As a parent, you know that your child is a complex individual, full of surprises. You know their dreams and aspirations, their fears and dislikes, what influences and what motivates them. You know that though they may grow bored at school, frustrated with teachers or affected by their peers, that if someone could find the key to tap into your child’s potential they would shine as brightly as they do in your eyes. It is this uniqueness that we try to cultivate. There are a few special ingredients that make Study Hut such a sweet place to learn and one of them is that we recognize each student’s individuality. Tutors are paired students that allow us to foster genuine connections and have a real positive influence. That’s why we enjoy being tutors. While many of our tutors can teach multiple subjects, Study Hut takes the time to place students according to their personality and ambitions. Seeing our students strive for the same goals we’ve have sought to attain inspires us and we pass this inspiration onto our students.
A real understanding of who your child is also helps us tutor more effectively. Biology becomes a basketball team, physics becomes skate boarding and statistics becomes the probability the Lakers will win the championship (100%, of course!) Students are no longer just another face in a sea of students but part of the Study Hut family. Every child learns differently, and relates differently. Parents know this for their children; tutors should know this for their students. We don’t just teach a child, we teach your child.
Today was very exciting day at Study Hut Tutoring. My first student, Jordan, came in
with some math homework. He was having a hard time understanding what side of the graph to
shade in on linear equations, so we tried to plug values in for x and y and see where they relate
to line. This made things very clear. Jordan realized he could just shade in the region of the
graph that makes the original equation true. With the key concept making more sense, the rest of
the homework was a breeze. We also talked about cool dissections that we’ve both done in our
various science classes. Jordan talked about how much he hated taking earth science, but really
enjoyed the life science class especially because of the dissections. Jordan heard that students at
PVHS get to dissect a sheep’s brain in their anatomy class, and it sounds like he’s really wants to
go there.
My second student, Matthew, came in with an assignment from his Police Academy
program. He has to format his notes in a precise order, and any mistakes would mean he has to
restart the entire page. Matthew got a 98% on his Geometry test and an 89% on his history test,
but he really wanted to complete his Police Academy assignment before his training on
Saturday. Unfortunately Matt made a spelling mistake, at the very end of his page so he had to
rewrite the entire page. Matt and I also talked about better note taking techniques for English
class. He was given a reading assignment, but there were no highlighted or underlined words. I
told him to make sure he makes marks or notes on the pages he reads, so when it comes time to
study or right a paper he can find his annotations a lot faster.
My third student of the day, Robbie, also came in with math homework. Robbie might
have enjoyed a little too much of the delicious Study Hut candy, because he had a lot of energy
tonight. He would fall a little off task, but he was still able to complete all of his math
homework and most of his spelling. Robbie had to multiply fractions and he had a strong grasp
of the overall idea, but was a little confused when to cross multiply in order to reduce the
fraction. But, after the clarification he breezed through the rest of the math problems and started
his spelling packet. Robbie didn’t understand the point of spelling homework, and that reminded
me of when I used to complain about getting tons of homework. Just a torture device teachers
hand out. He wasn’t able to complete the entire packet during his session, but he has enough
time tonight to finish it at home.
Unfortunately, my fourth student, Montana, couldn’t make it tonight. But, that gave me
enough free time to write about my day, so I guess it was a positive after all.
Education reform is a hot topic in politics and our communities. With documentaries like Waiting for Superman and powerful people taking a stance in education, people are starting to realize that things need to change. Successful schools have proven that outstanding teachers, extra time spent on education and high expectations for all students are key to academic achievement. At Study Hut, our tutors put these educational goals into action have seen exceptional results in our students.
Why is it so important to have high expectations for students? High expectations show students that we believe that they are capable of achieving their full potential. This turns into motivation for students to prove to us and to themselves that they can do well in school. I often hear fellow tutors saying “you are going to do an awesome job on your test tomorrow!” Students leave knowing their tutors expect them to perform well. When students at Study Hut are as excited to come in and tell us about an A on a test as much as we are, we know we are doing our job.
