This blog goes out to all the Hut peeps and all the potential Hut peeps that live in West LA and surrounding areas. At Study Hut, we’ve been shocked at how many new parents and students have been calling our brand new El Segundo office from towns other than El Segundo. Specifically, Westchester, Playa del Rey, West LA proper, and Hawthorne have been feeling the Hut. The buzz has been awesome on the internet, where many current clients and new clients alike have been clicking on www.studyhut.com to learn more about our services, and to set up tutoring appointments in El Segundo.
Just this morning, we signed up two new students. The first is a young man in the 5th grade from Eucalyptus Elementary in Hawthorne. I spoke to his mother on the phone, and he needed a tutor to help him with math concepts, and also with science tutoring. The second new student needed help with advanced algebra at Westchester High School. The mother really liked that our tutors are young and local, and she liked that many of us have degrees from Loyola Marymount University.
I am officially announcing our first blog promotion. The first parent or student from St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey to call the El Segundo Study Hut for tutoring (310-648-8526) will get two free hour-long tutoring sessions. We can tutor almost any subject, and we are looking to spread some positive vibes at St. Bernard, since two of our best students ever used to drive all the way to our Manhattan Beach location back in the day. Best of luck to everyone!
I’ve only been a tutor at Study Hut for two weeks, but I am most impressed with my students who are well-organized. What does a well-organized student do? They fill out their agendas with all their homework and upcoming tests/quizzes. They fully take advantage of their planners. They bring in all their books and homework worksheets to the tutoring session (those that do not have the correct materials, just end up wasting time by having to call someone to bring the book or having the tutor waste time figuring what the student has to do). The well-organized students are able to get more from their tutoring session because they have a plan for what to do before they even show up to study hut. They know what classes they have homework in and are able to assess their weakest subjects so that we can spend the session working on that subject.
One of my most organized students is Tim, a junior, from Mira Costa High. Tim mainly comes for help in Geometry and Chemistry. While he may not know how to do the problems at first glance, after an explanation of the concept behind the problems, he is able to work out similar problems by himself. One of the main reasons why Tim is able to do this is because he writes down all his work on paper. I constantly stress to my students to show all their work because if they get the wrong answer, they can go back and pinpoint exactly where they made a mistake. This enables the student to make a mental note of the mistake they made and not make it again in the future. Tim also comes to each session with an attack plan on what to do during the session and he always knows whether he has an upcoming quiz or test.
In all, to stay ahead of the game that is school, one needs to be organized by making full use of the planner and to show all relevant work when doing homework!
Everyone who comes in for tutoring at the Hut has the same goal: to do better academically. Of course, methods and results can vary drastically from person to person. So, a major question that everyone should ask themselves as they walk in here is this: “What can I do to make the most out of my Study Hut experience?”
Now, some people might think that the smartest students are automatically the ones who will do best. I am here to tell you, this is not the case. Natural intelligence is rare. The one common quality, or “common denominator” for you math fans out there, is attitude. All of the students who show the most improvement all have that in common: a great attitude. It doesn’t matter if you’re Albert Einstein; if you come in here with no interest in working, no desire to improve, and no excitement for the material, odds are you won’t make much progress. The students whose scores improve the most are the one’s who come in with the goal of doing BETTER. They may not understand the material well, or even at all, but they want that to change and are prepared to work for it. Some of our students come in knowing EXACTLY what they want to work on, have done the appropriate preparation, and eagerly accept the tutor’s help. Other students come in mumbling, having no prep work done, and couldn’t care less if they learn the material. I’ll give you one guess as to who has the more rewarding experience.
Attitude is what it comes down to. The one’s that want to learn, and are excited about learning are usually to one’s to excel. And they’re ALWAYS the one’s to appreciate the Hut the most.
Study Hut Tutoring is proud to announce the opening of its newest location. Study Hut El Segundo will be having its soft opening on Monday, March 7, 2001, at which point students will begin subject tutoring and SAT tutoring as usual.
We already have a small client base that will be starting immediately. These students currently attend El Segundo High School, El Segundo Middle School, Richmond Street School, Center Street Elementary, Arena High School, St. Bernard High School, among other schools.
