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Ways to Build Communication Between Your Child’s Home Tutor and Teacher
Hiring a home tutor for your child who is struggling in school is always a good idea. It gives them a helping hand and assistance in catching up with their lessons. Home tuition also helps students develop their confidence and other skills, abilities, and with the proper home tutor, they can even get better scores and higher grades. However, home tuition will ultimately be ineffective if the home tutor’s curriculum doesn’t match with that of the teacher’s in the student’s school. Having your child’s home tutor and teacher communicate to work together in helping a struggling student is a key factor to make home tuition as effective as possible.
Sharing information helps the home tutor support what the student is learning in school. The home tutor can make sure that the methods used in school will jive or at least wouldn’t be too far off the methods used in the classroom. This will help the student learn better and smoother, as they may get too confused if the methods are too different from what they are used to in school.
Ultimately, the task of making sure the communication works lies on the child’s parents. Here are some ways for the student’s home tutor and his teachers communicate and work together for the child’s benefit.
1. Share the tutoring plans with the teacher
As a parent, inform the teacher ahead of time that you will be getting a home tutor for your child. They should also know what to expect from the tuition in terms of goals for the student’s academics. This will help open clear lines for communication, as the teacher will already be aware that there will be a home tutor.
Explain what your main goal for the child and the home tutor would be – so that the child will be aided in his/her educational development. Let the teacher also know that you would like the home tutor to get insights as to what is happening in school or how the child performs in school to help coordinate the effort at school and at home.
After which, you can also ask the teacher their preferred means of communication. You can also tell the teacher that you have given the home tutor freedom and permission to communicate with the teacher or the school. You may need to put this in writing if applicable.
There will also be instances in which the teacher will be the one to suggest getting a home tutor for the child. In which cases, you can also update the teacher once you’ve considered their suggestion and will be hiring a home tutor.
2. Keep the focus on the student
Teachers will sometimes feel defensive or even offended once you bring in the topic of hiring a home tutor. It’s possible for teachers to feel bad and think that you will be seeking outside help because you think they are not doing their job.
Explain to the teacher that the focus of the home tuition would be on the student’s needs, and not because of personal reasons. Make them understand that even with a home tutor in the mix, all of you would be working towards one goal and that is to help the child develop academically. Put emphasis that the child needs supplemental teaching right now outside of the school and that the teacher can provide useful information to make the learning outside of school as effective as possible.
After all, the only objective here is to help the child. Let the school and teacher understand that this is only for their mutual benefit, for the student, teacher, and the tutor. Make sure they are united by one goal that focuses on the child.
3. Set clear expectations
Setting up expectations for the home tutor is also vital. Ask the home tutor how he/she communicates with a student’s teacher or school previously. Tell your child’s home tutor what you’d like him/her to share with your child’s teacher and how often you expect the home tutor to. Once you’ve set these expectations clear to the home tutor, you can also discuss with the home tutor the approach they used in the past and which ones you would like for him/her to continue doing and which ones to discard with regards to your child.
You can also specify the expectations with regards to home tutor-teacher communication, such as saying you would want the home tutor to contact the child’s teacher every four weeks to check on the student’s progress in school. You can also discuss the things you wish to keep from the teacher and they shouldn’t share with them.
Set clear expectations that you want to be included in the child’s progress and the communication between the home tutor and the teacher. For example, if they are communicating via email, you can ask to be carbon copied to their emails. Or better yet, you can suggest a group chat with both the home tutor and the teacher for easier communication. If both parties aren’t comfortable with the suggestions, you can still ask the home tutor or the teacher what was discussed between them.
However, it is a process. Give the home tutor and the child to get on with their sessions and see how well the child responds to tuition. It may take some time for the home tutor to get to know the child and what works for them, but as time goes by and they understand what makes the student tick, they may not need as much communication with the teacher then.
4. Help work through different teaching approach
Some teachers will object to using a different teaching method for the child during home tuition. As stated above, there can be confusion if the teacher and the home tutor use two different methods for teaching. However, it’s not always a bad thing.
Every child learns differently and not a single method works on every child. Having different teaching methods might just be what would work on your child and will help him work through his struggles. Sometimes, a home tutor may also modify the teacher’s teaching method. Sometimes, they may be completely different and will depend on what works best for the child currently.
Still, if the teacher still has some concerns about this, listen to them and encourage the teacher to communicate with the home tutor. They can work together and manage to overlap their methods. Better yet, they can keep in touch and communicate with each other about the child’s progress using this method and maybe the other party will also develop a teaching method based on the tutor or the teacher’s method.
5. Keep communication as open as possible
Your child’s home tutor and teacher should always be on the same page and communicate with each other regularly. However, you are still the bridge that links them together.
As a parent, you have the access to all information about your child’s progress throughout the years. This includes their report cards, test results, progress reports, and more. Once you get them, it’s important to share them with your child’s home tutor. When you share these with them, this gives them an insight on the child’s strengths and weaknesses. And from there, they may be able to come up with an action plan to help the child reach his/her academic goals.
More so, it lets them get an idea as to what is happening inside the school. It will also give the home tutor a good idea when and how to approach the child’s teacher for better insights about how they are doing in school. Make sure the communication between the tutor and teacher flows smoothly, as it will be your job as parent to facilitate between the two. Remember that how your child’s home tutor and teacher work well with each other reflects on how well you work with each of them.
Conclusion
Hiring a home tutor is only one part of the battle to make sure your child gains their optimal potential to reach their goals. As a parent, finding the right one is also an objective. However, if there is no proper communication between the teacher and the tutor, the tuition may backfire and end as wasted time.
Let the school know about your plans for your child’s academic development. Let them speak about their concerns and even let them talk directly with the home tutor. Remember to establish a middle ground between them and keep the focus on the child and for what’s best for him/her.
Interested in hiring a home tutor for your child? Check out FamilyTutor, the best home tuition agency in Singapore. We have three categories of home tutors that you can choose for your child and over 200 subjects offered such as Math, Science, English, and many more. We match a suitable tutor for your child, not just to improve the student’s grade, but also to build a good rapport and meaningful relationship with the student and even with the student’s whole family. Here at FamilyTutor, we only want the best for your sons and daughters!
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Carelle
Carelle is a teacher who has been through the ups and downs of the teacher and learner life. She wishes for every learner to gain educational satisfaction that will help embody the people they want to be in the future.
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About FamilyTutor!
FamilyTutor is an established home tuition agency in Singapore! We match suitable home tutors for our clients not just to improve the students' academic grades, but also to build a strong rapport and meaningful relationship with the students and even the their whole family. FamilyTutor put every student in good hands!
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