For us, that challenge has been our son’s cancer treatment and subsequent bone marrow transplant. For over a year, his immune system has been compromised, meaning months in hospital or at home isolation and a slow, careful recovery at home.

When a traditional classroom setting is suddenly off-limits, the pressure to maintain normalcy and prevent huge educational gaps feels immense. I remember looking at his untouched book bag and feeling a knot of panic: How is he going to keep up?

That’s when we discovered the true, life-changing benefits of online learning with the right tutor.

This isn’t just about homework or academic success; it’s about providing a safe, consistent lifeline to quality education when everything else is chaotic. It’s about giving children back a sense of purpose and confidence when their world has shrunk to a hospital room.

We found our educational superhero in Karen Lander, The Top Cat Tutor, and her one-to-one online sessions have been the consistent highlight of Toby’s recovery journey. If your child’s learning has been disrupted by long-term illness, medical needs, or anxiety, here is why online tutoring services, especially with someone as supportive as Karen, are the practical solution your family deserves.

This is a guest post written by Nikki Knight, the parent of a Top Cat Tutor tutee. Her son was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2022 when he was 4 years old. He then relapsed 5 months after completing treatment and needed to have a bone marrow transplant. Nikki blogs about her family’s experiences at www.unicornsdinosaursandme.com.

Learning from the Hospital Bed: The Ultimate Flexibility

The first and most critical advantage for families like ours is location independence and flexibility. When your child’s health dictates their schedule, education has to follow suit. We’ve logged into sessions with Karen at three different hospitals in three different counties, at home, at a grandparents’ house, and at a Young Lives V Cancer home from home. All you need is a laptop or tablet, along with a stable internet connection.

This flexibility meant that there was more consistency, and it was easy to fit in with busy schedules. In our case, our son was not able to attend school, but wasn’t in the hospital all the time. At first, he was in the hospital and was having teachers see him there, but then he was discharged to a home from home. Here, he did have a few lessons when we went back to the hospital for appointments or for visits to the schoolroom. After that, he was at home for a couple of months, where there was no hospital education. After that, he went back to the hospital, but this time it was a completely different hospital that he’d never been to before. After 6 weeks there, he was discharged back to the original for an additional 8 weeks. At both hospitals, he was having some hospital schooling. After discharge, we finally went back home, where hospital teachers came out to see him. Throughout all of this, he has seen a conveyor belt of different teachers with different styles who all needed time to get to know him. The one constant has been Karen.

Why Online Tuition is Crucial for Immune-Compromised Kids

Let’s talk about germs. When a child, especially one post-transplant like my son, has a severely compromised immune system, the traditional classroom setting is simply too dangerous. Online tuition immediately solves this safety risk.

It allows him to learn from the safest environment possible—his hospital room or his quiet, sterilised space at home. We didn’t have to worry about the winter colds or the hundred new germs he’d meet at school.

This removes a massive layer of parental stress. It means he can continue his education with a personalised learning experience but without the physical or emotional risk, ensuring continuity and consistency.

The Ability to Go at Your Child’s Own Pace (Even After a Rough Night)

Hospital life is dictated by machines, check-ups, and energy levels that swing wildly day to day. A scheduled school day is impossible. This is where Top Cat Tutor shines.

Karen designs her lessons to be incredibly bespoke. If he had a bad night or if the doctors just finished a check-up and he’s tired, we simply tell Karen. She immediately adapts the lesson plan to the student’s specific needs, perhaps focusing on a short, engaging game instead of a long writing task.

The power to set his own pace and reschedule appointments with minimal fuss means learning is never another source of exhaustion or stress. It is a genuine, therapeutic distraction.

The Top 5 Reasons Top Cat Tutor is a Lifeline for Medically Homebound Kids

When searching for one-on-one tutoring, you need someone who understands that missed school days are about more than missed lessons—they’re about emotional fallout, anxiety, and learning gaps. Here’s why Karen’s approach works brilliantly for children with medical or other special needs:

1. Bespoke, Personalised Learning

Karen’s approach is Bespoke 1:2:1 Online Tuition. She doesn’t use a one-size-fits-all programme. She actively works to fill the specific knowledge gaps left by long absences, ensuring the curriculum directly addresses the child’s educational needs, whether it’s reinforcing phonics or catching up on multiplication methods. As she is such a good tutor and she is not bound by the traditional education framework, she can tailor her online lessons to suit the learning style and interests of each individual child.

2. Building Confidence, Not Pressure

For a child who feels “behind,” the thought of returning to a competitive classroom can be terrifying. Karen creates a safe, low-pressure environment where children feel secure enough to ask questions. This focus on building confidence is just as important as academic progress.

3. The Teacher-Parent-Tutor Connection

Karen is an experienced and qualified primary teacher. This expertise means she understands the National Curriculum (although she is not bound by it) and can communicate effectively with the school to keep them in the loop. But more importantly, she communicates brilliantly with us, the parents, providing clear monthly reports that keep us up to date with his progress without adding to our burden.

4. A Sense of Normalcy and Routine

In the midst of medical chaos—endless tests, scans, and treatments—the structured, familiar face of Karen on the screen provides a comforting routine. For 30 minutes, he is just a student working on a topic he loves while practising his key English and Maths skills (without even realising it), not a patient. This small dose of normalcy is invaluable for his emotional well-being and our family’s morale.

5. Support for Additional Needs

We know that long-term illness, medication, and the sheer trauma of treatment can lead to concentration difficulties or anxiety. Karen is especially experienced at supporting the child’s needs with unique learning styles, including those with anxiety or neurodivergence. This compassionate, informed approach ensures that the tuition works with the challenges children are facing, not against them.

