Green Ivy Educational Consulting

Our high school daughter has been going to Green Ivy for about a year. While excelling in grade school, high school was a tough transition. She has been challenged with organization and reading struggles. Green Ivy has helped her get organized to the point where we have been able to let her manage studying herself. They have given her strategies to read for learning that she actually uses. She likes going there. I hear often that the tutors are «chill».
We’ve learned that we need to stay involved in what’s happening in tutoring. It works best when we talk with her about what she has done and work with the staff to make tweaks to keep her most focused on what is helpful rather than fun.
We’ve now started our son with Green Ivy as well.

My son has ADHD and really struggles with organization. I had heard good things about Green Ivy, but was not impressed. After several sessions with Green Ivy, all they had taught him to do was purchase a bunch of new binders/​tabs and create binders for each class. I was floored! How can they assume that one binder system works for every kid. In the case of my son, this was a huge failure as he 1) never used all the tabs and 2) when he did the papers were lost forever as they were now ‘hidden’ from him.
In hindsight I should have done more research and worked with an agency that has staff who are professionals and trained in ADHD. I think my son was working with a college grad who did well in school.

When I was a kid, my mother seriously thought that I inherited her «bad math skills» and hired a tutor to come to our home once or twice a week after school. I was doing just fine in math, but she insisted that her «bad math genes» were passed on to me. So she hired this Chinese guy in his 50s. He had bad breath, I couldn’t understand half of what he was saying, and I’m pretty sure he gave up on me at some point during Algebra lessons. I also clearly remember falling asleep one afternoon, and he pretended not to notice. That was probably the point he just waved the little white flag and realized he was still getting paid.
Oh, don’t tell my parents that last part.
So I was asking some friends around the Peninsula for recommendations for tutoring for some relatives’ kids (oh, you know those Tiger Parents.), and a few people mentioned Green Ivy. At first I was like, ummmm guys you just recommended me a 1-​star place, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
Then I realized that, curiously, many of the good reviews were filtered. So I figured it would be a crapshoot, and I signed my cousin up for their services anyway.
I’m seriously so glad I did, and I’m seriously super confused by the way Unilocal filters things. But anyway, my cousin’s middle school kids work with two different tutors (I think their names start with A) and they have nothing but good things to say. They’re boys, so while they’re not terrible students, they’re not incredibly organized either, and their tutors make sure they bring in their planners each week (it almost reminds me of the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, where Ray creates a fake checkbook so Debra doesn’t suspect anything is off). Their math grades have improved at school as well.
Maybe if they keep improving at this rate, they’ll get a perfect score on their SATs… or is that just wishful thinking?

My son went to Green Ivy for a year and they managed to make a bad situation worse. In my son’s case he was in multiple honors classes and needed help both with tutoring and with organizing himself for these classes. We thought that an agency like Green Ivy would be able to help him with both.
He was matched to a young student tutor who herself was a A student and had gone to an Ivy league school. She walked through homework and study plans with him and based on the fact he was going regularly and seemed happy with the sessions we figured things were working out well.
Well…at the end of the first semester we find two D’s on my kids report card in the very subjects he is being tutored on at Green Ivy? Huh? When I confronted Green Ivy with these results they first told me «how are we supposed to know how he is doing? we never actually check the results of how the students do, we just work on specific materials» Huh? I thought this was relatively insane. Here we thought we were getting our son help and all we had done was to paper over the problems for semester in which he crashed and burned. Because he was going to tutoring and knew we expected this would help him he was too embarrassed to actually come back and talk to us (or the tutor) about the problems he was having. The tutor herself was way to junior to have any clue about the whole dynamic going on. Total disaster.
Just when I thought it could not get any worse, I let Green Ivy know that my son’s performance had dropped two grades on their watch and that I was withdrawing him from their program. The response from the owner was «well, we did everything right… maybe your son has a learning disorder? OMG! Really?! This from the woman who wrote a whole book on how to get buys with bad study habits to work more effectively? He spent a whole semester there and was give glowing reviews by his tutor and then when he fails he has some learning disorder? It was a breathtaking example of an expert throwing a student under the bus when things don’t work out just the way the want/​expect. No acceptance of any blame. No acknowledgement of and issues. Nothing.
After this experience I would warn ANY prospective parent to steer very clear of Green Ivy unless you are going to monitor and double check you kid’s progress at every stage. At least for my 15 year old that would have gone over with him like a lead balloon if we had tried, but perhaps your teenage boy is different than mine.
The owner of Green Ivy will talk you ear off about her book and the last radio interview she did. Ask her when the last time she failed on a student so completely he never recovered academically. I’m not so sure she’ll be so forthcoming.

