Tutoring or not

[Greenleave]

I have been on Mumsnet the last 2 years, main reason was to prepare for my daughter 11+ as both of us working long hours and none of my friends live in/near our area, very little info on local schools, tutors. Now fast coming she is in yr5 and we need to start with her preparation(southwest london schools entrance). I was always betting on our neighbor's tutor contact and went to meet the tutor last week for the lessons to start from end of Oct. Unfortunately she only does week day and we cant pick and drop(we work long hours, home earliest 6.30 while lesson is 5.00-6.30). I am trying to find someone who could come to us in the evening and local but havent found one. 2 questions/request here pls: if you know any SW london tutor who could travel and still available pls message me. Secondly, can working parents tutor their children themself. We have 1 hour in the evening between after dinner and bed and Saturday(Sundays are for music to catch up with practice and go to her Orchestra). Another small problem for us is English isnt our first language and we dont speak English to each other. If anyone in similar situation has done it then I will need to start reading the book and plan our evening. If its not doable and better to get a tutor then we will continue to find one. Thank you.

Have you considered online tuition? I don't cover 11+ tuition (I do GCSE/A'level), but whilst some full-time tutors do travel, many find it is not cost effective, especially if they are tutors who are very much in demand (and hence, proven to be good at their jobs).

Online is far from the "second best" option, actually being very similar to face-to-face. Most tutors use e.g. Skype, Zoom or Facetime for audio/visual contact, plus an online interactive whiteboard which both the student and tutor can write on.

There are a number of advantages to going online. You get to choose from a larger pool of tutors, so you are more likely to find one who suits your needs, it is safer than face-to-face because you are not introducing a stranger into your home, most children enjoy the novelty value of it, you can often record sessions (or at least get copies of everything on the whiteboard for your notes) and it is of course, more convenient. You don't have to leave home, tidy up, find a room for the tutor to work in etc.

If you do go down the online route, just ensure your tutor is experienced with tutoring online. This means the tutor will be familar with the software they are using and will have adapted their resources to work well online.

Thanks so much TheOriginal: great food for thought. We did try 1 violin skype lesson and it didnt go too well as mine was very distracted. It could be very different for academic. Really I need someone to give us guidance what to do where we are after each month...what paper to get, what area she needs to focus. She is quite a self-learner(no choice as we couldnt help her).

Help to lift her motivation and a small push would be really something I am looking for too as both me and my husband have failed in these aspects.

I can imagin that something practical such as an instrument may be difficult to tutor online, but for 11+ if you get a tutor who is experienced online, it should be an entirely different experience. I'd say there's nothing to lose (except maybe one lesson fee if you decide it's not for you?).

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Online tutoring is definitely the way to go, we use myqualifiedteacher.co.uk for our son's maths and he's really happy, as are we, no more travelling around and leaving work early.