Study Hut Tutoring El Segundo will be staffed by young, local tutors, fresh out of college. We specialize by subject, and can handle almost any class through the high school level. We can tutor almost every AP class, and we also tutor Loyola Marymount students in select subjects. Finding a good LMU tutor can prove to be difficult, and our students are always ecstatic about the service they receive.
Here are a few of the subjects that we tutor at Study Hut Tutoring:
– Math tutoring: algebra; geometry; trigonometry; pre-calculus; AP Calculus; AP Statistics.
– English tutoring: All levels, K-12th grade, and college.
– Science tutoring: biology; chemistry; physics; marine biology; physiology.
– History tutoring: world history/European history; U.S. history; geography; economics; government
– Spanish tutoring
We also provide one-on-one SAT tutoring in El Segundo, as well as training for the SAT 2s, PSAT, ACT, PLAN, HSPT, COOP, TACHS, and ISEE.
For pre-enrollment and guaranteed placement in a preferred time slot, or for general questions before March, please call our Manhattan Beach office at 310-546-2408, and ask for the owner, Rob. We will add the El Segundo phone number to the website as soon as it becomes available.
A lot of students from Palos Verdes and Peninsula High School come into our Redondo office despising math, and I don’t blame them. Mathematics is a tough subject that takes a lot of time to understand, and students often try to get by by memorizing the rules, proofs, and theorems without ever perceiving how they work. After all, it’s a nasty subject that I’ll never really need. Who cares about the directrix of a parabola? When do I need to know how to calculate the area of a n-sided polygon? What’s the point of being able to do basic arithmetic in my head? I can just use my iPhone calculator to get the answer, or Google search it. That’s good enough.
It’s tough to argue against these points, but I believe that putting your best foot forward when tackling math builds a solid foundation, not only in regards to academics but to life as well. If a child is willing to put in the time to genuinely understand how trigonometric identities work, they’ll be more likely to work for things in life, whether it be a job, sport, or relationship in the future. If a student understands that they need to address their poor grades in math head-on instead of ignoring it, they won’t run when life gets tough. On the other hand, if that student resorts to taking short cuts in math or gives up after trying only once, they’re likely to throw their hands up in the air whenever they face adversity. Just like there are no short cuts to becoming a great Sea King or Panther athlete, there are no short cuts in academics, especially math.
So please, help your child develop good life habits by spending some extra time one or two nights a week helping them with their math. Make sure they show their work and don’t just guess the answer. Ask them questions to see how well they really grasp the material. Tell them, “Good job!” or “Nice work!” when they’re trying their best. Teach them the joy of hard work. As a math tutor, there are no secrets to help these students. I help them first understand the basics and then build on those basics. I teach them how to systematically analyze a problem and try various approaches instead of looking in the back of the book for the answer. I encourage them to ask questions when they don’t understand something. These are all good habits that people need to succeed in life, and mathematics is a great place for children to start developing them.
Many people think math is really boring. This is because, for the most part, teachers are lame and don’t make the material interesting. There is a lot of cool and weird mathematics out there that kids unfortunately are not exposed to. Here are a couple of interesting mathematical oddities that will hopefully spark some interest in math:
You want to find the sum of the infinite series 1-1+1-1+1-1+1-… This pattern repeats forever. At first glance, you would likely say (1-1)+(1-1)+(1-1)+… = 0+0+0+0+… and conclude the sum is 0. At second glance you may say the 1+(-1+1) +(-1+1) +(-1+1) +(-1+1) = 1+0+0+0+0+… = 1. Turns out both of these are wrong and the sum turns out to be ½. Here is why:
Let’s call the sum of the series S, whatever it may be. So, S = 1-1+1-1+1-1+1-…
Now, look at 1-S. We get 1-S = 1- [1-1+1-1+1-1+1-…] = 1-1+1-1+1-1+1-… = S. This is the same as our original series. We just showed that 1-S = S which means that 1=2S or that S=1/2. Pretty crazy that you can add 1 and -1 infinitely many times to get ½.
Here is another cool little proof why 1=2:
Let a =b. Then a2 = ab.
So, a2+ a2 = a2+ab or 2a2 = a2+ab.
