Enter The Productivity Matrix

If you read our last post you’ll have just collected everything you’re responsible for along with some of the things you’d like to do with your free time into a single list. 

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Daunting, right?!

When I made a list for the first time of everything I needed and wanted to get done over the next three weeks, I felt a brief sense of relief, followed by immediate panic. 

I laugh about it now, but at the time I was like, “OMG how am I going to get all this done?!” 

Trust me on this one, we can do this!

You just need some tools and processes to help you figure out what the immediate next step in getting all these things done is. Then you can put one foot in front of the other and blindly follow your own directions later. 

First, indulge me in a productivity rant. Every good productivity series has one, right?

If at this point you’re thinking, “I think I’m good now... I have a to-do list... I’ll just get to work checking things off my list”... please don’t try to sail that ship into the sunset without a plan or process for getting things done. A “to-do list” is not a plan.

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You need to process the information from your list of to-do’s: how long things will take, what other steps are involved, etc., and then you can prioritize what needs to be done and when.

I’ve organized a productivity matrix for you. It shouldn’t take long to fill with items from your list, which we'll be calling “projects” since most of them will require more than one action to complete.

Here’s what the productivity Matrix looks like: 

Here’s how we’ll load each line item to-do from our list of EVERYTHING we know we have to do. 

Step 1. Pick any one project from your list of to-dos and assign it a priority level / status. 

We’re calling your “to-do’s” projects now. Because let’s be real, most of the things you have listed will require multiple smaller tasks to complete.

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We’ll only be using the four categories below. Trust me, everything on your to-do list will fit into one of these four categories. 

• NOW: Use this status for projects that are due either today or tomorrow and for the projects you have the means to begin working on right now.

• NEXT: Use this status for projects that need to happen within a week or so and aren’t quite as pressing as the items you have listed under “NOW.”

• LATER: Use this status for long-term goals or projects you will be working on over the next three weeks or so. These tasks are not urgent but they are still very important!

• WAITING: Use this status for projects that you literally can’t do until you either have more information or someone else does something that will allow you to complete the rest of your task.

Step 2. Now that you have assigned each single project a status, write down every next step or smaller task you can think of that is required for completing your project. 

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Here’s an example of what this might look like…

A project assigned to NOW: Study for AP U.S. reading quiz, due tomorrow.

Next Steps: Do required reading, take notes, add chapter definitions to quizlet.

A project assigned to NEXT: Biology paper, due next week.

Next Steps: Decide on a thesis, Find additional research articles, Outline Essay, Finish Writing

A project assigned to LATER: Senior research paper.

Next Steps: Decide on a topic, meet with teacher for topic approval, begin research, decide on sources to use, decide on a thesis, outline research paper, send teacher project outline... etc.

A project assigned to WAITING: Midterm, due next month.

Reason you’ve assigned this project to waiting: You have a test next month but your teacher hasn’t told you what the test will cover.

Next steps: Set a reminder to follow up with your teacher every so often until you know how you can begin studying for this exam. 

Step 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 till you’ve processed EVERYTHING on your to-do list.

A GIF from the CBC

The reality is this is going to take a while, and you may be tempted to give up. But I can assure you, processing all that you have to do and coming up with a plan for accomplishing your goals now will pay off BIG TIME! 

You’ll find it’s 10x easier to complete your work later when you know exactly what you should be doing next. 

Step 4. Get to work and recategorize your work as needed. 

As you make progress in completing your projects, you’ll have to recategorize things. Things from “Waiting” have now become “Next” items or “Next” items have become “Now” items, for example.

In time, you’ll find a means of adapting this system of productivity to your unique needs. Just consider what I’m offering here as a jumping-off point to get you started on finding what works best for you.

Now if you’ve completed all the steps above, CONGRATS, YOU DID IT!

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If you wanna get high-tech with this system, you can try adapting it for use with a system like Asana for Students.

If you are asking yourself, “how do I organize this all into a calendar?” That’s a question I’ll be answering next week.

Email me and I’ll send you the downloadable worksheet I’ve created to help you create your own productivity matrix. 

As always, if you need an online tutor for just about anything - including getting organized and being productive with your time - let us know!

Did you miss the previous parts of our productivity series? You can still read them!

How to become your own productivity superhero.

Don’t worry about your to-do’s - write them down!

Don’t Worry About Your To-Do’s! Write Them Down! :)

I’d like to introduce you to something I call mid-sentence panic moments. For me they looked something like this:

Talking to friends... talking about how good lunch is… [ridiculously loud inhale]… [sheer panic washes over my face]… “I forgot...my midterm is tomorrow!”

…lunch with friends fades into the background and all I can think about now is how stressed I am.

In my experience it’s quite normal for students to experience worry that comes about as a result of either forgetting about one or more responsibilities or becoming overwhelmed by thinking of all they have to do. 

Don’t worry though, this has more to do with the design of our brains than anything else. The neuroscience behind it all is quite complicated, but the thing to remember is that our brains are resource cheapskates.

The average person can only hold three or four things in their working memory - or active mind - at once, according to science. 

I know what you’re thinking: “Four things?! That doesn’t even begin to cover all that I have to juggle just to get through the day!”

There’s no need to get all worked up though. We can use our short-term, working memory to create tools and habits that will help us capture our thoughts, to-do’s, and creative ideas in places we can easily retrieve them for processing later.

All that said, let’s get started on creating a systematic process for capturing everything you are responsible for so you can finally relax and know that you’re not letting anything slip through the cracks. 

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STEP 1: Acknowledge your brain is a meat computer and it’s not as powerful as you think.

Acknowledging that our brain has limits and finite resources is the first step learning to use it more effectively.

The way our brains process information is somewhat chaotic, which is why staying focused on the task at hand when you are trying to remember what you have to do for the rest of the day tends to be difficult. 

