This post was written in collaboration with Tutorful, and we received credit to use on the Tutorful.co.uk website for the purposes of this review.
I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it every day until the kids are firmly back at school; homeschooling is hard.
Even though the school have provided all the work and do daily video lessons, having more than one child to help and just the one of you (who is also trying to work at the same time) really isn’t easy. Whatever our situations, we are all trying the best we can – but some might say it’s actually an impossible task and I’d be inclined to agree with them.
Although I’m trying not to sweat it too much, my biggest worry is that when the kids finally get back to school they’ll be behind where they should or could be. During the brief period that they were back my son went from barely being able to spell out three letter words to reading almost anything in less than a term, which says damning things about my ability to teach.
If this is something that concerns you, or you just don’t have enough hours in the day, then Tutorful might be able to help.
Tutorful is a website which helps you connect with over 11,000 private tutors.
There are tutors for all subjects and ages from primary, through secondary and GCSEs and A-levels, to university and beyond.
My 7 year old daughter is in year two and wants to be an author. She felt she could do with some help with her English so we looked for tutors who were able to cover this subject at primary age.
How to find a tutor on Tutorful
To find a tutor, you first need to choose the subject that you or your child needs help with, and then select the times that you/they are available (morning, afternoon, evening, or late, up to seven days a week).
You can read profiles of the tutors where they list their experience and the services that they offer with any particular specialisms. Many are qualified or retired teachers, others are graduates and students teaching alongside their studies.
There are also reviews from past tutees so you can be confident when you make your selection.
The tutors set their own rates and you can browse by price; these range from as little as £15 to over £75 per hour depending on the subject, level and the tutor’s qualifications and experience. Many of the primary tutors appeared to be around the £30 per hour mark, so we booked a few hours with one of the tutors who had good reviews and availability.
All lessons are held online.
This is all done through the website’s classroom system, which allows the tutor to screen share worksheets etc as well as video chat in the same window. You can familiarise yourself with this before the lesson so you don’t waste any time getting to grips with how it works.
It was simple to set up on a laptop and my seven year old could easily use it. The tutor arrived to the lesson on time and quickly engaged her with a pre-prepared lesson including some simple spelling and writing tasks to test her understanding of the subject.
Once my daughter had relaxed and warmed to the friendly and experienced tutor, I left the room so that she could have her session one-on-one.
What did we think of Tutorful?
My daughter really enjoyed her first online tutoring session and was keen to have another, so we booked one with the tutor at the end of the lesson. She’s really missing school and the classroom environment and it definitely helped her to get back into the zone for a while.
As a parent it allowed me to spend one-on-one time with my youngest, and give him my full attention. It also gave me a bit of breathing space; sadly we don’t have enough computers to allow me to get on with work at the same time so I had to sit down with tea and biscuits…
I am certainly hoping that by next week it will be announced that the children will be back at school come March. If they aren’t (and I think we’re all probably expecting the worst aren’t we!) I will definitely consider more sessions to keep her in the learning mindset and take the pressure off a bit.
If at any point I felt they were dropping behind, or struggling, or needed more support, I wouldn’t hesitate to use Tutorful to find someone to help with their learning needs.
You can find more details on the Tutorful website and currently you can get £25 FREE credit if you make a new account.
This sounds great, definitely going to look into it!