6 - 8

These are the years that constitute childhood, and a time where happy, self reliant, responsible children grow and thrive. Now they love to build their problem solving skills, independence and cooperative skills and, if the period 0-6 has been harmonious, they will enjoy being of service to others and show much respect for individual differences.

Children always need a fine balance of structure and freedom, and generally misbehave only when they have been given too much structure or too much freedom.

This is the very best time for intellectual school work.

8 - 12

From 8-12 is a period where children question, reason and imagine, they consider social aspects and especially morals. 

They have a thirst for knowledge, an unlimited energy for expansion and growth, and move from the concrete understanding to understanding abstract ideas.

For children to actualise their potential fully, it is critical that they continue to be provided with resources and assistance for their learning and development, as this will greatly affect their personality and approach to future studies, and outlook on life in general.

How can tutoring help your child before they start school?

There is always a way forward, but by eight (very often) it’s too late. No-one should ever give up on a child, but please know the importance of the early years.

The term ‘too late’ refers to the work which will now become conscious and heavy - perhaps even a struggle - an effort to which the child attaches no direct relationship or meaning,

No-one should ever give up on a child, it cannot be said too often and warmly enough, but please know the best time to learn is when the child wants to learn.

In regard to diagnoses and labels, giving a child a label is perhaps to give up on seeing anything different in or from that child, except for what that label reads. We are all influenced by our surroundings, we all change all the time due to the experiences we have interacting, or simply walking down the street, so that theory may not hold tight.

In such a situation, the best way forward is for the tutor to meet the child, observe the child and, on behalf of the tutor, to find a way to be the privileged one that may be allowed to share the road ahead. From then on, conditions start to change for the better; there will be an ease and a relief almost in the child, that someone understands, that the world is not a lonely place. We all have a need to be understood.

As parents, we treasure and/or hope to give our children a childhood full of happiness and satisfaction. Sometimes for a myriad of reasons this may not be fully possible. But there is still time to tap into the power of a young child’s mind while it is sensitive and absorbent, and before it is under the domination of consciousness, reason, established habits and prejudices. When the conditions are right, all children have a natural, spontaneous vitality and desire to learn. 

When presented to them in the right way, early childhood up to age 8 is also the best time for intellectual school work. It will in fact relieve some of the strain of high school by letting children learn more earlier on.

Children who have not succeeded in mastering reading, writing and simple mathematics by age 7, can be heavily handicapped. The basics of these subjects should be learned early, as older children find this work very boring and difficult.

Reading, writing and mathematics can come about perfectly naturally, given exactly the right conditions. The pre-requisites are for children to have developed the capacity to concentrate, to perceive, to control movement and to think.

Children are proud to know letters and numbers and will soon want to know more, everything to do with language and mathematics in fact.

Wherever your child is at is where tuition starts. The process is to follow the child (for observation, in regard to how best to tutor), walk with the child (for encouragement) and finally to let the child lead (we all love the good feeling of success).