EduFire with kids?

I have had several classes with eduFire (love it by the way), and I am wondering what opinions are regarding setting up eduFire sessions for kids. I have an eight-year old son who has taken some group classes in Spanish and wants to continue. He sees me take classes online, understands the concept, and is quite eager to participate. My son is very intelligent and extremely computer literate (this is not just the opinion of his doting mother, he does very well in school, and works easily independently). I would also be there for the entire time, of course. Does anyone have any opinions on this. Thank you,

Amy

I think it’s a great idea! I don’t know what the regulations are but in principle and an adult is perhaps involved or gives consent (whatever the requirements are) then why not!

My son is 12 and yes that is what I am planning for him

I have been thinking about this quite a bit. I really feel that so many children can benefit from eduFire. I wasn’t sure on requirements either but feel that an adult would probably be involved anyway initially.
A thumbs up from me!

I love the idea – I wish Edufire had been around when my daughter was younger!

I think that sounds like a great idea! If I were the parent I would make sure I was present just because the internet can have a lot of not-so-good things and it is always good to protect children – especially young children who might not know how to react if there was any inappropriate issues.

Yes well I don’t speak Spanish well enough to teach my son. He wants to learn. We home school… tutors only make good sense and with edufire we can tailor a schedule to suit our needs. I will of course bee looking for a tutor that likes working with kids.

I think that is a great idea and others have asked about children on eduFire in the past! I think that if the parent(s) gives consent than kids too can have tutoring sessions on eduFire.

Hi Sandra, Raquel has expressed interest in working with my kids and loves working with kids. (her link: http://edufire.com/users/1974-languages-tutor-raquel-avery) I think she has the right personality for it, and she is great! I am sure there are other tutors who would be willing to work with kids. I am definately considering it, so long as the administrators ok it. I plan on being there for the lesson, my kids don’t go online without me present. I find this to be a wonderful resource for homeschoolers!

Have you looked into Rosetta Stone? I just recently put the Spanish Rosetta Stone on hold at my library. When it is returned I will be checking it out for the kids and I. Good luck!

Thanks for all the comments. If there is administration go ahead, we will book right away. I assume that I would just book lessons through my own profile, right? After getting the ok from an instructor who wants to work with children, of course. Thanks everyone.

You search through the tutors and request sessions on their profiles. Just add a note at the bottom in the comments area that the session is for your child/children and is beginning Spanish. You can search the tutors by clicking on Tutors at the top of the site. Then select the language you want them to learn and begin your search. Good luck!

Good idea, Tina. I have taught children before and may add such a note to my profile. :)

I have been thinking for a while about children learning on eduFire. We have had a few discussions here already on home schooling and I believe that eduFire would be a great place for children and learning. Not just languages of course but with all the new subjects that eduFire will have to offer in the near future.

I was thinking how cool it would be to have a section of the forum maybe just for children so they could enjoy the community aspect of eduFire as much as we all do. It would be a way for home schoolers or children who take additional lessons (outside of school) to mix with each other.

My other idea would be that tutors that enjoy teaching children could have a ‘kid friendly’ type badge and add something to their profile too to make it easier for parents to choose a tutor. Maybe even a search facility could be added to edufire for this purpose.

Lastly (for now anyway!!) this would be down to the tutor but maybe you could have lower rates for children also.

I am not sure what precedures or regulations we would need in place to teach children, it maybe just a case of a parent giving conscent before each lesson.

I love the idea of teaching children! I have also experience in teaching children. So I think it is an excellent idea! ;)

That’s a great idea! I also thought kids German for many years and I liked it a lot.

I also like the idea of kids being able to use eduFire. I definitely agree with Debbie that there should be some sort of badge or other identifier to show if someone is a kid friendly tutor or not because teaching children is not for everyone. I don’t know if I agree about lowering the rates for the children but I suppose it’s up to the tutor.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

I was not sure on the ‘reduced rates’ part either. It is not likely that the child is paying themselves and the rates on here, in my opinion, are very reasonable anyway.

I can see why someone might give a child a discount rate just because it seems that children in general get to do everything for cheaper. But honestly it’s a lot of work to tutor children because you have to be more animated and keep them engaged more so I think the tutors would probably want to still charge about the same for all ages. Although like I said, it’s up to the individual tutors. That’s the beauty of edufire and being able to set your own rates!

Yes indeed! That is the great thing about eduFire :)

Christina, the “Kid-friendly” badge is a great idea. Did you put it on the Idea Board?

I like the idea of teaching children. I did that in person although it was friendly. Many of our neighbours were sending their students to me to teach them :D

I think that tutors do more effort when they teach children. However, it is more interesting and funnier as well.

I also wanna add that tutors should prepare good materials for each age group. I have started to do that after I joined Edufire. You know that you should have your engines ready to race, lol.

Fantastic idea! The badge is definitely worth looking into- that way we can distinguish those tutors that will work with kids.

Excellent!! Glad you like the idea :)

Jon will be posting in this thread at some point about teaching with children etc.

Perhaps instead of a lower rate, a shorter session. A younger child may have a hard time sitting still for an hour lesson. Older children would not have as much of an issue with an hour lesson. Just a thought. While children take more effort to engage the lesson tends to be more basic.

I say, try it. You have nothing to loose if your children are eager and interested in learning. They might find it even more exciting than meeting a tutor in person. I remember when I was younger and started using the internet I was fascinated by the idea of doing anything online. The whole internet and computer aspect of it will make your children feel really cool. I am 19 years old and If my parents presented me with the idea a few years ago to be tutored online I would be ecstatic.