Summer is a time of freedom for kids in school, and only a small percentage of the kids I've ever met would rather spend that time hitting the books. Here are a few ideas to help make it work.
1) Develop incentives
The parents of a child I tutored once would keep track of the hours she spent working on lessons and give small rewards as she reached certain milestones. The time she spent in session with me counted double toward her total, which may or may not have contributed to how glad she was to see me each week.
2) Hold sessions in interesting locations
A fair percentage of tutors can work with you to help make lessons engaging for students. Sessions can be held at a science museum or zoo, and some tutors can tailor the lesson to the environment with such small touches as word problems that feature elements from the exhibits.
3) Find tutors with online or interactive elements
More and more, computer use is becoming essential to the classroom environment. Tutors are picking up on this shift, and some can provide learning games or offer remote sessions that allow your child to use computer resources as part of the lesson.
4) Make lessons relevant between sessions
You can work with your tutor to figure out ways that a lesson might relate to your child's interests or everyday life. If academic concepts become connected to real-world ideas, your child will learn how to apply them and remember them longer.
Keeping your child in good scholastic shape through the summer can work wonders when the school year comes around. Try these tricks with your summer tutor to make the off-season learning experience go smoothly for everyone.
