Teach your child yourself if possible

My wife started teaching our only child Arnav, ever since he started going to school. Most of the parents in India do it during the early years of a child. However, after primary schooling, most people find it hard to find time to teach and hire tutors. Soon after primary schooling my wife also started finding it hard to teach my child. Not because she had no time or was not educated enough but my son used to feel it a forceful exercise. She used to take up time to teach him almost every day. He used to either delay teaching sessions or just make her give up the teaching for the day.

She then took the matter with me and asked me to teach him Hindi(Indian regional language) and Mathematics. She found it was hard for her to make him work harder in the two subjects. He was also not scoring at par in the two subjects. He was regular with his homework. He was doing his homework on his own. It meant our child was sincere enough. It was only in exams that he was getting exposed. The school teachers also noted that he can do better.

It was not much of a problem as I work from home. I took time from my work. With some patience, I and Arnav started reading and working on subject topics together. We were enjoying being together. I am not excellent in either of the subjects but was good enough to keep his interest in the subject. I think the key is to read the subject before teaching him and then pace it when you are together. If you also don't understand the subject, your child isn't interested as well. It's important to keep the interest alive. There are videos and subject material on the internet that you might have to use to achieve your understanding.

I have found my son putting a lot of time on the internet or computer games. I am a web developer working from home, he seems to have taken it from me. Internet and computer games are also parenting issues. For healthy parenting, we should try to monitor the hours the child spends in front of a blue screen. We cannot completely hold them from aimless browsing or endless computer gameplay. We should rather play with them and guide them to end it.

You cannot have forceful study sessions daily. If your child is regular with his homework, it is good enough. You should rather be with him during his exams. Plan his exam preparation as per the exam schedule. Try to complete the whole syllabus before the exam. Higher classes will also have preparatory questions and answers.

It's been four years since, I have begun to feel, it's way better to teach your child yourself than to tutor him outside. My wife also follows the same method. She helps him manage school activities apart from studies. We get to know his progress and the course of his subjects. We plan his exams together. We analyze each exam each year. We help him do his best while not putting all pressure on him alone. All of us enjoy his success after his exams.

There are subjects and parts of chapters where your child can see you falter. Your child either comes up with how his teacher taught him. Else you and him, search for the solutions together. You develop your bond with your child again. He develops faith in you.

Though I never used online tutors, we all know how costly they have started to become. They charge almost as much as you pay for the school fees. When you teach your child yourself, you save on that as well.