Message from Alise—My Secret Revealed

Happy Thursday! It’s been a long time since I left a message, but it is with good reason.

Before I share my secret with you, I must give all the Glory to God. I think the bible says it best, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”-Philippians 4:13. I agree with this verse wholeheartedly because it was many of nights that I could not sleep because I was lead to write this book series for you…sometimes in the wee hours of the night.

Now, I will reveal my secret.

I’ve been working on a secret project since September 2011. It’s been quite a challenge for me to keep this project under wraps while working out a few details. If I would have shared this information sooner, then you probably would have thought that I was just scatter-brained.

What’s the secret? I have written a book series for tutor business owners who need help building their global learning organization, hiring tutors and contractors for their business, and protecting their tutoring business.

 I know you are probably wondering why now Alise and what is this book series about. Don’t worry…I have all of that information covered for you and will answer those questions right now.

Why now? This book series was written because it is really needed in the tutoring industry. All of my books provide you with data-driven information and actual tutoring practice experiences to make immediate decisions regarding how to start, expand, or lead your tutor business.

 I am very passionate about education, especially tutoring. I do believe that tutoring has a genuine place to help students work on their individual learning needs.

I have decided to release the blueprint for hiring tutors and contractors book first because tutor business owners need that information now. So, if you know of any tutor business owners, please let them know about this book.

What is this book about?

Below is the book description for Expanding Your Tutoring Business: The Blueprint for Hiring Tutors and Contractors for Your Learning Organization

You may be at a point in which you need to hire tutors and additional help to manage the growth of your learning organization. Tutor business owners need a blueprint to help hire the right individuals that will truly impact their clients' lives by providing and delivering data-driven results. 

In the Dr. Holland-Johnson's Expanding Your Tutoring Business: The Blueprint for Hiring Tutors and Contractors for Your Learning Organization, Tutor Consultant, Dr. Holland-Johnson delivers her field-tested advice so that you can:

* Devise a hiring system to hire quality tutors and contractors;

* Create and implement a New Employee Orientation and Performance Review for Tutors;

* Develop work agreements, including non-compete and confidentiality agreements;

* Acquire know-how for conducting interviews, selecting and managing contractors, and dozens of other strategies you will need to hire qualified individuals for your learning organization.

Take a data-driven approach to hiring tutors and contractors for your learning organization. By using the advice and proven methods in this book, you'll discover a sense of accomplishment knowing that you have hired the best qualified individuals to join your mission of helping others around the globe.

How can I get a copy of this book series?

You can buy it from Amazon.com. However, only one book in the series is available—it’s the book on hiring tutors and contractors for your learning organization.

There are copies available by clicking Buy My Copy Now!

Autographed copies will be available for purchase in July and will definitely send you a message to let you know how to purchase your copy. You can keep checking the following link: Buy My Autographed Copy Now!

Stay tuned to learn about the rest of the books in the series when they become available.

As always, happy tutoring!

Blessings,

Alise

10 Strategies to Help Post-Kindergartners during the Summer Time

            Children are a bundle of energy at all times. If not properly channeled they will end up using that energy for destructive purposes. Else we will be left with the other scenario where they will laze around in front of the television or gaming boxes all day and while away the summer. So there is always a need for fun, interesting and educational activities to engage their agile minds and bodies.

            Here are a few ideas, in fact 10 strategies to help post-kindergartners during the summer time, that are very popular with my children and their friends, who have all just graduated from Kindergarten. All these ideas help in improving the child’s motor sensory reactions and they learn a lot through play. Learning through play is one of the best ways to educate children.

1.       Day out to the local Library – Find out if your library has any special book club or reading sessions. Children will enjoy browsing through the books and ask them to tell you their favorite story in their own words. It encourages imagination.

2.      Flashcards – Make your own ones with your child depending upon their subject of interest. It can be a very enriching experience.

3.      Clay models – Gives children a chance to work with their hands and you can even provide small tools like ice cream sticks to shape and mould the clay.

