Top questions about starting a tutoring business
What are your top two questions about starting a tutoring business? Tutors and teachers often have specific questions about starting a tutoring business. I had to do tons of research into starting and running a small business before I was ready to start my private tutoring business. Sometimes, my research led to even more questions instead of helpful answers. I wished I had someone to ask all my questions to, so I wrote up a Q&A for you with the top questions about starting a tutoring business. Grouped by category, here are 13 topics people ask about when starting a tutoring business. Grab a cup of coffee, and let’s pretend we are at your favorite coffee shop and you are picking my brain about how I got started. I’m already smelling the Italian roast! Starting the Business 1. Legal Structure: Should I register my tutoring business as a sole proprietorship, LLC, or another structure? I can’t give you any legal advice, but I can say that many people choose to start an LLC to protect their personal funds from their business funds. Sam Vander Weilen is a good resource. (Sam has many good resources!) https://www.samvanderwielen.com/how-to-legally-protect-your-online-business 2. Startup Costs: How much…
10 Practical Executive Function Activities for Students: A Guide for Parents and Tutors
What are some of the main categories of executive functioning? Good kids may often say “I forgot” and genuinely not know how to stop forgetting to do homework assignments or turn in their work on time unless parents and tutors use executive function activities for students to help train their brains to focus and manage tasks. When it comes to supporting school-aged children, understanding the key categories of executive functioning is crucial. Executive functioning refers to the mental skills that help children plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and manage multiple tasks. These cognitive skills are essential for success in school, relationships, and life in general. Here are 10 main categories of executive functioning that parents and tutors should know about along with examples and executive function activities for students. Tutors can easily incorporate a tip or strategy into a tutoring session to help build executive function skills and parents can continue to reinforce the strategy at home. 1. Self-Control Definition: The ability to control impulses and resist distractions, staying focused Examples in school: Not interrupting others in class, waiting your turn, and resisting the urge to play during study time. Practical Tips and Strategies for Improvement: Use visual reminders, such…
Building Blocks for Success: How Executive Function Skills Support Learning and Life
What are some of the main components of executive function skills? Success in learning, living, and leading starts with strong executive function skills, and without this building block, many students struggle academically, personally, and socially. Executive function skills help us stay organized, manage our time, control our emotions, and make good decisions. These skills are important for getting work done, handling challenges, and doing well in school and with friends. Many students (and adults) struggle with developing these skills without intentional guidance. Edutopia sums it up nicely with this quote: “Executive function is the brain’s air traffic controller, intercepting a tangle of thoughts and impulses and steering them toward safe, productive outcomes.” What Are Executive Function Skills? Five key components of executive function include planning, organizing, time management, emotional regulation, and flexibility. Planning: Setting goals and figuring out steps to achieve them. Organization: Keeping materials and thoughts in order. Time Management: Using time wisely to complete tasks. Emotional Regulation: Staying calm and focused under pressure. Flexibility: Adapting to new situations or solving unexpected problems. These key components help us be successful in learning, living, and leading throughout our lives. Why Are Executive Function Skills Important? Executive function skills impact schoolwork,…
4 Classroom Organization Tips
Need to tackle some clutter in the classroom or office? Keeping up with classroom organization is part of classroom management. Often we ignore a cluttered space because we do not feel we have time or energy to tackle a whole project. Part of my master strategy in Clean the Chaos: At Home involves sweeping out a space, sorting, and storing the items in a tidier or more useful way. This same strategy is useful in the office or classroom organization; bringing order to some chaos. Here are 4 classroom organization tips to help you tackle clutter in the classroom today. First, choose a drawer, cabinet, or corner and begin to clean the chaos in the classroom. Start small with classroom organization Ten minutes gives just enough time to empty a drawer, wipe it out, sort/toss/recycle/relocate/store the items back into the drawer in a more useful and neater way. Once you do a drawer or two, your motivation will build and you will find more pockets of time to continue the project. And the more you clean the chaos, the more useful the space becomes. Keep reading for ways to maintain your space once you have cleaned the clutter. This will…
4 Classroom Management Tips
How consistent are you in your classroom management? Classroom management is hard to learn from a textbook, even if you have read Harry Wong’s First Days of School. Until you are actually in a classroom, it is hard to know exactly how you will respond and react to certain situations no matter how prepared you are. Here are 4 classroom management tips to point you in the right direction to calm the chaos: in the classroom. Develop Your Classroom Management Learning classroom management is an essential skill for teachers and substitutes and will help calm the chaos in the classroom before it gets out of control. In college, I learned great ideas and tips for classroom management, but nothing truly prepares you for those first few minutes and days like actually being in the classroom. You do need to have some basic ideas of how you want your classroom or tutoring sessions to run, but also be flexible as you hone this skill. You will continue to hone your classroom management system over the years and in different settings. So many of my good ideas are a bit outside the box and came out of situations that needed a bit…
