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.

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.

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.

Over the years, professional tutors proved to be invaluable assets in an otherwise imperfect educational system. They support the established system by imparting the love of learning through various teaching strategies. In-home tutors serve as a support for schoolchildren, and even those in high school. Tutors have taught royalties, politicians, artists and other famous personalities. There is no doubt that tutoring is effective.

However, not all tutorials turn out well due to many reasons. Many factors affect a child’s learning; thus, parents and tutors need to consider them. These factors include inexperienced tutors. Their lack of knowledge and experience make them ineffective in developing a child’s learning skills.

Although hiring the right in-house tutors is important, keeping the parents involved is also a key factor in in-home tutoring. To ensure effective tutoring, parents should get involved every step of the way. The first thing they need to do is to diagnose the problem and get the right person to fix the problem.

If you are considering in-house tutoring as a solution, then the next thing you should do is ask for a potential tutor’s referrals and credentials. Aside from that, parents should look into the tutor’s personality and personal values. He or she should possess the qualities of a good tutor.

Upon hiring a tutor, the goals and expectations should be laid out to the tutor and the child. These goals should be realistic. Parents have to make sure that the child can attain these goals. Having realistic goals would avoid frustrating the child. It also helps to set a time frame in achieving these goals. With this, parents can help tutors prepare lesson plans and modules to help the child.

Along the way, parents need to be supportive of the endeavor. They need to keep encouraging the child by giving rewards and doling out appropriate punishments. They should also maintain a positive attitude, which their child can imitate. They need to cooperate with the tutor. Improving a child’s performance is not the work of one person alone.

Education plays an important role in building your child’s dreams. As a parent, you want your child to get a quality education as well as perform well in school. Their academic performance reflects on the kind of parent you are and your personal concern for your child’s future.

However, not every child loves school. In fact, many children have developed a strong dislike towards attending school and studying in general. This negative attitude did not spring up suddenly; many factors have contributed to its growth.

Most children who suddenly lose interest in school may have some fears, such as rejection, failure and shame. Your child may have been in an incident where he or she felt rejected or embarrassed. Some children do not like to go to school when they fear bullying or when they see themselves as failures.

Because of this incident, your child’s confidence cracked under pressure. Self-surface through the crack, and if this is not fixed, the self-doubt will turn into a self-defeating attitude, which your child will carry to adulthood. For example, let us say the teacher asked your child to solve a Math problem on the board. However, he did not know how. This would surely embarrass your child, especially when the rest of the class laughed or hooted at him for his inability to do what the teacher asked.

Some children may find the school’s pace too slow, while others may find it hard to catch up. There are children who would need more time to absorb and understand new information. If the rest of the class learns fast, then those children who learn slowly will surely be left behind. As a result, they develop negative feelings towards school.

Sometimes, children hate studying because schoolwork is overwhelming. Schools today demand more time and effort from their students than what school age children and high school students normally can do. If the level of work and concentration required equals that of a college curriculum, then the young student will surely be overwhelmed.

Because of these factors, children develop an aversion of going to school, but not necessarily of learning. Parents may see their children unable to learn because they prefer not to go to school. However, there are other ways of learning, which the school is not the sole provider. One of the options is in-home tutoring.

In-home tutoring offers a great deal of help to win back a child’s love for school. Whatever the cause is, professional tutors can work with it. If the child felt embarrassed because he did not know the lesson, then in-home tutoring could build the child’s confidence and encourage him to learn more. The same is true for children who lag behind their classes. They would need the guidance of an in-home tutor to supplement the lessons from school. In-home tutors could also help manage the child’s time for projects and home work.

We all use Math in every aspect of our daily lives. From the measurements we make every time we prepare food to the number of coins we had in our pockets, Math inevitably proves itself a very useful tool. If we do not study Math well, then we will find it difficult to manage even our personal finances.

However, few people truly appreciate Math. The general dislike for numbers probably lies in the complexity of equations and formulas we had to study in school. In time, we learned to dread the subject of Math, and the exams we had to take just to pass through grade school, and then through high school and college.

When high school seniors decide what their major in college will be, most of them would look for a course that requires less Math subjects. If they had to take Math subjects, then they prefer the basic courses. To some extent, most people suffer from math anxiety at different levels and with varying degrees of severity.

Most students normally experience anxiety during a Math exam. However, other students experience strong anxiety attacks when asked to solve a Math problem on the board. The combination of Math anxiety and the fear of public disgrace proved too much for some students that they would rather miss class and risk their grades than face another hour of calculating x and y.

Students used to perceive Math teachers as strict disciplinarians, which stems from the fact that Mathematics is a very exact discipline. The probability of getting the wrong answer is very high. This may embarrass the students and make them lose self-confidence. Thus, math anxiety inevitably develops.

There are many ways to overcome math anxiety. As a first step, the student must regain confidence in solving a simple Math problem. To strengthen this, the tutor or teacher should give rewards and hold back on the punishment. This method of reward and punishment comes from Educational Psychology principles.

Through in-home tutoring, the student avoids facing embarrassment and ridicule from fellow classmates. At the same time, positive feedback from an in-home tutor appear more personal and sincere because the relationship between the tutor and tutee is closer than between a teacher and student in a classroom setting.

In-home tutoring provides a less stressful atmosphere, which makes learning Math easy and fun. Professional tutors can give their tutees tips, such as shortcut methods and less known techniques to solve Math problems. An article by Peter Gray in Psychology Today, posted April 15, 2010, supports this, saying, “Math outside of school is fun, useful, and joyfully learned.”

Tutoring generally implies a one-on-one interaction between the student (called the tutee) and the teacher (referred to as a tutor). Unlike classroom teaching, tutoring focuses on individualization of learning, which many educators claim as the best way to learn.

Experts say optimal learning happens when teachers handle less than 15 students at the same time. The teachers allocate more time on each of the students, thereby, increasing academic achievement. However, advocates of educational reform say individualization of learning is better than decreased class size.

In-home tutoring best exemplifies individualization of learning. Unlike center-based tutoring, an in-house tutor can spend a few hours each day on each student. The in-house tutor discovers each tutee’s learning style and applies the appropriate methods of instruction.

Comparatively, center-based tutoring leaves little time for individualized instruction or help. Without this one-on-one interaction, center-based tutoring turns into a burden to a child that is already behind.

Furthermore, center-based tutoring limits the place and time of tutoring sessions. The company that runs the tutoring center dictates the time for the sessions. The center’s location may not also be ideal for some parents, who may have limited transportation options.

Other parents turn towards online tutoring as an alternative, but the lack of direct human interaction may not be good for children with learning problems. Online instruction coupled with interactive quizzes is ideal for independent learning, a method unfit for students who need help.