Imagine if each year you allowed three consecutive months to pass without ever considering diet or exercise; the result would be low energy, an underperforming immune system, and many other undesirable consequences. Just like any other part of the human body, the brain requires regular attention and maintenance to perform to its potential. Students often struggle to get back into the swing of academics after a long summer break, as their brains have been stagnant for weeks on end. Here at Study Hut Tutoring, we make sure to keep our students sharp through the summer time, allowing an easier entrance into the new school year and helping them to start strong and maintain that impressive GPA throughout the course of the academic year.
Summer tutoring offers many benefits to students. For some, summer tutoring serves as a valuable time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the previous school year, and to clear up and solidify conceptual understanding that they will need to progress to more advanced courses. For others, summer tutoring serves as an opportunity to learn new material before being exposed to it in the classroom, giving them more confidence and an easier route to an “A”. And still for others, we help with writing enrichment, summer reading requirements, and preparation for the Fall SAT and ACT.
Of course, we at Study Hut Tutoring also appreciate the value of leisure time. Our founders, Rob and Sean, along with our tutors have been making the most of this summer by spending plenty of time on and in the ocean, be it to surf, spearfish, or boat across the channel to Catalina Island. We will be seeing off our managerial staff on an annual leadership trip at the end of July, and look forward to building an even stronger team to help our students through the remainder of the summer and next school year.
If you would like more information regarding our summer tutoring services, or you would like to sign up your son or daughter for summer help to prepare for the upcoming school year, please feel welcome to contact us at info@studyhut.com. Enjoy your summer!
As your junior year winds down, it’s time to start coming up with the list of colleges that you will be applying to. Maybe you’ve had a dream school in mind since you were a little kid, or maybe you haven’t even started thinking about it, but you’ll need to come up with a mix of reach schools, safety schools, and a few in the middle of the road. There are around 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States, so trying to narrow them down can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula for choosing your mixture of schools, but here are some criteria you can use to find schools that would be a good fit for you.
Kind of college- Are you looking for a two year or four year school? Public or private?
Location- Do you want to be able to do your laundry and eat dinner at home, or only fly home for winter break from a whole new environment?
Size/Setting- How do you feel about being at a school where everyone knows your name? Or would you rather find your niche in a large, diverse student population?
Life Outside the Classroom- Do you see yourself in a fraternity or sorority? How important is school spirit to you? Do you want to be able to go to “the big game” every weekend? What about volunteering, or an active student government? What kind of balance are you looking for between being academically challenged and having a fun-filled social life?
Major- If you’re not sure what you want to do with the rest of your life, or want a lot of variety before you work on a major, don’t worry! That’s totally normal. If you want a specialized degree, such as engineering, it’s important to find schools that have the right program for you.
Cost- This is one of the most important factors in choosing a college. Talk with your parents about college costs, look into applying for financial aid, and research different scholarships.
Once you’ve come up with a manageable list of schools, go on some campus visits to get a feel for the school’s unique vibe. Each school has its own “X-factor” where even if it sounds perfect on paper, it might not feel right in person, or you might fall in love with a school you didn’t think you would. To make your search easier, the College Board website has a school search, information about schools, and background on the application process. Visit https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/how-find-your-college-fit to start searching for the school that’s right for you!
Every Wednesday at 8 a.m. – Study Hut Co-Owner SP, MB Officer Manager Sam, and Nicole go to Manhattan Beach Middle School to tutor students for an hour for free during the school’s late start. They have been going to the Manhattan Beach Middle School since the middle of January and each week more students attend the one hour free tutor hour. The tutoring takes place in Mr. Lub’s Classroom (Room 103). One of the Study Hut tutors made a sign to put at the middle school on Wednesday mornings letting students know where the tutoring will take place so hopefully each week more students will attend.
We started the first week with a small turn out, but each week a few more students show up. This past week they had 15 students – the most students they’ve had yet. The tutors bring doughnuts with them – which all the students look forward to. Along with the tutors, the school supplies a cart of books so you can work on any subject you need. Many of the same students come consistently every week, allowing the tutors to get to know the students on a more personal basis.
The tutors have had students come in for help in every subject including but not limited to Spanish, English, Math, Reading, and Science. The tutors have worked on many assignments with students including book reports, homework, studying for tests, organizational skills, arranging classes for High School, and many others. Usually during the hour, a few students work on the same assignments which makes it easier to help more students at one time.
Along with the tutors, MBMS also sends in classroom aids to help during the hour and make sure that everything is running smoothly.
Again, the tutoring takes place in Mr. Lubs Room (103) from 8 – 9 a.m. during the late start hour! We hope to see you there!
