Two Thrifty Tips to Boost Your Child’s School Grades

When it comes to choosing the right materials to help ensure your children achieve the high grades required for the next level of education or to enable them to get the job they need, it’s often difficult to find ways that are both effective and affordable.

Traditionally, when we thought about supplementing our children’s schoolwork, two things have sprung to mind: text books and private tutors.

In theory, revision guides are great. Whether you buy them outright or borrow them from the library, they shouldn’t cost you the earth and they’ll have all the information your child needs to succeed in the specific subject.

The problem, however, is that it’s hard enough trying to get adults to learn from a text book, let alone children. Most of us are auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learners – which doesn’t align with solitary ‘text book learning’.

At the other end of the spectrum there’s private tuition, which can of course be very effective. Unfortunately, private tuition is a privilege most families can’t afford; with prices reaching anything up to £30 per hour – perhaps more if you live in the London area.     

In addition to the cost, it isn’t always convenient to have a tutor visit your home in the evening.  Likewise, transporting your child to and from the tutor’s home can be bothersome. 

All is not lost for parents though. Here are a few thrifty (and effective) tips that can be used to supplement your child’s schooling and help give their grades a boost.  

Mobile Apps

It has been suggested that around 66% of teens now own a smartphone, allowing them to download applications on various operating systems such as Android and iOS. Their education can benefit greatly from this as there are a range of high quality educational apps available.

One of our favourites is myHomework, an app that lets the child organise their homework schedule. The BBC Bitesize range are also very good; offering assistance on many different subjects.  There are too many great educational apps to list here, but if you’re interested in finding more, check out Wired’s 5 Basic Math Apps for Kids, Mashable’s 5 Apps Your Kids will Love, or the Kerboodle GCSE maths revision app

Although some of these may be free, the majority of thoroughly developed apps will cost a few pounds. However, if it means your child engages in some maths practice or revision in their free time, the apps will certainly be worth the relatively small outlay. 

Online Tuition

An option that’s becoming increasingly popular is online tuition. It’s a similar premise to the traditional tutoring methods you’ll be familiar with, but all happens over the internet. You sign up for a course of lessons and take part with a webcam, microphone and headset. 

Your child will still be taught by qualified and experienced UK-based maths tutors, but it’ll be done in a safe, engaging environment, right in the comfort of your own home. Apart from offering an effective way of helping your child boost confidence in maths and improve grades, it’s a lot more affordable than traditional ‘one to one’ ’face to face’ tutoring, with prices around £15 per hour, as well as a GCSE pass or money back guarantee.

A sponsored post contributed by iTutorMaths – online maths tutors in the UK.