Although in-home tutoring is commonly used to augment the school work of your kids, a one-on-one process for teaching children can also be an advantage when they need to take a crucial exam, which will determine their academic future. For example, grade school and high school children sometimes take entrance examinations to prestigious schools or qualifying exams for a high school or tertiary education. In-home tutors can help your child study for exams, cope with the pressure, and answer the exam as clearly and calmly as possible.

Study skills for school work are similar to studying for exams, but the latter requires students to absorb a huge load of information in such a short time that the students may experience mental fatigue. Mental exhaustion deters, rather than helps, learning and developing the right study habits.

The use of in-home tutoring is not new to the academe. In the United Kingdom, students enroll in cramming schools to learn all they can before taking the A-Level and the GSCE exams. India and Hongkong also have cram schools that not only help their students enter university, but also cope with strict academic requirements.

In the United States, the term “cramming” has a negative connotation. The word may mean studying too much information for too short a time, especially the night before, to pass an exam. It conjures nights of deprived sleep and too much caffeine. Because of this negative perception, cram schools in the States call themselves tutorial schools or tutoring agencies. They not only offer one-on-one tutoring or in-home tutoring, but also classes and study groups.

There are two parts to the news on Obama’s education program, which I quote excerpts from the Yahoo! News article:

Part I

Bemoaning America’s decreasing global educational competitiveness, Obama sought in a nationally broadcast interview to reinvigorate his education agenda. At the same time, the president acknowledged that many poor schools don’t have the money they need and he defended federal aid for them. But Obama also said that money alone won’t fix the problems in public schools, saying higher standards must be set and achieved by students and teachers alike.

Part II

Obama announced a goal of recruiting 10,000 teachers who work in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math — over the next two years. In a statement, Obama said such education is vital to allowing students to compete against their peers in today’s economy.

Obama seems to target two areas of education that we have neglected for a long time: higher standards and quality teachers. We have gotten used to seeing mediocrity in our students as well as in our fellow teachers. It is time to change the game plan and raise the bar for academic performance. Students and their parents should prioritize getting an education no matter what. Teachers should not give up on the kids despite the lack of financial support for public schools from the federal government.

If you have high expectations from your child’s academic performance, then you should make sure they share your sentiments. Some children or teens may have lost their ability to dream big, which frequently demotivates them to succeed not only in school, but also in life.

If you want, you can educate your children through reading books with them. Reading skills are one of the many hurdles to learning that teachers had to struggle against. If we can find extra help from part-time or full-time tutors to teach our children how to read and comprehend what they read, then we can teach them how to appreciate learning. We do not need more days in the school calendar, but more time spent reading books than watching TV or playing video games.

In-home tutoring is a one-on-one process where the in-home tutor guides the tutee (student) in learning. This kind of tutoring usually focuses on single subjects that a student has difficulty achieving good grades in school. Note that the emphasis here is on reaching high grades.

Although in-home tutoring does not neglect the more progressive concepts in education and learning, the process itself is more specific in its goals as well as in its methods. Seen as a more informal and personal form of teaching, in-home tutoring does not add burden to the student’s work load, which is a common misconception of what a tutor does for a student.

In-home tutors teach their students how to achieve clarity of thinking when reading or answering homework. Thus, instead of adding more assignments on top of those already assigned by the child’s teachers, the in-home tutor guides the child in doing homework, in reading assignments, and in studying for exams. The goal of in-home tutoring is to help the child understand, retain and apply the lessons he or she is learning at school.

In-home tutoring supplements the education system, and is not an alternative to it. Unlike homeschooling, which emphasizes freedom from the restrictive education system, in-home tutoring works in tandem with the education system. In-home tutors who are professionally trained educators are encouraged to seek the help of the child’s teachers in creating a tutoring plan that will complement the teacher’s lesson plan.

In-home tutoring is neither about memorizing or spoon feeding. In-home tutors may require their students to memorize some lessons, but afterwards, the students are required to state in their own words how they understood the lesson and what they can contribute to the topic aside from what was given to them by the teacher and by the in-home tutor. The goal here is not to spoon feed the answers to the student, but to encourage natural curiosity to build and for the desire to learn to grow in the child. Thus, the child is motivated to search the answers on his own as well as to test out personal hypotheses and observe its results.