Excellent tutors at the Hut also add to students’ academic success. Students come to us because they need clarity, review and a fresh approach to teaching. If it takes a funny song to remember Spanish Vocabulary, we’ll make one up and sing it with our students. If history isn’t making sense, we will relate it to something relevant in a student’s life to show them the importance of a historical event. Thinking outside the box and connecting with students is a common method we share with schools in our community. The South Bay School Districts all have a mission to “strive for academic excellence by forming partnerships with the community.” Study Hut enjoys working with schools and students to be part of this partnership in promoting confidence and academic success in our schools.
Today’s students are expected to have a much more comprehensive understanding of their subject matter, especially in mathematics and science.
It’s not enough to know what the components of DNA are anymore. High school Biology students are expected to how the different building blocks fit together and why. For a lot of students, the sheer volume of information flying at them daily is more than overwhelming.
Study Hut helps students navigate these murky waters by providing the kind of thorough and interactive support that allows students to take control of their own learning.
“Give a man fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.” ~ Chinese Proverb
More than just providing what students need from day to day, our tutors teach their students both the skills to be self-sufficient and the confidence essential to managing those unavoidable high-stress situations.
We also help them develop study techniques that take advantage of their already sizeable knowledge base and learning strengths.
You like comic books? Let’s connect your vocabulary words to Marvel characters.
You like the ocean? Let’s relate that back to what you’re learning in Chemistry.
Ariella is your typical studious teen. She’s got eclectic music taste and her own hip sense of fashion. She’s a sophomore at Mira Costa High School and she’s currently acing quiz after quiz and test after test in her Algebra II class. Of course, nothing about this is unusual for a student that’s been receiving tutoring from Study Hut for any lengthy amount of time. However, in order to fully appreciate Ariella’s story, we need to go back.
Her story starts all the way back in November of Two Thousand and Ten. Gas was under four dollars per gallon and the young women of Manhattan Beach had found the anthem they’d been waiting for in “California Girls.” It was at this time that I started tutoring Ariella. If you’re thinking that November of 2010 wasn’t that long ago, you’re right. Just four months ago, Ariella was in over her head with imaginary numbers and complex conjugates. She was struggling to keep her head above water and her highest grades would be sung in the key of D.
When a new student starts at Study Hut, all hands are on deck. As tutors we serve as medics on the front line of battle just trying to get the rapid grade hemorrhage under control. For Ariella, this meant we needed to diagnose her issues with Algebra, assess her study habits, and quickly sum up every important math concept up until that point, before we could make further progress. Just a few short weeks after our reoccurring sessions started, Ariella got a C on a math test. Here’s a direct quote from my tutor notes at the time:
“On her last math test, she got a C. This is great, considering she got mostly Ds and Fs before.”
Normally, we aim much higher than Cs at Study Hut. However, this C was a point of celebration for Ariella and I. It marked the turnaround in her math career. The hemorrhage had stopped. Now we could really focus on marching forward; attacking difficult concepts before they became an issue. Ariella stepped up to the challenge.
Cut all the way back to modern day, just three short months since that C, and Ariella just scored a 19 out of 20 on her last quiz and a 47 out of 50 on her last math test. After a series of incremental victories, we’re now celebrating scores that represent an A average in her math class.
I cannot stress enough how great of a turnaround this student has made. Ariella went from feeling like math just “isn’t [her] thing,” to being an expert in the same material. She can condense and expand the most complex of logarithmic equations. She can simplify a radical and solve rational functions without breaking a sweat. She has become the latest example of the time-tested Hut tradition:
Show up and we’ll get you from awful to average. Put in the work and we’ll get you from average to A. Just ask Ariella.