I like to call the brain a “meat computer,” because it helps my students understand the principle that the mind is best used as a computer processor, not a hard drive. What that means is the mind is an excellent place to create ideas and do work; however, your brain simply doesn’t have the RAM to hold every single thing you are supposed to remember all at once.

That’s why it’s important to admit that your brain can’t do it all!

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STEP 2: Acknowledge that writing things down gets everything out of your head and into a space where you can actually work with your ideas and responsibilities.

You have a good brain, but you’re using it all wrong if you think you can get away with trying to organize your life without writing anything down. 

Paper - real, tangible, crinkly paper- is essentially an external hard drive for your brain. You can use that to offload your brain flow, leaving more memory space in your brain so you can actually think and get things done. 

You don’t have to use paper for the next step if you don’t want to. You can use a Google doc or any other app that you like to use to organize your work and ideas.

The most important thing to do to keep from worrying about when your next mid-sentence panic moment will strike is to download everything that has your attention to some form of external memory.

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STEP 3: Go on a Scavenger Hunt - Find everything you’re responsible for doing and write it down.

This part’s actually pretty fun. Where do you source your daily “to-do’s”? Let’s actually go around and find out, collecting the bits and pieces from all the various sources. 

• Your syllabus, if your teacher is actually organized and keeps a schedule of all the assignments due in the class. 

• Your Google Classroom assignment list.

• Your online learning tool assignment list.

• That scrap of paper you hopefully used to write down what your teacher was saying as everyone stormed out of class.

• Your teacher’s assignment handout that is hopefully somewhere you can find it.

• A text from your boss confirming your extra shift this weekend, the one you don’t normally work.

As you go around to these different places, you should be adding your to-do’s to a completely freeform, uncategorized, un-prioritized list. 

Once you’ve collected all the things other people are expecting you to do, sit for a minute and think about all the things you want do this week or this month just for yourself or for fun and add them to your list. 

If you actually took the time to do Step 3... you, my friend, are going places! 

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If you did need some help getting started, email me. I’ve made a downloadable worksheet for you.

In case you missed it, read the first part of our series: Becoming Your Own Productivity Hero, and learn some tips and tricks for getting rid of digital distractions.

Read our next post tomorrow to learn more about how to plan out each of your to-do’s, give them a priority level, and figure out what the very next step to accomplishing all your goals is.

As always, if you need an online tutor for just about anything - including getting organized and being productive with your time - let us know!

Becoming Your Own Productivity Hero: How To Stop Wasting Time Online

Photo by Road Trip with Raj on Unsplash.

When you open the internet, what’s the first thing you type? 

Ok ok, I’ll admit it! During college and for years after I graduated, the first thing I’d type in my search bar was ALWAYS the letter “F.” Why’s that? Well, Facebook had the gravitational pull of an internet black hole for me.

Though I’m sure your roadmap to distraction looks a little different than mine, we all know what the process looks like: 

Mind wanders.

… 

“I’m bored…”

“Let’s see what else is out there on the internet?”

…

Clicks Instagram…

Scrolls through 28375950 pics of the beach, friends’ dogs, and delicious noms.

“How did I end up here again?”

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Nothing kills productivity faster than being distracted. You could spend your time reading the world’s best productivity tips, but if you don’t quiet your mind and develop a system for protecting your ability to focus, then it’s all for nothing!

“Creating the right environment” is important, so check out ways to optimize your study space. Setting up your digital space is 1000x more important!

So while we all wait out the end of the apocalypse, if you’re ready to figure out how to actually focus on studying, let’s dive right in.

“We have essentially two versions of ourselves: our “best-self” that is motivated and has these things called “goals,” and another version of ourselves that would rather eat a nauseating amount of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and watch Netflix ALL DAY.”

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash.

Step 1. Turn your smartphone back into a tool.

In order to be productive, you’ve got to use your phone wisely. Put that thing on airplane mode and turn off WiFi and Bluetooth. 

Now you can use your handheld super-computer for something useful like calculating, graphing, studying digital flashcards, looking up elements on the periodic table, and finding definitions for words you don’t know. 

“Nothing kills productivity faster than being distracted.”

Step 2. Install browser extensions that block or limit the websites you can use while studying.

I know, I know… I sound like a totalitarian dictator! But hear me out…

We all know that we are our own worst enemy in doing what we “should do” vs “what we want to do.” We have essentially two versions of ourselves: our “best-self” that is motivated and has these things called “goals,” and another version of ourselves that would rather eat a nauseating amount of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and watch Netflix ALL DAY.

So why not recruit your best-self to help you protect your ability to focus when you need it? 

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Here are 3 of the best tools I know of to help with staying focused while you work online: 

• WasteNoTime  - a free browser extension for Chrome browsers.

This is my favorite of the three because I like to use Chrome and it allows me to set a daily time limit on the amount of time I can spend on my favorite time wasting websites. Once I’ve exceeded my 15 minutes of daily Instagram use, it blocks me from the site and redirects me to a page with a reminder that there are better things to do online. 

You can also set windows of time where you completely block websites you don’t want to have access to. Then there’s an option to lock down your browser for a period of time so that you are locked out of the entire internet with the exception of just those few sites you need to complete your “to do’s” for the day. I’m not gonna lie: that last option is scary. I don’t even use that option myself. But if you need it, it’s there.

• Leechblock - a free browser extension for Firefox browsers.

This is essentially the same concept as WasteNoTime but built for Firefox browsers. Technically, Leechblock came first and was the inspiration for WasteNoTime. 

• Freedom - a low-cost desktop and mobile app for most devices.

This app is exceptional at blocking distracting apps and content across all of your devices and will ensure you are doing nothing but the productive things you need to do during your allotted school or study time. I will say that it does take a bit longer to set up, and there is no timer feature that allows you to visit time wasting websites just for “a little bit”. That means you don’t get a productivity recess while it’s on. In a word, this app is a bit “hardcore.”

Photo by Fernando Hernandez on Unsplash.

Why not recruit your best-self to help you protect your ability to focus when you need it? 

