Summer tutoring at the Study Hut is a great idea for any elementary aged student. Many people assume that tutoring is only for struggling students who need remediation. While tutoring is great for these students and will help them get back on their feet grade-wise, tutoring is also beneficial for students who are doing great in class, especially over the summer. The summer vacation is three months long, a very long time to have to remember everything you learned last year. And most teachers like to jump right in when class starts, as they have enough material to cover in a year without including weeks of review. The new Common Core standards emphasize coherence in mathematics, so students need to be prepared to build on the previous year’s learning. Here is the link for more info:
So, how do you make sure you are ready for these new standards? Practice! Tutoring is the perfect way to keep your brain active over the summer. Just like you have to work out to keep your muscles in shape, you have to keep your brain working to keep it in “school shape”. Tutoring will keep your study skills sharp and have you ready to go as soon as class starts. No more wasting the first week of school trying to switch your brain back into “school mode.” Was there a subject last year you kind of learned, but were never clear on? Maybe something that is going to make another appearance this year? (Long division? Fractions?) Tutoring will clear that up without the added stress of homework and other subjects and tests. Confidence is a key to success in school, and confidence comes from practice. With a little bit of tutoring in the off months, the next year will be a breeze.
1. Start Early! – This is the most important one. The internet provides plenty of ways to waste your study time, but you’ll be happy you stayed away from Netflix and Reddit when the final finally comes.
2. Study in Chunks – Your brain works best in 50 minute intervals. You may feel studious after your 6 hour study marathon, but a tired brain doesn’t absorb information like a fresh one. Take 5-10 minutes breaks every hour to make sure you’re making the most of your study time.
3. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place – Studying in bed may sound like a good idea, but once you’re in bed, so will a nap. Find a place that works for you. It should be somewhere where you can focus, spread out your notes, and get in a studying groove. And if you get sick of one place, switch it up!
4. Know Your Teacher – Ask questions, take notes, review old worksheets. Figure out what your teacher thinks is important because that’s what will show up on the final.
5. Study Alone – Start with what you don’t know. Review your old tests, quizzes, and homeworks, and take notes on what you missed. Then spend some time on your own with each of these topics. Write down any questions you have because the next step is…
6. Study in Groups – Once you’ve figured out your own strengths and weaknesses in each subject, form a study group. Here you can ask questions you had on your own and answer some of your study buddies’. Explaining concepts and hearing them explained in new ways will strengthen your understanding of the material.
7. Exercise – Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, and you may need all the brain blood you can get for finals week. It’s also a great way to take a break from book to soak up some sun.
8. Sleep – It may be tempting to cram all night, but
it may not help as much as you think. Give your brain a rest! When the night before the test comes around, be confident in the studying you’ve been doing all week and get some extra sleep.
1. During the school day, teachers’ attention is spread among many students. A tutor can create a targeted plan for your child’s specific needs.
2. Today, kids have increased access to technology, busy parents, and have extremely busy schedules, all of which can potentially distract them from their studies. Time with a tutor gives them the time to focus only on homework or studying.
3. Tutors have the time to explain a concept in several different ways, instead of having to move class along at a certain pace.
4. Tutoring can also teach study skills, which can then be applied to what’s going on in school.
5. Even for students who are doing well in school, tutoring can provide a competitive edge to do even better.
6. Summer tutoring can prepare students for upcoming difficult subjects, such as algebra, or reinforce what was already learned that year so September isn’t spent playing catch-up.
7. For high school students, individual or small group tutoring can be essential for APs and SAT subject tests.
8. For younger kids, tutoring can help boost standardized test scores.
9. A tutor can be a useful sounding board for an upcoming project, paper, or exam, and can help prevent the stress and frustration of leaving an assignment for the night before.
10. Whether it’s third grade math, high school chemistry, or middle school history, tutors have expertise in their subject and can make it more engaging and maybe even fun.
It’s Science Fair season once again! We are excited to return as judges to Parras Middle School in Redondo Beach on Wednesday May 14th. The students have been hard at work hypothesizing and experimenting and we cannot wait to see what they have come up with this year! As we saw last year, there is no limit to a child’s imagination. The most talked about and memorable experiment amongst our tutors was titled “Fat Cats: Is your cat overweight?” in which a student “interviewed” several cats of various weights and tested their mental abilities. He theorized a high correlation between heavier weights and lower mental ability. In conclusion, he found significant evidence that proved his hypothesis to be true.
