02 Sep Does my Child need Enrichment Lesson or Tuition Lessons

Do our children really need tuition lessons? Most of my students genuinely need extra lessons to reinforce and supplement what they learn in schools. However, there are a few who are unable to perform due to external factors like having too much distraction at home and Being unable to study effectively. They may also be dealing with personal issues, which when not resolved, may cause them to act out. For such students who are not particularly weak in their studies, you may question if they truly need tuition lessons. I believe that tuition while effective in aiding students to improve grades, is not a one size fit all solution. My suggestion is for the parents to have a heart to heart talk with their children to understand what they are going through. This may lead to a turning point in their children’s academic performance. So do not jump to conclusion and decide that your children may be weak just by judging their school results. Parents should also have a talk with their school teachers to find out more about their children’s learning behaviour and also evaluate other factors like whether the home is a good learning environment or if their children have some emotional needs that are not met which are affecting their learning outcome.

Another concern that most parents may not realise is whether their children may have been diagnosed with some special learning needs like Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder and etc. These children need specialised attention which any untrained tutor or teacher would be unable to provide effectively.  Only when a child is correctly diagnosed or understood, can we then start to evaluate whether our children need tuition lessons if they are still not improving and what kind of tutors we are looking for to help our children with such special needs.  As a parent myself, I will also advise other parents to consider tuition if their children are unable to understand and cope with the demands of the syllabus in school. If they are constantly struggling to complete their homework competently or stuck with low marks for tests, there is a serious need for external help as the school teachers would not be able to afford the extra time to coach these children personally due to their heavy school workload.

However, ‘All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy!’ Parents should also have a discussion with their kids on what kind of enrichment or even sports activities they would be keen to join instead of just totally focusing on academic areas. Enrichment lessons are FUN and may be totally unrelated to academic areas which our kids have been exposed to almost every day in schools. These enrichment lessons expose children to knowledge beyond the classroom and allows them to pick up new skills which will otherwise not be taught in schools. Activities like Dance, Music, Sports, Art and Craft and even Coding, can get the child excited as it breaks the normal routine of studying. Most kids want to be constantly moving around in the room, performing various hands-on activities. This runs in direct contrast to the restricted freedom of tuition classes.

Is it possible not to have any form of tuition for our children? YES! If your child is able to cope and is also doing well in general, there is seriously no need for any form of tuition. Instead, we should reward them with more enrichment lessons which are to their liking. But is it possible not to have any enrichment lesson because my child must have tuition in all subjects as he is weak? The answer is ‘NO!’ because every child needs to enjoy their childhood by taking some time to play and not be studying all the time. No matter how worried we are over their studies, we need to realise that every child needs to enjoy their childhood and we should not take it away from them. If your child is already loaded with many tuition lessons and there is no more room to pick up any enrichment activity, do also remember that having family outings together is an informal type of enrichment which can build closer bonds between parents and their children! So start planning time out with your child if you would like to see your child improve in their studies!

If your child requires attention in mathematics, do drop our maths tuition centre a call. We will be happy to advise you and your child. We offer both private tuition and small group math tuition sessions that are designed to bring out the full potential in your child.