Month: July 2021

With homeschooling becoming more common, you might be wondering if this could be an option for your child. There are many benefits to homeschooling, particularly for families who need to relocate frequently. Home education is not the best option for every child, as we understand that each individual has a different learning style. Alternative options that could be considered are remote tutoring or mentoring support.

 

This blog aims to help you identify whether homeschooling could be right for you and your child, by answering the following questions:

• What is homeschooling?
• Who might homeschooling be good for?
• What are the benefits of homeschooling?
• What are the alternatives to homeschooling?
• How can Think Tutors help?

At Think Tutors, we offer homeschool tutoring support tailored to your child’s learning style and needs. You can contact us online to find out more about how we can support your child with tuition.

What Is Homeschooling?

Elective Home Education (EHE), commonly referred to as homeschooling, is where a child’s education occurs outside of school. Home education can be undertaken on a short-term or long-term basis, depending on what works best for you.

Your child’s education is extremely important, therefore you must think carefully when considering if homeschooling is right for your child. You might take the following questions into consideration:

• Is homeschooling in your child’s best interests?
• What does your child think about being home educated?
• Do you have the time, resources and home environment to adequately educate your child?
• Are there any alternatives to homeschooling that might suit your child better?
• Do you, as a parent or guardian, have enough support from others? Homeschooling in the UK can be difficult and you need a good support system in place for yourself
• What are your long-term intentions for your child’s education? Is homeschooling temporary, short-term or permanent?

At Think Tutors, our homeschool tutoring complements your child’s home education. Our expert tutors can travel around the world with you, if required, to ensure your child has educational stability no matter where they are. Get in touch to find out more about how we can help support your child’s educational journey.

Who Might Homeschooling Be Good For?

Homeschooling in the UK tends to be the most effective option for children and families for the following reasons:

• Convenience – You may not have any issues with your child’s current education but want to go full time with a homeschool tutor because it is more convenient. Home education cuts down on travel expenses and saves you precious time that can be better spent elsewhere.
• Health Issues – There can be hundreds, or even thousands, of children studying in a single school at any one time. If your child has health issues, keeping them away from the crowded school environment may help to protect from viruses or colds spread around the school. If your child has a mental health condition such as anxiety, the school environment can be overwhelming which could have a negative impact on their overall mental health.
• Special Educational Needs – Sometimes, children with special educational needs do not have their requirements met in schools, particularly those that are not experienced or have the necessary facilities. Homeschooling is a personal, unique type of education that ensures your child’s requirements and special educational needs are met to help support them in their skills and growth, and most importantly making it a place they feel safe and happy.
• Bullying – If your child is being bullied at school, or you feel that they are being treated unfairly by teachers, opting for homeschool tutoring support may help to prevent their education and mental well-being from being impacted in a negative way.
• Relocation –  At Think Tutors, our homeschool tutors can travel with you around the world, and even relocate with you. We understand that, due to personal circumstances, some families have to relocate multiple times a year; this is common if someone within the household travels for work, or is in the armed  forces. As a result, one of the advantages of homeschooling is your child’s education will not be disrupted from frequently moving schools.
• Covid-19 – The pandemic has seen a rise in homeschooling in the UK. Homeschooling can be undertaken on a short-term, temporary basis or can be made permanent for the entirety of your child’s school life. If you are concerned about the disruption that Covid-19 has had on your child’s education, or you still do not feel comfortable with your child mixing with other school children, you may opt to homeschool instead.

Homeschooling might not be the best option for all children, it is important to take that into consideration when thinking about home education for your child. If you do decide that homeschool tutoring is the best option for your child, you’ll need to take into consideration their current academic level. At Think Tutors, we offer academic assessments in each subject at every level, in order to help understand your child’s overall academic abilities including strengths and areas where additional support might be needed.

What are the benefits of Homeschooling?

