As a parent or guardian, you might not have enough time in the day to help your kids with their school work. Don't worry, we've compiled the best online tutoring services for kids so they can get the instruction they need regardless of whether they're going into school or being taught at home.
Working the regular 9-to-5 is already stressful enough, but coming home to a child who is crying because they’re struggling with homework is heart-wrenching. What's worse is that you, as a parent, are probably tired after a long day of work and don't have the energy to refresh yourself on subjects you learned decades ago.
With the school year starting offline and having little-to-no time to learn how to do this generation’s math homework, tutoring can save you time and energy. There are many different options for the best online tutoring services for kids. If you don’t want to leave your house, especially during the hectic times we’re living in, online tutoring can be the next best option.
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What are the best online tutoring services for kids?
The best online tutoring services for kids offer many different forms of assistance for every type of learner. This doesn’t just include middle schoolers or high schoolers, but students of all grades. From elementary students all the way up to university students, anybody can get help using top tutoring services. Subjects can include but aren’t limited to math, English, science, history as well as more advanced classes. Some tutoring sites like Skooli and Tutor.com also offer language classes (for learning to speak a specific language), essay help, and even SAT and test prep. Or, if you need tutoring services for a child who has special needs, using a site like Special Ed Tutoring might be the best fit for you.
Every site has a different specialty and who they hire to tutor your kids. With that said, each of the sites listed below offers different price points to match their services, tutors and specialties. Some, like Learn to Be, have volunteers who don’t specialize in a subject, per se, but offer free services in return. Meanwhile, other sites like Tutor.com offer tutors who specialize and have a degree in what they are tutoring but at a higher price. If your child is a visual learner, you’ll want to choose a plan that offers one-on-one video sessions where the tutor can offer step-by-step instructions. If your child prefers learning verbally, it may be good to choose a chat session with a tutor. It all depends on the child's needs.
Below are some sites we found to be a great source of tutoring for children of any age. Listed are Tutor.com, Chegg, Learn to Be, Special Ed Tutoring, and Skooli. Each is unique and have some form of differentiation that makes them stand out from the rest, whether that be price, specialties, subjects or grade levels. Here are the best online tutoring services for kids.
1. Tutor.com
Tutor.com offers tutoring services 24/7, and it can be used by kindergarten through 12th grade for subjects such as math, science, English and social studies as well as foreign languages (only German, Spanish and French), AP courses, and SAT or test prep. The tutors available on the site include certified teachers, college professors, and graduate students, among others. Each tutor is put through rigorous tests to ensure they thoroughly know the topic they teach.
There are different subscriptions to choose from, one in which you choose if you want to pay for 1 hour ($39.99), 2 hours ($79.99), or 3 hours (114.99) for the month, or you can choose a one-time-payment option where you get 10 hours for 6 months ($349.99), 30 hours for 6 months ($949.99), or 50 hours for 6 months ($1,449.99). Although that may not seem like a lot of time, after you choose the plan you need, you can update or make changes to it in your account, and you and cancel your subscription at any time. The estimated time a session lasts is, on average, between 20 and 25 minutes, but some sessions can be as short as 5 minutes; it all depends on how much help the child needs, so the hour doesn’t have to be burned in one go.
Why is this a great tutoring site? The tutors on Tutor.com are experienced in their fields. They’ve based their career around it or even achieved degrees in the subjects of study, while other sites may only use volunteers. The service also offers a variety of plans that you can easily change or cancel if need be. Not to mention they offer plans for military families and schools. Military families can get free services for eligible members. Schools can also create an account for their students to use if needed.
2. Chegg
Let's talk about the site most college kids know about: Chegg. Chegg offers many different services, including tutoring, college textbooks for a discounted price, internships, flashcards, writing, math solving and more. For its tutoring services, it offers two different options: chat sessions and video sessions. The chat sessions start at $10.95 for one lesson or $19.95 a month for unlimited lessons. The chat services are only for specific subjects, such as accounting, algebra, biology, calculus, chemistry, economics, finance, physics and statistics. Meanwhile, the video sessions are $30 a month for 60 minutes worth of tutoring in any subject.