Step 3: Create Your Blocklist

Choose the best-sounding extension or app from the list above and install it. Set it up. Then download this worksheet and learn how to create your own blocklist. 

We’ll also be posting a series of free downloadable guides on how to implement the productivity hacks we’ll be teaching this week. 

As always, if you need an online tutor for just about anything - including getting organized and being productive with your time - let us know!

GUEST POST, MAGELLAN BLOG: Test-Optional College Admissions

Magellan College Counseling has helped hundreds of parents and kids navigate the college application process and we applaud their insight and wisdom in helping students strategically plan for success. From extracurriculars to class schedules to standardized tests, Magellan helps tap into what really motivates and drives a student.

Even before Covid-19 disrupted the globe, colleges and universities were already debating how standardized tests weigh in the admissions process. Now that ACTs and SATs are being cancelled indefinitely, there’s an even bigger reason to learn why, how, and when colleges go test-optional, and how you should be prepared for a college future without SATs and ACTs. Special thanks to Evelyn Jerome-Alexander and the Magellan College Counseling blog for allowing us to share their post on this topic.

Breakdown of the math elements on the ACT.

As things are moving quickly in the world of college admissions, we’re hearing a lot about colleges deciding to go test-optional, even if it’s just a temporary move. What do colleges mean when they say they are test-optional, and who benefits from a test-optional admission process?

Why do colleges go test-optional?

Colleges decide to go test-optional for different reasons.  There are studies showing different data about what the SAT and ACT actually indicate, whether or not they correlate to students’ ability to succeed in college.  Additionally, some studies indicate that the tests discriminate against different types of students.   You may believe the tests show intelligence, and that a higher score means you’re smarter than someone who has a lower score, but that’s not necessarily how colleges interpret test scores.

When colleges announce a new test-optional policy, they may be attempting to level the playing field, to attract more students who don’t necessarily have access to (sometimes expensive) test preparation tools and tutors.

This part is important:  when colleges adopt a test-optional admission policy, they will look even more closely at your transcript:  not only the grades you earned in all of your courses, but also the classes you chose to take, in the context of what was available to you.

They’ll see from your school profile which advanced classes are offered, and sometimes, the grade distribution within your school.  That is to say, what percentage of your school has an A average, a B average, and lower.  This tells them if there’s a problem with grade inflation at your school.

Breakdown of the elements of the ACT English section.

So who benefits from test-optional admissions?

• Students who have learning challenges, such as dyslexia, ADD, processing issues, testing anxiety, or any other specialized situation can benefit from test-optional admissions, because their scores often do not correlate as closely with their academic performance in school.

• Students who have very strong grades but for some reason, don’t test as strongly.  Test-optional policies are less helpful to students who have mid-range grades, like Bs and Cs.

Students with a very strong, mostly or straight-A transcript do well in a test-optional situation.

• Students who have REALLY strong and interesting involvement in extra-curricular activities.  Students who really have a story to tell about how they’ll contribute to a college campus in a special way.  This means the way you describe your extra-curricular activities and the essays you write are extremely important, in a test-optional college admission process. (more on extra-curricular activity descriptions here)

What do college admission officers think about test scores?

Because many of us have been conditioned to think that higher scores are automatically better – even if we’re talking about a 50-point difference in test scores – it’s important for you to understand the mindset of the people making admission decisions and policy, and why they consider moving their colleges to test-optional:

“There are inherent inequities in standardized testing that have long been recognized by educators.  We believe this new policy aligns us with our core value of access.”

— Vassar College Dean of Admission and Student Financial Services Sonya K. Smith

“I don’t care that your best friend or the guy in your math class got a perfect score.  I don’t admit test scores, I admit people.  In a holistic process we see test scores, but we see so much more.  Don’t distill yourself to one number.  I don’t and neither should you.”

— Georgia Tech Senior Assistant Director of Admission Katie Mattli

“If applicants would like us to consider their exam results as one component of their candidacy, we will do so in a nuanced and contextual way.  If students choose not to submit exam results, we will evaluate their candidacy in a nuanced and contextual way without scores.  Our holistic, committee-based approach to application review provides us with the flexibility to evaluate academic and extracurricular accomplishments within a student’s individual context.”

— Tufts University website

This is a fairly long article from the New York Times by bestselling author Paul Tough, whose book, “The Years That Matter Most:  How College Makes or Breaks Us,” was released to great acclaim in 2019.  In this article, Tough interviewed Angel Perez, who is VP for Enrollment at Trinity College in Connecticut, a liberal arts college that has successfully moved to a test-optional process over the past five years.  It’s a long read but it helps you see the admission process through a different lens. 

If you have questions about how test-optional admissions may impact your child, or about the college admission process in general, we’re happy to be your trusted experts on this exciting journey.  Feel free to give us a call or get in touch!

And remember, PCH Tutors is now totally virtual! Call or email us for information on how to set up your first session.

Have You Noticed The Pandemic? It’s Distracting.

Hi, I’m Jake.

I’m the owner of PCH Tutors and its sister company Simplifi EDU. Now that you’re learning from home due to COVID-19, I want to begin the journey of helping you figure out the answers to some of your questions about how to adjust to our current situation. We live in scary times, which makes it even easier to lose focus on the work in front of you.

I’m sure by now you’ve asked yourself, “How am I supposed to get all this work done... on my own?”

... and,

“How am I supposed to focus when literally everything is a distraction?”

One of the questions I ask myself literally every morning when I wake up is...

Just kidding… kind of. As an entrepreneur and business owner with a team of more than fifty people to manage, the single most difficult thing I do every day is figure out the answers to these two questions: “What do I do next?” and “How should I be spending my time right now?”

Figuring out the answers to these questions for yourself every day and then putting one foot in front of the other to get the work done is life-changing. But… and this is a big “but”... no one really takes the time to teach you how to develop your own way of doing this in a systematized, easy-to-follow, and step-by-step way.

