ELEMENTARY TUTORING: BUILDING FOUNDATIONS, REACHING NEW HEIGHS

Do young children in first or second grade need a tutor? How do you tell if an elementary student is struggling? What if your third grader is a voracious reader, or a math wiz, but gets bored in class? When does it make sense to tutor—during the school year, or when school is out? Parents of very young children often ask us these questions, and the answers aren’t always obvious.

We’ve talked previously about how to decide when to hire a tutor, but with elementary students there are unique factors to consider, and unique ways that we can help. At LTLS, what tutors offer goes beyond expertise in math, English, and homework help: they reinforce lifelong skills, such as patience, self-advocacy, and goal-setting. For many uniquely individual young people, personalized tutoring can be an amazing opportunity.

WHEN SHOULD I HIRE AN ElEMENTARY TUTOR?

Teachers and child development experts consistently suggest that young children continue reading, writing, or practicing math outside of school hours and while on break. In busy families, making time for this—or battling an unenthusiastic eight-year-old—can make parents cringe. While they may do their best to read nightly bedtime stories, or listen to audiobooks in the car, things like adding and subtracting, or crafting paragraphs, can drop to the wayside. Often, parents explore options for educational camps, but the dates may not align with other plans or commitments. Similar to bootcamps, a tutor can help provide lively, learning-based enrichment.

TUTORINH IS FLEXIBLE

For younger students, tutoring can focus on the specific needs of each child and family. Children may attend once or multiple times a week, can increase visits during school breaks, and can take time off when out-of-town guests or family vacations make scheduling hard.

Whether it is best to start tutoring right away or wait to see how a student does on their own will depend on the individual student. Elementary age students can gain valuable experience from tackling manageable challenges. They may, however, still need an appropriate amount of support from adults, which is different for every child. A tutor can work with a family to provide consistent, professional support, one-on-one lessons, and coaching to develop the skills needed for lifelong learning. If a student’s needs change, tutoring sessions at LTLS are not bound to a yearly schedule and can start mid-year or pause and resume at a later date.

TAILORED TO YOUNG STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC NEEDS AND CURIOSITIES

Topics covered can be specifically tailored to individual students. For example, a student who struggles with reading might go back over phonics and letter sounds. Children can review without feeling embarrassed in front of their peers. On the other hand, a child who excels in math and doesn’t feel challenged in school might feed their curiosity through exploring math with a tutor. Some students spend time with tutors researching topics of interest and writing about it in a variety of formats. Tutors can encourage independent reading and help complete assignments or goals.

Finally, specific student skills which will aid in future academic success can be addressed through tutoring. Young children can learn to begin taking notes; they can summarize readings; or they can practice writing math problems neatly. Since the focus of LTLS is to build trust with our students, students are encouraged to ask questions in a way that is free from judgement and fosters intellectual exploration.

FEATURED TUTOR: NICOLE

We sat down with Nicole, one of our amazing tutors, as well as our Test Prep Trainer, to talk about some of her experiences tutoring at LTLS, as well as what she likes to do in her spare time! 

How did you get into teaching/tutoring?

I started my tutoring journey when I was very young, helping my peers in class. The earliest instance I can remember is a time in kindergarten where I was helping a boy to understand colors. I don’t remember any specifics, but I distinctly remember sitting with him when no one else did to help him with that. My mom was a teacher, and I went to school in her district, so if students were struggling, coworkers of my mom would ask me to help, and I began working with students younger than me. I knew I wanted to do something in education, but realized I didn’t want to be a teacher, so I focused on tutoring. I really like working one-on-one with students, and helping people find learning fun. 

What’s a favorite story you have from working at LTLS?

One of my favorite things that has happened was with one of my students in the middle of the first quarter of this school year. He’s a 7th grader, and he managed to bring all of his grades up to A’s, but he didn’t know that yet. He was sharing his screen so we could look at his grades, and when he noticed they were all A’s, he was so excited! He said, out loud, “I feel so proud of myself right now!” It makes me feel great when people can say things like that at a young age, because that kind of positive self talk is really important. I always hope it carries through to older years. 

What have you learned through your work in education that you feel is most important to share?

I think we all know (or at least we are all told) that people have different learning speeds and different learning styles, and this really gets highlighted when you get to work with people one-on-one. It’s great to get to experiment with different styles as you are trying to find the one that works for your student. It’s really rewarding to find the puzzle piece that helps things click for another person. The fact that everyone has different learning needs is something that gets repeated a lot, and can sometimes just come off as a talking point, but it's not just a talking point. Everyone has a right to learn, and to learn in a way that's not just inside the confines of what has always been done. 

What’s something we don’t know about you?

I really like mining! Not in a cave with a mining cart, but the term is sort of a blanket one referring to finding minerals. My dad is really into geology, and he has some mining claims in California, and when I still lived there I would go out with him a lot. One of those claims is a really good place to find beryls - a gem that comes in all different shades, with famous ones like emerald and aquamarine - and really pretty minerals. I not only collect minerals I find with him, but also others that I find or buy. I’m just really interested in geology and I especially enjoy finding things myself. There’s something really rewarding about using crowbars to move boulders, or digging intentionally and carefully to find really small minerals.