Three Signs That Your Teen Needs Tutoring

When you’re a parent making schooling decisions for your teenager can be difficult.  Maybe you’re interested in having your child take high school classes online, or perhaps you concerned about their career path after high school.  Either way some parents can feel like they’re constantly walking a fine line between over parenting their child or not giving them enough parenting.  A lot of parents struggle with deciding on whether or not their teens are in need of tutoring.  Most parents assume that failing grades are in indicator of needing to be tutored, but bad grades could be more of a result of your teen not making their best academic effort instead of genuinely struggling with their work.  If you’re debating on whether or not your teen needs some tutoring, read the post to see if your kid has any of the classic signs of needing a tutor.

Active Non-Academic Life

Parents are quick to tell their teens if they think that they’re spending too much time with their friends, but aren’t as quick to notice that their teen is spending nearly all of their free time at play rehearsal, band practice, and soccer practice. A lot of parents push their kids into extracurricular activities because they know it’ll make them a more well-rounded individual, but if these activities take up too much of their time it’s easy for them to neglect their school work.  Since most teens have been participating in these activities for years most won’t want to give them up, but tutoring could help you and your teen come to a compromise.  If you sign your teen up for tutoring they’ll be able to get the extra academic help they need, and they won’t have to sacrifice their grades in order to do things that they’re passionate about.

Lack of Motivation

Your teen does okay in school, but you know that their grades would be better if they put more effort into their work.  They coast through most of their classes, and openly admit that they’re doing the minimum amount of work required to pass.  A weekly tutoring session could help your teen become more motivated in the class room.  Sometimes teens coast through classes because they don’t feel like they’re being challenged, but a tutor could help get them excited about learning again.

Busy Parents

When you’re exhausted after work it can be difficult to give your teen the academic attention they need, and tutoring can help fill that gap. Teenagers are at a strange stage in their lives where they’re almost old enough to make their own decisions and handle themselves, but they still need some help and supervision from their parents.  A tutor can help your child academically, but you should still work on becoming more engaged in your teen’s school work.  When you come in after a long day at work and see your teen sitting at their desk, do you simply ask them if they’re doing their homework, or do you take time to ask about the assignment?  When you see them studying for a test do ask them how it’s going or do you ask them something about the topic they’re studying?  Try making little changes in the way you ask them about work, then you’ll be able to learn more about how they’re doing in school.