If you’ve ever seen The Incredibles 2, then you may remember the scene where Mr. Incredible is tutoring his son and he’s downright confused about the math problems his kid was given. “Why would they change math? Math is math!”, and he’s right, math keeps changing! It can be difficult trying to help your child out when all the rules and methods just keep changing.
Not only is your kid struggling and coming to you for help, but now you’re struggling too. It’s not a pretty sight and of course, it’s one heck of a headache too. While some things can’t be avoided (like those questionable rules and changes that weren’t around when we were kids), there is still hope in helping out your kid with their homework. These are some tips for tutoring your child.
Ask yourself if you’re able to help them out
School was decades ago, so of course, all the memories of it are going to be fuzzy. Phones and calculators are everywhere now, so why would you even both remember a thing about long division? The style and lessons of what your child is taught are going to be massively different than what you were taught most likely. Not to mention that things just continuously change.
As a parent, you’re not expected to be as knowledgeable as a teacher, so in cases like these where you sincerely are just confused and have no clue what’s going on, you can try key stage tutoring instead. A parent can’t do everything, in cases like these it’s helpful to have someone with the knowledge and experience to help your child.
Create a learning space at home
Tutoring isn’t easy but there are seriously easy ways for parents to keep their sanity, one of them being creating a designated spot in their home for learning. Creating a learning space at home doesn’t really need to be anything that’s massive. When tutoring your child at home, it’s important to do it in an area that has minimal distractions. If you have extra space in your home, try to use one specific spot as a study room. Let this be a place for your children to do their homework, to read for upcoming assignments, to study for a test. It needs to be comfortable for them to use and it should also inspire them to learn. This can even be a corner in their own bedrooms.
Be patient
Be patient with yourself and be patient with your child. If there is something that you genuinely don’t understand (who doesn’t deal with that?) then don’t beat yourself up. The same goes for your child, some things are far too complex or confusing to understand and it can take time. If your patience is running thin, then call for some breaks and just step out of the learning zone for a bit.
Give out rewards
You don’t need to buy your child a brand new toy or anything like that, but little rewards can help. Rewards inspire, even the smallest ones such as a pat on the back. Make sure to regularly reward your child.