In this series, I’ll be sharing all of the most essential productivity lessons I’ve learned over the past decade. Things like:

• How to capture everything you have to do.

• How to set aside time for studying, how to get long term projects done.

• How to prioritize your work, and how to put all these things into a system that works for you.

Figuring out the answers to these questions for yourself every day and then putting one foot in front of the other to get the work done is life-changing.

You Can Read the whole series by clicking the links below

How to become your own productivity superhero.

Don’t worry about your to-do’s - write them down!

Enter the Productivity Matrix

How To “Be In The Moment” and GTD Using Your Calendar!

Looking Back To Get Ahead

As always, if you need an online tutor for just about anything - including getting organized and being productive with your time - let us know!

Thanks for reading and sharing our content with all of your friends!

Tips from a Long-Term Homeschool Parent on How to Cope During Covid with All Your Kids at Home

Heather Vargas has been homeschooling her 5 kids since the oldest was a baby. He’s now a freshman at Berkeley.

As coronovirus turns the world upside-down, one of the most challenging fallouts for many parents and kids is how to deal with school at home. For parents unprepared to teach their kids or who are just facing way too much time cooped up with them, the days may seem bleak or endless. However, for homeschooling parents who have been teaching their kids by choice, staying home is just their daily routine. Heather Vargas, a molecular biologist and research scientist at UCLA, is part of the PCH Tutors community and has been homechooling her kids for nearly two decades. She offers plenty of positive advice, resources, and wisdom for how to successful manage full days and weeks at home with your kids - even if you didn’t plan this. TL;DR: don’t stress, YouTube can work magic, and always be flexible!

How long have you been homeschooling?

Over 18 years. I have five kids and my oldest is a freshman at Berkeley, he was homeschooled for his entire life and only went to school for his senior year of high school. The next is my daughter who is a senior in high school and going to Cal Poly in the Fall. She was homeschooled until 11th grade. I have a 10th grader and this is her first year in school. The youngest are still homeschooling: they’re in 8th and 6th grades. 

You work and you homeschool?! 

I am a research scientist at UCLA. I study psychoneuroimmunology: how the immune system and brain mediates a person’s stressors and translates those into physiological effects in the body. It’s a lot of fun to be back working - I do experiments in a lab! I study the effect of stress in your life and, specifically, diseases tied to biological aging. I look at what things can help that: meditation, and tai chi - which has been found to reverse some effects in breast cancer patients. I study how stressors can be different for different people. For example, if you are a caregiver for someone with dementia will you be at a higher stress level than a breast cancer patient? Currently, I’m writing a paper and doing a lot of research. 

Why did you decide to start homeschooling?

I knew when my oldest was a baby that I wanted to homeschool because I wanted my kids’ influence, their learning styles, and their values to come from their home and not other teachers, their ideas, other kids, what they’re hearing at their home, etc. As they got older, I realized that all five learned differently from each other. Keeping them at home, I could teach them in the way that works best for each of them. 

I wish I’d stressed out less in the beginning. 

Adapting to five different styles actually sounds harder than teaching a classroom of 30!

Yes, so we combined some classes. Even if your kids are, say, two years apart, you can combine most subjects: language arts, history, social science, sciences, and do a lot of the same kind of teaching. Then send them off to do their own assignments. We don’t teach every class every day. I only teach language arts twice a week, but they may have reading or assignments other days. Same with the sciences and history. Math is always separate because you can’t really teach that on different levels and it’s time consuming. I teach math four days a week and they do assignments four days a week.

Describe a day in the life of your homeschool.

We start at 9 am. The kids always start at the kitchen table. Usually, I’ll teach something, or we watch videos sometimes. I teach and then give assignments. If they’re doing a test or some kind of project we’ll do it at the table but sometimes for an assignment or a reading assignment they go elsewhere in the house.

Have a routine of what’s expected

Why did your kids start attending school?

All of my kids started taking community college courses in 9th grade. I had taught my son trigonometry, but more difficult topics just get to be too much to homeschool. Community college was an advantage to save a little time and money, depending on your major.

How have you managed to separate home vs. school life when everything takes place in the house?

I teach classes for other students, sometimes as many as 10 come over, though only one comes right now. When you’re homeschooling, your kids don’t always want to hear your voice. Peer pressure can sometimes help kids listen.

For a few years we did a co-op with another family, and we’ve gotten involved with some home school groups. There’s a huge community of homeschoolers in the South Bay, but the west side groups tend to be elementary and middle school kids. Pasadena/Glendale have much bigger teen homeschool groups. 

As they got older, I realized that all five learned very differently from each other. Keeping them at home, I could teach them in the way that works best for each of them

How have you prepared your kids to keep up with public school/community college/university? 

But I’ve always made sure they have the foundation to do whatever they want to, and not get to the point where they wanted to study something but were not equipped to do so. Whether it’s an astronaut or an artist. Even though I’m a molecular biologist I never thought my son would want to be a physicist, but that’s why we’ve covered the courses and followed a lot of the state school curriculum.

Flexibility is the most important thing in terms of your own sanity. Even if you’re dead set on the way the day is supposed to go, it’s for your own and kids’ sanity.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned through homeschooling?

Flexibility is the most important thing in terms of your own sanity. It’s also important in terms of kids not feeling like there’s such complete pressure from their parents telling them what to do in every bit of their life, so then they’ll want to go along with you. Listen to their feedback. No matter how badly you think they should be doing XYZ, figure out a way it works for both of you. Sometimes I do trade-offs: sit at the kitchen table even though you don’t want to, but later you can finish an hour early and go ride your bike. 

I can’t expect things to be perfect.

Also, have a routine of what’s expected. Each week, I do write out a loose schedule for every day so they know what to expect. But within that schedule, have the  flexibility to say maybe it’s not the day to learn a new math subject, put it off until tomorrow. Maybe we need three days of a concept I thought would be one day. Instead of getting frustrated, just adjust the schedules. I’ve learned that over time!

