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Investing in Education

July 30th, 2012

Just a couple weeks ago, we were all waiting in anticipation for our long overdue summer break. Now, summer is at its peak, and while we do enjoy our vacations and coffee breaks, the academic semester is just around the corner, and it is time to start investing in what matters by taking initiative. Instead of waking up to a sluggish summer hangover, why not buckle up before the academic storm hits and start preparing for your semester courses? Study Hut’s tutors are not only available to help you cram for midterms and term papers. We are also here to help you gear up for SATs, APs, or even Geometry. Take advantage of the last couple weeks of summer to get ahead of your peers. When you go shopping for your back-to-school supplies, remember that learning is merely facilitated
by textbooks, paper, and pencil. — your actual success in school will depend on your attitude, preparation, and dedication to your studies.A couple of hours every week goes a long way in preparing you for the coming academic semester — choose to sacrifice a couple hours of this fading summer for a significant head start on your courses at school.
We at Study Hut call this ‘investing in education’.

Reading comprehension Tutoring at Study Hut Tutoring

July 26th, 2012

It’s summer, and most kids cringe at the thought of spending their carefree days
in tutoring. However, a few hours here and there can help students stay sharp and
get one prepared for the coming year. This is especially true when it comes to reading
comprehension.

We live in a digital age, and many kids think anything over 140 characters seems
needlessly detailed. But reading comprehension is a skill that influences performance
in nearly every other subject. If your child is scoring low, it’s an issue better addressed
sooner than later.

We offer multiple approaches to reading comprehension for kids of all ages. Subjects/
topics include:

Identifying the main idea

Summarizing articles and passages

Paraphrasing

Making inferences and identifying faulty logic

Identifying unknown words and expanding vocabulary

Formulating summaries and responses

We have age-appropriate materials and can work with students of all levels.

Reading comprehension is important at all levels of schooling, but there are a few critical
ages to keep in mind. If your student is going into middle school or high school next year,
both curriculum and expectations are about to change dramatically.

It’s one thing to parrot the main points of an article, book or essay, but it’s quite another
to internalize and think critically about the material. Around middle school, essays
become as much about content as form, and your student will be consistently tested on
their ability to respond to a text in their own voice. Now is the time to prepare them for
that.

Call to schedule a session, and you’ll see the difference it makes to have an experienced
tutor working one-on-one with your student. Who knows – maybe they’ll even start
bringing current event articles to the dinner table or chatting with dad about The Great
Gatsby while they play Xbox. Dare to dream…

Adelia’s Summer Enrichment

July 25th, 2012

This summer, as manager, I have been presented with the opportunity to actually tutor! Normally, the hustle and bustle of the Hut prevents me from my real passion, teaching. One of my regular and favorite students in here over the summer is Adelia. She has diligently come in twice a week throughout the summer to study Spanish and Geometry. I admire her confidence and motivation to get ahead of the game and become prepared for the classes she will endure in the fall.
Starting out with Spanish 5/6 in the fall she went ahead and bought the book that her high school, Mira Costa, uses so that I can start teaching her the material. Once fall comes she will be prepared with the vocabulary and will be strong with the grammar. Throughout the course of these few weeks she has already improved in both her retention of vocabulary and her ability to speak and comprehend the language. Last year, I tutored another student in Spanish in preparation for Spanish 2. He excelled in his Spanish class receiving a high B opposed to D+ he received the semester prior. A little elbow grease in the summer goes a long way when it comes to learning a language. I have the confidence that Adelia will be able to start and finish this year strong.
Similarly, math skills are just as important to maintain during the summer. Adelia already has a solid understanding of the primary concepts in Geometry and will have gone through the first few chapters of the Mira Costa Geometry book by the time summer has ended.
Most kids are resistant to summer tutoring and believe that it will take up their entire summer. Adelia, however, is extremely active. She owns a horse is Palos Verdes and rides him every day. She is extremely happy with her progress she has made this summer at Study Hut.
Not only can we provide enrichment for math and Spanish, but also French, English, reading comprehension, physics, history, biology, chemistry and whatever else, you name it, we have a tutor for it! Bring it on fall semester!

