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7 Problems With “What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s such an innocent question. You might even say it’s aspirational. What could possibly be wrong with asking a kid what they want to be when they grow up?...
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Creating an Ecosystem of Learning
Does your child seem disinterested in school or unmotivated to learn? If so, you’ve probably felt exasperated at your efforts to get them to do their homework or study. Maybe you’ve thought to...
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Why Do Kids Need Executive Function?
Greg and I recently met Yulia Rafailova, executive function coach and creator of MindFull Education and host of The Alpha Parent Podcast. We had a wonderful conversation about helping children develop...
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6 Tips for SAT Prep
Dear readers, Today, I’m excited to introduce Maurice Wright, a test-prep tutor with deep experience who recently joined the NWES team. Maurice is the creator of a comprehensive SAT course (use the...
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The Connection Between ADHD and Sleep Problems
It’s very common for people with ADHD to have problems sleeping. Researchers have found that “Sleep difficulties and sleep disorders are the most common comorbidities reported in individuals with...
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The Upside of “Bad” Teachers
No one is perfect. There are no perfect students. There are no perfect parents. And there are no perfect teachers. And yet, despite knowing this fact, we routinely forget it and fail to give one...
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How to Check Online Grades
One of the hallmarks of modern student life is online grades. Unlike the pre-digital world I grew up in, most schools now maintain a running record of students’ grades in each of their classes. This...
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How to Stop Being Ashamed of Failure
Failure is never fun, but it doesn’t have to be a source of shame. If you fail at something, it doesn’t make you a failure; it’s an event, not an identity. And we all fail, so why not give yourself...
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Teachers Are Human Too
I’ve often written about the need to give yourself and others permission to be human. Normally, the message is for students – that it’s okay to be a beginner, to make mistakes, and to ask for help. Or...
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How to Help a Student Who is Way Behind
One of the most challenging experiences for teachers and tutors is trying to help a student who has fallen way behind. Many classes are cumulative, so if you’re missing the content from earlier in the...
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Ditch Body Image Issues by Focusing on Brain Health
A Valid Concern We recently brought up the importance of eating well and exercising in our first Parenting for Academic Success class, and we got an interesting piece of feedback. One of the parents...
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Why Calculus is Hard
Calculus is widely regarded as a very hard math class, and with good reason. The concepts take you far beyond the comfortable realms of algebra and geometry that you’ve explored in previous courses....
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The True Meaning of “Stupid”
Most people think “stupid” means being slow to learn, making lots of mistakes, struggling to remember things, or having a hard time figuring out problems. I disagree. I think these are normal human...
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Faking Your Way Through a Course
Broadly speaking, when you’re taking a course, there are two paths: Actually doing the learning (pursuing comprehension, mastery, and long-term memory) … or Just faking your way through it to get a...
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How to Study Vocab (Better than Quizlet)
These days, the most popular way to study vocab is Quizlet, which is a repository of digital flashcards. Quizlet is popular because it’s easy. Usually, someone else has already made the flashcards for...
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How to Read a Difficult Textbook
Many students struggle with reading textbooks. They’re dry, and they’re dense, and when boredom mixes with confusion, many students are inclined to abandon ship. Thus, many either don’t read their...
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7 Ways to Practice Self-Acceptance as a Student
Many students struggle with self-acceptance, and a lack of self-acceptance leads to unhappiness, less resilience, and issues with self-esteem and confidence. To some degree, this is a normal part of...
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How to Solve Almost Any Physics Problem
Many students find story problems in physics (which is most problems in physics) to be overwhelming. And every time this comes up, I teach the very same method I learned from my physics teacher in...
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Try This One Weird Trick to Overcome Resistance to Homework
You don’t like to be told what to do. Parents tell you to do chores. Teachers assign homework. Ugh. These out-of-touch grown-ups tell you what to do, and your brain responds by generating massive,...
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How to Help Your Kid Become a Better Writer
In one of the live Q&A sessions from our parenting for academic success course, two parents brought up a similar issue: “My kid (middle school) gets 100% on his writing assignments even though...
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