4.      Collages – Go for a walk in the park or any area nearby and have the children collect things that they find on the way in a small basket. Once back home, arrange them with some glue onto thick paper sheets and make a collage about the “Walk in the Park”.

5.      Alphabet soup – I say “Why stop at soup?” Have your child name a letter of the alphabet and see how many fruits and vegetables you can come up with it. Then use that fruit or vegetable in a meal. Fun way to get children to eat fruits and vegetables. Make the child note the fruit or vegetable they ate with a particular letter and encourage them to finish the entire alphabet series in this way.

6.      Shopping – Make a day of shopping for groceries. Make lists and spell out in bold letters or cut out pictures of it for non-readers of what you need to buy. Have the children find those items in the store and reward them well.

7.      Banking- Play the shopping game at home and teach children math the fun way. Give them fake cash and have them pay for and learn to take the exchange change.

8.     Expression time – Get round shaped paper plates and make children make faces on them to expression different emotions. You can then make paper strips with different colored paper and make hair with it.

9.      Reading time - Sit the children together and have them pick their favorite books and make them read it aloud. This will increase their confidence level or have them read to a younger brother or sister.

10.  Fun day –After all summer time is fun time. Spend a day lazing out by the pool or on a beach building sandcastles, swimming and eating ice cream.

These 10 strategies to help post-kindergartners during the summer time is sure to bring some relief to elders and help children use their energy in constructive fun.

Post-Kindergarten is a whole new world for these little children, so let’s help them the best we can and let them have the summer of a lifetime.

Why E-learning should be part of your tutoring program?

E-learning is utilizing the internet to enhance the learning potential of students. Since the hustle-and-bustle that is the internet is accessed by almost all students worldwide, the internet has become an effective tool of not only information gathering but also educational development.

E-learning should be an important component for your tutoring services because it provides a very dynamic approach to the educational process, especially in allowing students to utilize technology to their advantage. Here are important reasons why you should consider and most probably implement E-learning techniques to your tutoring services.

Student Productivity is Enhanced

Primarily, E-learning focuses on student productivity because of the interactive learning module present. Furthermore, students become more productive because they are able to take the lessons on their own pace with no pressure. Through this at hand, students will be able to learn the material as they please, gaining the needed level of knowledge that must be attained.

This is important for students because you allow them to learn as they go along with comfort. This kind of educational approach will allow students to retain information more readily than frequent and intensive tutoring sessions.

Learning Becomes Personalized

E-learning modules focus on the needs of the student, hence the learning process becomes intimate and personalized. Students may take lessons they need first before they tackle other options. This kind of learning allows students to control their learning flow, allowing them to master the topic in different and unique ways.

When students are in control of their learning process, they tend to be more at peace with even the most difficult tasks. To enhance the educational process, personalized modules do more than just give them the knowledge they need when they do, but also an interactive form they enjoy.

Students are Exposed to More Knowledge

Because of the diverse internet that the students use when engaging in E-Learning modules, students can gain more knowledge than what is limited to the outlined lessons at hand. The modules can be modified to motivate these students to explore different websites that offer more information on the topic at hand. Moreover, since students will have access to videos, they can enrich their knowledge with the visual representation of many topics, especially those in history, science, and literature.

E-Learning continues to grow in the educational sector, so don’t be left out because it houses many advantages for your students. As part of your tutoring program, E-learning becomes an innovative approach to the learning process, honing different aspects of your students’ education, providing them what they need at a pace they can enjoy. E-Learning is all about convenience and proper education. Combining these two with your expertise in tutoring, you can develop a strong foundation for these students as they utilize these skills in real life problems later on.

Using Skype for Online Tutoring

Skype is a popular and free software that is used to handle video conferences. Online tutoring can be used using Skype as the medium where tutors can easily convey their service. The reason why Skype has been the popular medium is because of its ease of use making student-to-tutor communication smooth and effortless.

