Use After School Tutoring
So Your Kid Doesn't Slide Thru School!

Adolescents can get into all sorts of things at the drop of a hat. Your intervention at key points can prevent their involvement in drugs and alcohol, backbiting girls cliques or a tough boy's gang. With simple outreach you can bring out the best in kids.

After school tutoring, whether its through services of a center, a peer tutor, or boys and girls' clubs, can be seen as a multiple resource for kids. Whether it’s straightforward math tutoring or big brother - big sister mentoring, getting kids to put their attention on a challenge in a positive way can support them in psychological and developmental ways.

Until my brother described what he was doing with two of his four children — all exceptionally bright but two of the four just didn’t want to perform well in school — I had no idea the kind of resources there are for after school tutoring and mentoring programs.

My niece, a rambunctious 13-year old teen, insisted she loved bling and hip-hop more than learning. She’d act up and goof off with the boys and was starting to develop a very low self-image. Learning, studying and retting good grades were for her older sister. Shopping was for her activity! Her grades dropped and kept dropping. And no amount of parental pressure was doing anything to change it.

Then they talked with the school counselor and found out that their school offered a peer led voluteer, after school mentoring program. It was supervised by teachers, but the thrust of the educational program encouraged sympathetic older students to tutor the younger ones. The kids had fun. And they had strict study rules. No cell phones. No instant messaging.

My niece let slip a few telltale remarks to her tutor that she’d never admit to her parents. It turned out she loved a specific world history class. She wasn’t doing well in the class and the teacher wanted to drop her out of it. “I really like it.” My niece said. “But I guess I’m just not smart enough.” Now for her to admit that she liked to learn meant something. It wasn’t something she said often.

The tutor picked up on it and told her parents. A steady after school tutoring class helped her over some stumbling blocks. It gave her self-confidence. It gave her parents confidence in her. And who knows, there may even be a career direction for her future somewhere in this field.

After school tutoring is not only for slow learners or troubled kids. It can also stimulate and support very bright students who simply aren’t challenged enough in their regular classes.

Keep your eye out. If your child may be a whiz at history or mathematics, and is being taught at the level of the average learner in the classroom when they are actually gifted. If this exists, find tutoring programs that will support them and allow them to flourish.

Various tutoring franchises, like the Sylvan Learning Center, offer extensive online study and resource collections and variety of options for tutoring services. The Sylvan tutoring center has been offering tutoring in all school subjects since 1979. This tutoring franchise offers in-center as well as live online sessions.

One of the things I think helped the kids I’ve known the most is learning good study techniques. After school tutoring may sound brutal, especially after a long day at school. After all, who wants to go to “class” again. But the right program can teach children how to maximize efficiency. It can help them learn good study skills, even if the motivation is just to finish and go play.

Let’s end with a few of the after school tutoring takeaways for your child. They’ll learn to:

1. Beat procrastination.
   
2. Read for maximum comprehension and retention.
   
3. Organize notes and assignments.
   
4. Develop a sense of responsibility and discipline.
   
5. Overcome obstacles.

These five takeaways alone make it worthwhile. The rewards of homework help can last a lifetime.