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How to be Productive Over Winter Break

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Sure, I will get some work done during winter break . . .eventually.

It knows when you are sleeping

It knows when you’re awake

It knows when you are bad or good

So be good for goodness sake

You better watch out

You better not cry

You better not pout

I’m telling you why

Procrastination is coming to town!

Case in point…I REALLY did not want to sit down and write this article for December. Winter break is a time to sit back, relax, recharge, and recoup. It is certainly tempting for students (primarily middle and high school students) to spend their days mindlessly scrolling through social media, watching TV, or playing video games. After all, they have three weeks, and there will be plenty of time to get to any schoolwork that may need attention. Sure, they will get some work done . . .eventually. But suddenly, it’s the last day of break, and they are stressed out for the upcoming semester because they got nothing accomplished.  

As parents and teachers, we know this year has been extremely challenging for students; many have fallen behind due to online learning.

Winter Break is the perfect opportunity to get students caught up so that they can begin their journey into 2021 with confidence, in-fact, winter break is an even better time than the regular school year to seek private tutoring.  For starters, tutoring over the winter break gives students the ability to catch up or get ahead in a stress-free manner.

Winter Break Tutoring

CALL A TUTOR!

An experienced tutor will help your child:

  • Review the semester and identify weaknesses.
  • Check-In with teachers; often, teachers will allow students to hand work in late.
  • Fill in the gaps.
  • Strengthen study skills.
  • Teach organizational techniques.
  • Prep for ACT, SAT, ISEE.
  • Boost confidence.
  • Reduce homework battles.
  • Write college essays.
  • Maintain structure and accountability.
  • Get ahead for next semester.
  • Support your child during their Zoom classes.

Groza Instructors are experience, and many, are credentialed teachers who will go above and beyond to ensure your child’s success.

When it comes to tutoring and academic advancement, Groza goes far beyond simply finding the correct answer. We seek to enhance, and even entirely reshape how a student thinks about each subject. We work with families to identify learning objectives and hit their goals.

Because every student learns differently, we carefully monitor and optimize their unique learning plan as they advance, giving special attention to their unique learning style, how to effectively engage and inspire the student, and what the individual progress suggests moving forward.

Your child is unique. So, don’t settle for a one size fits all approach.
Instead, give them a learning experience that meets their individual needs.

Groza Learning Center’s Winter Break tutoring programs

How to Build Successful Learning Pods

Learning Pods 2

What is a Learning Pod?

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many school districts across the country are continuing with remote learning for the 2020-2021 school year. Parents worry that their children are not advancing academically or socially since they lack in-person teaching and are isolated from their friends. Learning pods to the rescue!  A learning pod — also referred to as a pandemic pod, teaching pod, learning bubble, or micro-school — consists of a small group of children receiving guided education outside of school through a parent, tutor, or hired teacher.

How to Build a Learning Pod:

Parents considering forming learning pods should consider the following questions: 

1.What are your academic goals?

  •  All-day coverage
  • Academic support
  •  Enhancement of remote learning
  • Learning through play

2. Are your children going to be safe? 

  • Are the other families following the same social distancing practices? 
  • Do you have adults available to lead the pod, or will you hire a private teacher?
  • Where will your learning pod be held?
  • Will you require regular testing for everyone?
  • Will you have mixed grade pods?
  • If so, are you familiar with the pros and cons of mixed grade learning pods?

Learning Pods

The Pros of Learning Pods:

  • individualized learning plans
  • minimizing health risks
  • flexible hours and days
  • socialization
  • helps kids stay motivated
  • higher concentration
  • greater confidence
  • higher course completion
  • greater engagement
  •  mental health
  • support for working parents
What parents need to be aware of :
  • Choosing the right curriculum can be stressful.
  • Researching state homeschool requirements can be confusing.
  • Is someone ensuring that your teacher is following proper CDC guidelines and social distancing protocol?
  • Does your teacher have all the necessary credentials?
  • Do you have a substitute if your teacher becomes ill or quits? 
  • Do you have insurance for all students and teachers in your home in case someone gets injured?
  • Are you receiving updates and progress reports from the teacher? 
  • Is your child learning at their pace and to their academic ability?
  • Learning Pods do not always work well for high school students since, being in the same grade does not necessarily mean you are taking the same subjects.
Groza Can Provide a Safe Alternative:
  • Fully Vetted, Experienced, Insured Teachers/Tutors.
  • 18+ years of reputable history in providing personal tutors. 
  • Learning and Grade Level Assessments
  • Customized Learning Plans
  • Customized Curriculum 
  • Learn from the safety of your home with an in-person or online teacher
  • Learn in our center, which follows strict CDC guidelines
  • Full transparency with detailed academic updates for parents
  • Regular COVID testing for teachers and staff
  • Peace of mind

 

For more information about our Learning Pods and Homeschool Programs:

Call: 310-454-3731

Email: tutoring@grozalearningcenter.com

Grow With Groza

 

 

Tips on How to Reduce Homework Distractions

Tips on How to Reduce Homework Distractions

In a time of digital media, a world of distractions is at your fingertips so, minimizing as many distractions as possible will help get homework off your to-do list quicker and more efficiently.   Here are a few tricks to help get you started.