As a parent, you care about the success of your child. If you read any of our posts you will hear about the children that have found inspiration as part of the Study Hut family to live to their fullest potential. What you may not know is that we hire tutors not only because they are from some of the top universities, Columbia, UC Davis, UCLA, USC and UC Berkeley, but we also hire our tutors because of the unique, worldly perspectives they bring to our students. Our tutors are highly sought after medical school candidates. They are people who have traveled all around the world, living in places like Ecuador, Costa Rica, Japan, France, Spain, The Netherlands and West Africa. They are accomplished musicians, teachers, entrepreneurs, environmentalists and engineers. They have not only succeeded in the top educational institutes our country has to offer, but have brought these lessons to fruition through the country and throughout the world.
Many tutoring places offer a number two pencil, practice tests and flash cards. Study Hut offers the inspiration needed to fuel students’ dreams over and beyond the high school classroom. Our tutors still have the memories of college and high school fresh in their minds. We understand where your student is coming from. We understand that learning is an objective that requires us to live both inside and outside a textbook. We understand what they need to be their best. Why do students still come to Study Hut when they aren’t in a tutoring session? Why do you see students smiling when you walk into Study hut? Why do students decide that they want to be here? It’s because we offer more students more than just learning we offer them success.
Young children are often overlooked when it comes to the tutoring industry. At the high school level, parents work hard to motivate and challenge their children academically. They pressure their child to work hard and get good grades at the hopes of the acceptance into a prestigious and well renowned school. Why not start at a young age?
Learning good study habits is imperative to the success of a student; not only in the school setting, but outside as well. Children need to learn study skills, reading skills, and good work ethic from the beginning. In the primary grades, students’ brains are developing at such a rapid rate that this time period proves to be the most crucial in a student’s life. By setting that foundation, the student will have a more transparent view of how to be an outstanding scholar. At study hut, we provide tutoring to all ages. In the younger grades, a student’s academics are primarily focused on literacy. We cater to children by assisting them with fluency, comprehension, and accuracy. The extra practice allows them to feel more confident and motivated in the classroom which produces overall better grades. Needless to say, extra tutoring for young students in the primary grades is extremely beneficial and should not be dismissed.
There are two types of “New Clients” at Study Hut Tutoring. There are the clients who call us when something has gone wrong, such as a bad test grade or some missing assignments they need help with. The other type of client is the proactive type; this client calls the Hut way in advance, getting times with a tutor well before a big test or Final exam.
These proactive clients often cite “getting an edge” as the reason for calling. Whether they hear about it from a friend at Parras Middle School, or a counselor at RUHS, people are picking up on the buzz, and they are calling Study Hut in Redondo Beach to get the best local tutors available. These clients often call and request a tutor by name, because that is the type of reputation that the Hut has.
Often, groups of friends sign up at the same time. If a PV High Volleyball player calls to inquire about pricing and availability, it does not surprise us at all when two of her fellow Sea Kings call for tutoring later that afternoon. We have quite a few PV and Redondo athletes, including players from the football, basketball, gold, cross country, track, and water polo teams (and more, too!).
I’m sure there are plenty of tutoring spots in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and countless more in the south bay but I’m in inclined to believe that few can measure up to The Study Hut in Manhattan Beach. Many parents struggle with where to send their children to get some help. They try to give their children a leg up so they maybe they won’t have to struggle as much in the future. The choices for giving a child an advantage can be mind boggling at times. There are so many places making claims about improving grades and how they will accomplish this amazing transformation in your child. They make promises of making them an “A” student over night. The truth is there is no magic formula. There is no making your child an overnight genius. Change comes with work and constant work to boot. The work is a communal project; it can’t come in a tutor session alone. Now, this is the place where the real separation comes into play. Other places say they will change the culture your child has developed but only care about what occurs in the tutoring session only. However the dedicated folks at the study hut aka the hut make sure to communicate with the parents on the work which is accomplished and needs to be accomplished on a nightly basis. They call home and let parents know their child still have 3 hours worth of work left and work to develop strategies to make sure this isn’t the norm. They make sure the culture created at the hut also becomes the culture the student sees at home. Because it takes a village to raise a child, no matter how big or small the village might be.
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!
