Episode 246
Title: Redefining Education: Tiffany Sorya on Personalized Learning and Homeschooling
Host: Dr. Nick Carruthers & Dr. Nicole Rivera
Guest: Tiffany Sorya
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Transcription:
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Integrative You Radio. We have a very, very special guest that we're excited about because we get to pick her brain for our own selfish purposes, but obviously, we’ll share what she's doing with the world, which we're also excited about. You are the founder of Novel Education Group.
How long has Novel Education Group been around? We've been around since 2014. Yeah, so it's been a while now, but I will say that in the first few years, I was still pretty unsure of where it was going to go as a company in terms of having a wider reach. I was still teaching most of our students myself for the first few years and didn’t really start growing the business until around 2017, 2018.
It’s always how it goes, right? Yeah. It’s like getting your feet wet, going for it before you overthink it, and letting it evolve. Yes, definitely. I mean, it was all very organic. How all of this came about was very organic, and its growth has also been organic, which has been really exciting to see. That means that families are also noticing this type of education as a really viable option for their kids.
That’s been really exciting to see. In my mind, I feel like it’s the only option nowadays, but we're going to get into that. Of course, I want you to introduce yourself. I told you earlier, you're going to do a better job than me reading your bio, so tell us about yourself and how you got into this in the first place.
Yeah, yeah. So, hi. Hello, everyone. My name is Tiffany Soria. I am the founder and CEO of Novel Education Group. We are a private homeschooling and private tutoring agency. How I got into this is actually a really interesting story. I grew up in Portland, Oregon, went to college there, and after college, I moved down to Los Angeles and started school.
I never saw myself as a teacher. I did not get a degree in education and never saw myself as a teacher or an educator, but I was always very into school and education. College was an amazing experience for me in terms of finding my own confidence, and it came quite easily to me.
I wanted people who found it difficult to know that it could come easy for them. I find school, or being a good student anyway, to be more a set of skills than any measure of intelligence. I wanted to share that skill set that came naturally to me.
I started tutoring when I moved to Los Angeles. By the nature of the city, it’s a very word-of-mouth type of place, even in the teaching industry. Things really started growing organically from there. I quickly found myself working with high-profile and high-net-worth families just because, by the nature of Los Angeles, that’s where the general population lies. What I noticed was that there was a large gap in the market for high-standard one-on-one homeschooling.
These were families doing big things. They had young kids who were very intelligent but also had really busy schedules. Some families had young parents who envisioned a different type of schooling. Staying in one place for 10 months a year didn’t seem like the most fulfilling or enriching life for their families.
They thought, "There’s got to be some other option here." The only options were the local public or private school, so they wondered, "What else can we do?" I found it interesting that there was no high-touch, concierge-type educational service for these families. That’s why I started Novel, and it grew from there.
It’s so funny because I was looking at your website and under services, I loved that you offer remote learning for traveling families. Our son is two and a half now, and we know the bulk of development is so important from birth to age seven. One of the reasons we moved to Italy is that we wanted him to have exposure to other cultures and languages.
Obviously, in Europe, you can be in another country within an hour. We’re always thinking about what we’ll do for his schooling because we don’t see ourselves sitting in one place. We teach him every day because that’s who we are as parents, but we don’t want all of his education to come from us. We want him to have diverse exposure. When I saw what you're doing, I thought, "This is fantastic." You're meeting our demographic right where we're at, wanting to explore, travel, and not be in one place.
A hundred percent. My question is, with the love for travel that your clients and we share, how does it work with the kids? Is it online tutoring? Is it a combination of online and local tutors? How does it work?
Right now, it’s about 60-40, with 60 percent online and 40 percent in person. It really depends on the child’s age and what you’re looking for. Our services range from curriculum compilation to full-time placement of teachers who travel with families. For parents who want to do some of the teaching but don’t know how to compile a curriculum or need guidance, we can send out a comprehensive questionnaire and do assessments based on the answers.
We ask questions like, "What role would you like education to play for your child at this point? What are your goals for the next three to four years? What type of child do you have? Are they running around outside with other kids or are they more shy and staying indoors?" Based on these answers and assessments, we compile a fully customized curriculum for you to implement, along with weekly guidance on how to stay on pace and measure progress.
This allows for freedom, creativity, and travel, while also maintaining some structure. Even though you’re homeschooling, you want your child to stay connected to the world, which is why families like yours travel. For families with older kids who travel consistently, we work with them virtually.
That’s amazing. I love this customized approach because society often sticks to the norm, but you can do things outside the box, customized to your family’s lifestyle and your child’s learning style. I love that you ask about the type of child. We work with a lot of kids and families and find that many young individuals and adults are more hands-on, kinesthetic, or visual learners. I know I'm super visual, and Nick is a hardcore hands-on learner. But we all went to schools that focused on auditory learning, and that’s not how most people receive information.
Absolutely. And children don’t even know at five or six years old if they’re auditory or kinesthetic learners. They’re not given the chance to explore their learning type. This type of schooling provides that opportunity. In traditional schools, some children are penalized for not speaking up in class when they’re shy, but they might express themselves better through art or other forms of communication. This limitation is one that families are trying to remove.
I’m laughing because I’m learning Italian, and I feel like a kid again. I can read and write Italian pretty well, but when someone tries to have a conversation with me in Italian, I freeze. It reminds me of students who can ace a test but can’t apply the information.
Right. It’s two different skill sets—communicating out loud versus recalling information and writing it down. It’s like the student who can write a great essay but is terrible at public speaking. Or vice versa. In traditional schools, those skills are graded on the same scale, which limits students. It’s interesting that learning something new as an adult feels like being a child again. You realize how emotionally vulnerable it is to learn.
That’s for sure. As a kid, you don’t realize those emotions. I’m scared of everything! Nick and I have our own thoughts on this, but why do you think people are choosing to homeschool?
I think parents are seeing that homeschooling is a viable option. They want more control over what their kids are doing on a day-to-day basis and what they’re exposed to. Taking your kids out of public school doesn’t mean removing them from the public. There are many options for socialization, like art or karate classes, where kids can interact with others in a setting you choose. Homeschooling offers flexibility. Some families don’t want to be geographically limited.
We had a student in high school who wanted to go into fashion and had an internship with a fashion company in Los Angeles. But her school wouldn’t let her leave early on Mondays for the internship, so she had to choose between her grades and this incredible opportunity. It made no sense. We also have students who are avid golfers and wanted to attend a prestigious golf academy in India, but they couldn’t do that while staying in regular school. When parents hear stories like this, they realize homeschooling can offer more freedom.
It’s all about freedom. When I was young, I remember being frustrated with school rules, like having to raise my hand to go to the bathroom. It didn’t make sense to me. There was no trust in young individuals, and I always felt like I wanted to do things my way.
I completely agree. At Novel, we foster independent thinking and questioning. These are analytical skills schools aim to teach but don’t always allow for in practice. Young individuals need to retain their common sense, but sometimes schools operate in a way that suppresses that. Just like you in integrative medicine—people don’t always match the textbook or peer-reviewed research. You have to treat them as individuals. It’s the same with education. It’s about tapping into each child’s uniqueness and using it to help them achieve their goals.
Absolutely. Progress and productivity are key. Teaching kids to use their uniqueness to their advantage, rather than feel stunted by it, is one of the most valuable tools they can have growing up—even into adulthood. We’re ever-changing, but children are so impressionable. Confidence plays a big role. Helping students see that the things they thought were weaknesses