Practical Tips for Maximising the Benefits of Online Tuition

If you’re ready to start the online education journey, whether it’s with The Top Cat Tutor or online teachers, here are my top, practical tips for making the logistics work during a health crisis:

1. Prioritise Comfort Over Classroom: Don’t stress about a perfect desk setup. If your child is comfortable on the sofa, propped up in bed, or nestled in their favourite hospital chair, that is the perfect learning environment.
2. Communicate Everything (Seriously): Be honest with your tutor about your child’s energy levels that day. If he is exhausted from a procedure, we let Karen know, and she turns the session into a lighter, review-based check-in. This flexibility is one of the core benefits of online tuition.
3. Use it as a Parent Break: Hospital life is relentless. While he is safely engaged with Karen for half an hour, I can use that time to grab a coffee, make a private phone call, or just take a much-needed breath. It’s a structured, guilt-free break you desperately need (and deserve).
4. Embrace the Technology: Ensure the Zoom link is ready five minutes early. If your child struggles with fine motor skills or tiredness, having the tutor use interactive tools like virtual whiteboards, screen sharing or different types of virtual visual aids to allow them to drag-and-drop answers or annotate on screen makes a huge difference.

A Supportive Bridge Back to Learning

When we first faced our son’s long school absence, I felt entirely alone, worried that his academic future was slipping away. But online teaching and the patient, expert support from Karen at Top Cat Tutorhas provided a sturdy bridge.

It’s more than education; it’s a therapeutic and supportive environment. It’s a constant reminder to your child that they are capable, they are seen, and that their learning journey continues, no matter where they are or how they feel that day.

If your family is navigating long-term illness or school absence, I wholeheartedly recommend exploring online classes to find that crucial support that respects your unique situation.

Your Turn!

Has your family used online tutoring platforms during a difficult time? What was the biggest benefit you noticed in your child’s learning or confidence? Share your experience in the comments below—it helps all of us know we’re not alone!

The post The Benefits of Online Tuition: Our Lifeboat for Hospital Stays appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

There’s something similar in the fine art world. Sculpture is at the pinnacle and is regarded by The Establishment as the highest form of art, the most important and valuable. At the very bottom are things like pottery, knitting and basketry – derogatorily named “craft” by The Establishment – not even worthy of being recognised as art. Landscape used to be considered a much lowlier artform than portraiture (not anymore thanks to JMW Turner).

The Tutor Subject/Age Hierarchy

Non exam-based tuition for primary children is the pottery and basket weaving of tuition, whereas A Level or elite private school exam prep is the sculpture.

Can we please take a moment to reflect how utterly ridiculous (and discriminatory) this is, and how it creates a glass ceiling for what tutors feel they can charge?

And yes, it annoys me because according to this hierarchy, I’m right at the bottom. Which is, to be frank, an insult!

Research is clear that THE most important stage in a child’s learning is the early and primary years. According to this logic, I should be at the top of the hierarchy. However, because working with young children is so infused with patriarchal beliefs that it is menial women’s work (I write more about this here), it is seen as just that. Menial, easy, not important, anyone can tutor primary, helping them become secure with the key foundations for all future learning (reading, writing, maths) is not as important as passing an exam, especially an exam for a top private school or university.

I’m not saying we all hold this belief dear to our hearts, I just think it’s become so conditioned into us that we don’t even notice or question it.

However, I have noticed it and questioned it.

If No Hierarchy – What?

I don’t believe it would be logical to switch the hierarchy so what I tutor was now at the top. Hierarchies don’t help anyone. They keep large groups of people small and suppressed while a minority get the riches.

I believe that ALL learning is equally valid and important, and the abilities needed to tutor someone in learning that thing are equally skillful – it’s just that the skills needed are different.

The skills needed to help a child pass the 11+ are different to those needed to teach someone to play the piano for pleasure, but the tutors are JUST as skilled in helping that person with their EQUALLY valid learning.

I decided to throw this outdated, patriarchal, and elitist nonsense in the bin and start charging according to my qualifications (I have lots of them), skills (I have lots of them) and experience (I have lots of it).

It works for me and it can work for you, and together we can move the tuition industry into the twenty-first century and make it be valued as the highly skilled profession that it is (or should be). That ALL learning is valid and important and the skills needed to help someone with that require training, development and nuance.

I’ve finished recording the videos for my course 10 Steps to Changing How You Charge and once I’ve worked out the tech (and, ironically, what to charge!) it will be available so you too charge appropriately for the highly skilled, top quality work you do, based on your qualifications, skills and experience, not what or who you tutor.

Sign up to my newsletter and/or join my free Facebook Group to be first to find out when it’s available.

The post Charging based on who and what you tutor is a problem. Here’s why. appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

Where does undervaluing of education come from?

As with everything, to understand it we have to look at the history (my favourite subject!)  Let’s go back to the late nineteenth century when schooling became compulsory for children aged 5-13. 

When elementary education became compulsory in 1880, and free in 1892 to educate “the masses”, the teaching profession as we know it today came into existence. 

Prior to this time, children who went to school, or received an education via a private tutor, were from families who could afford to pay for their child’s education.  I say children, I mean boys.  Middle- and upper-class families who paid to educate their daughters were rare, and even if girls did receive an education, it was often very restricted compared to their brothers’. The teachers/tutors they would have had were mostly (if not exclusively) men.  Because education was elite.  It wasn’t available to everyone.  It wasn’t about masses of children, but developing the select few.

Working class families needed income and children were sent out to earn their keep from a young age.  School was not part of their world.

Unlike other professions developing at the time as a result of the Industrial Revolution, such as medicine and the law, which came with high status and a high salary to match because they dealt with important things like life and death and dealing with criminals, which were only open to men (women were unable to attend university to train in these professions), teaching was not accorded the same status.

Why?  Because it was working with children.  And working-class children at that.  Children = women’s work.  Women’s work = caring and menial – less important than the life and death, saving society from criminals work of the men. Women’s work = we don’t need to pay them as much as the men.  The younger the children, the more menial the work is perceived to be.  Of course, there were male teachers too, but because teaching was an option for women, it was afforded a lower social status. 

And we are still living under the consequences of this patriarchal belief system 130+ years later. 