How much lesson planning do you do vs. following a curriculum? 

My kids are a little old for unit studies now, but when they were younger we definitely do unit studies. I plan all my own curriculum, sometimes based loosely on whatever the school district is doing for that grade level. When my son went to school in 12th grade and my daughter in 11th, they were completely ready because I followed along and made sure they got the subjects they needed. At the beginning of the year I spend maybe a few weeks just to get the outline of what we’ll be doing. I go down the list of all the subjects, and within those topics I go to different resources and try to find an interesting curriculum. For language arts, grammar, or spelling, I make my own curriculum. I also happen to love text books, especially for math. I’ll do something like YouTube or Khan Academy, especially if if they’re not “getting” something. 

 “But what about extracurricular activities?”

I always make sure they’re involved with something. The YMCA has an excellent government club for middle and high school: model UN for middle school and model youth government for high school. My kids danced, ballet and others, and there are co-cops and other homeschool activities. They’ve never been isolated.

What has been your biggest challenge in home-education? How did you deal with the challenge(s)? 

I would say the biggest challenge has been for the kids to take the work I’m giving seriously and to make sure they feel that pressure. Homeschool kids often don’t feel the same pressure to get good grades and do well in class. There is an aspect of peer pressure and competition, that your teacher will see the grade. At home you don’t have that pressure. 

An ongoing reminder is that I can’t expect things to be perfect and have angel children who listen to every word I say - and you have to realize that up front. Remember that nothing will be perfect, but there are consequences of not having work done. I tried at one point to give rewards for getting work done, but that was a disaster because first of all, it felt like it was setting up an idea that everything deserved an award. After a while they weren’t even motivated, they took it for granted. Consequences  seemed to motivate. 

My kids were out of school for 6.5 weeks because of Malibu fires - that seems like a long time. In the end, though, they learned just as much as everyone else as everyone else in the world who was still going to school and not missing class.

What did the challenges of homeschooling teach you about yourself?

I think I was really defined by my job before I started having kids, when I was a scientist, but I stayed at home for 17 years before I went back to work. I had the same POV now that I think people probably have me: well what do you do? So now I see more the special qualities and the sacrifice it takes to do different things: especially teaching your kids. 

What can families who aren’t regularly equipped to home-educate do to have the best experience during this period of mandated schooling from home?

You just have to be flexible and adjust. Even if you’re dead set on the way the day is supposed to go, it’s for your own and kids’ sanity. Your day will be so much smoother if you can quickly readjust, or recognize it’ll happen in a different way on a different timetable. 

My kids were out of school for 6.5 weeks because of the Malibu fires - that seems like a long time. In the end, though, they learned just as much as everyone else as everyone else in the world who was still going to school and not missing class. Right now we are close to the end of the school year and as long as they’re doing a little bit at home, it won’t have such a negative impact as you may think.

With that said: keep them on track - there is still an expectation. Log in every day, but everything doesn't necessarily have to be at the same level. And don’t stress out: they can still learn during this time, they’ll still go to college, and they won’t lose as much as you think.

Right now we are close to the end of the school year and as long as they’re doing a little bit at home, it won’t have such a negative impact as you may think.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of homeschooling that you know now?

To not stress out so much. For the most part, what they’re learning - especially up through 6th grade - is not going to make that big of a difference in their future. Relax about things. If things aren’t going perfectly, don’t stress out about it so much and feel like your kids have to be doing everything at this high level. If they’re lousy at spelling in jr. high, they could still end up a journalist. Those kinds of things don’t necessarily shape who they are. I wish I’d stressed out less in the beginning. 

What resources can you recommend to kids/parents learning at home right now?

I’ve been seeing people with younger kids freaking out that they suddenly have to teach. It’s not as hard as you think: find a 30 minute video on it, let them watch it, and then you have free time while your child is learning something. Discuss it over dinner. Teens and high schoolers are usually pretty independent and self-sufficient.

Teachers Pay Teachers is a great resource. We’re doing a whole unit study on The Giver right now. I love using Crash Course, the YouTube series by the Green Brothers; they discuss so many different subjects. Khan Academy has really good videos from math to art history. 

Editors note:

If you need some extra help with school at home, PCH Tutors has online tutors available for a plethora of age levels and subjects. Contact PCH Tutors and ask how we can assist you with your homeschool needs.

The Female Staff of PCH Tutors Reflect on How Their Roles Promote Education and Empower Women

On the last day of Women’s History Month 2020, the women of PCH Tutors reflect on their shared passion for education, for supporting other women, and for strengthening their community.

Carling Monder, Business Development

At PCH Tutors I have the privilege to work with a staff that is primarily made up of women: intelligent, educated women. We are surely a force to be reckoned with, but Jake values the differing opinions and perspectives we all bring to the table. It feels important to be a part of a team of such strong female voices.

Let’s not forget about our outstanding team of tutors, male and female alike. But the women who tutor for PCH Tutors are absolutely, stunningly, impressive. They are breakers of stereotypes and leaders in their respective universities and fields. I am blown away by their accomplishments, and refer to each of them privately as “my favorite tutor on the team”. At PCH Tutors, we match those female mentors with students who learn to value the time they spend together. Getting to pair young women with incredible female mentors is really awesome. They are inspiring the next generation of strong, confident women.

As a tutor for PCH Tutors, I work with both male and female students, but the role I am so lucky to play in the lives of young female students is a position I value and cherish. Each of the young women I work with inspire me during every session with their drive to learn and to understand. They are curious and their questions motivate and challenge me to stay on my toes and always be educating myself so that I can share new things with them every time we meet.