The site itself doesn’t contain any information on age ranges for the tutoring services. However, it does seem to be aimed for high schoolers and college students. But, a middle schooler could potentially get help with more advanced math and science courses.
Each child has a specific way of learning. Some are better visual learners, others are verbal learners, and some need a more hands-on method of education. Chegg offers a variety of options for an affordable price. If your child prefers learning verbally, you could save so much money by sticking with the chat sessions.
3. Learn to Be
Not every family can afford the extra cost of tutoring centers, and for those, there’s Learn to Be. Learn to Be is an online tutoring service that focuses solely on working directly with the child, rather than using a video recording or group tutoring. They are a nonprofit organization that offers free and low-cost services to families in need, so you get to decide how much you would like to pay. They offer their services for children K-12.
The tutors are younger volunteers, which includes high school students, college students and young professionals. Fear not, however, the company puts everyone through a background check to ensure they qualify for the position. Rather than downloading a bunch of different apps, all of the tutoring sessions happen right on their website. However, in order to get a session scheduled, a completed application is needed. The application process is very easy and asks simple questions about internet and microphone access, duration of tutoring sessions (one month or longer), and general questions about the student.
This site offers families who can’t afford tutoring services a more affordable option, making it one of the best online tutoring services for kids you can choose. The only difference with this site is that many of these tutors are volunteers, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified to teach.
4. Special Ed Tutoring
Ensuring someone is there for all of your child’s needs is a stressful thing, especially when it involves academics. Parents may struggle with finding the perfect tutor for their children who have special needs. To ensure their child does not fall behind and continues to excel is where Special Ed Tutoring comes in.
Special Ed Tutoring offers three different services: homework help, enhanced learning program and homeschool tutoring program. The rates start at $25 an hour. Homework help is exactly as it sounds, where a tutor helps your child with their homework. The enhanced learning program allows your child to keep up to speed with their grade level. The service also offers a homeschooling tutoring program, which helps parents choose an appropriate curriculum and learn it alongside their child.
Why is this one of the best online tutoring services for kids? Well, for obvious reasons, it aims to help children that in some cases may get left behind. A majority of students are now distance learning, and while some with IEPs/special needs are alternating days within the classroom, all children need help this school year now more than ever before. Special Ed Tutoring also helps parents understand their children’s courses and give them strategies to best help their children, which I absolutely love.
5. Skooli
Skooli is another wonderful option for a tutoring website. Skooli offers its services for elementary students, middle schoolers, high schoolers and university students. It offers tutoring for a variety of subjects, which include math, language, humanities such as English, writing, reading, and history), science, business. The site also has a section made specifically for grade levels that cover a variety of subjects in specific grades.
The pricing works a little differently on Skooli compared to the other sites. Rather than paying for an hour for the month, Skooli has a pay as you go system. This means you pay $0.82 a minute, and they have a 15-minute minimum. With that being said, if your child does 60 minutes a month, you would be paying more compared to the other sites. However, if you determine your child needs a more customizable time table for tutoring, whether it’s an additional five minutes or another hour, this might be a plan that best suits your child’s needs.
Skooli offers services for any age range and breaks its services down by grade levels if needed. It offers a different pricing strategy for children who may need more or less time than an hour, which can potentially save you money compared to the other sites if you do the math right (and if you can't Skooli can help you with that!).
How to choose the best online tutoring services for your kids
Deciding on which tutoring site is best for your child is entirely based upon their needs. You as a parent want to ensure you’re making the best choice for your child, so don’t let the stigmatization of having a tutor bother you — it’s ultimately a good thing for your child. Tutoring services can lead to better grades and an overall better mentality of school and less anxiety. Your child’s mood can greatly increase after they’ve grasped a concept they struggled with.
If you’re looking for tutors who specialize in a specific field and offer assistance at any time of the day, you may want to consider Tutor.com. On the other hand, Chegg offers the ability to save money with its chat sessions, but also offers video sessions. Learn to Be is a free site that allows you to pay as much as you want, and in return, a volunteer can help tutor your child. While Special Ed Tutoring aims to help students with special needs find the perfect tutor and ensure their success.
Finally, Skooli offers a different option, where you pay as you go, which could save you money compared to the other sites if your child needs a little over an hour's worth of tutoring.
