Our daughter Georgie has been working with David for a few months now and some great progress has been made. We are thinking of taking a break over the holidays but don’t want her to forget all the work. Do you have any policies to do with holidays?

 

A lot of clients have been getting in touch to ask about tutoring over the coming holidays, although we have no formal requirements in this regard here are some basic considerations:

  • A lot of clients do tutoring less consistently over December which usually means that those topics will not be absorbed as wholesomely and can become knowledge gaps early next year. The last topics learned before holidays are the most likely to be forgotten. An extended period of no study will obviously cause the student to forget lots of other content as well.
  • The new school term often starts with a quiz and students usually perform at levels below their standard in the previous year since they have not been in a state of “logical” thinking for an extended period. This can be a blow to the ego and is a discouraging way to start the year.
  • It usually takes about 3-4 weeks into the new school year just to catch up and regain some momentum. This ‘catching up’ is especially challenging because it occurs during the difficult transition from summer holidays to full-time studies.

Some ways to minimize the academic consequence of holidays:

  • We have uploaded basic worksheets onto our website, please check them out. They are only basic but will certainly help to keep the mind active and minimize the amount of content which will be forgotten.
  • Obviously, for the purposes of improving grades it is best not to take a break from study, especially for the full 6 week holiday period. We highly recommend for your tutor to set some revision homework and schedule a tutorial every 2-3 weeks to go over this content. It is also advisable to continue tutoring consistently throughout December while new content is being covered at school.
  • The beginning of a new year can be a busy period and sometimes simple scheduling/communication issues can delay the commencement of tutoring. It is best to organise a tentative recommencement date/week with your tutor before any break so that everybody is in agreement and on the same page.
  • If at all possible, recommence tuition 1-2 weeks before school starts. This smooths the transition while giving students a stronger confidence, keeping them a step ahead from the start.

The most important questions, taking a more global perspective, is What Do You Want To Get Out Of Tutoring? …Will Tutoring Over The Holidays Help Achieve This Goal?  Will Taking A Break Greatly Delay Or Inhibit Achieving This Goal?

Share This Post!