Heather Perlow, Account Manager

For so many years female contributions went unnoticed, and to this day I acknowledge social disparities. I think gender diversity throughout all professions is important and I'm proud PCH Tutors has a strong female staff, both in the office and in the field tutoring. Our company is unique in that all of our staff have such different backgrounds, strengths, and goals, which wouldn't necessarily fit together for a team at other companies. I am inspired that our staff come from so many different industries including film, sales, teaching, and medical school and will go on to be lawyers, parents, environmental activists, community professionals, and producers. They can tutor physics, chemistry, calculus, and English, they are organized, pay attention to detail, and have empathy. I love being surrounded by female leadership, brilliance, and strength.

Rebecca High, Social Media Manager

As social media manager, I love the freedom PCH Tutors has given me to promote content that reflects the values of its team. One of those values is unequivocally to support women and raise a new generation of kind, thoughtful, well-educated, critically-thinking leaders. To that end, this well-curated staff is constantly in conversation about how to motivate that. We think outside the box when it comes to working with our community: from Carling who takes such thoughtful care in paring students with tutors, to Heather who establishes relationships with everyone and constantly brainstorms creative ways to , I try to reflect these magnificent women’s energy into what we share online. Through social media, I love sharing others’ stories from around the world about girls succeeding in STEM, teens leading efforts to end homelessness, cool new tech that could cure cancer, fun virtual tours so you can see the world without leaving quarantine, and everything in between. I also love creating ideas for original blog posts (usually as an excuse to talk to people about fascinating topics, like the time I got to talk to Heather about dissecting cadavers and her breast implant illness) and I love that Jake’s passion for collaboration and education will always support the development of my ideas.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the job is interviewing the tutors themselves for the blog. Each tutor I chat with is an absolute inspiration: smart, motivated, respectful, and optimistic. Many of them are college students, and it’s incredible to me that a college student can be so articulate and insightful. Was I like that in college? I am sure it wasn’t possible. I can only wish I’d had an educational mentor like our tutors, and I can only hope to be them when I grow up!

The PCH Tutors Staff, April 2019

Meet The Team: Jamie Y.

Jamie Y. is a third-year electrical engineering student at UCLA hoping to graduate in 2021, a year ahead of schedule! Hailing from Rosemead, CA, Jamie developed an early love for taking things apart and figuring out how they worked - a passion that continues to this day. Learn more about Jamie and how she plans to eventually combine her engineering skills with a passion for sports (Go Rams!).

How’d you decide to study electrical engineering?

Ever since I was a kid I’ve been interested in building things. I’d start taking something apart and see what’s in it... even today I do that, when I probably shouldn’t! I looked into other types of engineering studies but ultimately chose electrical engineering because it seemed like the most interesting. I was also part of a program in high school taught by UCLA engineering professors, which might have had something to do with it.

What are you hoping to do after college?

I’m hoping to work in sports tech in the future. A lot of sports try to use technology to improve player performance. When you think of sports technology you may think of Apple watches and other wearable tech, but it’s also integrated into other aspects of sports. For example, baseball uses pitching labs - which use tech such as video imaging or whatever other devices - to see the rotation on the ball and how exactly the ball is coming out of the pitcher’s hand, etc. I want to do something like that: create tech to improve player performance. I’d been a little iffy on pursuing electrical engineering, but now I can combine my love for tech and love for sports, and it just so happens this is a big developing field right now.

What would be your dream niche scenario within sports tech? 

My dream would be working in football trying to develop tech for football. but they’re not necessarily the most advanced in their tech pursuits. For example, concussions is a huge issue, but if we develop tech for that we have to admit players are getting hurt. So my goal would be working for MLB. Baseball is such a numbers game - it’s all about stats, and they tend to be more innovative with their tech. They have pitching and hitting labs and other analytics.

How’d you get so into sports? Do you play?

No! And I don’t know how I got into sports because nobody in my family really watches them, but I’m a huge Rams fan. I even had season tickets the year they played the SuperBowl. I just really love watching, being a fan. I love football.

What’s your favorite thing to tutor?

Right now I tutor math. I’ve been tutoring math for a good chunk of time and even Spanish a little. I started tutoring in high school for a nonprofit called Project Neo which offered tutoring one-on-one for elementary-aged kids at risk. Lot of these students were struggling in school for various reasons and being able to help them was really meaningful to me. I remember as a kid struggling with school - I still struggle now! I didn’t necessarily have the help I probably needed so in a way - though I sometimes asked my brother for help with coding! - so I became an older sibling helping other kids. Then I translated that tutoring into college with PCH Tutors. 

What’s the biggest tutoring challenge you’ve faced?

Everyone has a different learning style. The most difficult part as a tutor is that you have to adapt to each individual’s learning style and be creative with teaching. I love it because I know that I’m someone who is really hard to teach. I have an understanding of how, if someone is not responding to how I’m teaching, we just  need to go a different route. 

What’s your favorite part of tutoring?

Seeing improvement, but also seeing the determination students have. Lots of times, especially in math, they’re like, “I don’t want to do this, won’t ever use it.” But then when you see the students who don’t understand - but are completely determined to learn the material - completely understand the next time to the point where they say I can teach it back to a classmate, is rewarding.

In engineering classes, a lot of times they’re teaching us how to think and problem solve for ourselves. I’m not necessarily just learning the material, I’m learning how to learn. That’s something I’ve realized in my own life and want to relate to tutoring.

What’s a mantra you like to impart to your students?

No matter how much you have doubt, you can do it. You don’t even have to know everything, but if you have that belief in yourself it pushes you pretty far. For myself, engineering is so hard and I don’t want to be an engineer necessarily when I graduate, but I have to put myself into the mindset of getting it done. IF you don’t want to do the work, you won’t do it. You have to be in it. 

What are your hobbies?

We also have a great sports/fan culture at UCLA and I love the pride we have. Even if we suck! Aside from watching sports, I actually like knitting. I’m either an old grandma or old grandpa!

Any good books or other media you’d recommend?

I’m not a huge reader but one book I’ve read that has stuck with me is Room. I love seeing other people’s perspectives on things: life, anything. In this book you see a kid’s mind who hasn’t been exposed to much, so you’re seeing the world through a completely different lens.

