Homeschooling has become an increasingly popular educational choice for many families. While this type of schooling offers a flexible and personalized academic environment, many parents choose to supplement their child’s homeschool education with tutoring. A tutor can provide specialized instruction, academic remediation, and subject expertise that helps homeschooled students thrive academically.
Hiring a tutor to supplement your child’s homeschool education can help them immensely in many ways.
Targeted Academic Support for Homeschooled Students
Many students benefit from targeted academic instruction that a parent may not be able to provide. For example, if a child has dyslexia, they will likely respond well to specialized Orton Gillingham tutoring. This method is research-based and multi-sensory and helps students with reading challenges develop their phonics and spelling skills. A student with dyscalculia or a child who struggles with math may benefit from specialized math tutoring using multi-sensory techniques that are individualized to their needs. Parents don’t always have training in these methods; a specialized tutor can supplement homeschool instruction to further enhance a child’s learning.
Executive Functioning Skills for Homeschooled Learners
Many students excel academically in core skills, such as reading, writing, and math, but struggle with their executive functioning skills. These skills include planning, time management, organization, task initiation, and other related skills. An executive functioning coach can supplement a student’s homeschool curriculum by integrating structured executive functioning lessons. For example, they might teach a child an effective time management strategy such as the ET versus AT, or Estimated Time versus Actual Time, strategy. With this technique, the student predicts how long they think a task will take to complete (the ET), then compares it to the actual time it takes (AT). For students who struggle with time management, there is usually a large discrepancy between these two times initially, but the more they practice this strategy, the more their time management skills will improve. Tutors can supplement homeschool education with other similar strategies for note taking, test taking, organization, planning, and other tasks.
Tutors for Advanced or High-Level Subjects
As students progress through school, the material becomes increasingly complex. Parents don’t always have the knowledge or expertise to teach students certain skills as the material becomes harder. For example, a student who is advanced in math might be ready to take trigonometry or pre-calculus. While a parent might have taken those courses many years ago and done well in them, they may not recall much of the content or be able to teach the content effectively. That is where a tutor would come in to supplement a student’s homeschool education - in this case, a high level math tutor. The same idea applies to high level science, social studies, English, and other subject areas.
Skills-Based Tutoring for Writing and Study Skills
In some homeschool setups, parents may be able to teach their child effectively in all but one or two skill areas. The child may thus need specific skills developed. For example, they might need targeted support with developing their essay writing skills. A tutor can supplement the student’s homeschool education by teaching them specific techniques for learning how to effectively brainstorm, write, and self-check a five-paragraph essay. They might teach them about the different types of essays, including the example, process, reason, and compare/contrast essays and give them ample structured practice writing various essays to improve their writing skills.
What Is Homeschool Tutoring?
Homeschool tutoring offers students individualized academic instruction that helps supplement their homeschool curriculum. Tutors can help children with individual subjects. They can also provide specialized instruction like Orton Gillingham tutoring or learning disability remediation, or they can help students with ADHD through executive functioning coaching.
Learn more about the benefits of homeschooling at Should I Homeschool My Child? Benefits, Flexibility, and Individualized Instruction | Knowledge Plus Tutoring.
Homeschool Tutoring in South Florida
Many homeschool families in South Florida choose to work with tutors to supplement their child’s learning. One-on-one tutors can help homeschooled students build their core academic skills, cover advanced content in various subjects, and develop stronger study and executive functioning skills. They can also provide academic remediation, such as Orton Gillingham tutoring, dyslexia instruction, or specialized tutoring for students with learning disabilities or ADHD in Boca Raton and the surrounding areas.
For many students, homeschooling provides flexibility and personalized learning, but tutoring can further enhance your child’s education. A tutor can provide specialized instruction, subject expertise, and executive functioning support that helps homeschool students succeed academically. Visit us at www.knowledgeplustutorng.com to find out how we can help your child through our one-on-one tutoring and homeschool programs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do homeschool students need tutors?
Not all homeschooled students need tutors, but many students benefit from additional specialized instruction or academic support to further enhance their learning.
How often should a homeschool student meet with a tutor?
The frequency of tutoring for homeschooled students depends on their individual needs. Some students meet with tutors once or twice per week, while others work with tutors several times per week. The tutoring should always be individualized to each student’s unique needs.
What subjects can homeschool tutors teach?
Homeschool tutors can teach a variety of skills, including reading, spelling, writing, math, executive functioning, and other content areas. Homeschool tutors can also provide specialized instruction, such as Orton Gillingham tutoring or executive functioning coaching.
Dr. Emily Levy received her Doctorate Degree in Education and her Master’s Degree in Special Education. She has been helping homeschooled students with tutoring for over twenty years.
