No matter why you’re hiring a tutor, you’re probably wondering how many times a week should you tutor? Is once a week often enough, or should you schedule multiple sessions each week? And how long should each session last? Is an hour enough, or should it be longer to cover the concepts? Do younger children benefit from longer sessions?
It’s a lot, but this guide will help you figure things out and get the most out of every tutoring session.
Start With Once a Week Sessions
A good rule of thumb is to start with once-a-week tutoring sessions.
Once a week may seem insufficient, considering that most K-12 students receive new assignments every day. However, tutoring is not meant to walk a student through every task and every concept. It’s better to start on the low side, give it a few weeks, and see where things are at.
More frequent sessions may be necessary, but starting with multiple tutoring sessions each week may not be the right move. Tutoring may be expensive, but even if cost isn’t a concern, too many sessions can work against the student by overwhelming them or making them overly reliant on the tutor for support.
When Should You Tutor More Than Once a Week?
People often sign up for tutoring sessions when there’s a crisis. Maybe there’s a huge backlog of assignments that are due soon, or there’s a looming exam that the student doesn’t feel prepared for.
As a short-term solution, frequent tutoring sessions are OK as long as you examine where things stand once the crisis has passed. Finding a meeting frequency that supports a student without overwhelming them is critical for future success.
How to Make the Most Out of Once-a-Week Tutoring
Tutoring sessions are usually one hour long. While your student and the tutor can accomplish a lot during that time, it’s not always enough to get everything done.
Successful tutoring is all about what happens in between sessions. Weekly tutoring sessions are a supplemental resource, not a replacement for classroom teaching or student effort. To make the most of things, students have to put in the effort outside tutoring time.
What they need to do varies depending on the tutoring plan, but it’s generally preparing or practicing.
Preparation
Preparation is all about making the time spent in a tutoring session as efficient and productive as possible.
Let’s say a student needs support in their math class and the tutoring plan is focused on homework help. They likely have some grasp of the material. Attempting the homework before the tutoring session means the tutor can focus on helping them with the parts the student doesn’t understand.
Even when they’re behind and can’t do any of the homework on their own, preparing for the tutoring session is important. Trying to solve a math problem primes a student to more quickly and easily understand the explanation.
Preparation also helps the student maintain responsibility for their schoolwork. A tutor is a resource to help them reach their goals, but it’s the student who has to do the work to achieve them.
Practice
Practice is all about taking new skills and applying them. It helps with retention as well as building better habits.
Let’s say a student needs support with staying organized. Their tutor might help them set up systems for staying organized, but they need to use and maintain the systems to see any benefit.
Or let’s say they need support writing an essay. Their tutor might provide feedback on a draft, but the student needs to take that feedback and revise.
Tutors can set weekly goals or assign tasks to help clarify where students should focus their efforts. But ultimately, if a student doesn’t practice, they won’t improve.
When You Should Consider Tutoring More Than Once Per Week
While tutoring once per week works for most students, some need to meet more often.
Students who need more hands-on support to get through difficult material or build academic habits may need more frequent sessions. Those who don’t follow through all the time may need two sessions each week for accountability.
Tutoring frequency also needs to align with academic and personal goals. If they need support across multiple classes, it may be necessary to meet several times a week.
Tutoring Frequency vs. Session Length
In addition to deciding how many times a week to meet with a tutor, it’s also important to consider the session’s length. Most tutoring sessions run for an hour. But in some cases, longer sessions may work better than shorter sessions, and vice versa.
Ideally, the tutor is flexible since you won’t really know what works until you get started, but older students can generally handle longer sessions better than younger students. A general rule of thumb for scheduling by grade level is that elementary students (K-5) can handle 45-minute to one-hour-long sessions, sixth through ninth graders can go as long as 90 minutes, and high schoolers can go for as long as two hours, depending on the subject matter.
Weekly Tutoring With Emergent Education
At Emergent Education, we encourage students and parents to commit to a weekly tutoring session, but we’re also flexible and can meet as often or infrequently as you need. Our goal is to help your student grow their skills and become more accomplished, confident, and successful in the classroom.
Our tutors have flexible schedules and offer in-person and online tutoring. Contact us today for a free consultation, and we’ll match your student with a tutor (or tutors) that meets their needs.
