15 year old tutor

[pintofsnakebite]

My DC is looking to earn extra money.

15yo, year 11, grammar school, predicted 8s and 9s. All round lovely (obvs).

Is tutoring an option? We are in an 11+ area but the stakes feel a bit too high for that, but maybe a bit of extra help with maths or english for junior school age?

Would you be comfortable with this arrangement?

Tell me what makes it a good or bad idea.

Depending on the price I don't see why you shouldn't try it out at least. Could DC practice on any younger siblings of friends for example?

When I was that age I collected a junior school child on my street, brought him home and sat with him for a few hours until parents got home. That's an option depending on your area. I also babysat in the local area and word got around I was reliable, made a fortune (for my age!)

I like the odd job idea, might steal that for my DC when they're a bit older! Ours already earn occasionally by watering the neighbours plants and feeding the cats. If you know your neighbours this is a good option and you can keep an eye on locking up the house etc.

I did this and employed a 15/16 year old to teach a 10 year old the sax. They were both wonderful and the tutor worked very hard to meet my DCs needs. It was a wonderful experience.

We had one. The girl was 16. My daughter was 10-12. Once a week. £15 for an hour. More a learning partner.

Oh just off the phone to my friend and her niece is a 'buddy's two S1 (12 year old girls who started high school) both younger girl's mum not too keen they are in the house themselves especially with winter nights but kids don't want to go to childminder anymore, so her niece walks home with the girls and they all go to one girl's house after school and hang out until mum ir dad is home. Do homework and watch TV A couple of quid and hour and cheaper than after school care by the sound of it.

I have been wondering about this for my dc: o think I would def want them to complete GCSE first and know what subjects they would tutor in. my dc got mostly 8 and 9 (but me now on y13 with mainly 9 and the other y12 - mainly 8. School have asked y12 to tutor y7 for DofE. I think this will be really good experience for dc. If they like the experience, they could perhaps tutor.

If they are working through exercises from an 11+ book then there is no reason why he couldn't help with that, especially if the books have explanations in the answers! However, prepping them for the actual exam/exam technique/timing/setting mock exams etc might be more tricky.

Being closer in age could work in his favour as he will relate to the kids better/more easily. But might also mean they see him as a friend rather than a teacher.

As a general rule, to tutor something you need to be the level above what you are teaching. So if you are teaching gcse you need to already have your A level in that subject. Obviously parents would need to know your child's age and lack of teaching experience and this would affect what he could charge.

You also need to make him aware of safeguarding precautions- to protect both him and the kid they are teaching. No lessons in bedrooms, always leave doors open, maintain space between you etc

I’m not sure it is a good way for your child to spend her precious time…

No he won't be using the same methods at 15 as a primary school child.He doesn't know the national curriculum .Subject knowledge is one thing, but pedagogy is what us required.
I know how to speak English but I'm not sure I could teach it to foreigners effectively iyswim

I would look into whether local tutoring centres would employ him as an assistant, many do and they pay well.

Tutoring is a special skill. Just because a person is clever, doesn't mean they can tutor. It's more than knowing something..

I hired my babysitter specifically because he was male, much more energetic for my two sons than the female babysitters I've had in the past.

I actually think to the right child a 15 yo could be a great tutor-type person as they wouldn’t be classed as an “adult” and might have more of a shot at engaging reluctant kids with subjects they might have classed as “boring”. Definitely give it a go!

Hi - I would definitively employ for homework but probably not yet for formal tutoring.

Teaching or tutoring is a skill. Please don’t encourage him to do this. It is not fair on him, the children or the parents. Say he is a babysitting who will help with homework set at school but no more!

Thank you everyone.

Yes, I think the 'help with homework' was very much what I envisaged, rather than formal tutoring, so maybe just needs to be careful about what he's offering.