1. Open With Empathy for Parent Concerns
Are you worried about your child’s writing?
Maybe you’ve seen an essay that doesn’t measure up to your standards.
Or maybe your child’s teacher has brought you into school for a talk.
It’s a scary moment for every parent.
You suddenly worry about your child’s chances for good grades in high school.
About his chances of getting into a top college.
Or even about his chances of getting a good job.
And you’ve probably started to wonder how to find a tutor.
Maybe you’ve even felt a bit of shame.
You wonder if other parents are facing similar difficulties.
You worry about how your child compares to other kids in school.
How will you help your child rise above the crowd of other kids?
How can you help him move to the front of the class?
And so your question about tutoring becomes more specific.
You start to wonder how to find a good tutor.
A tutor who can instantly diagnose your child’s weakness and chart a clear plan for improvement.
A tutor who can help your child learn by using encouragement.
A tutor who has helped similar children make the leap to excellent writing.
You want this kind of tutor because you know that your child has limited time.
And so you want to use all the resources you have to make sure that you make the right decision.
2. Break Down the Search Into Manageable Steps
If you are asking “How do I find a tutor for my child?” break the search down into smaller steps.
Step 1: Start with the right frame of mind
Tell yourself “Finding a tutor for my child is the next step for my child’s success.”
Don’t panic about your child’s struggles with reading and writing.
Instead, focus your mind on the goal of finding an excellent tutor.
An excellent tutor will solve your child’s problems as efficiently as possible, even if your child seems far behind.
Step 2: Clarify your child’s needs
Does your child need help with reading advanced texts? With spelling? With writing sophisticated essays that get A’s?
Does your child need a tutor who provides firm guidance? Or does your child need a tutor who is more of a friendly companion?
By making your child’s needs clear, you will make it easier to find a tutor who is the best match.
Step 3: Begin your search
Only after completing Steps 1 and 2 should you begin your formal search for a tutor. A calm mental state and a clear description of your needs will make your search much easier.
3. Consider Tutor Experience
When you ask, “How to find a tutor for my child?” start by considering tutor experience.
Teaching kids requires a great deal of skill.
How can you tell?
Easy.
If teaching kids were easy, your child wouldn’t need help right now.
Your child has had English teachers for years.
But after all that teaching, your child still needs help with writing.
Maybe you have had experience of your child learning with a young, inexperienced teacher.
The young teacher had difficulty managing the classroom.
Maybe he didn’t know the material well.
Perhaps some students even corrected him on the course material.
This problem repeats itself all the time with tutoring—especially when parents hire college students to tutor their kids.
Let’s be serious: College students might be enthusiastic about teaching, but they have very little experience doing it.
Only an experienced tutor can help your child make rapid progress.
4. Encourage Parent-to-Parent Networking
In this search for a tutor, fellow parents are an excellent resource.
Just ask a good friend, or a group of friends, “How do I find a tutor for my child?”
Many of them have experience with local tutoring companies, and they know which ones have best helped their children.
Parents can tell you more details about tutor quality and company curriculum.
They will let you know if a tutoring company is more flash than substance.
But you will have to ask them; parents rarely announce that their child is receiving tutoring.
That’s because they don’t want their friends to know about their secret advantage.
And this is especially true if their child is the same age as yours.
College admissions is very competitive, and parents today are looking for every advantage they can find.
Many of them would like to give the impression that their child is receiving no help, when in fact, he is receiving top-level help from professional tutors.
Don’t assume that your child is the only one with a tutor. Other parents have asked, “How to find a tutor for my child?”, too.
5. Advocate for Trial Sessions and Direct Interviews
Once you have found some candidates for your child’s tutor, you must make sure that the tutor offers a trial lesson.
After all, the project is “Finding a tutor for my child,” not finding a tutor for someone else’s child. What works for another child might not work for yours.
At the trial lesson, observe how the tutor teaches.
Does the tutor have a clear plan for tutoring your child?
Does the tutor assess your child’s areas of weakness before starting to teach?
Does the tutor seem confident and relaxed?
Does the tutor know how to talk to kids—how to make them comfortable?
After the trial lesson, talk to your child. Your child should look forward to working with the tutor each week.
6. Highlight the Importance of Ongoing Communication
Once you’ve moved from “How do I find a tutor for my child?” to hiring a tutor, your work isn’t done.
Your tutoring sessions will be more effective if you participate in your child’s learning.
You need to review your child’s homework, answer your tutor’s questions, and remind your child, every week, of the importance of strong reading and writing skills.
Your child’s tutor is an amazing resource. You need to make sure you get the most from this resource.
7. Include a Clear Call to Action (CTA)
At Improve Your English Tutoring, we’ve spent the past 22 years helping children raise their grades in English.
We don’t achieve this success by finishing kids’ assignments for them. We do it by teaching kids real skills—in vocabulary, grammar, reading, and writing.
If you are wondering how to find a good tutor, look no further. Fill out our form today to sign up for our free assessment.
We give kids the English instruction that raises grades and test scores, while making them more confident in their abilities.