Although homeschooling in the UK is not right for every child, there are many benefits of homeschooling that you should know about:

• Unique, tailored learning – Homeschooling your child means  they receive a personalised education that is unique to them. Depending on what your child responds best to, what they enjoy, how they learn and their personal requirements, you can tailor their learning to get the most out of their homeschool tutoring.
• Flexibility and freedom – Homeschooling in the UK does not need to follow the national curriculum which means your child has the freedom to study any subject they choose. This means they can concentrate on their strengths and weaknesses in different subjects. The flexibility of homeschooling is particularly useful during exam seasons as lessons can be adapted to prepare your child for their exams, whether that be through focusing on a specific subject or working on their time management skills.
• Increased emotional and physical safety – One of the biggest advantages of homeschooling is that it removes your child from the school environment. This can protect their physical and emotional safety, for example, if they are being bullied or have mental or physical health conditions. If you are planning on removing your child from the school system for health reasons, our remote tutoring can complement your homeschooling efforts without your child leaving the house. Find out more about the benefits of remote tutoring, and whether this could be a good option for you and your child.
• Stability – Children need stability to thrive, but Covid-19 has meant that the last two years have been uncertain. This may have been confusing and disruptive for your child’s education. One of the benefits of homeschooling is the stability it provides. Whether your family needs to relocate frequently, or if you are still cautious about Covid-19, UK homeschooling provides an alternative option to attending school.
• Less stress – Homeschooling reduces stress for a child in many ways. Even if you decide to follow the national curriculum, you are able to follow it according to your child’s requirements, preventing unnecessary stress. Most schools have a heavy focus on mock assessments and exams, you can prepare your child for their exams according to their learning style.

There are many advantages of homeschooling, from flexibility to stability. You might however be concerned about your child’s socialisation skills if homeschooling, in this case there are other options such as, face to face tutoring support or even mentoring support which allows your child to attend school and can be provided outside of school hours.

 

Whether your child is in their younger years, or studying for their A Levels, Think Tutors provide tutoring support for all stages to help students flourish academically.

What are the Alternatives to Homeschooling?

If you are questioning whether homeschooling is the best option for your child, the answer could be no. Although there are many benefits of homeschooling, not all children will thrive in an elective home education environment. As a parent or guardian, you might also decide that homeschooling is not the right choice for you either.

 

You might decide against homeschooling for the following reasons:

• Work-life balance – Your child’s home environment will also be their working environment, you might find that they struggle to maintain a work-life balance.
• Reduction in socialisation – Although homeschooling can create experiences that are tailored to your child’s learning style, they will not experience the ‘standard’ experiences of a school pupil.

If you decide that homeschool tutoring is not the right choice for your child, there are alternatives to homeschooling that you should consider, such as:

• Flex-schooling
• Remote tutoring
• Mentoring
• School holiday courses

Legal Responsibilities of Parents or Guardians

As a parent or guardian you take sole responsibility for the following:

 

• Ensuring that your child is being adequately educated – You do not need to be the person who teaches your child. You could hire a homeschooling tutor or make use of online tutoring services, such as the tutoring support that Think Tutors offers.
• All Costs – You must cover all the costs of education, including exam or assessment fees.
• Any special educational needs/requirements – Local authorities are not required to provide extra support for your child, it is up to you to meet their requirements

Taking sole responsibility means that you could be held accountable by local authorities and be given a School Attendance Order if your child is not being adequately educated.

 

There are different types of homeschooling, so flexi-schooling is an option to consider if you are concerned about taking sole responsibility for your child’s education. Flexi-schooling means that your child splits their education between an education provider, such as a school, and home education.

Contact Think Tutors

There are many benefits of homeschooling in the UK because it provides unique learning opportunities that are tailored to your child’s personal requirements. Home education has the flexibility and freedom to focus on strengths and weaknesses of particular subjects, rather than being limited by the national curriculum. It is also more convenient as it reduces travel, time, and hassle if you frequently relocate, as our homeschool tutors can travel with you around the world.

 

If you are still wondering ‘is homeschooling right for my child?’ you might decide to consider alternatives to homeschooling, such as online tutoring or mentoring. Whether your child is studying for their GCSEs, A Levels or is in their younger years, we provide tailored tutoring services available to support them.

 

If you have an enquiry about homeschool tutoring, or you want to know more about our other tuition services or mentoring support, then please contact us and we will be in touch shortly.

Private Tutoring and Home Educating

The past 12 months of lockdown and social distancing behaviours have impacted the education sector at all levels. With schools closed for considerable periods, exam schedules torn up and some exam results ending in political headaches, it has been a tough year for schools, colleges and universities.

 

These shortcomings have highlighted the suitability of private tuition as a supplement to the problems listed above, as parents are rightly worried about the choices their children will have in the future. Private tuition can offer dedicated, one-to-one focus from a qualified tutor to help beat the uncertainty and give a child the support they deserve.

