Karli's Tutoring Blog

I love to read. Reading takes you on all sorts of adventures and teaches you about the world around you. I could spend hours curled up with a good book.

But lately I have started to think about WHY I read.

Simply put, I read because it expands my knowledge, horizons, and especially my vocabulary.

Ben Johnson, a British philosopher (among other things), once said, "Language most shows a man. Speak, that I may see thee."This is a succinct summation of how I feel on the subject: the words you choose, the speech patterns you employ, say more about your education* and thirst for knowledge than...

The weather is getting warmer.

Trees are turning green.

Birds are singing.

Airborne pollen is abundant.

Spring is here!

As the weather becomes more reminiscent of summer with each passing day, it becomes increasingly difficult for students of all ages to pay attention to their studies. Elementary school students want to play outside and engage in sports activities.

Middle school and high school students know that they are only weeks away from friends and late nights.

High school seniors are closing in on their last months as high school students and Senioritis is beginning to take...

A lot lately about how to make learning interesting. What is the "je ne sais quoi" that grabs a student's attention and gives them passion about a favorite subject?

Recently, I started a new position with a local plantation as a tour guide. It has caused me to reflect not only the information presented as, say, a teacher, tutor, or tour guide, but on how the material is presented. Excitement in delivery is half the battle.

I have also come to another valuable conclusion during the course of my training: to engage one's audience, one should put themselves in the audience's shoes. In other words,...

October is here, and Halloween is coming!

Never mind wondering where the year's gone... Halloween is nearly upon us. Are you ready?

At my house, Halloween is a big deal. Decorations, food, costumes, the whole 9 yards. We are gearing up to host our annual Halloween Mystery Party for the 6th year running.

Sometimes holidays like this conflict with a student's study schedule. Okay, usually. Let's be honest. I've seen and tried many different reactions to this, including... study harder - ignore the holiday! Study less - it's a holiday! Skip studying - it's a holiday and one day won't matter...

Most people that I know feel that multiple choice questions on a test are a double-edged sword. On one hand, the right answer is somewhere right in front of you; you just have to pick it. On the other hand, multiple choice questions will do everything within their power to confuse you and lead you away from that right answer. Here are a few of my strategies for getting it right:

*50/50 - Does anyone watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire anymore? I know I don't, but I do remember it. So, for those of us who either watch or remember it, think about the 50/50 lifeline. They'd eliminate two wrong...

Here are my top 10 test preparation skills. I think everyone should have these in their arsenal whenever they sit down to take a test!

1 - Slow down! It's not a race. Most mistakes I make on tests are stupid mistakes, and I'd bet I'm not alone. Just remember... it's far better to go SLOW and know everything you did was right, even if you don't finish all the way - than to go fast, get all the way through, and get everything wrong!
2 - Go easy on yourself. If you've studied, you know it. Trust that! If you don't know it, or don't see the solution right away, take a breath, walk away (figuratively,...

Throughout the course of my own education, and now as a semi-educator myself, I have picked up various handy ways to assist with memorization.

The first and probably best "memory assistant" is music. It doesn't have to be good, or really even "musical." But putting whatever you're trying to memorize to music is vastly helpful!

In high school, I memorized the presidents of the United States (in chronological order) by putting them to a song. I can still sing it to this day.

I can also recite the alphabet backwards by simply putting a tune to it.

The best thing to do is write out the words...

As I child, I had what seemed like an endless battle with math. I hated it. Whether straight-up arithmetic or cleverly buried in the depths of a word problem, all math homework questions were, to me, created equally evil. The worst part of it is this: I was, in fact, rather capable of quite complicated math. At one point I found myself belonging to a 5th-grade math class while still as 2nd-grader. So the problem was not that I wasn't smart enough. The problem was that I didn't LIKE it. It didn't come easily. It was frustrating and time-consuming.

As an adult, I realize these problems could...

Did you know I don't just tutor in my spare time?

I am also a princess party host!

You're probably wondering what that is.

Long story short? I visit parties and other events in character as Rapunzel. I either run the party while I'm there or just hang out as part of the festivities. Of course, at all times I remain in character as the princess Rapunzel - long hair and all. It's great fun!

Part of why I do this is because I believe every girl is a princess! It doesn't matter what she wears or where she's from.

The other reason is that dressing up never stops being fun.

When I lived in Utah,...

So far, as a WyzAnt tutor, I have had two different students. Both of them have been fairly long-term investments. They could not have been more dissimilar from each other! One was a high school graduate, just starting to take his own initiative. The other is an elementary school student who is bright but gets frustrated with herself easily. I consider myself very fortunate to have experienced so many degrees of the spectrum!

Has anyone else noticed how fun it is to see the light turn on in your students' eyes when you hit on the "perfect" explanation for a particular concept? And, of course,...