How this impacts what tutors charge today

Many, if not most tutors today come from a teaching background.  According to government research (which I normally take with a big pinch of salt, but it seems about right in this case) 75.5% of teachers in the UK are female (even higher in primary schools).  However, only 38% of headteachers in state secondary schools are female.  Women are at the chalkface; men are in positions of power.

Following these statistics through to their logical conclusion, a large proportion of private tutors will be female. 

We come into tuition from a profession which is chronically underfunded, which has one of the highest rates of unpaid overtime, who work some of the longest hours for some of the worst pay in any OECD country (www.neu.org.uk), where “doing it for the children” is used to justify overwork and underpay in the form of toxic positivity.

This becomes ingrained into us.  It is normal.  It is how it is.  It comes with the job.  We stop even noticing that we are undercharging and working for free because it is so normal to us it is practically invisible.

We also think we can’t charge as much as other service providers because “it’s for children”.  We are a caring profession.  If you charge well you stop being caring. You are greedy, cruel and unkind.

Or so we are conditioned to think.

Why what we think about what we “should” charge is nonsense.

It’s nonsense, btw.  I charge well (compared to most tutors).  It doesn’t make me cruel or heartless or greedy.  The amount I care is not reduced by how much I charge. In fact, I am able to help more vulnerable children and support charities, organisations and ethical businesses as a result of charging well for my service, because now I can afford to.  If anything, charging well has enabled me to show I care more, not less.

It’s time to challenge this chronic undervaluing (in all senses of the word) of caring professions such as tuition.  As educators, we know how vital education is.  Any problem society faces, from obesity to climate change, the key to making things better is always education.  Education is the key to moving out of poverty, better physical and mental health, financial security…  The list goes on about how and why education is absolutely fundamental to society.  It is as important as the life and death work of doctors, and the law and order of lawyers and barristers.

Yet because education is about children, and a predominantly female workforce, and those “menial”, wishy-washy, “feminine” traits of caring and nurturing young minds, it is not valued by the holders of power (the patriarchy).  This trickles down to society; insidiously, subtly over many years.  It is so ingrained it becomes deeply embedded in our beliefs about our own value.

Teaching is not something anyone can do.  It requires training, deep understanding of how people learn, and skill in applying this appropriately.  It is a very highly skilled job. 

How to start shifting your mindset around charging for tuition

1. Charge appropriately for your qualifications, skill and experience. If you have undertaken training to develop your practise and skills, you have invested in yourself.  This needs to be reflected in your price.  Charge appropriately for your qualifications, skill and experience.  The more qualified, skilled and experienced you are, the higher your fees. It has nothing to do with where you live, what age or subject you teach, or what gender you identify as. Charge appropriately for your qualifications, skill and experience and this starts to raise us, and our profession, up.
2. Recognise that you are worthy and deserve to be paid appropriately for your service. I tutor because I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of education and love supporting children in their learning – giving them opportunities and a brighter future.  But not at the expense of my wellbeing – physical, mental and financial.  I can’t support them properly if my needs are not being met.  It’s basic Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, but the system only wants us to apply it “to the children”. 

Just because the service we provide is for children, it doesn’t mean we should charge less than for services for adults. This comes from the toxic positivity of “doing it for the children”.  What this phrase actually means is, “do everything you can for the children, at all costs to yourself.  The child is more important than you in every way.”  This is not true and dangerous.  The most important person in a classroom?  A qualified teacher. 

Charging well and being caring are not mutually exclusive

Caring professions are essential (as the pandemic and recent strike action highlights), and women are drawn to them, yet because of the patriarchal conditioning around this type of work which really took hold during the Industrial Revolution, women continue to be undervalued and receive lower pay.

And when we become tutors, either self-employed or via an agency, we don’t appear to be questioning the chronically low hourly rates, compared to other professions which require equally qualified and highly-skilled people to do them well; or the amount of work we do for free through the normality of charging by the hour (read why I don’t charge by the hour here). By continuing to work in this way we continually undervalue ourselves and our profession, perpetuating the problem.

By charging well for my service I’m saying:

This service is important

This service delivers life-changing transformations

This service requires a high level of training and skill

I deserve to be paid well for my qualifications, skill and experience, regardless of my gender.

I’m going to finish with a quote from Phillipa Perry, psychotherapist and author, taken from the podcast “The Kindness Economy by Mary Portas”:

“It’s culturally implanted that we [women] do the caring and we need to change the culture… I think caring should be as valued as a trait, in men, and in women, as much as being able to add up is.”

For more information about mindset for tutors, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram.

The post Why what we charge in the tuition industry is a feminist issue appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

If you look at your child’s maths homework or pop into their classroom, you may notice that the way maths is taught today looks nothing like it did when you were at school.

This can be unsettling for many parents because they don’t understand the new methods and don’t feel confident helping their child.  They may also question if their child is being appropriately challenged or if the new ways of doing things are any good.

Maths is taught so differently today because our knowledge and understanding of how children learn and understand maths has developed.  This is a good thing.  Just as you would want your doctor to be prescribing the most up-to-date treatments based on cutting-edge research (which might not be medication, but perhaps talking therapy or exercise), schools should be keeping up to date with the latest, cutting-edge research on how children learn and understand mathematics, and teaching in-line with this.

How is maths taught in primary schools today?

Let’s start with the word maths.  Maths is reasoning and problem-solving about problems in the world around us using logic.  What we were mostly taught at school under the name “maths” was actually closer to “arithmetic” in the form of memorising and solving number facts and calculation methods to be recalled at speed.  

Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics – it is not mathematics in and of itself.  And the speed thing is just something schools seem to have decided was important decades ago. 

Professional mathematicians are not always quick at solving arithmetic questions, and if they are, it is because they have excellent number sense – they can play around with and manipulate numbers.  They understand how numbers work.  When Rachel Riley works out the number round on Countdown in under 5 seconds, it’s because she has excellent number sense – she knows how to play around with the numbers to find the solution.  She isn’t just recalling facts, she’s applying her knowledge and understanding of number.  She is using logic to solve a problem.