For your tutoring business, you should take advantage of Skype as a vital medium for online tutoring, especially since it provides the right means of conveying the lecture to your students. In order to use Skype to its fullest, here's what you need to know, especially if you want to boost your tutoring business at that.

Secure a Microphone

Naturally, since you will be handling tutoring online, you will need a working microphone set. Clear and crisp communication is vital when you're tutoring because you don't want your lectures given at low quality, right? Purchase the best microphone because it’s going to make or break your business. Clients that encounter good reception during the tutoring service itself tend to become long term clients. Always consider the quality you provide and the comfort of your clients so that your business can boom without any drawbacks.

Prepare the Software

Visit the website and download the Skype program. You must install it on your desktop or laptop so you can use it whenever you tutor someone. After you've downloaded the program, create an account which you will be using to handle tutoring services. Keep in mind that it has to reflect your business name so that clients can identify you easily.

Start Up Skype

Naturally, the next step to take it is to start up the software to use it when communicating with clients. Skype is a messenger type software that is very easy to be accustomed to, especially in terms of function and its graphical user interface. Be familiar with the controls so that you can easily utilize them when necessary.

Ensure Seamless Function

Make sure that your microphone works smoothly with Skype. It is vital that the microphone is compatible with your software. An automated checkup will begin upon the start of your software, which will guide you through the process itself.

Integrate Your Tutoring Service

Finally, you are ready to start tutoring clients with Skype. Upon the finalization of the contract or agreement you have with your client regarding the tutoring service, make sure to give out your Skype address for convenient access.

Skype is relatively easy to use because of the user friendly interface that it is built with. As a tutoring medium, Skype is very excellent for remote tutoring, a venue that you may tap into for your tutoring business. For an online tutoring business, remote transactions are the life and blood of your success. So, use Skype and embrace technology for helping your business out in this very easy and breezy way. 

Food and Learning: How does it affect the Way that I learn (and your clients)

Yes, food and learning are closely related. Healthy food leads to a healthy body and a healthy mind. Research has revealed that students who don't skip their breakfast fare better in tests, are better behaved, and are not obnoxiously hyperactive.

Breakfast: When you and your family come to the breakfast table, it's not only a matter of filling the stomach, but the mind needs to be energized as well. Therefore, not just a breakfast but a healthy breakfast is very important. An ideal example of breakfast will be nut butter like peanut butter, whole grain bread, egg, and a glass of low-fat milk. Other examples include whole grain cereals, lean meat, and fruits.

Overall, proper nutrition at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snacks can make a lot of difference to your brain function.

The secret:

The secret to improving your learning ability is in eating right. Especially for children and adolescents, right diet is a must as their brains and body are still growing.  It has been proven that the brain develops best when it "gets the right nutrition at the right time."

Tips for a green brain

• Include a lot of leafy and orange vegetable in your diet like broccoli, green beans, sweet potatoes, etc.
• Eat fruits at meals and during snacks--doesn't matter whether it's fresh, canned, or dried.
• Don't restrict to drinking only low-fat or fat-free milk. Eat fat-free milk products

a couple of times a day.

·         Go for whole-wheat-bread, brown rice, low-fat popcorn, and oatmeal.

How it works: Synapses that occurs in the brain connects neuron (transmits nerve impulses) and carries out important functions. Learning and memory are associated with the synapses.

Food and learning:

Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, nuts and fruits like salmon, walnut, kiwi fruit, help in improving the memory and fight against serious ailments like schizophrenia, dementia, depression, etc.  Deficiency of omega-3 fatty acid can cause these problems and other disorders like ADD, bipolar disorder, etc. It is important to note that omega-3 fatty acids derived from food are more beneficial than the supplements.

As the brain is highly susceptible to oxidative damage, blueberries are an excellent source of antioxidant that can help the brain and prevent it from oxidative damage.

Junk foods on the other hand adversely affect the brain synapses. Several molecules related to learning and memory and brain synapses are attacked by unhealthy foods.