Book Review: The Next Right Thing
What do you do when you can’t decide what to do next? In her book The Next Right Thing: a Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions, Emily P. Freeman captivates her readers with simple truths and easy-to-follow action steps to do the next right thing in each of the 24 chapters. I took this book on a recent international trip with the intention of reading it on a long flight. However, I found myself not wanting to read it quickly. I’m a book-a-day kind of reader yet this one subconsciously encouraged me to slow down and let the information simmer. It was an invitation to turn off my e-reader and look out the window. I patted myself on the back for packing my capsule wardrobe with pants that fit (read Chapter 21). And that’s just how I emotionally reacted to the book, not even a review of the content! Emily’s book is great for the “here and now” decisions where you need to just do the next right thing instead of waffling in indecision. It’s also for the bigger life decisions where you need to stop collecting gurus. It’s for staying in the moment by asking yourself “What is…
Easy Greek Bowls Recipe
What are your favorite ingredients for easy Greek Bowls? Amid a busy season and party food, sometimes you just need a healthy recipe like Easy Greek Bowls. It also makes a good meal to take to a friend because it isn’t lasagna and can be prepped ahead for the mealtrain. My favorite ingredients are the tzatziki sauce and the kalamata olives! Whether you are a busy teacher, a tutor who works afternoons, a stay at home mom, or a single professional, here’s my recipe for Greek bowls. The meatballs can be made ahead and stored in the fridge or freezer. To serve, warm the meatballs and rice and top with the rest of the Greek bowl ingredients. This also makes it super easy to double and take to a friend. Greek Meatballs: (serves 4-6 people) 1-1.5 lb of lean ground turkey ½-¾ c grated zucchini, squeezed 1-2 tbsp minced garlic ¼ c minced red onion 1 tbsp dried oregano ½-¾ tsp each, salt and pepper ⅓ c crumbled feta (skip if you are dairy free, I like goat feta) ½ tsp lemon juice Preheat oven to 375*. Stir ingredients to combine. Use an ice cream scoop or your hands to…
Thanksgiving Logic Puzzle
What activities have you planned for Thanksgiving day? Around the kitchen table or classroom, this Thanksgiving logic puzzle will whet your appetite for food and fun during the holiday. Grid puzzles require critical thinking skills to determine the relationship between people, places, and things based on the clues given. This “print and go” PDF contains two versions of the same puzzle (easy and medium), a completion celebration sign, and an answer key. Work individually or in teams against the clock. This Thanksgiving logic puzzle is ideal for ages 10-100. Download and print a few copies of pages 3 and 4 for your classroom, your dinner table, or your Thanksgiving celebration. Take a photo and tag me on social media. @tailorjoy #tailorjoylogicpuzzles How to solve logic puzzles If you have never solved a logic grid puzzle and you need a visual explanation, here’s a simple video. The same concept is used to solve bigger puzzles. Typically you have a set of clues to read through and a grid with categories to mark your answers on. Use the clues and logical deduction to solve the puzzle. It may take a few times through for the clues to be useful so keep reading…
Thankful Tree in 4 easy steps
What are you thankful for today? A thankful tree is a great way to decorate for Thanksgiving and an interactive activity that lasts the whole month. Over the years we have had several different thankful trees. Here’s a picture of the start of one. We usually leave it up until we put up the Christmas tree. Anyone that comes into the house in November gets asked to add a leaf to the tree. Here are 4 easy steps to make your own thankful tree. 1. Gather a base for your tree It can be sticks, a tree branch, or even a few branches from your artificial Christmas tree. Put them in a jar or container. You might need to rubberband the base or add in some rocks for weight. 2. Get some leaves You can order colored paper leaves, buy them at the craft store, cut them out of construction paper, or gather fresh ones in your yard. Punch holes in them and add some string for hanging. I have shared a link below. 3. Select pens Your pen selection will be determined by what kind of leaves you choose to use. Test it out by writing what you are…
Influence of Adoptive Parents
Who influences your image of who you are? Adoptive parents know the feeling of lavishing love on a chosen child before the child can even love them back. Words, like loved, chosen, and adopted, have a sweet ring to them. Families who have experienced earthly adoption connect with this language and concept of being adopted much easier than those of us who just observe it from the outside. Adoption involves sacrifice, expenses, sorrow, blessings, assurance, and joy. It’s a beautiful metaphor for the Christian faith. There are many blessings bestowed by God on His children. We are loved, chosen, adopted, forgiven, alive, and so much more. We are God’s masterpiece! The book of Ephesians, in the Bible, is full of truth and rich with the privileges of being a child of God. Our worth is defined by how God sees us, not how the world sees us or how we feel about ourselves. Christians describe this as being adopted into God’s family. By faith, we become children of God with all the rights and privileges of being His child. This isn’t just a future blessing when we die and go to Heaven, it starts immediately. I get a smile on…