Meet The Team: Annie K.

Originally from Richland, Washington, Annie K. is a senior at Pepperdine University, majoring in biology and minoring in Spanish. She’s planning to attend med school next year and hopes to utilize both her medical and Spanish skills to reach a broad demographic.

First things first. How are you dealing with this global pandemic?

Our classes have switched over to online and I live in an apartment off-campus so I chose not to go home [to Washington state] and just quarantine myself here. A lot of people are nervous. It’s a big deal for certain populations and it’s important not to panic too much but seriously continue to contain it and protect at-risk populations. 

How did you choose what to study in college?

I wanted to go into medicine - and I’m going to med school next year, probably Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. At Pepperdine, I chose to major in biology toward that end, and after studying abroad in Argentina I picked up a lot of Spanish and decided to minor in it. 

Studying abroad is such an incredible opportunity. How was Argentina?

Argentina was amazing. I stayed with a host family and got to really integrate into the culture that way. I learned a ton of Spanish. In southeastern Washington, where I’m from, there’s actually a large Spanish-speaking population, so my skills will be applicable if I end up back there.

Any plans, goals, hopes, and dreams for what you’d like to do post-med school?

Something that’s always been exciting for me is to be active in community service - both globally and locally - and engaging all of those opportunities. I know they have some hospitals serving homeless people in Omaha, so I’m excited to get involved with that and general healthcare in the area during med school. Who knows where I’ll end up, though! I’m trying to keep an open mind.

How’d you get started tutoring? 

I’ve been involved in tutoring at Pepperdine since freshman year and I’ve always really enjoyed it. My friend Alex recommended PCH Tutors, and when I looked into it I thought it was a cool way to connect with my surrounding community and branch out from the isolated campus. 

What’s your favorite subject to tutor?

I really like tutoring biology. I find it the most interesting to me so find it easy to get excited while tutoring it. I love the little lightbulb moments that happen with students where suddenly everything clicks for them. 

What’s been your biggest tutoring challenge?

I think a big thing for me is figuring out how to motivate some of the students. Sometimes it’s hard to care about something when it doesn’t impact you directly in the future. Pre-calculus and biology can be especially tough sometimes. I think it’s important to tie school into real-life applications. Personally, when there is something I don’t feel passionate about, if I can think about how it connects to medicine it makes me more interested. Making a subject or problem connect with something a student wants to do or real life is important. 

Throughout my experiences tutoring I’ve definitely seen a broad array of learning styles which has opened my mind to see things from different perspectives because in order to explain something, sometimes you have to understand how they’re seeing it. I’m super visual but some students are completely the opposite so figuring that out has been a challenge. It’s definitely opened my mind. People see the world in such different ways, and you see that when you’re engaging with someone learning something new. 

Who is your educational inspiration?

I didn’t have tutors when I was younger but my mom was an elementary school teacher and stayed home with me when I was younger so I’ve definitely gotten my love of learning from my mom and my love of teaching others as well. 

What are your hobbies?

I love being outdoors and there’s a lot of great hiking in the area. I love paddle boarding, and reading by the beach or pool are some of my favorite things. 

Have you read anything good lately you’d recommend? 

I just finished Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. It was really good'; I enjoyed it. It’s cool how he explains social issues and forces you to think about them in a new way. The statistics he pulled out for certain hard-hitting topics like harassment and suicide were powerful. I never would have thought about those subjects like that. 

What’s a life mantra you think is important?

Something that helps when tutoring is to remind myself - and others - to take life one day at a time. When it comes to learning new things, take one concept at a time, then focus on the big picture. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything going on, whether it's your day-to-day life or whatever chapter you’re going over in school. 

Meet The Team: Rachelle R.

Meet Rachelle R., a first-generation college graduate whose passion is, unequivocally, to live her truth, be as creative as possible, and to make a positive impact in the lives of others, especially her students. Get to know Rachelle - and who she’s a No. 1 fan of, according to Spotify - on the blog!

Where are you from?

I’m an LA local but I’m first generation - I’m half Ukrainian, half Russian. My family came from a rural area, and I’m the first person in my family to go to college. I was always a big reader, English is my second language, and I really had a passion for learning from an early age. 

What was being a first-generation kid like?

It was really hard. My parents couldn’t help me with my homework if they tried; everything was so different for them. I was pretty much on my own so sometimes they’d get me tutors to help and I was never comfortable with them. I had to figure out most of it by myself.

I was an oddball growing up because I was very much into books and reading and used to draw a lot. One time, some kids stole my pen and called it the “alien pen.” I thought I had to hide that I drew well to avoid being picked on. It took me a while to realize I don’t have to hide.

Where did you go to college?

I graduated from Columbia in New York in 2016 in film studies; I was interested in art history also but from a more modern/postmodern lens. I wanted to be literate in every sense of the word, deconstructing images and deconstructing language. Because we live in a very visual culture, I thought film was the most relevant thing I could study that would also be interesting and not too sterile.

After graduating I attended Antioch and studied psychology. I am fascinated by anything that helps me make MORE of my everyday life. For a number of reasons I eventually left the program, but I don’t regret the time I spent there - I learned a lot, and feel like I’m still learning. One big thing I learned is that when people feel heard and understood - when they engage - they learn. When you have fun, dopamine floods your brain and helps keep you alert so that you retain information. I think that’s what resonated most for me, and something that I relate to now as a tutor.

How did you decide to start tutoring?

After graduating, I worked in a film production office. The company went under, so they laid off a lot of people. I realized I wanted to do something more meaningful and one on one, connecting with people, and not in an office. I’m also very academic, the kind of person that reads 200 pages for fun in a day. I enjoy tutoring and the things I go over with students: whether it’s world history, which is always good to catch up on, or English, which helps you be a convincing speaker and writer. 

Tutoring is about constant translation: understanding what a student is trying to say, talking about it, then helping them get their message across. It’s not about telling them what to say but giving them confidence in their own ideas.

