We all know why Study Hut is the best place to learn: it is part of the community. Today as part of my
new responsibilities as supplier-in-chief, I had to visit all 3 Hut branches and check out the supplies. One
characteristic stuck out at all three. Each felt human. Each felt like a place that cares about its students.
Each felt like it was a product of its community.
This is because Study Hut really is a product of its community. The owners hail from Mira Costa High
School. Many of our tutors are from the South Bay area. Even the plants we use to decorate our rooms
are purchased from a local Manhattan Beach vendor. We take pride that we support our hometowns.
Other franchise organizations don’t have a stake in the well-being of our neighborhoods. Study Hut
does because we were born here, we grew up here and we reside here. As a tutor, I feel part of a
family, not a company. Our students feel comfortable here, encouraging candid dialogue that really
increases a students learning capability. Our study environment is pretty much the most awesome place
ever. Epic. What other place has a jungle theme room?
We are proud to announce that next year, we will be offering our first ever Study Hut ACT Group Course.
With the growing popularity of the ACT, we are now offering a course to get your student ready for the test coming next Spring on June 9th. Here are the details:
The course runs April 30th through June 6th.
It meets Monday and Wednesday nights from 7-9 pm (24 hours total)
It includes two full-length practice tests, and assignments catered to your student’s weaknesses.
This course is very similar in structure to our popular small group SAT course, which has been showing excellent improvement in student’s scores across the board. This is NOT a huge classroom or an overwhelming environment. Our SAT and ACT group courses are conducted in a small office, with a maximum of 10 students. Our instructors are young, fresh, smart, and witty, and we all have one thing in common: we know how to dominate both the SAT and the ACT.
Please email rob@studyhut.com or call us at the Hut – (310)-546-2408 to sign up or get any questions answered.
As much as it pains us to say it, summer has reached its peak. If you go to Redondo, PVHS, Peninsula, West or South, it is time to start thinking about the fall semester and the classes you’ll be taking. Right now is the best time to review for that tricky class from last semester or get a head start on a class that you might be dreading.
A lot of you might also have assigned projects that, until now, had been pushed aside for more leisurely activities. Whether it is a book report or a history paper, the best thing to do is let your sun-soaked brain ease back into thinking critically—Do not leave it until the week before school.
And if you do find that you need a little push to get back into the groove, don’t forget that the tutors at Study Hut are here to help get you back in gear for school.
What is my favorite Study Hut moment? That’s difficult, because there really is a lot to choose from.
Most of my favorite moments would involve my favorite students. Some of the kids here come in with such an amazing attitude, and a real desire to improve, that tutoring them doesn’t even seem like work. Not only that, but when you see the same students week after week, you really get to know them. You find out what their lives are like, and who they are as people; it makes you want to help them all the more. I remember this one time, with one of my regulars, we spent literally two straight weeks studying for this one test, working tirelessly to make sure they got it just right. The student came in the day after the test with a HUGE smile on their face, telling me how they nailed it. I was so incredibly proud, that it didn’t just make my day, it made my week.
But one of my favorite moments actually happened today. We’re winding down toward the end of school, which means the younger kids have absolutely no work left, and the older kids are freaking out because of final exams. One of the former group, an 8th grader came in for his tutoring hour. He was up front with me: he had almost no homework, no tests left for the year, and only two full days of school left. Surprised, I asked him why they kept the session. His reply? “I just really like coming here.” That was one of those moments that made me feel great about what we do here. Not only are we providing a place for kids to improve themselves academically, but we’ve made an environment that our students WANT to come to. I felt very happy at that moment.
Of all of the summers I have been tutoring, this year’s crop is by far my most energetic, enthusiastic, and eager to learn and get ahead for next year.
While there are always those students that need to play a little catch up and fill in some of the holes that were created due to poor teaching or a lack of attention during school last year, this year, more than ever, I have been tutoring students who just want to get ahead. Even cooler is that most of these students are self-driven, meaning that they are signing up themselves and getting appointments adjusted on their own, rather than having mom force them to come in for some summer enrichment.
The result is that these students are getting far more out of each session than the average student. While some of these young achievers come here for tutoring from West Los Angeles schools like St. Bernard’s, Corpus Christi, Loyola High School, Notre Dame Academy, and Westchester Lutheran, more of our summer tutoring students are from El Segundo High School and El Segundo Middle School.