In-home tutors, therefore, are not substitutes for the school teachers who practice systematic methods of measuring a child’s progress in intellectual development. You will only realize the effectiveness of in-home tutoring once the child’s grades in school improved significantly and her behavior towards learning and school has changed dramatically.

We all know reading helps develop a child’s intelligence and creativity. When a parent reads to a child early, the child develops speech and listening skills faster than average. More than the intellectual benefits, reading to your child also bring emotional benefits, such as the following:

• Reading to your childs builds an emotional bond between you and your child. The time spent on reading together gives your child a sense of intimacy and well-being.
• The sense of intimacy of reading to your child becomes a pleasurable experience to your child. It builds a positive attitude towards reading as your child grows up.
• Reading and listening to your voice calms your child, especially when he feels fretful and restless.
• Reading promotes increased communication between you and your child.

reading provides an excellent opportunity for one-on-one communication between parent and child. It also gives the child the attention he or she craves. Aside from attention, children also learn appropriate behavior when they are read to. They are exposed to new situations, making them more prepared when they encounter these situations in real life.

Some children have problems with focusing their attention to one task for a long period. Reading to them becomes a challenge, which parents and in-home tutors can overcome by keeping the child emotionally and mentally engaged with the activity. Here are a few tips that parents and in-home tutors can follow to make reading together with the child fun as well as enlightening.

• Put together a selection of children’s books with bright, colorful illustrations and written by popular children’s authors. The topics or stories should connect well with the child’s age group.
• Involve your child in selecting books for reading. Books should be read many times to practice reading aloud as well as develop a child’s reading comprehension. Encouraging a child to choose the books also ensures his or her interest in what he or she is reading.
• Get into the story and act out some of the scenes. Roar like a lion or squeak like a mouse. Sounds and actions paired with words expand a child’s imagination. As the child builds his or her ability to think and visualize the story, his or her creativity also expands. Creativity is actually an important aspect of learning.
• When the child encounters new words or does not understand the story, parents or in-home tutors should explain what the words mean or what the story may mean. They should also ask a child what he or she thinks of the story and how it relates to him or her.
• For parents, snuggling and cuddling with your child also makes reading an intimate experience. Because bedtime is usually the time for reading books or telling stories, children feel calmer and happier before sleeping. This often discourages nightmares and night terrors that are common occurrences during childhood.

You have probably heard of the saying, “Charity begins at home.” In the field of teaching and in-home tutoring, literacy begins at home, too. Formal education for your children may start when he or she starts attending school, but learning begins before that.

As a parent, one of your responsibilities is to look after your child’s intellectual development. It is in your child’s best interests when you begin reading to him or her as early as possible. An advocacy group for reading and literacy, Literacy Connections, advises parents not to wait until their child is older before they begin reading to them.

Reading to your child has many benefits. The most important, of course, is building a close bond with your child. Make your reading sessions a nightly habit. Soon, this habit will turn into an important aspect of your child’s character. Reading with your child has life-long benefits, which include development of a longer attention span, listening skills and imagination. Pre-school children who learn the language by hearing words and listening to sentences tend to do well in school.

This assertion parallels the results from a Rhode Island study that compared two groups of 8-month-old babies. The parents of one group read to them while the other group’s parents did not. The study revealed that the group of babies who listened to their parents read aloud to them understood more words since babyhood than the other group of babies.

A life-long interest in reading leads to development of life-long skills in learning, which involves listening skills. Along with learning skills, children also develop their creativity and curiosity. As a result, children who read books more often perform better in school.

Perhaps, APD is more of a learning disorder than ADHD because it involves auditory processing, which is necessary for interpreting information through verbal communication. As we all know, verbal communication is necessary in the learning process.

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) symptoms include difficulty in paying attention and remembering information when coursed through multiple modes, such as audio and video at the same time. Better comprehension occurs when information is visual, such as images and videos.

Persons with APD also have trouble following directions or instructions when delivered in succession. They need to hear or read the instruction a step at a time. If the in-home tutor delivers the instructions orally, then the in-home tutor should speak slowly and clearly while delivering each step’s directions.