How did tutoring become so integral to your post-grad life?

Tutoring honors who I am as a person, makes me feel productive, and I do feel like I make a difference. My students really touch my heart - they come from all kinds of backgrounds. You never know what kind of difference you can make by making a kid or teen feel heard. Sometimes they don’t even hear themselves out. As a tutor, you’re helping them change their future. If there’s a kid who hates school, acts out, rebels, they might dig themselves into a deep hole a few years down the road. But if you’re direct, open-hearted, and open-minded, they can start to see you’re on their side and that learning is not bad. 

When you’re a kid or a teen you really have an opportunity to explore that… before you have to go into the reality of the adult world, paying bills, etc. I think that’s precious and it’s inspiring for me to help other kids find their passion that may not “seem cool.” I feel cool now but back then, I didn't know my potential. When you can convince someone to find something cool about them, that goes miles toward them being confident and being capable of more than they’re aware. If you don’t make a student feel heard and special - in every area of their life - they feel small. You have to make them feel special and connected. Because everyone is special, ya know?

What has tutoring taught you?

It was while studying psychology I realized I prefer meeting people on an equal level. Through tutoring, I’ve learned you have to deliver the truth in a way that will be accessible to someone. You have to be honest and real. 

I’m really creative, so being constantly creative helps me stay sharp and keeps my mind open to new ways of seeing. If a student doesn’t seem to “get it,” maybe it’s just that you don’t see how to connect with them. I didn’t expect to enjoy tutoring as much as I did - I had tutors as a kid and didn’t always like them, but being on the other side of things has helped me come up with a personalized approach for every student. Everyone can teach someone else just by sharing the way they see the world. Tutoring makes me feel like I can do something meaningful every day: to make an impact on a student’s life and connect with them is such a good use of time and energy. 

Tutoring keeps me on the grind and helps me stay alert and productive. I feel like I’ve learned so much in just the year I’ve been working with PCH Tutors - I have such special and unique students from all different backgrounds and I’ve gotten to know them and build relationships. It’s really like the perfect job for me. I get to build my schedule and be forced to be creative because nobody’s like this is how you do it. You have to be intuitive, aware of yourself and your surroundings, and inventive about solutions. You’re helping yourself be heard to them and helping them be heard back to you. It’s engaging and fascinating. 

What is your favorite subject to tutor?

Probably writing. It’s very cool to talk about works I read in middle school and how they’re still relevant. That’s when I feel like I can connect with my students’ perspectives. They have a lot to say - anyone who thinks young people are apathetic, well, I feel that just isn’t true. It’s inspiring to see and help them care. Tutoring for me is about connecting students to their work. For example, if you hate writing something, nobody’s gonna want to read it! You have to find an angle to engage them. I help them polish and craft a passage from nothing but it’s really their ideas and when they seem them come to light it’s a good feeling both ways. Also, many kids and teens mostly communicate through texts and online, but writing a thoughtful essay helps them realize how effective good vocabulary can be. Through writing, you see it in action and that’s rewarding. 

What are your hobbies?

I value creativity and having lots of hobbies. When I am pursuing creativity, it helps me interact with my students with fresh ideas. I’m passionate about guitar and piano. I love languages and writing. I’m a big reader - I cut off social media and streaming because I don’t want to be passive, I want to be creative. Writing music’s like writing an essay for me. There’s an opening statement, a closing statement, body paragraphs/chorus, and you have to get a point across to connect with your audience. Music is a universal language that speaks to all ages and I love the freedom in that. I also love to draw. I’ve been been drawing my whole life and I have an online art gallery. 

Following your dreams can be scary. But I want to share my love for life, my curiosity, my humor, and my happiness to just be here with all my students and help them feel confident to follow their own dreams. The more things I can do that make me feel like I’m doing something positive for myself and the others around me, I think that’s really powerful. 

What are you reading right now that you love?

It took me a while to discover it, but The Da Vinci Code is like Harry Potter for adults. It’s a page-turner and the amount of history and politics and facts might otherwise sterile, but [Dan Brown] uses narrative elements very well and it’s so fun and engaging. I finished it in a week and now I’m reading the sequel. The books remind me that if we’re constantly curious and happy then we keep learning. I find that liberating. Dan Brown would probably be a great tutor!

What inspires you?

According to my Spotify, I’m a top 1% fan of Neil Young. It’s a little embarrassing, but what I love about him is that he’s very open and raw and vulnerable in his lyrics. He’s a real rock star without trying to be anything he’s not. He writes songs that come from a place of urgency, and it makes me feel ok to be human. 

In reality there’s only a couple years or maybe circumstances between people (i.e., tutor/student). There’s no reason to be condescending or pretend you know it all. It’s brave to just accept that we’re all human and in this position together. Neil Young’s trying to speak and live his truth, which in turn inspires others to live more authentically which makes them feel alive. That’s what I want to be for others, too. 

What are some of your dreams you’re following?

Since I was little, I’ve thought about how our time on Earth is finite. Learning the basics takes up so much time - for example, you have to learn music theory and there’s so much history to cover - but even in my 20s, I have to start somewhere and do what I can now. I don’t want to be rich or famous but if I don’t continue to create, I’ll feel like a failure. My earliest dream job was to be a writer or animator. I’d love to write an amazing scenario for cartoons including music. Maybe by the time I’m 40 or 50 I can invest fully in that and nurture future generations. 

Any parting thoughts for the kids and tutors and parents out there?

I want to feel like I’m living my truth and being the best I can be. I like to think it’s heroic to be a good tutor. You can make such a special impact because growing up can be such a rough time for kids. I know I had a hard time when I was in school because I was a first-generation, kind of a nerd, the whole deal. None of those things are bad but if I’d had someone to be like, “I believe in you, you have all these skills...” who knows. Not everyone can have that but if you can do that for something you’re standing up for yourself, too.