The significance of food and learning can be said in few but effective words:

The trick to having a smart brain is eating right!

Check out these websites for future information regarding food and learning:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec05/food.insecure.learn.ssl.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709161922.htm

http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar00/brainbox3.aspx

http://nutrition.about.com/od/nutritionforchildren/a/dietandlearning.htm

Disclaimer: You should not take advice in place of your doctor’s recommendations. You should always work with a qualified medical practice professional regarding your specific health needs.

10 Ways to Use Social Media for Your Tutoring Business

Social media has probably reached the point where it is an important part of everyone's life. Why not use this advantage to enhance your tutoring business at hand? In fact, almost everything is accessible at a click or tap away, so listen up and here are 10 tips to use social media for your tutoring business.

1. Engage in marketing

Social media is very useful in marketing your tutoring business, especially through Facebook or Twitter. This can give you more opportunities for customers and even enhance your tutoring business's branding.

2. Consult with clients easily

Since access to social media is readily available, you can consult with clients, adding another service to your tutoring business. This kind of flexibility will keep your clients satisfied because of the attention you give them.

3. Share notes

Social media nowadays lets you upload files for others to view, so why not take advantage of that and share important notes for your clients. This accessibility will allow students to tap into your services in the near future.

4. Communicate with other tutors

In the tutoring industry, maintaining a strong connection with others will keep you updated on what trends work and what innovative strategies will uplift your business. Social media makes this so much easier where you can follow tutors and they can follow you through Twitter and you can share ideas!

5. Open more lines of communication

Sure, you have a phone number and an e-mail address to contact clients, but social media connections make things a whole lot easier. The added lines of communication allows your clients to send you a quick message in the medium they are comfortable with. Since some people are comfortable through social media communication, the added connection increases the chances of you getting more clients.

6. Learn about student behavior

Social media networks are flocked with students, especially some who rant about a subject or their academic performance. Take the chance and research on student behavior to create promotions to answer these problems faced by students. Not only do you develop your business services, but also, you answer the students' immediate needs.

7. Create Tutoring Conferences

Gather fellow tutors and plan an event through social media networks, so that you can all share your latest development in the tutoring industry. This will allow you to get to know more about tutoring styles for your business.

8. Promote a Service

Use the easy-to-access functionality of social media sites to promote your new service. It catches on quite quickly because people will share them and consider you, especially when they are in need of tutoring.

9. Research

Other than student behavior examination, you can research on how tutoring has improved academic performance and what fields need more focus by tutors. Dedicating a team to research through social media can give you better grounds for decision-making and project proposals.

10. Become an Authority

Because of your widespread contribution to social media, you will gain respect among people as an authority in your field. This gives you huge plus points when marketing your services, because there's always a great chance clients have heard of you somewhere.

Social media is a vast world, indeed. Although these tips can help you develop the arsenal you need to enhance your tutoring business, always maintain that steadfast discipline and patience for results to flow in.

How do you use social media for your tutoring business?

10 Reasons Why Your Tutoring Practice Needs a Blog

Blogs are great ways to share information and even market your tutoring services as a tutor. In this high-paced internet world, you should get on the super-information highway and start a blog if you want serious business to flow in. 

Below are 10 reasons to help you understand why blogs are important for your tutoring practice:

1. Blogs are great sources of information

Fundamentally, blogs carry so much information that can help out in whatever purpose you make your blog for. For tutoring blogs, you can provide information on tutoring, your business, or even share your personal experiences.

2. Blogs indicate your authority in the field

Blogs remain as your literary evidence that you know your field so well. If you focus on tutoring, then you prove to your prospective clients that you mean business and you do it well.

3. Blogs are excellent marketing devices

Blogs are great when it comes to marketing your services, because of the catchy tone and the easily grasped information present. The psychology behind blogs is that they slowly pique your client’s interests and capture them at the heart of the content.

