What to expect from your first year of tuition?

Your first year of tuition can feel like a rollercoaster of successes and challenges. With every hump in your child’s development, comes a milestone just around the corner. At NumberWorks’nWords, we take the unique approach whereby confidence and a sense of achievement is fostered from their very first session at the centre. With our network of educators and highly trained tutors, we’ve supported hundreds of families on their journeys to developing essential English and maths skills, from day one to year one, two, three … and more! Read on to discover what to expect from your child’s very first encounters with tutoring to the end of your first year, and how to celebrate every sign of progress along the way.

Assessment

Most families begin by addressing either gaps in their child’s learning typically to build a solid foundation in English and/or maths. Alternatively, parents might also be looking for opportunities to extend the child further in a subject they are passionate about. It’s not uncommon for one family to approach tutoring with these two very different needs in mind, for their different children. With an overall goal of confidence for all families, it is important to explain to your child that an initial assessment is a chance to later show how far they have come. This might fuel competition against their own performance, rather than external factors. Within NumberWorks’nWords centres, the aim above all is to show how learning can be enjoyable. Once joy is experienced with English and maths study, openness to further study has begun.

Month 1 - a change in learning style and attitude

The first month introduces your child to a bounty of new experiences. For some children, this is the first opportunity to learn with other children much older or younger than them, but who is learning at the same pace and who is tackling the same content. This provides a great lesson that effort and ability matters more than age alone.

A new method of learning is also slowly introduced that for the first time, is different to how they may learn and play in pre-school, or how their teacher runs a classroom. At NumberWorks’nWords, learning is computer-based with guidance and encouragement from a tutor that is one-on-one with each student. Tutors maintain positive interactions with each student, providing constant feedback on progress and awarding certificates for their achievements. This engagement has proven to have a big impact on changing attitudes to learning.

Month 3 - a focus on effort and routine

By month three, your child is starting to adjust to a routine and with this new habit-building, there will be strategies that help you to combat resistance to a new form of focus that’s required. Setting them up for success is made easier when dedicated tutoring time is carved out for them, where they can then tick off their effort and feel a sense of achievement once it is completed. Ideas that establish routine like carving out a morning ‘study activity’ time after breakfast, while mum and dad are reading the paper or catching up on emails is an opportunity for role-modelling. Children then head off to school already focused for the day and know that after school time is for play and exercise. Other parents have found a straight after school time, especially if tutoring involves visiting a centre like NumberWorks’nWords, works best. When children study at a centre, they know they are there to complete a task for the day and can then enjoy home time with the family.

Month 6 - a focus on confidence

By month six, students have often begun to build meaningful relationships with other students and their tutor within the centre. The benefits of face-to-face tutoring are many. By receiving encouragement from them and also making new friendships with students from other schools and age groups, their confidence can truly soar. Now is a great time to recognise the half-year milestone by asking your child, ‘how do you feel now about your English and maths?’ and ‘Do you remember how you felt before?’.

Month 12 - a focus on progress

At the end of a child’s first year, there is an opportunity to reflect on the progress made and to celebrate all of their milestones along the way. One of the greatest tools to build resilience and a habit of progress-planning, is to aid your child’s growth mindset with this easy guide. Did they begin without addition ability and are now tackling multiplication? Was reading a real chore to begin with, and now they are in the habit of reading a new book with mum or dad every week? Not only does looking back provide them with a sense of pride, but it also opens up discussion for forward-planning and goal setting into the next year.

Want to find out whether your child needs maths or English tuition? Book a free assessment and introductory lesson with NumberWorks'nWords.