Is it possible to study a creative subject using an online tutor? Helen, my eldest daughter, has just tried out Tutorful, an online learning specialist, to find out.
Our background with online tutors
When it comes to using online tutors, this family is quite an experienced bunch. We used an online tutor for the first time when my daughter’s schools were closed last year because of the pandemic. A French teacher who lives nearby very kindly agreed to give the children some online lessons and their skills came on hugely.
Having seen the benefits, I went on to have some online maths tuition and took a GCSE in the subject. I’d failed to pass maths GCSE at school, so this was a personal quest to put right a historic wrong!
On this occasion, however, Helen would be doing something entirely different. She was going to have an art lesson. This is obviously a completely different skill to French or maths, so I was keen to see how the Tutorful tutor deliver the lesson and what Helen would learn.
Background to Tutorful
Before I tell you about the lesson, here are some details about Tutorful. It’s based in Sheffield and offers lessons in over 300 subjects including: Maths, English, politics, economics, history, design and tech and many, many languages including French, Korean, Mandarin, German and so on. It’s very comprehensive and you can even get lessons in playing the bagpipes. If there’s a lesson you’re interested in, take a look!
Lessons are available at various different levels of study, from primary school and the various Key Stages through to GCSE, Scottish Highers and even degree level in a few subjects. It’s also worth highlighting that tutors are available to help with various special educational needs such as dyspraxia and dyscalculia among others.
Setting up the lesson
What about our experience? Well I’ll start by telling you about setting up the lesson. This can be arranged via Tutorful’s free to download app, but I chose to arrange it via the company’s website.
Even so, I didn’t make it easy for Tutorful. I was trying to squeeze the trip in two days before a short break to Wales so there was very little time to confirm details with a tutor. On my second attempt, I very quickly managed to secure the services of a lovely tutor called Alvaro.
The lesson
Prior to the lesson taking place, I had sent Alvaro some details of what we were looking for using the website’s Tutorful’s secure messaging function. He knew Helen’s age, rough ability level and the skills she was looking to improve.
Alvaro came well prepared and had organised a lesson focused on the Cornish artist Alfred Wallis. Over the course of an hour, Helen reproduced an illustration Wallis had created of Newlyn Harbour (Wallis being both a fisherman and artist).
For an hour Helen sat intently, headphones on, listening to Alvaro’s instructions. She really enjoyed the lesson and I don’t think I’ve seen her concentrate on anything so hard for quite a while!
After the lesson, Alvaro was kind enough to email over some source material so Helen could continue her illustration or have another go. This was a nice, personal touch and wasn’t expected.
Things to keep in mind
There are two things I would keep in mind for this kind of lesson. Check that you have the correct equipment beforehand. You can do this by simply messaging the tutor. Alvaro was hoping Helen would be able to use some pastels but she had to make do with crayons. I was kicking myself for not checking with him beforehand.
Second, if the lesson is taking place in a bust family home, you may want to give your child a good set of headphones. There were some distracting noises going on during Helen’s lesson but I had planned ahead and provided her with good headphones that had a built-in microphone so this worked well.
Final thoughts and further information
I was very impressed by Alvaro. He had a great, warm nature and got Helen to focus on the lesson for an entire hour! I also loved the picture she produced during the lesson, which is, by the way, going to be framed and given to granny. It was simple to arrange the lesson and the range of subjects is very impressive.
As for fees, these do vary. We paid £25 for an hour of Alvaro’s time but as I say, this will depend on subject, subject level, length of lesson and so on.
To find out more, pay a visit to the Tutorful website.
12 thoughts on “Getting creative with Tutorful, the online tutoring specialist #Ad”
Helen did a great job with the picture, I bet granny will love it.
This seems like a great service, had a quick nosey through the website and the vast range of subjects they cover is excellent. Certainly something for everybody.
Your household sounds like mine at the moment with the noise levels, still good that Helen managed to concentrate and focus on the lesson. The lesson plan to say was quite quick to set up before your break sounds great and well prepared and tailored to Helens skills and ability.
Great post John, thanks for sharing.
The range of subjects is amazing Eddie, really is. I’ve not actually come across an online tutoring company that can offer such a range of subjects before. As yours get older, if they need some help with their learning, yo know where to go!
This looks very helpful. Especially if you are a parent like me and don’t really have a clue about school work! It’s changed since my time! Definitely something I will look into when my 5 year old is a bit older.
In time you may find an online tutor is useful Rachel. Online tutors have worked well for this family and Tutorful has so many tutors and subjects to call upon.
Parents seem more daunted by online tutoring, than the kids. It’s the future and we better embrace it. There’s no barrier to learning, if you have an internet connection, you’re good to go! Exciting times.
You’re absolutely correct. Online tutoring can work superbly well. I guess it’s better for slightly older kids but what can I say, I recently passed my maths GCSE thanks to online tutors so I;m living proof it works!
Thanks for the recommendation. I think we will need to get a maths tutor relatively soon for my girls and it’s useful to know about a resource with so many different tutors available, I think it’s incredibly important to find the right tutor to work with each individual child’s needs.
Nat.x
It sure is important to get the correct tutor Nat. I have had different experiences, but Tutoful has a huge number of tutors to call upon so you should find an individual that works for you.
This looks so great, a really good way to inspire and educate in an informal way. We did a few group online art classes over lockdown but this looks better as it’s 1-2-1z her picture turned out so well!
Yes indeed, one to one tutoring is good. I confess I was not sure about online tutoring until both my kids and I had some online tutoring over lockdown and it worked incredibly well.
Amazing I will look into this thanks for the review!
Glad you found the review useful Kate and hope you get the tutoring your family requires.