What is “Mastery Maths”?

Most primary schools (and increasingly secondary schools) are now teaching a subject that fits the definition of “maths” much better – with arithmetic skills alongside –  and they are doing this using a method of teaching maths called “mastery maths”.

This teaching method originated in Singapore (one of the highest-ranking areas in the world for maths teaching) and began to be adopted in the UK about 8 years ago.  The school I was working in at the time was one of the first in Gloucestershire to implement this method of teaching.

The principles of mastery teaching are very different to how you would have been taught maths (and how I was taught to teach maths), and align with what maths actually is, and how children learn and develop an understanding of maths concepts. 

When my school introduced Mastery Maths, it really blew my mind and I didn’t think it would work after over ten years of teaching in ways that are perhaps more recognisable to parents. 

After just a few months teaching this way, I was totally converted and wished I’d been taught maths this way at school.  It is a much better way of developing maths skills that align with child development and ensures children understand what they are doing.  It teaches skills that are relatable to everyday life, and also the reasoning and problem-solving skills employers are, and most probably will be, looking for in the future.

Principles of Mastery Maths

Mastery Maths teaching is based on the principles that everyone can learn and enjoy maths.  It is about reasoning and making connections between concepts.  It is about developing a deep and secure understanding of key ideas that are needed to understand future learning.

It is about understanding how and why numbers work and connect, having mathematical dexterity, and being able to link concepts together.  For example understanding that multiplication and division are linked, and in turn, understanding that division is linked to fractions, and in turn, understanding that fractions, decimals and percentages are different ways of representing numbers less than 1. 

These skills set children up for success in any future mathematical study, and the use of maths in everyday life, far better than how maths used to be taught.  Most people disliked maths and find it hard to engage with because we were taught how to do something with no understanding of why it worked or why it was necessary or how it relates to other things, or that speed was a really important aspect (pressure of having to give an answer in a set time triggers our stress response and shuts the brain down into survival mode – not helpful!)

Mastery Maths teaching methods

In Mastery Maths – children are taught the same concept all together, broken down into small steps so that children build on previous learning and make connections.

This whole class approach makes people think that brighter children are not being challenged and children who are struggling are not supported.  This is not the case. Differentiation is still happening, but in much more subtle and effective ways.  Children who grasp the concept quickly are challenged by solving problems and reasoning about the concept, in more and more depth – they keep digging deeper and deeper into it so they have a solid understanding. Children requiring more help are supported with apparatus, different ways of presenting the concept to find a way that clicks for them, and repetition to practise and consolidate learning, alongside immediate, targeted teaching in small groups.

Research is very clear that putting children into ability groups and giving them tasks that create a ceiling on their ability holds children back and sends the message “this is all I think you will be capable of doing – don’t even try what that other table are doing”.  It impedes their learning, not develops it.  Expecting all children to be able to learn something (some will get there quicker than others) shows children they are capable and able to achieve.  And they do! You can read more about this research on my blog here.

The way concepts are presented is where most parents will come into contact with mastery maths.  You may see bar models, whole-part models, images of apparatus such as Numicon, place value counters or dienes apparatus.  These are all ways of representing a problem.  They are not methods like column addition or long division.  They help children visualise number problems and see them in different ways and how different connections can be made.  This helps learning not hinders it.  They will be taught the “traditional” methods, but, taking division as great example, diving straight into short or long division when children don’t understand that division is “sharing equally”, and firstly building a deep understanding of what this means through various representations, and then understanding we can divide through “repeated subtraction”, before moving onto the “traditional” methods– means that most children will struggle to understand what they are doing and therefore won’t remember the method.

By deeply understanding what dividing is and having done it in different (often less efficient, but more conceptually obvious ways) helps children take the step up to formal (“traditional”) methods because they understand why that method works.  The “ah ha” moments happen and they remember the formal method better, and if not, they have other methods to fall back on instead. They are able to access maths because they have a number toolkit.

Why not just teach them one method?

My Year 6 teacher always said “there is no right or wrong way to do maths” and she was spot on.  It doesn’t matter how a child gets to an answer if they have a method that works for them and they understand it.  There are a multitude of ways of reaching a solution – none is “better” than the other, although some are more efficient. It is important to develop an understanding of “efficient methods” but that is all part of the mastery process.

Why not keep things as they have always been? I’m OK at maths.

To return to my doctor’s analogy.  A few decades ago, if you had a bad back, doctors would have told you to lie down still.  Now, due to research and professional development of doctors, they will now tell you to move around as much as possible.  When this was a new idea it would have felt counter-intuitive and weird and “that can’t possibly work?!”

The way maths is taught is just the same.  The old ways are not necessarily the most helpful ways.  Just because something has been done a certain way for a long time, doesn’t mean it’s the right way going forward, in light of new research. 

Teaching methods are constantly being refined due to new research about how children learn. Teaching things the way they always have been is as unhelpful, and even as damaging as, prescribing treatments for medical issues which the research now shows impedes rather than helps.

How to help your child with maths:

If you feel unsure about helping your child using these methods you can:

• Ask your school for help in understanding the methods – many schools run parent information sessions to explain them.
• Ask your child to explain it to you.  If they can, it shows they have a really good understanding of the concept.
• Don’t beat yourself up.  You are not a qualified teacher and aren’t expected to understand these methods inside out.  Encourage your child to think back to their lessons and have a go.  Developing independence in learning this way actually helps learning, not hinders it, especially if they make mistakes (remember, mistakes are wonderful things and are needed for connections in the brain to be made).
• Read my other blog about how to help children with their learning here.

I use mastery maths methods in my tuition to develop a deep and secure understanding of maths concepts and to tie in with methods being used in schools so that children make links instead of being confused.

Contact me if I can help your child develop a love of maths.

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When was the Last Time you Handwrote Something? 