Cultivating the Perfect Environment:

In order to save memory for more important tasks your brain builds associations between objects and actions.  For example, the dining room is associated with eating, the kitchen with cooking, and the bedroom with sleeping. These associations are especially useful when trying to build an environment that primes your brain for homework.  If you can designate a room in your house for homework, then you are already on the right track however, if this is not the case there are other actions you can take.  Begin with finding a desk that you will use exclusively for schoolwork and not for any other activities such as, video games.  Building a homework environment is not limited to the actual location.

Other Environmental Factors to Consider:

• Do you focus better in a warmer or colder room?

• Do you prefer warmer (orange) light or colder (blue) light?

• Do you prefer perfect silence or listening to music?

• If you prefer to listen to music, can you concentrate with or without lyrics?

Once again, these are only examples and if you stumble upon other factors that make or break your environment feel free to adjust.

Material Clutter:

Being surrounded by clutter and mess is no fun in fact, it can be quite stressful.  Having papers scattered all over your desk before getting to work is just one more distraction from getting your homework done.  It should be a no-brainer, but it is worth a mention. Everyday after you finish your homework, make sure to clean your desk and revert it back to its original state. This ensures that the next day you will get to your homework much faster. Remove everything you don’t need for your current task from your desk and ensure you have all your papers, pens, pencils and, other materials at hand.  An organized environment will allow you to stay focused for longer.

If you are constantly getting up from your desk to get something, you will begin to forget where you left off, and eventually you will have to rethink through all the homework.  Lastly, creating a filing system at home can be very useful; filing older assignments away will ensure less clutter while working and easier referencing to previous material when studying.

Mental Clutter:

Physical clutter is distracting, but the effects of mental clutter can be even worse.  Have you ever just thought about all the tests and projects in the upcoming week and felt completely stress out?  We have all been there and experienced that overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to start. It is something every student goes through, but it can be avoided. Using simple organizers such as a planner, to-do list, or a calendar are all strategies for decluttering your mind. By writing things down you ease the stress level by allowing your brain to forget about it and use the energy towards something else. Want to go the extra mile and further reduce stress?  Block out the time it will take to complete each task so that you can better plan your days and weeks.

Digital Distractions:

The greatest source of distraction for students at this time is digital media. It is the phone in your pocket, the TV in the living room, and video games on your desk.  The first tip for minimizing digital distractions is, if you do not need it, put it away.  Instead of using your iPhone for math use a calculator. If you are struggling to stay focused because of your devices consider using apps such as Freedom and Anti-Social, both provide features that will limit your internet access to keep you on track with your assignments.

If you trust yourself enough, the Pomodoro Technique might be the way to go. This technique regimes your homework time into intervals of 25 minutes of intense work, then five minutes of break. After 4 repetitions of this (one hour and 40 minutes of laser focus work,) you can take a break for a longer interval such as 30 minutes. If you can hold yourself to this standard without falling into routine checks of your social media account, then your homework will be done in no time. Lastly, with most assignments being completed and submitted online it is crucial to keep organized files on your computer. Whether you use, OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox, accurately labelling and filing your work will make it easy to navigate, and  less likely that you will be frantically scrolling through folders trying to find that one paper minutes before submission.

Academic Management:

If your student is struggling to stay organized and is falling behind due to poor academic management there is help available.  A tutor or learning center can set them up for success by empowering them with specific organizational tools and tactics.  Academic management programs will teach students how to stay on task by developing new ways of thinking, habits, and routines that directly impact schoolwork and day-to-day living.

For more information about Groza’s Academic Management program:
Call: (310)454-3731
Email: Tutoring@GrozaLearningCenter.com

Effective Executive Functioning Skills

Executive Functioning 2

What is Executive Functioning?

Are you familiar with the term “Executive Functioning”?  Executive Functioning has been described as “the management system of the brain” that accesses information, thinks about solutions, and implements those solutions.  The term may be new to you but there is a high probability that your child is currently struggling with implementing executive functioning skills.

Building executive skills is becoming increasingly difficult in our modern society.  Children are bombarded with information, carry heavy academic workloads, and busy extracurricular schedules, making it challenging to stay focused and stay on task.

Executive Functioning

Indicators a student maybe struggling with Executive Functioning:

  • Disorganization
  • Trouble organizing thoughts
  • Keeping track of belongings
  • Not knowing where to start, feeling overwhelmed
  • Panic when rules of routines change
  • Difficulty transitioning between activities
  • Time management issues, last minute cramming, procrastination
  • Being scattered
  • Poor or no planning

Note: although many of these signs are characteristic of ADHD (almost all kids with ADHD struggle with EF),children can struggle with EF without having ADHD or learning challenges.

How to Manage Executive Functioning Issues: 

Systematic, explicit instruction and strategies are at the heart of executive functioning remediation. It is important to model, teach, and test different coping and metacognitive strategies so that the student can adopt new ways of thinking about and doing work.

By teaching kids targeted exercises and real-world implementation of such structure, students begin to build new ways of thinking, habits, and routines that positively impact not only schoolwork but also enrich their day-to-day lives.

Skills Learned through Executive Functioning Programs:

  • Increased attention span
  • Strengthen working memory
  • Organization, planning, and prioritizing
  • Starting tasks and staying focused until completion
  • Self-monitoring (keeping track of your schedule, belongings etc.)
  • Flexibility thinking and understanding different points of view
  • Regulating emotions
  • Self control

Learn More about Groza’s Executive Functioning Program:
Call: 310-454-3731 or
Click: https://grozalearningcenter.com/contact/