4. Blogs allow you to keep in touch with different tutors

Sharing blogs among tutors allows you to keep in touch with them and learn from them as well. Blogs are venues of expression where tutors can identify different strategies and communicate with other tutors in the industry.

5. Blogs represent who you are as a tutor

Blogs represent who you are in the sense that clients will understand your tone, how you tackle a subject, and how you present them. By your language alone, you tell so much about being a tutor, especially in idea organization and presentation.

6. Blogs indicate your knowledge in your business

Blogs cultivate your experience through the posts involving business innovations and practices. This gives your clients the solid foundation that you know the framework of your business, which is an important aspect in how secure you are in your business right now.

7. Blogs help people understand how you work

The frequency of updating your blog and the content that it contains allows people to understand how you work. Are you meticulous and you update at the same time every day or do you find time to construct a very witty and information blog post but not on a daily basis? These attitudes shape who you are and how you work, so a blog is like an extension of your personal and professional characters.

8. Blogs contain your business character

Blogs are venues for your business, as well, especially in dealing with tutoring services. Your business character is clearly reflected in your blog, especially if you talk about tutoring. How you deliver your services and your perception on service-related topics will determine how you see yourself in the tutoring business, something a client wants to know.

9. Blogs are more readily read because of their nature

People love reading blogs because they’re so easy to grasp. They don’t contain much jargon and they are written in a friendly manner. That is why you need a blog. You need a place where people can enjoy reading about your business without being too overwhelmed.

10. Blogs mean increased business (not always though)

This puts the cash in the pocket and sets you home with that “cha-ching” you deserve. Blogs are great ways of increasing revenue, and this is all powered by the information you present. Enhance your business by creating a blog that matters and you will enjoy the sweet scent of success.

Blogs are the backbone of businesses, right now, especially as they are known to increase revenue by almost 70%. Take these reasons to heart and convey your personality as a tutor through your blogs. Draw them in with your professionalism and you will have yourself an even more successful tutoring business. Most importantly, you have made a connection with your clients, which always add value to both you as a person and your tutoring practice.

How do you use your blog in your tutoring practice?

5 Things that Must go on the "Flyer”

Flyers are effective marketing tools that you can distribute for people to know more about your tutorial business. It is important in advertising that you include 5 important things in order to grab the attention of people. Without them, your flyer will be dull, with people not even bothering to take a further look at what you have to offer.

Tutorial Business Name

Naturally, your flyer must contain your business name, and if possible, your name. This gives your flyer the identity it needs to be different from others. In thinking of a business name, make sure it is relevant and easy to remember so that people can easily identify your business.

Services You Offer

After your business name, summarize the most important services you offer. Preferably, arrange them in terms of demand. You may or may not include a price tag, but if you do, make sure to emphasize its value.

Credentials and Testimonials

Another added bonus to your flyer, if you have certification logos, put them there. Your credibility is very important, and people usually look for that first. Furthermore, if you have really satisfied clients, then add a few testimonials. Future clients enjoy the feeling that others have successfully received what they wanted through the tutorial service provided.

Appealing Design

Use attractive colors in the design. Play around with color combinations to get the right colors. Never go with Neon or any eye hurting colors because they can really hurt your advertising results. Be wise in color selection, as it can make or break your flyer.

Contact Details

Lastly, always keep your contact details clear! Include email, numbers, or whatever means of contact in order to give people the option of contacting in the most convenient way they see fit.

These five things make your flyer attractive and appealing, and at the same time, functional as an important marketing tool. Whenever you want to improve your business position through effective marketing tactics, always direct the people’s attention to the details that matter and you will have a working marketing strategy that will captivate people and turn them into clients.

10 iPad Ideas to Use in Tutoring Sessions

The iPad has become a very useful tool in businesses, especially in handling e-mail and other important updates. This is not surprising that the iPad, too, can be used for your tutoring. This very handy device can help you in your tutoring sessions so that you can easily convey the subject material to your students through a very flexible visual aid. Here are 10 great ideas you can use your iPad with in tutoring.

