Anyone used an online tutor? Advice please?

[Upsidedownrightnow]

So my dd is in yesr 8 and I wonder if an online tutor would be a good idea for maths and English.

Her school are not doing any online classes atall! They just set them work and thats it.

I honestly feel like my dd needs more support (she isn't massively into school work anyway) and she is currently doing the bare minium to get by.

I'm concerned that online learning will be going on even after September (the school have advised this is very likely) and dd will fall behind.

I think she is bright but she has an attitude where if she likes the teacher she does really well and if she doesnt then she puts hardly any effort into her work.

So I'm wondering if any of you have used online tutors for English and maths?

If so if there someone or a company you could recommend? Also could you give an idea on prices? As money is tight right now but I don't want dd to fall behind completely

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MNHQ Update
This is an old thread, but if you've landed here while looking for advice and recommendations for online tutoring, our guide to the best online tutoring services has been recently updated. It includes a wide range of options to suit children of all ages and budgets of all sizes - and many come highly recommended by Mumsnetters. We hope it's helpful!

it might be worth trying oak academy before you try a tutor? It is free and provides daily video lessons x

Hi there @Upsidedownrightnow

I have sent you a PM.

We have a y7 DD and have an English and music tutor through Coronavirustutoring.co.uk. We wouldn't be able to afford it normally for both. We can afford one so we got her a maths tutor that does science and maths with her. 30mins of each. Our experience has been mixed and we've had this setup for over 2 months now. I would say it really depends on how much your child will talk to them. For eg we've stopped science and maths as DD finds those subjects really difficult and the tutor was basically performing a monologue unless I sat with her and helped her, this imo defeats the whole point. At her level I can help her with everything so imo the role of the tutor is to motivate her.
The English one has been amazing. DD loves her. We send her DDs English work for the week and they do 3/4 of it in the 1hr and the rest she does during the week and sends it to her.

So all in all, it can be really great it just depends what it's for. If the child is behind and struggling I don't think online is great. If it's go keep them engaged than its great. Saying this, DD is very dyslexic and hates English normally. She's wrote an essay with her tutor last week so it may just be luck of the draw.

@sleepismysuperpower1 I think dd actully needs 1 to 1 help and to be taught instead of more work but i will have a look thanks

@WeAreRevoltingChildren I will have a look thank you

We are doing this in English at the moment for a year 7. Doesn't specifically need it (i.e. doing well at school) but I felt it worth paying for the extra help in lockdown as I know writing is not his favourite occupation so a bit of push would be good!

We found a tutor with a track record in teaching this way as I think to do it well they need to have developed techniques to engage someone and work well with them online. Ours uses Zoom and shares documents through google docs so they can work together on writing techniques and DS sees live feedback/editing of his work where appropriate. Our tutor also gives homework which is then marked between lessons.

You may find you need to look hard for the right person as if they are good at online tutoring their customer base can be worldwide and they don't necessarily have space! We got in quick with ours just before lockdown started when I figured the changes of circumstances would mean there would be some space and I was right. You might have to wait for the summer holidays for availability of a good tutor.

Hello!

My name is Sophie and I have been doing online tuition for nearly 3 years. Have a look at my website for my past experience, you will also find my email so please do write to me if you have any questions! :)

sophietutor.wixsite.com/mysite

We have used mytutor.co.uk for y11 and 13. I've found them very good. I think your daughter would have to be fully behind the idea for it to work.

glowfly-tutors.com

Their tutoring was delivered online anyway so are well set up for this. Excellent tutors

Hi Sophie, you don't happen to know an equivalent of you for Spanish A level, do you?

@cologne4711

Hi Sophie, you don't happen to know an equivalent of you for Spanish A level, do you?

Hi cologne4711, Did you find one?

If anyone is looking for an Online tutor Interhigh (one of the most established), is running a competition on Muddy Stilettos’s offering two free annual places (worth up to £3000 each), for either support around traditional education or full time online tutoring. Try this link here: muddystilettos.co.uk/reader-treats/win-a-year-of-free-education-at-interhigh-online-school/

Competition closes on Friday 1st Oct 2021.

I’ve heard good things about them and just entered. Worth a try!

I can recommend lotus online tutors based in oxford. My ds (U6) is having biology and chemistry A level tutoring and it is working well for him. His tutors are v experienced - one is an A level teacher is a good private school locally, one is a post doc at Oxford with quite a few years tutoring experience.

There are numerous tutoring directory websites. I recommend firsttutors, you can find all kinds of tutors on there.

I agree first tutors is a good one, I've used it twice and both times the tutors were excellent. The only trouble is you have to pay a release fee to get the tutor's details, so obviously if it turns out the tutor isn't a good fit for your child it is a bit expensive.
The other agency I've used is Tutorful, which I like because you can book a lesson just as a one off or sometimes a free trial lesson, so you can keep trying until you find a tutor your child works well with, I've had mixed results with this, some brilliant tutors, some not so good.