How to Find A Homeschool Tutor  - Hess UnAcademy (2024)

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Homeschool education is a good fit for many families for a variety of different reasons. Teaching your child curriculum and providing a solid educational foundation is both a gift and sometimes a challenge. Many homeschool families use tutors as supplemental support to help ensure their children are getting exactly what they need educationally. If you are interested in finding a homeschool tutor, you may be wondering how to start the process.

Using our tips to find a homeschool tutor will help you narrow down your options and find the just right fit for your homeschooled student.

Featured Online Tutoring Tool: Outschool

Adding a tutor to your homeschool schedule is an ideal option for many families. But finding the right tutor is imperative to make sure that it is a successful fit. If a tutor’s personality or skill set doesn’t work with your child’s personality and educational needs, your student will not receive the benefits that come with working with a tutor.

We suggest working with a few different tutors to try and find the perfect fit. And one of the easiest ways to do this is to search for an online tutor on Outschool. This resource allows you to set up one on one sessions with qualified teachers making it a perfect tool to use when searching for a tutor.

During your Outschool session, make sure to ask questions when working with the tutor and allow time during the session to simply be able to chat. You can learn a lot about a tutor’s background and personality simply by having a conversation. Being open and honest with the tutor is also helpful as honest communication is an important part of the tutoring process once you begin.

And right now as an exclusive deal for our readers, you can get 20% off your first tutoring session using code HESSTUTOR20.

You can also learn more about Outschool here.

Understanding Your Tutoring Needs

The first step in finding a good fit in a tutor is knowing what you need from them. Before setting up trial sessions, sit with your child and make a list of what they need from a tutor. It is important to be specific in your tutoring needs to help you search for the right person. Once you have the list, make sure to communicate your needs with the tutor. A good tutor will be honest about their capabilities and whether or not they will be a good fit for what you need.

If you are looking for a general tutor to help in all subject areas, make sure to mention that when interviewing different tutors. However, if you need specific support in a certain subject area such as math or science, make sure to find someone who specializes in those subjects.

Online Tutoring Solutions

Online tutoring is ideal for many homeschool families thanks to its flexible schedule and the opportunity to have tutoring inside your home virtually. Outschool is an amazing resource many homeschool families use for a wide variety of purposes, including individualized tutoring. When navigating the Outschool website, you can search for content that you need help with specifically.

Outschool also has a specific section just for tutors where you can search by age, and subject area, or review some of the highest rated teachers on the website. You can also search for individual classes and tutors for small group sessions. Tutoring in a group can be beneficial for collaboration so don’t rule that option out as Outschool offers numerous small-group tutoring courses as well.

Finding Local In-Person Tutors

While online tutors are an ideal option when you need something flexible to work with your schedule, there are benefits to working with a tutor in person. Having face to face interaction allows students to feel even more comfortable asking questions. Communication is sometimes easier in person and allows the tutor and student to connect more authentically as they work together.

Keep in mind during your search that local schools and tutoring companies will have recommendations for tutors as well.And especially during the summer, often teachers will pick up tutoring work as a side gig during their off time.

Evaluating Potential Tutors

One of our most important recommendations when finding a homeschool tutor is to set up trial sessions and preliminary interviews. Evaluating the tutor’s credentials is an important step in finding a good fit, but how they interact with your student is just as important. Get to know your tutor before you commit to numerous sessions together.

Ask other homeschool students if they have recommendations for tutors they have worked with before.You really can’t beat getting a referral from someone you know and trust.

Making the Most of Tutoring

Once you find a tutor that fits your homeschool tutoring needs, it is important and helpful to set goals and have a plan for the tutoring session. Make sure that your tutor will be able to provide feedback in a meaningful way for both the student and you as the parent. Having open and honest conversations about what is and isn’t working will help your student make the most of their tutoring sessions.

Final Thoughts on Finding a Homeschool Tutor

Remember that as a homeschool parent, you aren’t expected to be an expert in all subject areas. Adding a homeschool tutor to part of your routine can be extremely beneficial and supportive. While it may take a little time and research to find the right tutor, once you do it will be well worth it. Remember that resources like Outschool have numerous options to help you in your search. Once you find a tutor that fits your student’s educational needs, your child will be set up for success and feel even more supported in their educational career.