Why is summer the perfect time to start tutoring? After all, kids are out of school. Summers can be busy, too, with family vacations, sports camps, and relatives visiting from out of town. In this blog post, I’m going to show you a few advantages to beginning tutoring in the summer. They may just convince you that now is the perfect time to start!
1. No Obligations— Students do not have the same obligations in the summer as they do during the regular school year. They do not have to attend school, school sports practices and games, or other after-school activities. Even though many students participate in summer activities, their schedules are still significantly more open than at other times of the year. This makes summer the perfect time to start tutoring! Summer gives students the opportunity to focus on learning tough subjects with undivided attention. It also makes it easier for parents to schedule tutoring sessions, because they do not have to work around as many commitments.
2. No Deadlines— Unlike school, students do not have to learn concepts or finish projects by a certain date. With tutoring, students can take the time they need to learn a subject inside and out before moving on to the next concept. This takes the pressure off students to learn something just “well enough” to pass a test or to hand an assignment in on time. Tutoring gives students the space to feel more at ease with admitting when they don’t understand something and asking the questions they need to feel confident before moving forward. Beginning tutoring in the summer increases this effect. There are no structured classes making students feel like they must learn a concept by a certain time, or else they’ll fall behind.
3. No Structured Curriculum— With tutoring, students do not need to learn aspects of a subject in the order that a textbook presents. Instead, they have the flexibility to learn concepts in whatever order makes the most sense to them. For example, if a student understands how to do geometric equations with triangles before they do with circles, even if circles were taught in their textbook first, that’s no problem! They can make the connection between what they are learning now and earlier textbook principles later. Tutoring also gives students many different ways to learn subjects that school may not. For example, students could learn how to write argumentative essays by having a debate with their tutor. They could also learn how to outline an essay by taking an audio recording of their thoughts, playing it for the tutor, and then discussing the recording with the tutor. Unique learning methods produce extraordinary results!
4. No More “Summer Slump”— “Summer Slump” is what I call the all-too-common phenomenon of students becoming rusty in remembering how to apply what they learned the previous year. Since students have been on break from school for a few months, they have not had the continuous reinforcement of using something they have learned. As a result, “summer slump” causes students to take a while to remember how to use certain concepts. This can make it difficult for them to adjust to more advanced grade-level material once they return to school. However, when students are tutored over the summer, “summer slump” is eliminated! They continually use what they learned the previous year, strengthening their foundation for the next year. Thus, school becomes easier for them, and they are better prepared for the next year.
In the summer, students can learn without other obligations on their time. They can also learn without the pressure of deadlines or of having to learn facets of subjects in a particular order to fit a curriculum. They can avoid the “summer slump” and go into the next school year more confidently. If you would like to find out more about my tutoring services, please scroll down to the bottom of this page and fill out the “Contact” form. You won’t regret it!
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