In-home tutoring for children with APD requires a quite location. Persons with APD do not like background noise. They also need more time to process information. This means the in-home tutor should exercise more patience than usual and provide some extra time for the student.

Let us look deeper into ADHD and understand how this disorder came to be. Some experts believe that people who have ADHD retain some of the “hunter” characteristics associated with pre-agricultural humans. ADHD behavior works well when applied in work that require searching, such as treasure hunting, or tasks that take risks or involves competition, such as sports.

Thus, in-home tutors who work closely with children with ADHD must integrate physical activities with learning. For example, instead of asking a child to write down the answers to a short quiz, the in-home tutor creates large cutouts of words and asks the child to select the right answer from the words and stick them on a large corkboard.

Another idea for in-home tutoring children with ADHD is to create a game wherein the child quickly finds answers to questions in different areas inside the study room. The child receives a reward for every correct answer found.

In another perspective, ADHD may have developed during pregnancy. The mother could have been drinking or smoking or she had exposure to lead, which causes pregnancy-related mutations. Likewise, a 2007 study linked to delays in learning rates and behavioral problems in children with the use of organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos on fruits and vegetables

Among schoolchildren, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the most common diagnosis by child psychiatrists today. This disorder has been controversial for many reasons, one of which is the frequent over-diagnosis of ADHD.

Some teachers, in-home tutors and parents see children who display too much energy or talk too much as disruptive, which leads them to think that those children have ADHD or ADD. Precociousness used to be an adorable quality in children. However, this same quality now elicits suspicion and disapproval.

ADHD has three subtypes:

• Subtype I – predominantly hyperactive-impulsive
• Subtype II – predominantly inattentive
• Subtype III – combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive

A child with subtype II ADHD may sit quietly, but may not be paying attention to what they are doing. Because the children get along well with other children and do not display behavioral problems, parents, teachers and some in-home tutors often overlook this subtype of ADHD. Children who commonly receive an ADHD diagnosis have subtype III, which shows six or more symptoms of inattention and six or more symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity.

Subtype I and Subtype III are what we understand as ADHD and Subtype II is actually ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder. All types exist along with other behavioral problems or learning disorders.

More than thirty years ago, the existence of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Auditory Processing Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder were unheard of. Today, these three disorders were the bane of many children who had to take medication, undergo counseling, and go to special classes that help them cope with schoolwork. As a result, in-home tutors and one-one-one tutoring sessions for these children have become more important than ever to help them cope with life, their surroundings and their studies.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Since its discovery in the 1970s, ADHD continues to be the most studied and diagnosed psychiatric condition in children. Doctors diagnose ADHD more commonly in boys than girls, though this may be due to subjective bias from teachers. The frequency of diagnosis and the mode of treatment for ADHD made it a controversial disorder in children.

Children with ADHD struggle with their homework, often lose their things, and have difficulty following instructions. They fidget and squirm, which shows they cannot stay in one place too long. Constant motion and talking non-stop disrupt their day-to-day activities as well as the work of their classmates and family members.

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)

Relatively new to modern psychiatry, Central Auditory Processing Disorder or CAPD is an umbrella term for a variety of disorders affecting the way a brain processes auditory information. The children do not have any hearing impairment; they find it difficult to recognize and interpret sounds of speech.

Doctors often misdiagnose CAPD as ADHD, Asperger syndrome or other forms of autism. Although the problem exists in auditory processing, this disorder extends to reading because the written word is just a visual notation of verbal language. In effect, children with CAPD have difficulty reading and writing as well as comprehending speech.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)

The most recent of the three disorders, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, is predominantly a behavioral problem. Because of the ongoing pattern of disobedience, hostility and defiance, children diagnosed with ODD have difficulty with authoritative figures, such as teachers and parents. Most children with ODD grow up as juvenile delinquents with anti-social behavior.

Temper tantrums, stealing, bullying and vandalism are some of the key symptoms of ODD. The child’s behaviors often disrupt his or her daily activities as well as those of others around them. They may deliberately disturb the work of other people or blame them for failures.

If parents choose to hire an in-home tutor for their children, then the in-home tutor should incorporate those methods used in academic coaching and mentoring. Instead of directing the child to the right answers, the in-home tutor teaches your child how to look for answers. For example, the in-home tutor teaches your child how to use a library or the Internet for research.