 

The recognition of this fact has led to an increase in the number of companies who are offering tuition services, often competing on price rather than quality in order to gain as much ground in the marketplace as possible. More and more evidence has emerged that, in the process of doing so, some companies are sidestepping critically important safeguarding elements that are so important to working with children.

Safeguarding

As a well-established and trusted provider of private tuition, Think Tutors has a safeguarding process that is unrivalled in its thoroughness. At the heart of this process is the fact that we treat all our tutors as a community, who share our values and strive to offer the best quality tuition to every child we work with.

 

We do not operate like many agencies do – our tutors are well known to us and we work with them in a way that benefits the child the most. From the very outset, our onboarding process is designed to evaluate the quality and suitability of tutors to work with our clients.

 

This begins with a formal interview, during which we take the time to find out about the tutor’s motivations in order to give us an understanding of how they can support the children we work with. All our tutors undergo an Enhanced DBS check, which is reviewed yearly. They are also requested to undertake, unless they otherwise have, a Safeguarding Children Level 2 course, providing an up-to-date knowledge of policies, guidance and legislation.

 

We also check two references from each tutor and explore questions related to safeguarding in their previous roles to determine suitability. We perform document and identity checks in order to satisfy ourselves that the tutors are who they say they are.

 

Once we are confident in a tutor’s abilities and satisfied that they have met all our safeguarding checks, we then send out our comprehensive onboarding pack, with codes of conduct, policies and agreements for tutors to read and sign.

 

If you would like to work with Think Tutors, or have any questions about our safeguarding process, please do get in touch.

What Is In-Person Tutoring?

In-person tuition with Think Tutors resumed it’s popularity since it was deemed safe to continue after the pandemic, with students of all ages benefiting from both the convenience, and chance to connect in-person with their tutor.

 

A typical session lasts between an hour and two hours and is located at your house at a time which suits you. It is important to note that all our tutors all are briefed with the latest government guidelines relating to COVID-19 before they undertake an in-person assignment.

 

In-person tuition takes many forms, as our tutors offer a personalised style for each of their students. In the past we have found that Early Years students benefit from the one-to-one attention of an in-person session, where tutors can utilise a wider variety of games and innovative methodology to keep the student engaged and learning.

 

For older students at A-Level, undergraduate and postgraduate, tutors often draw from their own academic background to use the ‘Oxford Tutorial’ system. Through this method, the student and tutor engage in critical discussions about course material, coursework, exam questions and further reading.

 

We offer in-person tuition across the UK. If you are interested, please contact us.

What Is Online Tutoring?

Often, when people think of tuition, they picture the online tuition offered by schools, universities and mass market agencies in the past two years – impersonal and fraught with technical challenges. Online tuition with Think Tutors is available with our elite professional tutors, utilises an innovative combination of online resources, and students can be taught in the comfort of their own home. With 4K webcams, professional microphones and strong WIFI, all our tutors are equipped to deliver the same level of personal service, online.

 

Sessions typically make use of a video calling platform, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype as the major form of communication, with whiteboards and collaborative working software being used to supplement learning. If you would like to learn more about how online tuition can be scheduled to help meet your child’s learning goals, please do contact us.

What Is Homeschooling?

Homeschooling has increased in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the education system, with many parents choosing to educate their children with the freedom, both logistically and educationally, to design schooling around their lifestyle. There is no typical homeschooling assignment, rather, we cater for any request, offering homeschooling both in the UK and internationally in all subjects, at all levels.

What Is Mentoring Support?

Academic mentoring is offered to students who have a solid grasp of course content, but may struggle with the other challenges presented by full-time education. For example, students may need help with scheduling, essay techniques, revision methodology or a mixture of all three. With exemplary academic backgrounds, our tutors are fluent in helping them rise to the challenges of a demanding education to meet or exceed their academic goals.

 

Typically, students undertaking GCSE’s, A-Levels, undergraduate or postgraduate study, benefit better from academic mentors, however, students of all ages and levels can find a mentor helpful. Please see our mentoring page for more information.

Contact Think Tutors

From online tutoring, to homeschool tutoring and mentoring support, this blog has provided an overview of the key types of tutoring support offered by Think Tutors.

 

We also provide a wide-range of other services, such as Admissions Advisory, summer courses, easter courses, 7/8 plus tuition and 13 plus tuition. Please do get in touch if you would like to learn more about how our bespoke educational packages can help your child meet their goals.