It’s something we seem to do less and less these days.  Here’s a list of the things I handwrite:

• Session plans and notes during a session
• To do list
• Events in my diary/calendar
• Nightly journal
• Notes from professional and personal development
• Development ideas
• Shopping list
• Greetings cards

Nearly every one of these is just for my reference and not necessarily for others to read.  I could do most of them on a computer or my phone instead.  Why handwrite anything anymore?!

Handwriting is a really important skill, and is part of the National Curriculum – but is something that is really difficult to fit into the school day.  I know.  I tried and failed to implement handwriting practise into my classrooms more times than I care to admit!  In our over-crowded curriculum, there always seems to be something more important to be teaching, and handwriting lessons always felt a bit “Victorian”.

Why is Handwriting Important?

Handwriting is a complex skill.  It requires both fine and gross motor skills.  It’s not just about holding a pen, but our posture, hand and arm strength and hand-eye co-ordination. 

Handwriting engages our brains in a different way from when we type on a screen.  Studies have shown that handwriting improves our memory – we are more likely to retain what we have written if we handwrite it instead of typing it.  This is especially useful for learning spellings.  Handwriting them out (you can do this in creative ways) helps us remember them better – our brain is creating neural pathways for how that word is formed each time we physically write it down.  The more we write it, the better we will be able to remember it. 

I personally think that learning to join letters early on helps with this.  We learn how the word “flows” together – the pattern it makes on the paper and how it feels to write it down.  However, whether it is better to join early on or not is still one of the great unanswered questions in education and each school will have its own stance on this issue.

We Still Need to Handwrite

Right through school, children still need to predominantly handwrite.  It does amaze me that in 2022 formal exams are still handwritten – but they are, so the examiner needs to be able to read the writing.  You might have written an amazing answer – but if the examiner (or computer) can’t read it, then you will not get any marks.  Harsh but true.  When I taught Year 6 I spent so much of my time working with them on their handwriting and formation of numbers so that their SATs papers would be legible.  Not my favourite reason for why handwriting is important, but it is a valid reason.

Why do Children Struggle with Handwriting?

There could be a range of reasons why, and it will be different for each child.  Problems with handwriting boil down to motor skill difficulties, which most of these issues fit into.  I have come across all of the below and many of the reasons cross-over:

• Children often say their hand hurts if they handwrite.  This is because they are holding the pen too tightly and/or in an inappropriate grip. 

• They may also have poor posture or using a table and chair that is the wrong size for them, making writing uncomfortable.

• They may have coordination issues (we need to be able to know how to place the pen on the paper and move it to form the shapes of letters and words, and follow this with our eyes along the page). 

• They may never have been taught how to form the letters correctly, or didn’t master this before it stopped being taught.  Schools really struggle to fit in dedicated handwriting practise due to everything else they are asked to fit into 30 hours a week.  The focus definitely gets lost once children move into Key Stage 2.

• They may not have been encouraged to make marks and experiment with different mark making implements in the Early Years.

• They may not see others handwriting and therefore do not see its relevance or importance.

• They can’t read their own writing so become demotivated.

• They are slow to write because it is difficult and become demotivated.

How to Help Children with their Handwriting

Allow children, especially in the early years (0-5,) to make marks.  Use crayons, pens, paint, chalk or whatever you like.  Make marks on different surfaces, such as chalk on the pavement, or on big rolls of paper.  Use their finger or implements to make marks in a sand tray or shaving foam.  It doesn’t matter what marks they make – they are learning that we can make shapes and use this to communicate ideas and information whilst also developing those motor skills of holding an implement and coordinating their body to make shapes.  The more they do this, the more stamina they will have to continue making marks for longer.

Practise motor skills – throwing and catching a ball, rubbing your tummy and patting your head, rolling a pencil between your fingers, drawing an 8 on its side in the air and following your finger with your eyes. 

Children will be taught how to form letters and words, certainly in Year R, but possibly also in nursery.  Some schools will implement joining early on, others will use print.  What’s important is that children learn that letters have a specific shape and size and are formed in a particular way.  The formation of letters helps us to join them together, making writing quicker and easier.  Check how your child’s school teaches handwriting and practise at home.  You can make it fun and creative using different writing implements and surfaces as above.  Praise effort and attitude.  They will make mistakes and that’s OK – just show them again how to form the letter and try again.  The more they practise the stronger their neural pathways will become and the easier it will get over time.

Give them opportunities to write.  My mum used to tell me her shopping list and I’d write down the items – not only helping my handwriting but also my (pretty atrocious) spelling!  Handwrite thank you letters for birthday and Christmas presents.  Handwrite party invitations and greetings cards.  Handwrite a letter to a grandparent.  Look for opportunities for your child to handwrite something and if it’s for someone else then there is more incentive to work hard on it.

It’s OK to make a draft with mistakes in it and then write it out “in best”, but again, praise effort not perfect writing.

Use spelling practise time to include creative ways to practise handwriting.  Use rainbow writing, wiggle writing, putting the words into sentences or a story to make it a fun and creative activity and not a chore.  And by handwriting the words, the brain is going to be able to remember them better in future.

Things to Remember About Handwriting

Writing doesn’t have to be perfect all the time, but it does have to be legible.  Not all letters have to be joined together and once children have mastered letter formation and have practised handwriting they will begin to have more stamina, the process will become easier because our brain is now practised at it, and we will eventually form our own handwriting style.

I have successfully improved children’s handwriting via online tuition.  Not only has the child’s writing improved, but so has their confidence and enjoyment of writing as a result.  If I can help your child with their handwriting do get in touch.

The post Why Bother with Handwriting? appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

In a parent consultation recently, the issue of giving praise to children came up.  Praise is good, right?  All children love praise!  They won’t achieve anything without it.

When I was training to be a teacher back in the noughties, everything was based around praise.  Praise for sitting still and listening, praise for writing the date, praise for answering a question right, praise for answering a question wrong, praise for not hitting that child, praise for saying sorry for hitting that child… 

I vividly remember being told never to tell a child they had got something wrong.  To say something like “good try, but not quite”. 

