How to help your kids succeed: Affordable enrichment & tutoring are essential

Education is expensive, time-consuming, and challenging. While you might imagine that public schools will cover all the education costs for your child, the truth is, you’re asked to spend more money every year to support their education.

But economic factors are only one driver for the higher costs of raising and educating your kids. Many school districts can no longer support the essential services they once offered. 

Meanwhile, colleges and future employers expect your kids to incorporate top grades, volunteering, and after-school activities in their already jam-packed lives.

This drive to ensure our children are set up for success means that 8 in 10 parents are already going into debt to support their kids’ activities.

Fortunately, there are affordable alternatives. Here are a few tips for tapping into low-cost resources to help your kids succeed.

Online tutoring and enrichment are cheaper

When you think about educational enrichment classes or after-school tutoring, you’re probably picturing something in-person. Likely in a brick in mortar school, co-op, or community program. While those options are fantastic, they often come with a higher price tag.

Your child can have those same learning experiences online. By making it virtual, you save money and have more options. You don't have to be limited by what's offered in your local area or a handful of tricky schedule options. Bonus, you don’t have to spend hours and pricy gas schlepping your kids across town.

Whether you're looking for academic tutoring, semester courses, or fun options–like how to draw Anime, you'll find it on Outschool.

Online classes and course options for kids

• All tutoring options

• Academic tutoring options

• English courses and English tutoring

• Math classes and math tutoring

• Reading classes, reading assessments, and reading tutoring

• Writing classes and writing tutoring

• Science & Nature classes and science tutoring

• Language courses and language tutoring

• Online art classes

• See all categories

Taking online supplementary courses is a great way to boost your child’s learning and prepare them for their chosen career or life goals. For example, they can try out Coding & Tech classes and see if that’s something they want to explore – both now and in the future.

It can also open up new possibilities. Something we hear over and over from Outschool families is they love our online enrichment classes because it’s content they can’t get anywhere else.

Parents love that they can sign their middle schooler up for an entrepreneurship class, try virtual preschool, or have their teen increase their career readiness.

Get help with affordable tutoring

Finding affordable tutoring can be crucial in supporting your child’s learning and growth. Whether your kid is dealing with a challenging subject at school, is ahead of their peers, or just needs a different teaching approach, tutoring can be the perfect solution.

But most parents worry about the high cost of getting one-on-one support. Not to mention finding someone locally who is a good fit and can work with your family’s schedule.

Online tutoring is a great solution because it’s much more affordable, convenient, and flexible than traditional options. Get virtual, tailored tutoring for reading, math, writing, and more.

It’s perfect for any parent that’s tired of evening homework battles, tears of frustration, or worrying that their child is getting what they need. If you want to help your kids love learning, give online tutoring a try.

Teach them life skills

Just because your school doesn’t offer a course doesn’t mean it’s unimportant or your child can’t take it. For hard-to-come-by electives and life skills classes, take your search online.

Here are a few options for online life skills classes:

• Cooking

• Financial Skills

• Study Skills

• Social Skills

• Critical Thinking

• Health and wellness

These online supplemental classes are a great way to teach your kids what they need to know for day-to-day living.

Share TED Talks with your teen

If a TED Talk has ever inspired you, you know how valuable these inspirational speeches are. But you may not have considered what a useful and insightful series of lessons they can be for your child. Here are a few lessons on life, happiness, integrity, and work you can share with your teen.

They’re short, they’re free, and they’re a great discussion starter.

• How Frustration Can Make Us More Creative

• How Great Leaders Inspire Action

• How to Speak So That People Will Listen

• How to Spot a Liar

• How to Stay Calm When You’re Stressed

• Looks Aren’t Everything – Believe Me: I’m a Model

• The Happy Secret to Better Work

• The Surprising Science of Happiness

• What Makes a Good Life? Lessons From the Longest Study on Happiness

• Why The Best Hire Might Not Have the Best Resume

These top 10 Talks are a great starting point. You can also explore and find presentations that match your family’s interests. Try introducing them when the Netflix queue gets low, or sweeten the deal with some snacks.

Bottom line, you don’t need to go into debt to give your kids the education they deserve. There are low-cost, attainable options to help your kids succeed. Our goal at Outschool is to be one of them – to set learning free.

We’re so inspired by what happens when kids get a chance to take their education to the next level. We love hearing stories from our families about how their kids started an Etsy shop or wrote a book because of an Outschool class.

Let’s take back our kid’s education and find creative ways to empower and inspire them.

Anna DuinAnna is a Content Strategist at Outschool. She's also a mother to two pretty-awesome little boys. Nothing makes her happier than rising to a challenge or making something new.