to consider a tutor for a 6 year old

[OneAPecker]

ds is in year 1. I also have a toddler. I really love to spend time after school with ds practising his writing and maths, but it's not possible to concentrate with the toddler. weekends are difficult. so I'm thinking about a local teacher who does tutoring. Perhaps an hour per week? ds had no special issues and can read and write, although he definitely could benefit from writing practice. Is it too much?

Unless the school has highlighted specific concerns I'd say that it's too much.

Fine if you're both up for it but sounds unnecessary.

I think my motivation is not that I want to push him, but rather that I don't want him to fall behind because all the other kids get attention at home. also sometimes he's a bit more responsive when it's someone other than me suggesting he do things in a certain way!

Homework at that age is largely seen as pointless so I doubt he is at risk of falling behind because you don't make him do extra. There are probably very few parents who actually make them do extra work.

I wouldn't at that age, unless issues have been raised at school. I think it's much better for them to relax when they're home, I wouldn't want to come home from work and the have to do more work. I've never been one for pushing worksheets etc at home, we read together, throw number sentences at each other in the car, count our way up steps in 5s, that kind of thing. Learning without them realising they're learning.

It's hard to say without knowing your child's abilities, and I hate saying it, but there are Y1 children that would benefit from some 1-1 tuition. There is a lot expected of such young children at school nowadays, and if you can't support your ds then using a tutor definitely isn't going to do any harm.

I'm a SAHM at the mo and I do virtually nothing with DD beyond her school reading and homework. Both she and I have better things to do, even if, on my part, that's reading my book or browsing the net!

Most people I know don't do anything structured, but they probably do family days out, museums and whatnot.

But a tutor wouldn't be you "spending time with him working on his writing and maths"

I do tutoring, and I have tutored a year 1 child.
She was definitely behind her peers. English second language, her English wasn't bad, but Mum's was very poor, and so she couldn't do any of the phonics homework etc.
Child was unwilling to do ANYTHING with mum, eg reading, maths practice etc. (this was mainly because mum was being very pushy, long worksheets type activities as she was worried about her progress)

Generally I would say homework at this age is useless. BUT that does exclude reading. So I did half and hour per week, where we did everything as a game, and gave her reading and maths games to do for homework. Play each game 3 times with Mummy/big sister during the week, come back next week. Time limit 10 minutes per game. Mum dropped the worksheets.

Because I had set it (rather than Mummy asking her to do it) she did the games. That basically did the reading and math practice that school was asking but she wouldn't do. It quickly pulled her back up on a par with her peers, she soon realised that the extra practice was helping, and she no longer needed me as she was happy to do school phonics work etc.

win win.

But it isn't really something I think is a good idea other than in specific circumstances .

My teenage daughter tutors a 6yo whose mum is v busy with work. She listens to her read, skip count, reads to her, plays literacy and numeracy games - then plaits her hair! They both love it

I would, as long as your 6 year old sees it all as fun rather than work.
I think children do benefit from help with these things at home.
The curriculum is challenging at the moment and it can be a real confident knock to fall behind.
Provided it's done correctly and without pressure, I can't personally see an issue.

Confidence knock!

My son had a tutor briefly in year 2. At the time I was pregnant and getting him to practice his reading and do his homework did dangerous things to my blood pressure. I was also working full time and ds was behind with writing.

I think the key is finding the right person to tutor a small child. I agree that homework is counter productive. Its not cruel to send a child to a tutor if its done in a kind and age appriopiate way.