Many students can benefit from a tutoring program, either by an improvement in their grades or by strengthening and reinforcing their learning skills. But every child may have a different requirement. Each child has a different learning process. What is working best for one child may not be beneficial for the other. That makes the researching and working up the quest of finding the right tutoring program for your child. 

Trying to find the right tutor or tutoring program for your child can be quite a stressful job for parents. This can be even more if your child is embarrassed about needing extra help with his studies or in case your budget is tight. But when the question is about your child’s studies and future, every parent wants to go for the best tutoring program. But before hiring one, the parents must research and ensure that this is the best tutoring program for their child. 

What to look for in a tutoring program?

Before we learn about some tips for finding the right tutoring program for your child, let us first understand what specific points or qualities we need to look for while searching and finalizing the tutoring program or service:

• Credentials
• Experience or service duration
• Successful track record 
• Subject offerings 
• Tutoring approach, methodology and strategies

When we are searching for the tutoring service for our child, finding the program is just half of the job done, the main part is to look for a tutoring service that would be specifically according to your child’s needs and learning style and process, and making sure that it is the right fit for him. 

Let us now learn about some tips and tricks to finalize the right fit tutoring program for your child. 

1. Talk to your child

This should be your crucial first step. Talk and discuss with your child. Listen to what he has to say about this and what are his expectations. Most importantly keep this conversation very positive to keep your child comfortable about the tutoring idea. Discuss the problem area with your child with positivity. Phrases like, ‘You know how reading is sometimes becoming tricky’. It is important for the child to acknowledge the areas where he needs support and should be comfortable about it. Encourage your child and discuss the positive results. 

2. Know What Your Child Needs

Parents must know the areas where their child is struggling academically. Knowing the problem area will make it easier to look for specific tutoring program and will give a set direction to your search. 

3. Understand How Your Child Learns the Best

Every child has a different learning process and a different method in which they learn and grasp the best and maximum. Some children prefer hands-on mode of learning, some are inclined towards experienced based learning, while some excel with visual modes of learning. Parents must look for a tutoring program that fits with your child’s learning method preferences. Look for a program that is encouraging, engaging and gives active lessons. This is important to keep your child excited about the learning and spike up his interest always. 

4. Consider the Fitting of The Tutoring Classes in Your Child’s Routine

These days the lives of children are no less busy than that of adults. School, after school sports, extracurricular activities, and the list goes on. The children have busy schedules but we must remember not to overburden them. Look for a tutoring program that has classes fitting your child’s routine. Back to back classes in varied areas can tire the child. Also we should avoid too late classes that may exhaust the already tired kids even more and they are unable to focus on studies. Look for a program that is convenient for both you and the child. 

5. Talk to The Tutors and Instructors

It is crucial to have a one to one conversation with the tutors of the program to have a better perspective. Ask questions about their teaching methods and approach, what do they offer, what a typical day looks like and what a typical class routine is. This will also give you an idea about the program instructors’ outlook and opinion on various learning areas. 

6. Get Recommendations and Browse for Ratings

You can get lot of reviews and ratings online for the tutoring programs to give you a fairly well idea about their performance. Ask for recommendations from your child’s teachers, fellow parents, school principal for the tutoring programs. You can also check the parenting magazines for their recommendations and suggested tutoring programs to broaden your search pool. 

7. Consider Priorities

Remember one size doesn’t fit all. While finalizing the tutoring program for your child make a list of your selection criteria. The checklist may include cost, subject inclusions – whether one program offers all subjects or not, your child’s specific needs, timings, to name a few. Prioritizing them is subjective to parents and individual families. 

8. Check Credentials

It is important for parents to check the credentials of the tutoring program. Ensure that the program is duly affiliated and is approved by designated bodies. Check for the regular audit reports. Parents must also ensure that the teachers associated with the tutoring programs are well qualified with appropriate credentials and degrees. This is the ground work which may seem necessary but is important if you want to provide your child with high quality education in a safe and regulated environment. 

Finding a tutoring program for your child is a hard and stressful work which might require a lot of time due to diligent research and you trying to find out the right answers for your peace of mind. It is important for parents to remember finding a program that is right fit for their child and not just follow a fad. Research, ask questions and keep on this cycle until you find a tutoring program which is up to your expectations and you are satisfied with what all it offers for your child.