After a few years at the chalkface, it becomes clear that these strategies aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.  Praise only works when it is used sparingly and honestly.  Praising a child every five minutes for things that don’t necessarily deserve it can lead to apathy and lack of motivation.

The Problem with Praise

For children lacking in confidence, such as many of the children I work with, it can be tempting to over-praise to raise their self-esteem.  You may say that their picture or writing, or whatever it is, is the “best you’ve ever seen” or that it is “amazing”.  However, research suggests that this language has the opposite effect.  If you say or imply something is “perfect” or “incredibly good” (when it isn’t) children know what you are saying is not true and as a result, are less likely to choose a more challenging activity afterwards compared to children who were told it was just “good”, (“Mind Over Money”, Claudia Hammond, 2016, p153-154). By over-praising, we are setting standards that children feel are too high and creating a fear of failure because they don’t believe they can achieve the same level again in the future.

Research by Professor Carole Dweck, who has pioneered thinking around mindset, shows that praise is more effective when it is given for effort or the way a task is approached, rather than results (getting answers right).  She found that repeatedly telling a child they are “clever” (even if they are) can result in them staying within their comfort zone and not wanting to challenge themselves.

Praise in Tuition

To return to my consultation with a parent, she mentioned that at school, praise was a little too forthcoming and results-driven, which had led to exactly the situation found by Dewck’s research.  My tutee thought the work they did was good (when it wasn’t always good) and they were resisting challenging themselves.  Having worked with me for a few months now, we can both see that the child is thinking more carefully about their work, putting more effort into it, and spending longer on it.  They are willing to try new things that will challenge them and move their learning forward.  They are also more receptive to making mistakes and correcting them.  This is because I don’t NOT praise, but I don’t OVER-praise, and I praise for effort and approach, not just results. 

If a child I’m working with has done something well, I will tell them; if it is truly amazing, I will tell them and we will celebrate that – but if it isn’t, I won’t claim it is, but will help them work out how to improve it.  If they have found something difficult, but have tried hard, overcome frustrations, or asked for help I will give praise, because this helps build their confidence and willingness to keep trying and challenging themselves more in the future. 

To go back to my training days and being told not to tell and child they got something wrong but to say something like “good try, but not quite”, well, I’ve dropped the “good try, but” bit if it wasn’t a good try.  If the child is clearly not thinking hard enough, or has rushed, or has shown no understanding of the question or task, it is not necessarily a “good” try.  The praise I give is appropriate and based on effort and approach, not just results.   The impact that has on the child’s confidence and learning is clear to see.

Do contact me to discuss how I can help support you with your child’s learning.

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Throughout November I will be going live on my Facebook page to quickly explain some of the most common misconceptions, or stumbling blocks, that the children I work with often display, and provide advice on overcoming them.

I’ll take a look at each of them further in this blog.

The Maths Blocks:

Firstly, a couple of maths issues that crop up again and again: multiplying and dividing by powers of 10 and the commutativity of multiplication.

Multiplying and dividing by powers of 10.

A power of 10 is 10, 100, 1000 etc.  When I was at school, and I’m sure when you were too, we were taught to add zeros when we multiply by powers of 10 and to take zeros away when we divide by powers of 10. It was only when I was in teacher training college 20 years ago that I found out this is mathematically incorrect, and sets children up for problems further down the line (and probably helps explain one reason why I struggled with maths).  It is important to teach this correctly from the start so children don’t get stuck later on.  However, children are still being taught this “trick” and I’ve lost count of the times it has put a barrier in their way over the years.

So, if adding and taking away zeros is not correct, what is?

We need to understand that it is the digits moving and changing their place value.  When multiplying, numbers get bigger, so the digits move up the place values.  This leaves a space, or spaces, so we need to use a zero as a “place holder” to show there are no ones, for example. 

When we divide numbers, they get smaller, so here the numbers move down the place values.

So far, however, the trick of adding or taking away a zero works and gets the right answer, so what’s the issue?  Why does it matter whether we add or take off a zero or move the digits? 

Let’s start with looking at dividing.  When dividing, not all numbers have a zero on the end to “take away”.  If you have been taught to take off a zero and then you are presented with 32÷10, you are now well and truly stuck.  You have no idea how to solve this problem.  You get despondent and frustrated.  Maths becomes “difficult”.  If you have, however, been taught that the digits move, then this barrier never appears.  We just know what to do – move the digits.  No problem was created and we can continue to access maths and understand number. The digits might need to “jump” over the decimal point to become tenths or hundredths. When I was at school, I was told to move the decimal point.  Again, this is fundamentally incorrect.  The decimal point is fixed to the spot.  It doesn’t move.  It is glued down.  The digits move around it.

What about when we are multiplying?  We are adding a zero so why is it a problem?  The answer is because it leads to poor understanding of place value.  This is understanding what each digit represents – hundreds, tens and ones (sometimes called units).  If we just add a zero to 32 without moving any digits we still have 32.  We don’t write 32.0 because the zero tenths is not telling me anything useful, because I don’t need to know I don’t have any tenths.  Adding a zero on the end of 32 does not change the number in any way.  We need to move the digits, then place a zero in the empty place value columns to show clearly what the number is and avoid confusion.  A three in the tens column means 30, but 30 what?  31? 38?  The zero place holder is saying “there are no ones”.  This zero is vital.  And it’s vital it is in the ones column, not the tenths column.  Where it is means very different things.

Children enjoy practising these skills by moving numbers up and down a place value chart.  Imagine the numbers sprouting feet, or wheels, or being pushed in a trolley – whatever works to remember they are MOVING.

To know how many places on the chart to move, look at the power of 10 you are multiplying or dividing by.  10 moves one place because there is one zero, 100 two places because there are two zeros, 1000 three places etc.