In addition to hiring an in-home tutor, the parents themselves should learn to apply mentoring and academic coaching to their children. These techniques make use of emotional support as motivation for the child to achieve his or her goals. Emotional support comes in many forms, such as understanding, patience, soft encouragement, and positive reinforcement.

An in-home tutor can act either as a parent or as an older sibling to build an emotional bond with the child, but this kind of relationship is often discouraged because it may become a liability in the future for both the in-home tutor and the child. The participation of the parents, therefore, is crucial in building a child’s confidence, interest in learning and motivation for excellence in every endeavor.

Tutoring and academic coaching both aim towards improving a student’s knowledge and skills. As proof of this improvement, the student’s grades pull up. This boosts the student’s self-confidence and motivation to learn more.

However, tutoring differs from academic coaching in application. Tutoring is often applied when the student has difficulty in one subject area, such as Math, Science or English. The tutor’s expertise with a particular subject is very beneficial in this case.

Academic coaching works better when the student has difficulties in multiple subjects. It incorporates tutoring, which focuses on specific goals, such as finishing homework on time, achieving a certain level of reading comprehension or increasing grades from C to A.

Academic coaching also works towards those goals, but the in-home tutor who practices academic coaching goes beyond simple tutoring. The best tutors work with parents and teachers in creating a strategic plan for improving a student’s academic skills as well as life skills, such as time management and goal setting. In effect, a good tutor to hire is someone who knows academic coaching. This person is responsible for teaching your child how to read for retention, how to break down projects into components, how to do quality control, and how to take notes effectively.

Aside from the professional credentials, such as degrees and certificates, you should look for other qualities, such as trustworthiness and reliability, in an in-home tutor. However, we do not easily see these qualities in a person when we first meet them. The best way to find evidence that an in-home tutor has these desirable qualities is to look for the following telltale clues:

• They attract the best students. They often have a full schedule as well as a waiting list of students.
• Their junior colleagues praise them. Good tutors help their fellow tutors, especially the beginners. They act as mentors to other tutors as well as to their students.
• They have strong referrals from parents and previous students. Testimonials have a strong effect on people. If these parents and students think this particular tutor is the best there is, then they may be right. There is no reason they would be lying, right?
• Their students are at the top of their class. This is, perhaps, the best proof of a tutor’s skills in sharing knowledge and developing skills. If that person can deliver excellent results, then he or she is surely one of the best.

Your tutoring agency also matches your child’s personality with the tutor’s personality. Share with your agency your child’s needs and preferences. They will make sure you will have the best in-home tutor for your child.

We often see the relationship between an in-home tutor and tutee romanticized in films and books. In a platonic sense, the relationship resembles that of a master and an apprentice, which parallels a familial relationship between sisters or brothers and between a parent and a child.

In-home tutoring has similar characteristics with mentoring. Mentoring has one person, the mentor, helping another, the mentee, to achieve a goal. Mentoring also strives to create an environment in which a person has confidence to express his needs without fear of rebuke. Mentoring is essentially a one-on-one relationship that is completely confidential a useful tool in professional and academic development.

To be a good tutor you have to be a good mentor. Good mentors share life experiences and wisdom as well as knowledge and skills. They are good listeners, good observers and good problem-solvers. Their relationships with their students are characterized by mutual respect, trust, understanding and empathy.

A tutor of the opposite gender as your child raises concerns in some parents. Currently, parents can never be too careful with a stranger taking advantage of their children. The possibility of misdemeanor or abuse strongly exists, which prompted many tutoring agencies to perform thorough background checks, including an FBI sex offender search, on all their professional tutors.

However, this concern may be needless. Focusing on the tutor’s gender prevents you from seeing the other good qualities of a tutor. The strict selection of in-home tutors assures parents that tutoring companies always hire reliable, well-trained and highly educated employees. When you really think of it, the worst that can happen is that your child will develop a crush on his or her tutor.

A good tutor will know what to do with a schoolgirl crush. A professional tutor will never encourage the infatuation to bloom. When you hire a tutor, check his credentials. When you meet him in person, your instincts will tell you whether that person is trustworthy or not.