My middle school daughter started coming to Green Ivy in the middle of 7^th grade. She had been struggling with her organizational skills as well as study skills. After a few months she was very on top of her studies. No more late or missing assignments! Her confidence began to soar and she realized that she was capable of getting A’s (she had always considered herself a B or C student). On her final report card she had almost all A’s! The tutors at Green Ivy have helped set up a system that works for her and that she can maintain. She also attended a one on one writing workshop this past summer which has really boosted her writing skills. Thank you Green Ivy for making such a difference in our lives.

Green Ivy is the reason I was able to attend a private university.
My first experience at Green Ivy occurred during my junior year of high school while I struggled in my physics and Spanish classes. Every week I would receive one on one attention from highly educated and personable tutors. As my understanding of each subject and grades improved my confidence soared as well.
During my Senior year of high school Green Ivy helped me apply to scholarships, finish important applications as well as SAT preparation. Whenever I was in need of any academic help I could count on the wonderful people at Green Ivy. This place was one of the best things I ever did on my road to college. As a junior at Loyola Marymount I know that my time at Green Ivy help prepare me in all the best ways possible. To this day I carry on relationships with my wonderful tutors and Anna.

I have 2 high school aged children that have been going to Green Ivy for the past 4 years. They have seen tutors for organization/​time management assistance, homework/​test review, SAT/​ACT review and college guidance. The tutors are great– friendly, highly educated, and motivated. The owner is very knowledgeable in current educational topics as well as managing the college application process. The owner and the tutors truly care about helping your child reach their full potential.
I have no doubt that the assistance my children have received from Green Ivy has had a direct impact on their success. I highly recommend Green Ivy.

My experience as a student at Green Ivy was invaluable. Overwhelmed with the stress of Advanced Placement classes, SAT exams, and college applications in high school, the tutors at Green Ivy guided me through the process by giving me personal attention and support. Green Ivy encourages students to excel in academics and extracurricular activities, and ultimately enjoy their middle school/​high school experience.
The tutors at Green Ivy make an effort to get to know each student on a personal level. Ana Homayoun and my tutor encouraged my talent for writing and my passion for dancing. Because of their support, I am currently a college Junior at my dream school double-​majoring in dance and writing; I couldn’t be happier!
I would highly recommend Green Ivy to all students, especially high school Juniors and Seniors working through the college admissions process. The guidance I received at Green Ivy kept me calm, productive, and organized so that I finished my applications even before the Thanksgiving holiday (2 months early where I was able to enjoy the holiday vacation with my family and friends). Green Ivy strives to help students succeed in and also enjoy their time in school. Yes, it’s possible!

Be careful and read the qualifications of the staff on this website. They are very educated young people, but none are trained in learning disabilities. This is a purely glorified tutoring center that charges $ 90/​hr for tutoring.
If your child has ADD/​ADHD/​EFD or any other disability, I would suggest finding someone trained in these areas. You will get homework help here and that is it.
My son attended the organization workshop as he is completely unorganized and needs a specialist in this area. The office team wouldn’t even share if any of their staff was trained in dealing with severely unorganized (Executive Function Disorder) children. My son came away from the $ 180 workshop knowing he has to keep his binder organized, he learned some new spelling words, and he also was told not to wait to the last minute. All things he already knows but just can’t do.
Green Ivy requires you to sign up for a month of tutoring before they will share any of the details as to how they will help your child or you can choose to pay $ 180 consultation fee and ask your questions there.
The place doesn’t look professional and doesn’t appear to be run professionally, unless you only need a tutor.