1. Using Evernote to Make Dynamic Notes

This popular app is very useful for jotting down notes, either as pictures or text. Evernote is also useful for sharing to students what you found out regarding a topic, and the ease of access makes the note taking a whole lot easier. Moreover, you can distribute the files to your students as class notes to help them study.

2. Mathematical Formulas

Generally, any app would work too, but the convenience of having a collection of formulas to help you teach math with ease. Having it as an app is so much easier than shuffling through pages as it will save time and provide you with the right information you need in no time.

3. Keynote for Dynamic Presentation

Keynote is an app that allows you to create PowerPoint-style presentations. You can hook it up to external displays to easily share to your student information you created. This is more convenient than bringing with you a laptop where you have to continuously go back and forth to change slides. With an iPad, it becomes just smooth tapping.

4. Information Accessibility

Once hooked up to WiFi or a 3G connection, your iPad will act as the perfect hub for information whenever you need it. This is very helpful if you want to verify something or you want to add a little more background to your lesson.

5. Video and Audio Convenience

If you want to show a documentary to your student, the iPad makes the perfect screen that combines detail and quality sound feedback. The screen accommodates that video experience that you can carry around with you at all times.

6. World Book - This Day in History

This app is very useful for sharing some trivia on what happened during that specific day when you're tutoring. As a nice way to break the ice between breaks, this iPad app will truly interest your student.

7. Store Reading Material

In teaching a literature class, having your material on your iPad keeps things lightweight. You don't have to carry huge books, especially when you're on a tight schedule. The material can be readily be found in your iBooks or Kindle app.

8. CutieBounce for Physics Learning

How much fun can Physics be with an app that lets your students learn the fundamental concepts? This app is useful in explaining how gravity works by letting students enjoy the bouncing action and response to tilting the iPad around.

9. Recording Ideas

Probably one of the features of an iPad is that you can record conversations and as a result, ideas. If your student wants to, you can compile the lectures you conducted and even the ideas he or she shared for later listening when reviewing. This builds up effective retention because your student listens to the lecture again.

10. Whiteboard

Your iPad can be used as a medium to explain lessons actively. You can either use a stylus or your fingers to illustrate examples using whiteboard-type applications. The best thing is: you don't have to worry about your ink finishing because everything is digital, unlike a traditional whiteboard!

Your iPad really is a great way to convey your tutoring sessions with an even more dynamic touch to it all. Keep these 10 tips in mind to ensure that your tutorial will turn out even more captivating for the student.

If you use an iPad in your tutoring sessions, how do you use it?

For Teachers: The Benefits of Tutoring Over Summer Break

With no official office hours during summer break for teachers, it may be difficult to obtain a stable income. To this effect, one of the part time jobs that teachers can surely excel and earn enough income to go through that summer break would be to tutor. Here are some benefits of tutoring over summer break.

Extra Income

The main benefit of tutoring over summer is that extra income generated. It allows teachers to support themselves over the summer through tutoring. This effectively gives teachers the opportunity to continue practicing their career through tutoring.

Refinement of Teaching

The advantage of tutoring over summer is that you won’t stop teaching. This keeps you active in your teaching methods and approaches preparing you for the next academic year on full gear. Tutoring even teaches you new methods that you can apply in your classes, which becomes an educational fulfillment.

Preparation of Students

Another benefit is that you prepare students for the coming year and enhance their knowledge of a subject matter. The performance of students will increase and this will allow classroom lectures to efficiently function smoothly.

Being a teacher can be tough if you’ve got nothing to do over the summer. With tutoring, you can earn extra money, refine your teaching skills, and even prepare students for the coming year. These benefits can be done through tutoring.


If you are really serious about getting into the tutoring business, then I strongly suggest that you read my book "Becoming a Better Tutor: A Data-Driven Approach to Tutoring". This book will definitely help you determine if tutoring is right for you and teach you how to get your first tutoring client, and provide data-driven tutoring to get results for your clients.