Today, two bright-eyed and bushy tailed owners, actually, we had some scruffy scraggles left on the face from Spring Breaking, and it was pretty early at 6am so we weren’t too bright eyed, embarked on a journey to have breakfast. Our Destination: the Hacienda Hotel. Our reason: to join the elite do-gooders of El Segundo for their 45th annual Mayor’s Breakfast. 100% of the proceeds will be going to benefit the El Segundo Teen Center and the El Segundo Ed foundation. The El Segundo Rotary Club makes this all possible, among others. It was a quite a treat if I dont say so myself. I had pancakes, bacon, hashbrown cakes with lox, and coffee, with chocolate creamer. It was heart-stopping. We heard a motivational speaker, and listening to him made we almost want to put down my fork and head to the gym. Apart from the food, we met some wonderful individuals. We met the heads of the local churches and school board, and they were thrilled to meet some fellow educators who were also passionate about El Segundo middle school tutors. They quickly acknowledged that tutoring in El Segundo was something that was recognized as fruitful and important. El Segundo high school students need tutoring in chemistry, biology, algebra, geometry and specific training in preparation for the SAT tests. Moms and dads in El Segundo were encouraged to know that Study Hut Tutoring provides a reliable and local tutoring service to the students at both El Segundo Middle School and El Segundo High School. Parents were eager to send their students to Study Hut tutoring for chemistry tutoring because they know how tough that class is, and how difficult the college application process can be with a low mark in that class.

Study Hut tutors could not be more excited for the big Finals push. We have students from AVID coming in for private tutoring all week, but we also have a huge event scheduled for Saturday. As in years past, we will be hosting an all day tutoring and study session on campus at Palos Verdes High School. We will have access to multiple different classrooms, and tutors will get to go into different rooms and help students with the specific subjects they need most help with.

This year, there will undoubtedly be math tutoring, science tutoring (including biology tutoring and chemistry tutoring), history tutoring, from World History and EHAP to U.S. History, Government, and Economics tutoring. Math tutoring will include algebra tutoring, geometry tutoring, algebra 2 tutoring, pre-calculus tutoring, trigonometry tutoring, and maybe even some calculus and FTS tutoring.

We will also, of course, have English tutoring, writing tutoring for students with an upcoming final paper, Spanish tutoring (all levels), and probably a few other subjects as well.

The event is free (and required!) for all AVID students, and speaking from past experience, it is an extremely productive event for all students involved. The teachers always come to support, supervise, and offer their knowledge as well.

And best of all, we are getting El Taco Man ordered, so he will be showing up with his cart, and all the tacos any young man or woman can eat. Does it get any better than this? I think not. See you on Saturday.

The sciences can be some of the most difficult classes in high school. From basic chemistry, to AP Bio and AP Physics, students often struggle with understanding the facts and concepts taught in classes, and using them to ace their tests. There are some serious science nerds, including myself, here at the Study Hut ready to help you flourish and learn in these difficult, but very important classes. But, for effective tutoring, the sciences are dealt with in a slightly different manner than tutoring math or history.

Classes such as math are learned through repetition of problems, usually through homework. The concepts, although important, usually take a back seat to the problems themselves. To get tutored in math, you can simply show up and do your homework with a tutor, learn the material, and ace your test. But studying for the sciences are much different. The sciences, especially biology, are much more conceptual, than problem based, and concepts take longer to effectively teach than doing problems. If you are struggling in a science class, it can more often than not be pointed to a shaky understanding of the broad concepts which connect all the facts and anecdotes learned in class. So this presents a unique challenge to tutors; It is almost impossible to effectively teach the material if a student comes in expecting to learn a whole chapter’s worth of material in an hour. To get the best help possible, students should read the text, go over their notes, attempt problems, and then come to tutoring in order to clarify and solidify the shakier concepts.

So if you are struggling in a science course, study ahead of time, know your weaknesses, and then come to the Study Hut as often as needed to stay on top of the material.