For older students the incentives are easier to see, better math skills lead to higher grades. For younger children the final incentives of productive studying are harder to see, which is why we sometimes need to provide an extra boost of encouraged learning with a small piece of candy for a correct answer. Getting students in the mood to learn, and to appreciate their education can be one of the hardest things to accomplish as a tutor.
When the students learn how useful math can be to them and how they can apply specific math skills to real-life situations, they work harder and perform better. Mathematics revolves our daily lives. Teaching kids about everyday uses of math helps them to better understand the real world around them. Some examples of everyday uses of math included: problem solving, budgeting money, time management, calculating tips and tax, memorizing important number data i.e. phone numbers and locker combinations, and estimating distances and weights. These real world skills have major benefits towards the academic success of an individual, and can lead to a greater success in careers that you might not expect to be math-intensive such as, agriculture, law, business, politics, psychology, and music.
Daily mental math exercises to help keep your brain active are a great way to stay on top of your mathematical game. Solving puzzles and exercises such as, suduku or homework problem sets, keeps your mind sharp and ready to tackle any challenge. Mathematics may seem to be an underrated subject, but it has lasting influences in our lives everyday. From the moment we wake up to check the clock, to the number of hours we work each day to make a living, we are constantly surrounded by numbers.
What began as a modest, experimental finals-season gesture became one of the busiest and most auspicious events that the Study Hut has ever participated in. Early in January, the Hut got in touch with Mary Lou Cordaro, who works with the library at West High School. The Hut volunteered its services for any West students ambitious enough to sign up for extra tutoring on the Friday and Saturday (January 21 and 22) before exams. A few tutors from each of the Hut’s branches signed up to work at “stations” according to subject, which students could move among during the three hours per day that we would be there. We expected a slight crowd, an atmosphere perhaps even casual (or as casual as possible with finals looming ahead). But Mary Lou, one of the most enthusiastic educators we have ever had the privilege to work with, tirelessly promoted the event until the roster had racked up the names of over one hundred students eager for all the help they could get their hands on.
Suddenly, it was all hands on deck. Subject stations were set up throughout the library’s spacious first floor. Textbooks were handed out. The library doors opened like floodgates, and the place was teeming with students. All grades were represented, and for three hours each day the students moved among the tables and classrooms to garner whatever study tips they could. To those students who stayed long, paid attention, and were reluctant to leave even at the two-minute warning, tutors passed out vouchers for free hours of final exam tutoring. Thanks to the students, tutors, and of course, Mary Lou, those were two of the most fruitful days in Hut history. After it was over, many students redeemed their vouchers before their exams, and several of them have begun to stay on for regular help.
Before January 21, while we had been looking forward to the event, we had not expected such bewildering success. It was a great educational experience, not only for the students, but also for the tutors, many of whom had never worked with such large groups before. And it was fun, to boot! As the Hut plans for its future, we are looking forward to many more tutoring opportunities like it. Thank you to the Mary Lou, the tutors, and the students who made this first one so great!
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.
Nowadays, kids rely heavily upon their calculator for simple arithmetic. Most of us know our multiplication tables and how to multiple or divide some easier numbers. When the numbers start to get more complex thought, people get very frustrated and don’t even attempt to figure it out without a calculator. Here are some tips for doing mental math:
Say we wanted to multiply 12 by 23. Not too hard to do by hand or calculator, but when most are asked what the answer is without a calculator, their response is without thought, “I do not know”. You can always break these numbers down into problems that are much easier to do in your head:
First let’s look at something like 12×20. 20 is 2×10, so 12×20 is just 12x(2×10). Since 12×2 is 24 and 24×10 is 240, 12×20=240.
Now, let’s look at 12×23. The trick here is to rewrite one of the numbers as the sum of two numbers we can easily multiply, then use distributive property to make the one multiplication the sum of two easier multiplications. We can write 23 at 20+3. So, 12(23) = 12(20+3) which by the distributive property is 12(20) +12(3) = 240 +36 = 276. Since 12×20 and 12×3 are easy to do in the head, multiplying 12×23 can be just as easy if you can keep track of a few extra numbers.
Similarly 12 = 10+2, so (12)23= (10+2)23 = 10(23) +2(23) = 230+46 = 276. Either way, it isn’t as hard as most people think it is.
The next trick is to change the numbers we are multiplying. What is 15×18? Well, 18=2×9, so 15×18 = 15x(2×9) = (15×2)x9 = 30×9. Again, 30 = 3×10, so 30×9 is 10x(3×9) = 10×27 = 270. While this may seem like a lot of steps, once you get the hang of it, you can do this really quickly in your head.
These tricks work well for numbers under 100. When you get above 100, the tricks work the same, there are just more numbers to keep track of. Once you get the hang of keeping track of all the numbers, bigger numbers will become just as easy to multiply.
Try these in your head:
18×32 [18=20-2 so 18×32 = (20-2)x32 = 20(32)-2(32)= 640-64=576]
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 »
Spring is in the air in the South Bay, and finals are right around the corner at Redondo Union High School. As tutors, we know that one of the subjects that requires the most practice and review is Spanish, especially around finals season! With our one-on-one sessions, we not only help students understand supplementary vocabulary, but we also help students get a better handle on how to properly execute correct grammar. With the year coming to a close, the newest material is often the hardest to understand in the least time to understand it. Read the rest of this entry »
Attention PVHS and Peninsula students:
The stretch of finals at the end of the year is when a lot of you will realize that, just maybe, you haven’t kept your schoolwork as organized as you ought to have (and you swore after last year that you’d get better at that)! You’ve seen the study guides — your teachers weren’t kidding when they said that the tests would be cumulative. And where are those notes on cell division, anyway? Read the rest of this entry »
Algebra is one of the most fundamental subjects in a student’s education. Throughout the course a student will build a foundation that is imperative for, not only subsequent math classes, but most science classes as well. This is why it is essential for a student to develop a solid understanding of Algebra, so that they are able to be, and will continue to be, successful throughout their educational endeavors. Read the rest of this entry »