We have been tutoring El Segundo students in all sorts of subjects, but I have been doing mostly math tutoring, critical reading tutoring, and writing tutoring. It is definitely going to pay off for these guys come Fall.
School starts in a month! It’s time to dust the cobwebs off the mind and start easing back into school mode. Summer vacation provides more than enough time to forget last year’s math and science, and when class begins in September, things get hectic fast. New material, homework assignments, and projects are given immediately, so it is best to hit the ground running. Any student would greatly benefit from spending time reviewing old material and getting a head start on new stuff before the school year begins.
Even after two months off, teachers expect their students to remember what they learned the year before and continue building and expanding on it this year. For instance, it is assumed that Algebra 2 students are proficient at simplifying radical expressions, factoring, and solving two-step equations from day one of class. These are all skills learned in Algebra 1, but they can easily get rusty after an extended break. Summer is a perfect time for a refresher before everything kicks into high gear.
Summer is also a good opportunity for a brief introduction to next year’s material. Student’s who have had previous exposure tend to perform exponentially better. Although it is impossible to touch on every topic for the upcoming year, it’s often enough to get the mind jogging with an abbreviated preview.
Summer splashing and the sun rays is a great way to attain your vitamin D during the summer. So what
can be done after the sunburns start to ache and the beach seems to get mediocre? One incredible
way to continue amplifying your kid’s mental and scholastic ability is through summer tutoring at Study
Hut. Our summer hours are flexible and very tangible for any parent schedule. A combination of both
outdoor activities paired with some summer tutoring is a great way to not only attain great school
grades but it also relieves future stress on the student. While many students in September are in class
chugging away, pulling hair and pondering and trying to recall the Pythagorean Theorem, your student
will be cruising and mastering skills above their pupils. Study show that we only use about 3% of our
mind capability, so why not fill that brain matter with useful information for your student? One simple
hour of reinforcing previous unlearned or misunderstood material can cement information and ingrain
it thoroughly in the brain of student. This not only provides a solid foundation of information, but will be
used as a base for your student’s scholastic future.
We tutor in many subjects including Biology, English, Reading Comprehension, Math and much more. So
in addition to a fun summer swim in the gorgeous California beach, add a study hut tutoring hour before
or after. The student will be hyped on endorphins and will perform better scholastically. We are happy
covering any material your student is scared to confront and will give your student not only confidence
in their skills, but learn the material too. Our tutors are more than happy to help your student conquer
their scholastic fear and return to their classroom in September more confident and better prepared.
I remember when I was a Mira Costa high School student, summer just starting, tried to forget about school as much as I could. This behavior is quite common among high school student. This ultimately would result with most of my friends and I spending the last weeks of summer reading non-stop all of our assigned summer reading books. As my family usually chooses to go on our family summer vacation during those weeks, my memory of those vacations is marred with memories of: If Beagle Street Could Talk, The Crucible, An Affair to Remember, One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest, and the other books our teachers said we needed to read.
Looking back I wished I started reading those books earlier in the summer. There was no real need to wait so long. I have heard kids make the excuse that if they start reading early in the summer they won’t remember the details and promptly fail the “rigorous” summer reading tests. While that line of reasoning seems quite logical, it’s also been accounted for by the Mira Costa English teachers. The summer reading tests are very simple short multiple choice exams, asking easy basic plot questions; the point is to just make sure that the taker simply had read the book. Over the first few weeks class time is spent reviewing the summer reading books preparing the students for a more involved analytical essay. So there is no advantage of cramming all the reading in the last weeks of summer. Instead, start those books right now. Read when you can. Find your-self with a spare hour or two at home with no plans? Spend some of that time on your summer reading. By reading a few hours at a time throughout the whole summer you can easily avoid cramming them all at the end. And in my case, I could have enjoyed my summer vacations much more.
Whether you are retaking last semester’s toughest class or getting ahead for next year, all of you Palos Verdes High School students should be seeing the light at the end of the summer school tunnel. Finals are coming up, and it’s important to keep your eyes on the prize despite the classic Southern California summer weather outside.
Hopefully you’ve been keeping up with your summer studies by taking notes and staying organized, but we understand that, between all of the summer athletics and activities, it can be hard to scrape out some study time. In any case, the Hut tutors are armed with the test taking skills and subject knowledge that get you smoothly through Finals time. So if you are feeling overwhelmed or just want a quick review, make sure to stop by. We look forward to seeing you!
