Online tuition vs home tutor vs revision books: cost and value in Kenya

Every holiday, Kenyan parents face the same decision. Do you find a home tutor? Buy a set of revision books and trust the child to use them? Or try live online classes? Each option has loyal supporters, and each can work. But they are very different in cost, in convenience and, most importantly, in how likely they are to change what your child can actually do by January.

This is an honest comparison. We run live online classes, so we have a view, and we will say so plainly. But we will also tell you where the other options are genuinely the better choice. We give our own prices exactly as they are. For home tutors and revision books we do not quote market prices, because they vary enormously by town, tutor and publisher, and any figure we printed would be wrong for many readers. Instead we give you the questions to ask so you can compare like with like.

The three options at a glance

Option 1: revision books

Where they shine

Revision books are affordable, they last, and a good one is well organised and full of practice. For a motivated, organised child who reads instructions, checks answers honestly and asks for help when stuck, a good book can carry a lot of the holiday. They are also the right tool for the days between lessons: a book or a set of notes keeps the habit alive.

Where they fall short

Books cannot notice a misunderstanding. When a child gets a fraction question wrong, the answer key says "3/4" and moves on. It does not explain why the child wrote "2/6", and it does not stop the same mistake happening twenty more times. Books also have no start time. Many families know the story of the revision book that is still clean in January.

Honest verdict: excellent value per page, poor value per hour of learning that actually happens, unless your child is unusually self-driven or a teacher is guiding the work. If you do use books, our guide on how to mark your child's past paper at home turns them into far better learning.

Option 2: a home tutor

Where they shine

A skilled, reliable home tutor is one of the best forms of support there is. Lessons are one-on-one, the tutor can go at the child's exact pace, and a good relationship with a trusted adult can transform a child's confidence. If you already know a qualified tutor you trust, who turns up on time and gets results, keep them.

Where they fall short

The challenge is that quality varies enormously and is hard to check before you pay. Ask yourself:

• Is the tutor a qualified teacher who knows the current CBC (CBE) curriculum, or a well-meaning student?
• Who will be at home during the lessons, and are you comfortable with the safeguarding arrangements?
• What happens if the tutor cancels, travels upcountry for Christmas or takes a better-paid client?
• What does the total cost come to once transport, lunch or extra hours are added?
• Outside the main towns, is there anyone qualified available at all?

Honest verdict: potentially the best option, at a cost and quality you must check yourself. Our seven questions before you pay apply here in full.

Option 3: live online classes

Where they shine

Live online classes bring a qualified teacher to your child wherever you live, at a fixed time, with no travel and no stranger in the house. The teacher explains, the child asks and practises, and the class runs whether or not you are at home. You know the price in advance, and you can pay weekly so you are never locked in.

Our Holiday Learning Academy CBC classes give your child 4 live sessions a week, about 60 minutes each, East Africa Time, taught live by qualified Kenyan teachers and aligned to KICD. Subjects include Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Integrated Science, Social Studies and Business Studies. There are reminder emails before each class, a dashboard with one-tap join links, and further reading notes to download after every session.

Where they fall short

Live online classes are not magic. Your child needs a phone or laptop for the hour, a data bundle and ideally earphones and a quiet corner. Classes are small groups rather than one-on-one by default, though private 1-on-1 coaching can be arranged on WhatsApp. And a very young child may need an adult nearby for the first few sessions. You are welcome to sit beside your child; many parents do.

Honest verdict: the strongest combination of teacher quality, rhythm, convenience and known cost for most families, especially outside the big towns and for working parents.

The real cost: per hour of actual teaching

The fairest way to compare is cost per hour of real teaching that your child actually receives. Here are our figures, exactly as published:

Notes after every session, reminders and the dashboard are included, and there is no transport cost. To compare with a home tutor, take their quoted fee, add any transport or extras, and divide by the hours your child actually receives in a typical week, allowing for cancellations. To compare with books, divide the cost by the hours your child will realistically spend on them, not the hours you hope they will. On that basis the books' "cheap" number can look very different.

Which option suits which family?

The combination that works best

In practice the strongest holiday plans do not pick one option; they combine them. A live teacher provides the anchor: four fixed sessions a week where real explaining and practising happens. Notes or a good revision book fill the days between, in short twenty-minute doses. And a parent provides the five-minute Friday check. This is the structure behind our 70-day holiday revision plan, and it is why every one of our sessions comes with notes to download.

Whatever you choose, protect rest and play. Most of the holiday should still be holiday. Our earlier guide to tuition, camp or home revision and our piece on a revision timetable your child will actually follow go deeper on balance.

Five questions to ask before you pay for any option

Whichever route you lean towards, put the same five questions to it. A good provider, tutor or book will answer them easily.

1. Who exactly is teaching, and are they qualified? For a book, who wrote it and does it follow the current KICD designs?
2. How many hours of real teaching does my child get each week? Not "access", not "materials", but hours with someone explaining.
3. Can my child ask questions and get corrected? If not, who will catch the mistakes?
4. What happens when a session is missed or cancelled? With our CBC classes, the timetable repeats weekly, the teacher recaps, and your plan starts from your first attended class.
5. What does my child keep at the end? Notes, a marked exercise book, a finished revision file: something you can see.

If an option cannot answer these clearly, that tells you a great deal about the value you will get from it.

How to start with live classes

1. WhatsApp us the grade and subjects. Send ACADEMY to 0711 344 702 (or IGCSE for IGCSE).
2. We confirm the class group and timetable on WhatsApp within 24 hours.
3. Pay by M-Pesa: weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
4. Join live from a phone or laptop, straight from the browser.

Frequently asked questions

Why don't you list home tutor or book prices?

Because they vary too much by town, tutor and publisher, and an invented average would mislead you. Use the cost-per-hour method above with the real quotes you receive.

Are online classes as good as a teacher in the room?

For explaining, questioning and practising, a live class does the same job: your child sees and hears the teacher, speaks, asks and gets corrected on the spot. What it saves is travel, hosting and the limits of who lives near you.

Do we need a laptop and fast internet?

No. A normal smartphone and data bundle are enough. The class opens in the browser, with no app to install.

Is it one-on-one?

Small live groups, so every child gets to speak and ask. Private 1-on-1 coaching can be arranged on WhatsApp.

What grades are covered?

Grades 4 to 10 for CBC. Junior School and Grade 10 groups run now; Upper Primary (Grades 4 to 6) groups open as they fill, so message us early.

Is holiday learning allowed?

Section 37 of the Basic Education Act bans holiday tuition, and the Ministry's enforcement is aimed at schools that organise classes and pressure parents to pay. Our classes are not run by any school: they are optional, chosen by parents, and can be paid week by week, so you stay in full control of how much your child does.

Information current as of 22 October 2026. Our prices and class details are as shown on our CBC live classes page; if anything changes, that page wins.