To prepare for this year’s science fair, we are currently working closely with the Parras science teachers to create a unique grading rubric for each student’s project and presentation that will correspond with the project guidelines that have been provided to the students. Last year, each student took his or her turn presenting their project to a pair of judges. After they completed their presentations, the judges asked them a series of questions about their experiments and findings.
It was a great experience last to year to see some of our regular students in action at their school, presenting projects some of us tutors even helped them create! We are looking forward to this year’s science fair and hoping we can help make it a fun and memorable experience for the teachers, students, and their families. It is our greatest pleasure to give back to a community that continues to give us its infinite support.
These days it seems that everyone you talk to- students, teachers, artists, mechanics, architects, entrepreneurs, anybody & everybody is heavily in debt.
…but not financial debt.
Financial debt is something you can pay off. This is a more pernicious and dangerous debt…SLEEP DEBT.
According to a study from Harvard Medical School [1], for most folks if you get less than 5 and half hours of sleep in a 24 hour period, you’re in sleep debt. As sleep debt increases, your performance, energy, level, and your mood suffers. Not to mention that it interferes with your metabolism, blood sugar, and body weight maintenance.
If one does not get enough sleep over enough days, the deficit can hurt your performance as much as pulling an all nighter.
When it comes to studying and academic performance, sleep debt is an even bigger threat. Sleep debt slows cognition and damages your memory. Pulling that all nighter to crank through a project or cram for your exam is a recipe for failure. You’ll forget what you learn, be more cranky & groggy, and damage your health. Who wants that? Sleep!
Remedies and tricks to get your zzz’s:
1) Be BORING. Our bodies like routine, structure, and regularity. Even if you have an unpredictable schedule during the day, try to institute a regimented lights-out/awake schedule
2) Take Notes. Do you really need 7 to 8 hours to be at top performance. The only way to find out for sure is to keep a sleep log. Log your wake up time and guestimate as best you can when you actually fell to sleep and see how much sleep you are actually getting. The facts may surprise you
3) Pay your taxes. When I say taxes, I mean your sleep taxes. Instead of waiting for one big lump sum to “catch up” your sleep debt, you should instead make little payments along the way. Get the full 7-8 hours instead of attempting Herculean heroics on the weekends with a marathon sleep session
Bottom line from the study: you better get your 7 to 8 hours of ZZZ’s, otherwise your grades and your health could be in big trouble.
1. People help each other out
Costa has so many clubs dedicated to helping charities locally and globally. Students and teachers join together to raise money and volunteer for things they are passionate about! And that is really cool. Many clubs raise money, some raise awareness, but the important thing is that Costa students really care about giving back to the global community.
2. Amazing new buildings!
New science buildings that ensure students get amazing hands on experiences and get to use new equipment. Even some of the older buildings have amazing technology and help make learning fun.
3. Everyone is blonde
Blonde is like a recessive gene or something, Costa is basically a crazy science experiment focused on furthering the blonde population. Its totally true because of science.
4. You meet friends for life.
You meet some of the people you will be friends with for the rest of your life. And you get like 6 hours a day to bond with them. And if you haven’t met your BFF so far– there are like 2,000 students. You probably haven’t met them yet.
5. Our sports teams are great
We win games. Run fast. Throw balls through hoops. CIF and stuff.
6. The teachers really care for students
Teachers at Costa are among the highest rated in the nation. Our teachers go above and beyond what is asked of them. Teachers are always going out of their way to like be positive role models, inspire the youth and write awesome letters of recommendation. They are pretty great.
7. Students are (over) achievers
But in a really positive way. We have way more AP classes than most schools, and we have to make more sections to accommodate all the students who want to take them. And if you get in over your head with your overachiever ways there’s always Study Hut to back you up!
8. Everyone has a secret talent.
At Costa, people have all these crazy secret hobbies like jiujitsu and rhythmic gymnastics. It makes the student body really diverse and also probably home of many future Olympians.