Now, Subtract 2ab from both sides of the equation. Doing so, we get:
2a2 -2ab= a2+ab-2ab
So, 2a2 -2ab= a2-ab
Now, we factor out a 2 from the left side of the equation which leave us with:
2(a2+ab) = a2+ab
Divide both sides by a2+ab leaves us with:
2=1.
Take a close look though. While everything seems to be right, we all know 2 does not equal 1. Can you find the erroneous step? If not, come to the Study Hut and we can show you what’s up.
April has been the boldest month of 2010 at the Hut. To motivate students to finish out the year strong, we have turned up the heat and let loose the competition. Study Hut’s “Student of the Month” award has just been instituted and the first draft winners have been chosen. Our high school winner was one of my most successful students because she has shown such vast improvement in the short amount of time I have tutored her. Paige first came to me with unspeakable grades in her algebra class. At first, I was confused because she understood most of her homework but showed a plethora of poor test grades.
Through talking to her about her thought process, we discovered that she had a mild form of test-taking anxiety. After consulting my boss about an effective approach with Paige, we went to work. She increased her visits from one to three sessions per week with me in order to allot time for timed practice tests. My approach was to do her math problems alongside her and compare our answers instead of watching her do all the work by herself. She worked exceedingly well with my “team” approach because it helped her correct her own mistakes and take control of the session.
After working with Paige for several weeks, I have seen rapid improvement in her comprehension, retention, and esteem. She craves the practice problems because she has seen the positive results for herself. After she brought in her first ‘A,’ I jumped at the chance to nominate her for this award. Since then, she has walked through the door with two more ‘A’ test scores and higher expectations for herself. I look forward to our sessions and when she brings in her tests, I vicariously feel like an ‘A’ student all over again. Students of the month keep this job rewarding and engaging. Keep the good grades rolling!
After missing a few consecutive days of school due to illness, a local Manhattan Beach Middle School Student (who shall go unnamed) was inundated by a surge of school work. Having missed many critical days of instruction, his class left him behind and he didn’t have the study skills to catch up on his own. He failed his first quiz after returning and wrestled with hopelessness and despair.
He met his teacher after school, but still couldn’t quite understand the lessons completely. Lacking confidence in his understanding of the material, he turned the tv on…and yes, mom was well aware. Stressed and working a full schedule herself, his mom was unable to help him understand his math concepts and therefore she couldn’t help him catch up. Struggling to keep his head above water, the student was desperate to find help. After talking to some teachers and parents, Mom heard about the Study Hut… and not a moment too soon!
After only two hour-long visits, the student caught up on all his school work, and felt confident working with the material. After two more visits, he was able to get ahead of the curve by mastering the math concepts from the chapter that his class had yet to cover!
Working with the same tutor each session, the student was able to master his homework as well as develop concrete study skills that he will use for the rest of his student career. Today, his scores and self-esteem are on the rise his and new study skills have given him the confidence to study on his own.
After a month of working with a personal tutor at Study Hut, he’s come from teetering on the brink of failure to blossoming. His scores have risen steadily and now he is a leader in class.
Attention Palos Verdes students: Are you struggling with math, or more specifically with algebra? Well at Study Hut Tutoring, we have plenty of well qualified tutors that can assist you with this difficult and frustrating subject. Study Hut Tutoring has assisted several students from Palos Verdes High School in all areas throughout a year’s worth of algebra 1 and 2. Whether it’s analyzing inequalities, graphing linear functions, or the dreaded factoring of polynomials, Study Hut Tutoring will not only teach students the proper steps to solving problems, but will help point out more efficient approaches to problems, so that algebra students don’t get stuck working on a problem for five minutes when it could have been done in 30 seconds!
Here at Study Hut Tutoring, students typically bring in their daily homework and work one on one with an experienced algebra tutor. Read the rest of this entry »
One-on-one summer program for 8th graders entering High School
As the end of the school year nears, it’s time to start thinking about the transition into a new high school. Bigger classes, different teachers for different classes, more homework, and more difficult material can be overwhelming if a student is not prepared to handle the stress of a new high school. Now is the time for eighth graders to sharpen their organization skills and develop new study tactics so they can stay on top of their work as they smoothly transition into ninth grade. Read the rest of this entry »