Times tables are commutative:

Commutative means that the calculation can be written either way around.  3X4=12 is the same as 4X3 =12.  As I’ve explained in my blog “What Can I do to Help my Child with their Learning?”, it is best to learn all the related times table facts together as it creates less work in the long run.  If you know 3X4 = 12 you therefore know 4X3 = 12 and therefore 12÷4 = 3 and 12÷3=4.  That’s four facts for the price of one!  Lots of children, when presented with 12X5 for example, will say they don’t know their 12 times table.  When asked “do you know your 5 times table?” they say yes and know 5X12 = 60.  Understanding that you can swap the numbers around is liberating.  Children think the 12 times table is hard, or that they don’t know it.  They will know more 12 times questions than they think.  Turn the question around!

The English Blocks:

Over sounding phonemes and resistance to editing writing.

“Uh” Phonics:

Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound within a word.  Children are taught phonics from the early years and there is a huge focus on it in school.  Children will be familiar with the word “phonics” and “phoneme”.  We use phonics to sound out words to help us read and write (this is only helpful to a point in English as lots of English words are not phonetic).

The children I work with who struggle with reading and spelling often are not sounding phonemes correctly.  They say, for example, “c-hu – ah – t-hu”.  We don’t say cat “cuhahtuh”,  it’s “c-a-t”.  The sounds are very small and quiet, with no “uh” on the end.  The vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u) are louder and may have a slight “uh” on the end, but the consonants are small, made by a little puff of air (b, p), or restricting the back of the throat (c, k, q) for example.  Encourage your child to say the sounds as small and quietly as possible (but still being able to hear them!)  This will help them hear the word they are sounding out – “c-a-t” sounds like “cat” -which helps with reading and spelling.

As a side note, I’ve noticed lots of children calling letters words – “how many words in the word?”  It’s also important to know the difference between the name of the letter (A – ay) and the sound it makes (“a” as in apple).

Proofreading and Editing:

Children are generally great at writing.  They have fantastic ideas which they write down eagerly.  However, many think that once they’ve written the last word (not necessarily with a full stop after it) they are done and it’s time to move on to the next thing.  When you explain that the next thing is to go over and edit the writing, they sometimes become frustrated and despondent, and issues around fear of mistakes and getting things wrong surface.

Children need to understand that writing is a process, and correcting their work is an integral part of that process.  Proofreading (finding spelling, grammar and punctuation errors) and editing (changing the word choice, word order, sentence structure etc) are essential parts of being a writer. Every writer goes through this process and every piece of text that has been professionally published goes through this process, multiple times.  Find your favourite book.  The author didn’t write those words first time, and then it was printed and you bought it.  Those words are there after a process of changing, correcting, adding in or taking out many, many times before it was printed and sent to the shop.  Being a proofreader and/or editor is a career.  People are paid to check writing and make it as good as it can be.  It is not a criticism or telling off.  It is an essential part of the writing process.

When children understand that the first draft of their writing is not the finished version and there is an expectation to proofread and edit, and that is done in an engaging, creative way, they are able to see this as part of the process and embrace the task of making their writing “as good as it can be”.

A first draft should be about getting ideas out of your head and on paper.  Children shouldn’t be worrying about how to spell words or where to put full stops at this stage.  What’s important is getting the ideas down.  The next stage is to check the spelling, punctuation etc.  Children should do this themselves first, before someone else checks it (it is good to have a fresh pair of eyes look at it which is why authors use professional proofreaders and editors.)  Instead of looking for all the things that need changing at once, focus on one thing at a time.  Are the capital letters correct?  Now the full stops and other punctuation?  Are there any words I know are spelt incorrectly, or I think might be?  Check them (put a wiggly line under them first).  Be a writing detective.  Put yourself in the shoes of your reader.  Have you made your writing as clear as possible for them?  Will they understand and enjoy it?

Drafts of writing should be messy.  There should be crossing out, insertion, asterisks to show where new sentences and paragraphs are that couldn’t be fitted in.  Use different coloured pens if it helps, but it’s not necessary.  This shows the child has gone back and thought about their writing, and corrected errors, embedding learning along the way.

Young children in Years 1 and 2 should be checking they have used capital letters and full stops correctly, and maybe checking 1 or 2 spelling words.  Build up the amount of proofreading and editing done as the children become older and more skilled in their writing abilities. 

Editing is often seen as a chore by children, but it is actually a really creative process.  Is there a better word or phrase to use to really get across what I want the reader to know or imagine?  What happens if I move the words around, take a word out, change a word, move a comma…?  Editing is being playful with language.  That is fun!

To see my short explanations of these misconceptions, please visit my Facebook page.  Coming in the new year will be my Learning Support Membership where there will be short, engaging video lessons and supporting activities to address these misconceptions. Do get in touch if you are interested in discussing how I can help support your child’s learning.

I’m now off to proofread and edit this blog before publishing!  What you are reading is not the first draft 😉.

The post Four Common Misconceptions appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.

This was a common question at parent’s evening when I was teaching, and something I’m asked regularly by the parents I work with now as a tutor.

My suggestions are below.  Other than the first one which is the most important thing you can do to help your child with their learning, the rest are in no particular order.

Read

Reading is the most important thing children can do to help their learning along.  To find out more, have a read of my blog about the importance of reading here. It doesn’t matter what you read – books (fiction and/or non-fiction), comics, magazines, websites, computer games, instruction manuals, menus, shopping lists, cereal boxes…. just read!  It is the key to everything.

Your child listening to other people read is also fine.  It is important for children to listen to stories as much as reading them themselves.  Hearing someone else reading fluently helps them understand word pronunciation, rhythm, and expression.  It also helps them understand what is going on because they are not having to worry about “decoding” the words (turning the letters into sounds).  If you are confident reading yourself, then sharing a story at bedtime is an enjoyable experience for both of you.  If you don’t feel confident reading yourself, then audiobooks are also fantastic.  Don’t stop your child from listening to stories once they can read independently either.  Everyone loves listening to a story – even adults!

It’s OK for children to re-read stories they enjoy.  I’m an avid re-reader.  Familiarity develops confidence and enjoyment.  You also notice new things with each reading.  It’s also OK for them to sometimes read something “too easy”.  A variety of difficulty is important.  If they are always reading something that is a bit of a challenge, then reading becomes hard work and they no longer enjoy it.  After a “heavy” book about something serious, I usually choose a funny easy-read after it. 

