Just like many of the services you will find on BabySitterRegistry.com, tutors come in a variety of styles to meet your needs. There are certain things you should expect from all tutors whether they are certified professionals or college students. Great tutors have three main qualities you should keep an eye out for:

They should have a plan. This is certainly true if you are hiring a tutor to regularly home-school your child, but should also be the case for an occasional tutor that is coming to help your child pass a subject. Instead of just showing up and diving into the work, your tutor should have at least a general plan for how to cover the subject they will be working on. Many times, if a child is having a hard time with a subject like math, they need to start fresh from the beginning before they will be able to catch up with the rest of their class and proceed. The tutor should be able to cover the basics before delving into the homework at hand.

They should have extremely good communication abilities. This means that they should be able to find alternative ways to explain something if one way does not seem to be working. Some children learn better when things are demonstrated visually for instance, and a tutor should be able to quickly sense what sort of communication works best for their student. If a tutor is inflexible in the way they teach, then the student may never be able to understand the lesson.

They should be attentive. This is especially true if your child is shy or doesn’t like to ask questions. Instead of just plowing through lesson plans or example problems, your tutor should be able to pause and make sure your child fully understands the material before moving on. A good tutor will be able to see if a child is just nodding along as opposed to really grasping the lesson.

As far as whether or not someone needs certification to be your tutor is a personal preference, but the thing to keep in mind is that tutoring is more about communication than anything else. Just because someone has a teaching degree or certificate does not necessarily mean they will get the material through to your child.

If a tutor is only a few years older than your child, or has recently studied the same subjects in school, they will have a fresh perspective on the material and may be better at demonstrating it. Younger tutors tend to speak at the same level as their students and are more likely to share unique studying tips such as memorizing silly songs, sayings, and acronyms that relate to the material, like “HOMES” for memorizing the Great Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. Or, “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” for parentheses, exponents, multiply, divide, add, and subtract, which is the order that you are supposed to solve math problems.

Once you connect the right tutor to your child, they will become enthusiastic and confident students, and the lessons will be a breeze.