Does Your Child Need a Tutor?

When is the right time to take action to ensure that your child is making good progress in school? At graduation? At finals? At mid-terms? At the first warning notice?

Don’t wait so long!

There are a number of clues, before you have that first back to school or parent teacher conference to help you recognize problems. There are day-by –day  red-flags that can tell you when your child needs individualized tutoring outside the  routine of the classroom and you need to be open to talking with your child and his or her teacher when you see these flags:

Homework is incomplete, inaccurate and sloppy. Your child’s  school work is incoherent or unfinished, or you find yourself doing it for your child. Does he understand the assignments?  Is she paying attention in class? 

Your child often spins his or her wheels. Your child’s sits  at the desk, but little or nothing gets done as the evening drags on. Ask your child’s teacher about how much time your child should spend on homework each night and then pay attention to the actual time spent. If your child’s grades don’t reflect the amount of time put in then investigate what really is getting in the way.

Apathy about school sets in. Is your child  simply lose interest in learning. If your child was once excited about school and now seems indifferent, talk to him or her and try to probe gently into what's going on.

Grades begin to slide down. You notice more red marks on homework assignments and scores on quizzes and tests are dropping, that may be more serious than just a tough unit or a difficult class. When grades that get progressively worse, it may mean  that your child lacks basic skills and therefore can't keep up in the classroom.

Your child is down on him or herself. Tough going in the classroom takes a serious toll on a child's self-esteem and confidence. You owe it to your child to help find a solution.

Homework time brings a bucket of tears and crying. Problems in the classroom create frustrations that appear at home during homework time. Does your child dreads homework and study? Does every session become tense and stressful? Perhaps your child feels incapable and has thrown in the towel.

When your child has problems in school,  grades aren't the only things that suffer – your child is feeling a lot of frustration, sadness and even anger . Seek help early with an individual tutoring program that addresses the skills that have been missed in the traditional classroom setting. Problems like these don't go away on their own and there are no quick fixes. Close those gaps in skills so that your child can go on to be a better, more confident, and most importantly, happier student.

For more information about Huntington Learning Center, contact Ofra Weinberg, Huntington Learning Center of Encino, (818) 907-5557.