one of the mistakes you can easily make as a parent. Before you finalize the process of hiring, you may conduct several demo sessions to see what the tutor will be delivering. After every session, ensure you talk to your child in detail. 

For instance, you can ask conceptual questions to see if the tutor explained the basics even slightly. Take time to assess the intellectual, behavioral, and psychological changes of your child to determine if he or she is comfortable with the tutor. 

Since the child will be spending most of their time during the day with the tutors, this is essential. If your kid is not comfortable, it might greatly affect their progress in school.

Most kids won't open up about a tutor so you must dig deep to get the correct feedback. Analyze both your feedback and that of the child and hire the right tutor.

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