Recommendations for (paid) online learning?

[Sleepdeprived42long]

I’m in Scotland. Our schools aren’t going back until the 18th (at least). Homeschool provision last lockdown wasn’t great-some ‘suggested activities’ which involved a lot of parental input and no online classes/learning. No reflection on teachers-they’re doing their best in a very difficult situation. I don’t imagine this time will be any different tbh.

Wondered if there was such a thing as private online tutoring? Can anyone recommend anywhere? Or any other suggestions for free/paid online learning?

My kids are 8 and 6. I’m not too worried about them falling behind but it would be better all round if they had some ‘formal’ learning while they aren’t at school (I’m trying to WFH while they are off and I almost had a breakdown last time juggling homeschooling and work, and they are also far better behaved when they’ve had some mental stimulation!).

Bump. Anyone?

I found a local tutor for mine, but she teaches them online. She does maths and English with them.

Mumsnet did have a link to tutoring agencies - try their lockdown learning page.

I would also really recommend Outschool for excellent online teaching.

Here is a link that should get you a free class (up to $20) outschool.com/?signup=true&usid=oJXLafjD&utm_campaign=share_invite_link

You do need to really work the filters (by time of day, age of child etc) in order to get a sensible list of classes. A lot are at funny times of day at it is primarily US based, but we found plenty at sensible times. My kids did lots of science/engineering /creative classes with outschool and really enjoyed them. They loved interacting with children and teachers from around the world.

I would recommend selecting "one time" classes on the filter to begin with. And "real time" rather than "Flexi time" as the Flexi time ones are recorded

Thanks @KeyboardWorriers that is so helpful! Will look into that this week. Is this the link you’re referring to www.mumsnet.com/education/best-online-tutoring. There seems so many different agencies. Can I ask where you found your local tutor? Facebook? Work of mouth?

I’d give us a wee bit time. Many of us found out we were not opening after schools closed for Xmas. There will be online learning from the 11th. Depending on where you are then your school will be in either the 5th or 6th to be told what they’re to do and then online learning will be up for the coming week. We have been told absolutely nothing over the holidays but I am presuming it will follow a similar format for me as it did before. Grids up on Sunday night for the coming week so parents have a chance to look over what needs done. We planned at least one activity for every curricular area with 3 in literacy and numeracy.

If you don’t find your school are offering enough please query it with them. Corbett maths is very good but will be too advanced for your littlies unfortunately.

Through word of mouth, but I also saw a lot of people asking on Facebook so I recommended her on to others that way

@mondaywine that sounds like work that requires parental input though. Which is dammed hard if you have a job to do at the same time.

@mondaywine our school did grids the last time. There was nothing on the grids the last time that didn’t need any parent involvement. It did not replace teaching and I don’t have the training, ability or time to do that. Im hoping some online tutoring will help!

@KeyboardWorriers it’s the parental input that I just cannot do as much of this time (and I wasn’t very good at it anyway last time!).

Parents asked to see the grids in advance so they understood what was being expected. P4 upwards had lots of tasks that could be done independently. In reality though, younger children will always need adult input to learn at home. We can’t do 1:1 session with a class of 33 each day and no matter what, my infant class would still need an adult at home sitting with them even if we were live zooming. I do get that parental input is hard. I have my own child and am in the exact same boat of juggling work and online learning. I found that working with my daughter over the weekends was the best was to ensure she was learning. We largely ignored her work during school weekday hours. As for what she did during the day while I worked? Got to be honest and say a lot of time was spent on Roblox so I could record videos and make calls.

We got a tutor and yes I would recommend doing it.

We found ours using this website
www.firsttutors.com/uk/

We have one hour over zoom once a week and pay £30. He gets homework from that but as he has been taught material relevant to it he can manage that reasonably well.

He did this and then whatever he could do of the school worksheets that he could do independently (so erm very little). Seemed to work well for us. I also don’t have time or the skills to suddenly become a teacher as well as my actual job!

@mondaywine mine are managing all kinds of online classes without parental input!

Oh yes and mine can do the tutor via zoom with no input from me (he is right though so not super little) but it’s def an approach which requires less parental input that school based worksheets

Thanks keyboardworriers I've been looking for an intro to coding for kids and they have a good one on there.

We have used Home School Tutoring ( local branch) and the tutor has been excellent ( Primary teacher on maternity leave).

@VortexofBloggery yes Outschool is excellent for things like that!
My son did a brilliant class on there all about how search engines work.

You’ll probably find most of your local tutors are doing online at the moment. I always used to tutor in person, but have been almost entirely online since last March. I’ve been amazed at how well it’s worked. I had to think on my feet a lot at the start but everyone is into the swing of it now.

I tutor maths for First Tutors - would recommend as they vet their tutors heavily (I’m a qualified school teacher as are many on there). They have many tutors and you can put in the age and subjects you want. Then you can message a few you like the sound of and see who comes back to you and who sounds good. They aren’t a tuition centre but just an introduction agency. Some “tuition centres” don’t actually want qualified teachers but marketing specialists, which tells you all you need to know. I’ve no vested interest in saying this, by the way!

I’ve seen a huge difference in the pupils who had tuition throughout the last lockdown. Many went back to school in September and very quickly moved up a set if they were secondary, or moved up a group if they were primary. Sadly for other children, I’m assuming they skipped ahead of those whose parents couldn’t pay for extra.

If you can afford even half an hour a week, I’d do it.

Agree with Dreaming that it is with making sure they are a qualified teacher - my children's tutor is a teacher taking a career break due to the pandemic (she is in a vulnerable category) so she is around to teach in the day and knows the curriculum.

I used tutor hunt to get my child great tutors for Maths, Science and English. Don't know if Tutor Hunt is in Scotland. You might be able to get online learning though. They use white boards to go through examples, email worksheets and talk kids through the learning. You should think about buying text books as well if secondary.

@DreamingofaShiteChristmas thanks so much for your advice. Will bear that in mind and v interesting that you’ve seen such a difference. Definitely would want qualified teacher. Preferably in the Scottish curriculum but I imagine there’s not a huge difference between Scottish and English curriculum in primary.

I think it varies more at secondary, but I would say someone used to the Scottish curriculum would be a good idea, yes. Especially if you are making up a shortfall in school learning, you want someone who has a really good up-to-date knowledge (may be less of an issue in Scotland than England where the curriculum changes like the wind!).

Good luck with it!