October 2026 • 6 min read
Why you should pay for extra classes when your child is struggling
A mark that slips for one term is easy to explain away. “He will catch up.” “She just does not like the teacher.” “The curriculum is too hard this year.” Sometimes that is true. More often, a child who is struggling has a specific gap — a method that was never understood, a language skill that was skipped, a habit of guessing instead of working it out — and that gap grows quietly until the next test makes it obvious.
Paying for extra classes is not a punishment, and it is not only for learners who are failing. It is a practical way to stop a small problem from becoming a repeated year, a lost subject, or a child who has decided they “cannot do maths.”
Struggling is a signal, not a character flaw
Children rarely fall behind in every subject at once. The warning signs are usually narrow:
- Homework that used to take 20 minutes now takes an hour, or is avoided altogether.
- Tests come back with the same kind of mistake — word problems, fractions, comprehension, sentence structure.
- Your child says “I don’t get it” and then goes quiet, because asking again feels embarrassing.
- Afrikaans or English writing is copied, shortened, or left unfinished.
A busy classroom, or a full online lesson, cannot always stop for the one learner who missed the step three weeks ago. Extra classes exist for that step.
Why waiting is usually more expensive
Parents often delay paid help because the monthly fee feels optional. The real cost of waiting shows up later:
- A gap compounds. Grade 8 algebra depends on Grade 7 number work. Grade 11 essay marks depend on the paragraph skills that should have been settled in Grade 9.
- Confidence drops faster than the mark. Once a child believes they are “bad at” a subject, they stop trying the questions they could still get right.
- Catch-up later takes longer. Two focused sessions a week in the term the problem appears is cheaper, in time and money, than a full rewrite year or a panicked holiday crash course.
Extra classes are not a luxury add-on when the work has already slipped. They are the shorter route back to the level the child is capable of.
What you are actually paying for
At St. Ronald's Homeschool Tutor Centre in Brackenhurst, extra classes in Maths, English and Afrikaans are one hour, twice a week, at R 1,200 per month. Registered learners also receive free Afrikaans every day, and there is a weekly Afrikaans session open to any student in Alberton.
The fee is not for more worksheets. It is for a teacher who can sit with the work, see exactly where the method breaks, and explain it again in a smaller setting. That usually means:
- Finding the first missing step, not only marking the latest test.
- Practising the same skill until the child can do it without being prompted.
- Building exam technique: how to read the question, show working, and not leave the page blank.
- Giving a teenager a place to ask the question they will not ask in front of friends.
Maths, English and Afrikaans carry the other subjects
These three subjects are the ones we prioritise because they unlock the rest of the timetable. A learner who cannot read a word problem will struggle in Natural Sciences and Accounting. Weak English writing shows up in History, Business Studies and Life Orientation. Afrikaans, often treated as the subject to “just pass,” becomes a source of weekly stress that spills into everything else.
Targeted help in the subject that is actually stuck is more useful than a general promise to “try harder.”
How to know it is time
Pay for extra classes when any of these are true:
- A subject has been below the level you and your child agreed on for more than one cycle of tests.
- Homework battles are about not understanding, not only about not starting.
- Your child can recite the rule but cannot use it on a new question.
- You are re-teaching the work at night, and it is not working.
You do not have to wait for a fail. A term of focused support is often enough to restore the habit and the mark. If the gap is deeper, we will say so, and we will keep the plan small and clear.
If your child is struggling in Maths, English or Afrikaans, speak to Henter at St. Ronald's in Brackenhurst on 074 288 8527. We will look at the work, not only the report, and tell you whether an extra-class slot is the right next step.