Parents who after-school, or are considering after-schooling, may be addressing any of several deficiencies or needs. One is supplementation to teach things they know their child’s public school has omitted or has presented inadequately (in general or for their child in particular). Another concern parents may be addressing is when there is something they believe is incorrect in what the public school is teaching. Some parents may find that the pace of instruction is either too quick for their child (they aren’t understanding what is being taught before the class moves on to another topic) or too slow (their child understands ideas so quickly that they get bored or frustrated with the pace the rest of the class needs). Another purpose in after-schooling that is not related to problems in public schools is special religious, cultural, or language instruction the parents want their child to receive.

The first key to after-schooling, something that all parents should do as a matter of course anyway, whether their children are enrolled in public or private school, is continually monitoring their children’s education. What are they being taught? What are they not being taught, but should be? Is what is being taught appropriate for their child and their family? Is their child understanding what is being taught? Is the pace of instruction too slow or too fast for their child? With this kind of continuous monitoring, parents may be able to detect and address problems as they arise. When a problem is discovered, parents can then try to correct it with the help of the school (if the school and teacher are willing and able), or decide whether to after-school. When the latter is done, the parents need, fairly quickly, to determine what their child needs, find supplementary materials at the library or teacher’s supplies stores (if the child’s textbook isn’t sufficient), and then take the time over several days or weeks to instruct their child in whatever is needed. In other words, the other keys to successful after-schooling are diagnosis, resourcefulness, and time.

While after-schooling is a way parents whose children attend public school can make up for academic problems in their local public school, after-schooling isn’t a cure-all. Prompt and proportionate parental responses to issues are dependent on noticing, understanding, and responding to signs of problems, and doing so in a timely manner. This is not always a certain proposition. If parents are unable to recognize a problem early, their child’s confusion is likely to grow in scope as new concepts are built on the idea that wasn’t understood. And if parents don’t respond adequately, some growth of confusion will still occur. Typically, the time available for after-schooling is limited to evenings, after a full day at school and on the job, and to weekends. Thus time is scarce, and is further reduced by homework, family activities, sports leagues, and other social activities. Evenings are also usually a fairly low-energy time for parents and children alike. In short, the amount of after-schooling needed may exceed the time and energy available. The other side of the time issue is that after-schooling can impinge on family, friends, and social activities to an undesirable degree. Advanced students can present a somewhat unique challenge. While catching one’s child up to the rest of the class in some subject is a task of fairly limited scope, with a specific goal, keeping an advanced student challenged and interested is open-ended. A student who is not challenged by the pace of instruction in their class will soon become bored, may lose interest in education, and possibly will become disruptive. Some teachers will work with advanced students and their parents to give the students work that will challenge and interest them (the child must perceive immediate as well as long-term rewards, or the extra work will seem punitive). Some teachers cannot or are unwilling to do this. When a teacher can’t or won’t, parents are faced with a long-term, often broad-scope (i.e. involving multiple or all subjects), task. And as the parents’ work enables their child to advance more quickly than their age peers, the gap between the student and their class will widen. Skipping a grade (or taking junior college classes, for high school students who don’t have advanced placement classes available to them) may be an option when the gap is great enough, but public schools are sometimes hesitant to do this, and junior colleges (in California at least) limit the ages at which this may be done and the number of classes a high school student may take.

At some point, whether due to time and energy limitations, the scope of the required supplementation, or a student who is advancing academically much quicker than their age peers, some parents may have to consider whether full-time homeschooling would be a better approach to meeting their child’s education needs. Homeschooling is a major change in lifestyle (especially if it means a change from two full-time incomes to just one full-time income). Where after-schooling isn’t adequate and problems persist, homeschooling allows considerably more time and flexibility for educating one’s children.

After-schooling isn’t perfect. It has limitations that may limit its applicability. But for many parents and students, after-schooling offers an opportunity to ensure the adequacy of the education their children receive and to compensate for problems in their local public schools. It also enables parents to augment the public school education with subjects public schools can’t or won’t teach.