Teaching a student from home has its benefits. Homeschooling is essentially one-on-one instruction delivered from the comforts of one’s own home. Every student in the traditional classroom can testify to the myriad of distractions; other students are the often the culprit. At home, with only one instructor, and no other students, comprehension and retention rates can be recorded with hockeystick like improvements.
Installing a whiteboard at home can make the lessons fun!
At the end of the day, the material that 30 students have difficulty grasping, is readily understood and mastered by a homeschool student in a fraction of the time. Is the teaching so much better at home? Sometimes yes and sometimes no– it always depends on the instructor, in the same way that success in sports can be pinned to the coach. The real takeaway is the dramatic difference between the interaction of the instructor and the student. A classroom is often forced to move at the pace of the slower half of the class, and often times, caters to hand raising of the slowest individuals. This type of classroom tailored teaching is inevitable because everyone learns at a different rate. The unfortunate side effect of having to adjust the speed of the lesson is that regardless of the if the teacher moves a faster rate or slower rate, a group of students will ultimately be turned off by the process claiming that the teacher is moving too quickly and they dont understand, or too slowly, and the students are bored. Homeschooling directly combats with enigmatic catch-22 by tailoring one lesson at a time to one student at a time. A tailored one-on-one approach allows the student to absorb the lesson, regurgitate its elemental concepts, practice and move on. Extra attention can specifically be applied to individual points of confusion and similarly, less time can be spent when the student is quickly showing understanding at a proficient level or higher.
The richness of homeschool can be measured not only by test results, but testimonials. Students boast that they are able to surround themselves with a wider range and use of multimedia tools such as: youtube, computer programs, live experiments, and outdoor demonstrations. When all is said and done, textbooks are taught start to finish, an unheard of notion in traditional schools, students are stronger with their test scores, as a result of continual tailored instruction, and education is no longer viewed as a dreaded duty, but rather a meaningful pursuit because of a greater use of tied in outside applications.
It is not uncommon to have your local public schools fill each classroom to the brim. In a sea of 30 plus students, it’s a wonder that kids tend to fall through the cracks. The curriculum is set for each grade and the teacher attacks the lesson plans daily. In the process of introducing materials to students, a few common trends occur. The brainiest of the class rise to the top, and the material is easy for them. The lower regions of the concur phenomenon are lost and require special attention in order to not fall behind. The public school system provides after school programs, tutoring and extra time for the ones who fall behind. So where do the brainiest pupils go? They tend to finish before the class and end up staring at the ceiling, or paper. At times they tend to help other pupils who stare at them in a bewildered stare after given a recent assignment.
As recent college graduates, our tutors have experienced both extremes. We know either one is not preferred and honestly quite extreme. Here at the Hut we accept both types of students. In one corner the brainiest students come in and we push them even further than they thought they were capable of. We do this so well that in many cases they go home pondering how we managed to stump them. A particular student who has recently has been striving to be a better scholarly example is our very own Asher. Having fallen through the cracks at his school, we took this first grader under our wing and amplified his skills with every hour session. We are proud of Asher and are so very content with his improvement over the past few sessions. Upon entering first grade this year, his teacher noticed his improvement in math and has now placed him in the second grade math class! He is rock star here at the Hut!!! Students such as these are the types of students we love to help. I mean after all, we strive to better your student or bust.
There is a huge difference between what a student gets out of a classroom and how a student benefits from one-on-one tutoring sessions. A school teacher has to cater his lesson to a group of students, from many different backgrounds, learning styles and interests. While our teachers do phenomenally well at one of the toughest jobs, a student that receives one-on-one tutoring, catered to their needs, makes leaps and bounds academically.
First, they can gain a tutor that relates to who they are. This is important. Many students have a difficult time studying subjects that to them, are irrelevant. Having a tutor that they can relate to helps students understand: if their tutor feels the need to know it, maybe they should know it also. A musical student? Perhaps the tutor has a music background and understands why mathematics is still important for someone in that field.
One-on-one tutoring also allows for the lesson to be catered to a student’s particular learning style. Some students are visual learners, who need charts and diagrams of the concepts to really grasp them. Others need repetition to help them retain the information. Some students benefit from more example problems and the ability to ask questions throughout the practice. One-on-one tutoring really helps a student grasp the subject in a way that is most beneficial to them.
Lastly, a tutor can really get to know their student. Who they are as a person, their interests, families and events going on in their lives, all affect their academics. We get to know their aspirations, other stresses they are dealing with and who they are outside of the classroom.
There is no substitute for a good teacher. However, the benefits of one-on-one tutoring are invaluable for a student’s academic achievement.