Reading doesn’t have to be expensive either.  I’m a huge advocate of libraries.  They are free to join and are also now able to start running free events again.  You can also borrow audiobooks from them.  I used to love Saturday morning visits to the library as a child.  Books for free – what’s not to like?!

Times Tables

Recall of times tables is an important skill because it is so helpful across many areas of maths, such as fractions, percentages, and area.  It is a life skill. The children who struggle with maths invariably don’t have a solid recall of times tables.

There is a formal times tables test in Year 4 (which has been put on hold during Covid but will probably re-appear) and in Year 5 and 6 understanding of fractions, percentages, etc is made so much easier if children have good times table knowledge.

Don’t just learn them in order:

Eg 1X2, 2X2, 3X2, etc.

Do mix them up:

Eg 5X2, 8X2, 2X2, etc.

When we need to use times tables to access other areas of maths, it will be at random.  Eg a rectangle that is 5cmX12cm to find the area.  If we have to start at 1X12 and work though, it wastes a lot of time.  We need to just be able to recall 5X12 = 60.

Don’t just learn the answers:

Eg 2, 4, 6, 8…

Do say the question:

Eg 1X2=2.

Children who can only recite the answers in order have no access to what that number refers to and therefore really struggle to answer times table questions or apply them to other areas because they only know half of it.  They have to count up on their fingers to find out “how many 2s make 12” for example.  This is frustrating for them and wastes time. Say the whole times table out loud: “two times six is 12”.

Don’t learn the tables one at a time: 

Eg, the 2s, then the 3s, then the 4s etc.

Do learn the associated facts:

Multiplication is commutative (it doesn’t matter which way round the numbers are on either side of the X).  So, if you know 4X5 = 20, you automatically then know that 5X4 = 20.  This means that there is no need to learn the 12 times table because if you know the others, you automatically know the 12s.  There are only 21 times table questions you need to actually learn – the rest you know because you’ve learnt it the other way round! 

It’s also important to know that the opposite of multiplying is dividing, so learning the division facts alongside helps enormously when applying facts to other areas of maths.  So, if we are learning that 3X4 =12, we also learn that 4X3 = 12, and 12÷4 = 3 and 12÷3=4.  That’s 4 facts for the price of 1!

Do use what you know to help you with what you don’t:

If you know your 2 times table, then double it to find the 4s.  Double that to find the 8s.  Double the 3s to find the 6s, double that to find the 12s.  Alternatively, halve the 12s to find the 6s, etc. 

Also, your child may know up to 5X something but is stuck on 7X something.  Go back to 5X and count on 2 sets to find 7 times.  So many children start from the beginning and work up. Instead, start from what they know.  They probably know 10X but find 9X hard.  Start at 10X and take away one set and you have 9X. So much quicker than counting up from 1X.

Don’t worry too much about speed:

There has always been a big emphasis on recalling times tables facts at speed.  The Year 4 test does require questions to be answered at speed.  Whilst this can be helpful, especially when using the facts to help with other areas of maths so that you can carry on with the actual problem at hand and not end up bogged down in an extra task of working out 7X6 for example, it is not the bee-all-and-end-all.  There is a move in primary education now towards slower recall because speed can create anxiety.  Not everyone’s brain works quickly, and the time pressure causes many children’s brains to shut down (and adult’s – I’ve always suffered with “maths brain”.  I need time to think).  It’s OK to have to work it out, using a time-efficient strategy (such as the ones described above). 

There are so many fun ways to learn times tables.  Have posters up (children enjoy making their own), find songs and dances online, or download or have a CD to play in the car.  Use flashcards, or find games online (there are LOADS – Google “times table games”).

Praise effort not getting things right:

The children I work with who lack confidence in their learning all have one thing in common – fear of mistakes.  This is the biggest factor holding them back.  Before they can make progress academically, they need to reach the point where they are comfortable making mistakes.  Because making mistakes is how we learn.  Mistakes are fundamental and must be celebrated.  It’s OK to get something wrong, so long as we tried, and learn from the mistake so that we can iron it out in the future.  We need to practise things.  In our world of instant gratification and short attention spans children can find it difficult if they don’t understand something, or can’t do something, straight away. 

However, nobody ever achieved anything without trying.  Behind “successful” people there is a background of hard graft, failure, and perseverance.  It is effort, practise, and learning from our mistakes that needs to be recognised and praised, more than getting something right.  For example, a child may be struggling to work out a maths question. They have tried to solve it but got the wrong answer.  A great response would be something like: “Well done for trying that.  We have learnt that that isn’t the answer so let’s try another way.”  As the inventor of the light bulb, Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  Each way that didn’t work, was part of his path to learning what did work.

Have fun:

We learn best when things are enjoyable.  If your child is tired after school and needs some downtime, then this isn’t the best time to practise spellings, times tables, or reading.  Find a time when they are rested and ready to learn for homework tasks.  If it’s not happening that day, don’t force it.  There’s always tomorrow.

We learn all the time from life in general.  Get your child involved in the housework (pairing up socks is a great maths activity for younger children), cooking, shopping, etc.  They love it and it doesn’t feel like a chore to them!  There is maths and English to be practised all around us just from doing day-to-day things. 

Go to the library, museum, park, a walk in the woods…  Your child will be soaking up all sorts of information, such as: learning to cross the road safely; how to behave in public; finding out about cultures from the past and present; different plants and animals; how keeping fit helps us feel good, to name just a few.  I learnt where places are in the country by watching the football results on a Saturday afternoon (“Mum, where’s Bolton?”) and I also remember sounding out the word “fog” when watching the weather forecast.  Learning can happen anywhere, anytime.

If your child needs further help with their schoolwork, do get in touch to see how I can help.

The post What Can I Do To Help My Child With Their Learning? appeared first on Karen Lander - The Top Cat Tutor.