Can anyone recommend an online tutoring company?

[chocolatemarshmallow]

My DS is at GCSE level and struggling in a couple of subjects (he does fine in Maths/sciences but finds arts ie English and History much tougher).
I've been thinking about finding a tutor for a while but DS is quite reluctant as they tend to be at that age. Very keen not to miss out on being able to see his mates etc after school and seems to struggle with idea of face to face - thinks it'd be embarassing etc.
I know there are a lot of these online tutoring companies springing up and a couple of DD's friends parents have used them with great success- can see obv advantage that you just switch them on and off so no time wasted travelling to tutor etc and sounds like the software they use is very good so think this may be a good option for DS.
However obviously as with anything online am fairly wary about scams/ending up with something not very good - so wondered if anyone has had any experience/can recommend anyone good?

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Hello, this thread is a little old. You can find more up-to-date Mumsnetter recommendations in our round-up of the best online tutoring services (and other online learning resources). MNHQ.

Find a real tutor through good word of mouth! There is no better substitute. (best wishes from a real tutor!)

Update! A friend has recommended an online company called tutorme - they seem to be UK based and quite genuine and her DS (16) has had success with them so I think I'm going to try that one- thanks for your advice Candleshoe, I do appreciate the sentiment but as I said, DS is very reluctant to go for face to face and I think he may just find this easier. Also big advantage is that they record the whole session so you can replay it back later which you wouldn't get with a face to face tutor and he tends to forget easily so may be best value for money if I can play it back to him again later too! will let you know how it goes

I have heard good things about online tutoring chocolatemarshmallow but always been a bit fainthearted to try it myself being utterly technophobic! I can use the computer/get online fine (obv!) but can't shake utter conviction that as soon as i'd paid for and arranged a time for an online lesson the internet would promptly go down moments before and i wouldn't be able to get it back up again!! Will be v interested to hear how you get on do update!

DS had his first online session after school today and it was really good - the tutor was brilliant, very tuned in to him and obviously experienced at 'getting through' to kids at that age- he engaged and interested DS throughout and he really seemed to learn a lot- plus being able to play lesson back will be a godsend for revision.

DS said afterwards that it was 'cool' and 'fine' which is praise indeed coming from him! Would definitely recommend them - the website is tutorme.co.uk

The tutor we used did English with him today but I might well use them for history as well.

Oh dear sorry not very good at this, try again - the link is www.tutorme.co.uk

chocolatemarshmallow, I've heard about these from some friends of DD1 and thinking about trying it out - do you think it was specifically a good boy-targeted experience or do you think they'd be good for a girl too? She's struggling with English too so similar level by the sounds of it - might try the same company since you had such a good experience

mathsonline looks really good, havent personally used it, just looked at it but it covers the whole curriculum

I see that tutorme was started in 2010 has only just gone " live to the general public ".
Lucky that chocolatemarshmallow's friend's son was in the vanguard and that the info about this organisation was so timely for the OP.

Sorry fingerpaints have only just seen your question hope not too late reply to be useful - yes I'm sure it would be useful for a girl too - the only reason I especially said it was good for a boy was because my son (in a typical teenage boy way) wasn't keen on the idea of a whole hour face to face with a stranger so doing it online seems to have made him feel a bit more relaxed and under less pressure. He's had several more sessions now and it's been really very good- his confidence has come on enormously and he's getting much better marks in school so I would try them out if you haven't already started wiht someone else. Then again I know some girls might prefer face to face contact...whatever suits your daughter really

Hi chocolatemarshmallow, no not too late to be useful - and we'd already tried tutorme for several sessions and she has found it really good- better quality of tutoring than others we've tried (briefly) in the past and I like the online format as it keeps it to an hour then we just switch off!

I agree entirely with gingeroots - how spectacularly fortunate to discover this brand new site just as it goes live...wow!

I know this thread hasn't been used in a while, but it came up when I searched for online tutoring companies, so I thought I might as well revive it. These guys www.transmission-education.com/ use tutors from Cambridge and have their own online 'classroom'. I'd definitely recommend giving them a try! Not sure if they do GCSE, but no harm in asking.