New tiki Hut puts a twist on outside tutoring

July 23rd, 2012

Need to get some schoolwork done but don’t want to sit inside? Well The Study Hut in El Segundo has something new and it’s very exciting! What is it you ask? A TIKI HUT! The Tiki Hut was hand built by SP, Justin, Taylor, Adam, and Sam.  It’s located on the North Patio of the Hut and is a perfect studying atmosphere for the students! For those that enjoy being outdoors, the hut is a great opportunity to enjoy being outside and still getting that wonderful beachy feel. The students at the El Segundo Study Hut are truly enjoying this one of a kind creation. The Tiki Hut is also a great place for students to take a break from their work and be able to hang out with the other students. When you enter the Tiki Hut, you can feel the tropics at your fingertips. Having the Hut on El Segundo’s Patio is like taking a mini vacation on a regular old study break. This new addition was lit up last weekend with tiki torches and and welcomed with a limbo contest. If you have not had the chance to see the Tiki Hut, you can’t miss it. This creation was a perfect match for the El Segundo Study Hut and truly gives it that relaxing tropical feeling. The Tiki Hut is a positive impact for the Study Hut and hopefully is around for a long time.

Summer Enrichment

July 18th, 2012

Summer enrichment at Study Hut Manhattan Beach is filled with active, student-centered learning activities that get the kids out of their seats and thinking outside of the box. One of my elementary school students is entering first grade at Pacific this fall. Like most six year olds, he has an attention span of less than five minutes…maybe 30 seconds…so every few minutes we change up the routine! He practices his sight words by writing on a whiteboard, stamping the words with ink and a stamp pad, and even by jumping up and down as he spells the words out loud. For math practice he goes around to the Study Hut tutors taking polls so he can work on tally marks. This not only improves his math skills, but also gives him an opportunity to practice math in an applicable setting and see its importance to everyday life. These activities also help him to develop social skills. In addition to the social math activities, he also greets the Manhattan Crew every afternoon session using appropriate eye contact and asking follow up questions. Probably the highlight of the sessions for him is his sticker chart. He earns stickers throughout our study sessions and keeps track of them on a graph. Yesterday he told me, “I like Study Hut, it’s fun here!” I told him, “Yes, Study Hut is a lot of fun because learning is fun!” He smiled and walked out the door to show off the Star Student Award he had just earned during our session. At Study Hut, the students are at the center of everything of we do.

AP Summer Homework

July 5th, 2012

Summer school classes are short in duration, but very intense, and Advanced Placement (AP) summer classes are even more intense. The school day tends to be four hours long. This may seem long to students, but trying to cram a year’s worth of materials in is a big challenge for teachers. Therefore, much of the work must be done outside of class.

AP history classes are the most common summer courses that high school students take. These classes require students to do a lot of reading, a lot of writing, and a lot of studying. Teachers typically do a chapter a day. The student then goes home, reads the chapter, and does the work that goes along with it. This work can be defining key terms and people, making timelines, conceptual questions, or essays. Essay writing is the most time consuming and difficult part of these history courses. They allow the teacher to make sure the student understands a wide range of material. Also, the student must demonstrate good writing skills and critical thinking. It can become difficult to come up with new ideas and examples when writing essays every week.

Getting anything lower than a B in an AP class doesn’t look good to college admissions officers. Putting in so much effort into a college class and then performing badly is a waste. The tutors at Study Hut can help students with their AP summer school work. We have tutors that specialize in essay writing. They can edit and revise rough drafts or help students from the very start. They help guide the student through their brainstorming and outlining process, to their rough draft, and then the final draft. Don’t let your summer AP class go to waste! Let us help you!

Summer Time at The Hut

June 28th, 2012

Winding Down at the Hut

We’ve had lots of blog posts about how to prepare for finals and end the year on a high note. All week, students have been rushing in and out of the Hut, reciting geometry theorems and putting the final touches on Socratic seminars. But we’ve failed to mention the most important aspect of the end of the school year…

It’s the end of the school year! Yay!

