The summer slide is real. Educational research has revealed that the progress children make during the school year may slip back, or slide, during the non-school summer months. This makes jumping into the next school year a challenge for some students.
This isn't to say that all students will definitely lose all, or even some, of what they gained in the previous school year. But if you think your child may be at risk of sliding, tutoring is one way to combat this possible problem.
What can summer tutoring do for your child? Along with turning the summer slide around, summertime tutoring sessions provide a bounty of benefits. If you're considering a summer tutoring program (or one-on-one tutoring), take a look at how it can help your young student.
Jump Start
Some students struggle. It's just a fact of learning. Every child isn't born a natural "A+" student. But that doesn't mean that every child can't succeed academically. If your child wasn't at the top of the class last year, that doesn't mean they won't be the number one student in the coming school semester.
Summer tutoring doesn't have to only cover what your student did last year. In other words, it isn't just a method to stop the summer slide. It can also help your child ease into the next school year. Whether your child finds reading, spelling, writing, math or any other subject challenging, a tutor can start your student off gradually.
By beginning the next school year's material (or concepts that the teacher will cover) sooner, your child is getting the jump start they need to move ahead of their classmates and succeed academically.
Subject Specialization
Does your child prefer one subject over another? When it comes to the school year, they may not get the chance to specialize in that area. Celebrate the enjoyment that your child has found academically by hiring a tutor to reinforce the skills they've already learned and help them to build new ones.
This type of summer tutoring allows your child to explore a subject that they truly enjoy in a way that they just won't get to otherwise. This may lead to greater overall positive feelings about school or even help your child to start considering possible career decisions.
Academic Comfort
How comfortable does your child feel when they go to school? Even if they're doing well, they may still feel self-conscious about their academic abilities. Flubbing a class presentation, struggling on a test, or feeling like they're just not competitive in the realm of their other classmates can all take a psychological toll on your child.
When your child's confidence plummets (in an academic sense), building it back up becomes your top priority. While praising your child's efforts and telling them that they shouldn't feel ashamed or embarrassed about their performance can help, it isn't the only way to ease that nagging self-consciousness.
Summer tutoring provides all the extra help your child needs to feel comfortable with the material that they need to know. They'll see that they can do more than just learn the material - they can understand and master it, too. The confidence that they build in the summer can translate into a sense of comfort that will carry them through the next school year.
Standardized Test-Taking
Young children aren't the only students who need tutoring. As your child progresses through middle and high school, they can also benefit from a summer time tutor - especially when it's time to take standardized test, the ACTs and SATs.
Preparing over the summer with tutoring provides your child with a solid understanding of test-taking strategies. This can help your child to better prepare for tests, plan for them, and feel less anxious about the big day.
