Private tutor for year 8 onwards?

[Veuvestar]

Is there such a thing, or would you have to hire tutors for the individual subjects?

Well you don't have to hire tutors at all but at secondary level you are unlikely to find a tutor that does everything.

For year 8 and probably into 9 you could maybe get a tutor that would do a bit of everything. But you may need two, one who is focused on maths & science, one who is English, humanity and (possibly) a foreign language. I used to teach secondary English and could easily tutor the humanities too, and science as well because I was always pretty good at it, but I wouldn't touch maths!

But once they start GCSE courses you need subject specialists who know the ins and outs of the exams. Otherwise they could do more harm than good. They need to know how to teach them to jump through the right hoops for the exams & how to interpret and apply the mark scheme.

Maybe rather than looking for a single tutor, it would be worth exploring some of the online schools? Some of them keep the classes very small.

I don't know anyone who has done this. What would be the benefit of having a generalist tutor? Would that be any better than just doing it yourself? Maybe you'd like to say more about your situation and why you were thinking of getting a single tutor?

SirSamuelVimes is right that if you use tutors at (I)GCSE preparation stage, you definitely need subject specialists. Not only subject specialists, but those who know the specific exam and marking scheme. Many HE kids have been caught out by having a tutor who has only worked with schoolchildren and therefore only knows the GCSE syllabus! In some subjects such as maths there is very considerable overlap, but in other subjects the different exam boards have syllabi which are worlds apart.

I figured you’d have to have separate tutors for each subject
Ds really struggling with school, would love to homeschool myself but he won’t take any instruction from me.

@Veuvestar if you want to drop me a pm I can have a chat with you, I do private tutoring (English teacher, but as I said earlier I could certainly help with the humanities).

Ah, I see. Many kids don't want to be "taught" at all, but will tolerate it sometimes. They may figure that home is their one space where they can be spared that, and their parents are people they can rely on just to love them and support them, and they don't want their parents to turn into teachers. This is especially true for kids who have had a hard time at school.

Home ed parents generally recommend a good long break from any forced academic learning when a child first comes out of school, to give them time to recover, relax, and rediscover their natural love of learning. This is called "deschooling"; you could read about it if the idea appeals to you. During this time parents can learn about possible different approaches and think about which might be worth trying with their child, while observing the child to see what engages him. Does he like to read, or listen, or watch videos, or try things himself? Is he anxious about learning some subjects? What sort of environment does he need in order to be happy - does he get grouchy if he hasn't eaten, does he learn better after 10am, does he need plenty of exercise, does he like to sit and focus for a long time or does he need lots of breaks? It takes time and experimenting to figure all of this out. But that is okay. There is no hurry.

You wait until they seem interested in learning things. If you think formal academics are the right way forward, you could introduce them slowly, starting with your son's favourite subject to get off to a good start, trying various resources until he is really enjoying it. Or you might find that he was learning loads under his own steam and you are happy to let him keep doing that, an approach which my family uses ("autonomous education" or "unschooling"). Learning doesn't have to involve being taught what the child doesn't want to learn. There are many ways to do it.

You don't have to be in a rush to jump in with a tutor. You could see how you get on without one, and then if you feel one or more tutors would be helpful, ask for recommendations in your local home ed community.