In addition to playing Alice Cooper on loop, we’ve been doing a lot to prepare for summer. This mostly includes staring out the window and daydreaming about our plans. Between the tutors and the students, we’re a busy bunch!

Some are planning vacations and some are eagerly anticipating the London Olympics. Some have weddings for dear friends and others are just planning on soaking up as much sun as possible on the beaches of the South Bay. Here are a few responses from around the Hut to the most whimsical and challenging question: What’s your favorite thing about summer?

“Surf and work.”
-Alex, Tutor

“Sleep, surf and travel.”
-Codee, Sophomore

“I like not wearing socks when I’m wearing my shoes!”
-Amir, Tutor

“The sun not going down until 9pm.”
-Madison, Sophomore

“I like reading Robert Frost while sitting contemplatively under a tree in the summer breeze. Just kidding! Corn dogs.
-Amy, Tutor

“Not being at school.”
-James Houston, Sophomore

“Music festivals, Vegas, and beach parties in the daytime.”
-Sam, Study Hut Manager

“I am really looking forward to sleeping, surfing, vacations, no school, playing with my dog, having free time and hanging out with my friends on the beach.”
-Matt, Freshman

No doubt about it, we’re a Hut about town. What are you looking forward to this summer? Let us know in the comments, and enjoy your time off!

Help for Online BYU high School Courses

June 26th, 2012

BYU online summer school is a great way to stay productive during the summer and to get ahead on classes for the next school year. It is independent study and puts no deadlines on the work and tests. This can be both good and bad. On the one hand it allows students to have a flexible schedule that allows for sports and travel. On the other hand, however, it can be challenging to learn the material without a teacher and to keep a good pace. Study Hut can help with all this.
High school students are accustomed to having a teacher present to explain the material to them. Studying independently is a skill that students often don’t master until they go to college. Therefore, learning concepts online can be difficult and frustrating. Our tutors are familiar with the BYU classes, how they are structured, and what is expected from the students taking them. Coming to the Study Hut allows students to go over any material they have trouble understanding on their own, or simply confirming that what they have learned is correct.
Time management is often a challenge for high school students. They tend to procrastinate and get behind in their work. It is not unusual to see a whole BYU course being crammed into the last two weeks of summer vacation. The result is usually a low grade and a stressful end to the break. Seeing a tutor at the Study Hut is a perfect way to make sure this doesn’t happen! We will lay out a timeline and hold the student accountable.
Study Hut is an official BYU proctoring center. So if tutoring is not necessary students can still come here to take their tests. We administer the tests for $50. And if the student is being tutored here, the tests are free!

Graduation and Catalina

June 21st, 2012

To all of you Hutsters – congrats on another great year! We are all so, so proud of all of your efforts this year. Please enjoy a safe and responsible summer.

Sam, Justin, Taylor, Rob, and SP are headed to Catalina for some kayaking, snorkeling, fishing, and unwinding after another great year for the Hut. Thank you all for your love and support as we powered through another awesome year of academics in the South Bay.

Finals Time

June 18th, 2012

Study Hut generally maintains a relatively steady state of operations, seasonally — fortunately, this all changes when our students slam into the Great Wall of Finals. I see students coming in with varying degrees of academic success and perceptibility, which consequently creates a general state of panic and chaos in the majority of students that come in for extra tutoring. While it may seem as if this pinnacle, this cummulation of efforts, is far too all-encompassing to
be manageable, the truth is, none of this will matter tomorrow, or the next year, or the next century. Conversely, in respect to you, the student, everything matters with what you do today, and studying for classes during this hectic time is, rightly, what you must be doing. Study Hut’s role in this system is to facilitate your studies, guide you to answers to questions, and, most importantly, give you the confidence and ability to ensure you function properly at the right moment — test taking time.

I believe that, while some students do require extra tutoring and that others require a confidence chat in between sessions, studying is, clearly, the correct step. We, the tutors at Study Hut, will do everything we can to make sure you are ready for whatever test comes at you — more or less. When you feel as if everything is coming down on you and that things
are simply overwhelming your ability to retain all that information — come on, an entire year? — just remember to breathe, just breathe…