9. Amazing student activities and events
Costa ASB throws great school functions like dances, pep-rallies and more. Its fun to release some stress and see a student dressed up in the crazy horse costume.
10. You genuinely get an amazing education
Academics are taught, but life skills are learned. Students from Costa are well equipped to go to college and start making positive changes is the world. Costa paves the way for students to discover themselves and where life might take them.
Staying Organized: One of the most important things a student of any age can do to stay on top of their academic game is to keep all necessary materials and information for every class in a place they’ll always find it. This definitely includes keeping and up-to-date and thorough weekly planner. How can anyone prepare for a test without knowing when it is scheduled?
Notecards
In-class Notes:
Proactive Studying: Studying is so much harder the night before the test. By doing just a bit of studying after a new lesson, the information will be much easier to remember when the time comes to prove you know it. Cramming for tests at the last minute only hurts your chances of actually retaining the material.
Improving Test-Taking Skills: Test-taking is a skill. In fact, it’s an entirely learned skill. You were not born knowing how to fill out a Scantron. In this way, any student who struggles on tests can develop the skills to ensure that their best efforts are reflected in their grades. Simple things like recreating test-taking environments while studying and working with practice tests and quizzes can improve scores by miles!
Eliminating Careless Errors: Perhaps the most common point deduction of all, small mental errors can ruin an otherwise heroic effort. This is essential with subjects like math, where one small mistake can turn into a whole page of mistakes. The best way to eliminate mental errors is to set aside time at the end of a test or quiz to double and triple-check their work. Everyone makes mistakes, but the key is to fix them before turning in your work.
Doing All Homework: This seems terribly obvious, but many students fall victim to leaving free points on the table in every class. Anything that yields credit and points for your student should at the very least be attempted. Of course there are extenuating circumstances, but when a simple worksheet can be the difference between an A and a B, it becomes crucial to cumulative grades.
Paying Attention to the Teacher: This is something that sounds obvious, but there’s a bit more to it. No two teachers are the same, and this can present a challenge in preparing in the most effective ways for any given assignment or tests. The all-star student should always be focused on the tendencies of their instructor. If your math teacher favors word problems on tests, you can focus the majority of your studying on those.
The Study Hut Foundation officially opened last Wednesday and we are super excited about it!
Nestled on a quiet corner in Lomita, directly across the street from the Lomita Public Library, the Study Hut Foundation is perfectly located to conveniently serve the students of Nathaniel Narbonne High School.
Description
The Study Hut Foundation aims to provide the same tutoring and test-prep services, which our students in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Newport Beach, and El Segundo have become accustomed to, free of cost to students who could otherwise not afford them.Afford hard working, motivated students the opportunity to reach their highest academic potential and achieve their goal of attending college.
Improve our community by supporting the good work of committed students.
How Funding Will Be Used:
The goal of the Study Hut Foundation is to support the education of students, in Lomita and neighboring communities, who could not otherwise afford to receive tutoring. As such, the primary function of the funding that the Study Hut Foundation receives will be used to fund scholarships for students who meet Study Hut Foundation qualifications. The scholarships offset the costs of tutoring, including the tutor’s time and the materials used during the session.
Our Redondo Beach Office Manager Justin went to our Study Hut Foundation on Monday May 6th, and he tutored two students, Gabrielle and Joe. Gabrielle used to get all A’s and now she is getting F’s in Chemistry and Geometry. She forgot her Geometry book so they worked on Chemistry.
Justin then worked with Joe. He is getting D’s in both Algebra 2 and Chemistry. Joe has a hard time balancing between sports and classes but is very capable of getting good grades. He just needs someone to sit down with him and help him with his work.
We have a physics teacher from Mira Costa who is volunteering to work there!
We will be holding our Study Hut Parent/Teacher Scholar Quiz on Sunday June 2nd from 4-9pm at the Manhattan Beach Country Club to help raise funds for the Foundation.
For the past 7 weeks, we have held 2 group courses to help students prepare for the SATs. Our group courses took place on the nights of Tues/Thurs and Mon/Wed from 7-9 p.m.
The cap for the SAT classes are 10 students and P.J. and Josh were the teachers for the SAT course. The January group course helped the students prepare for the March SAT exam that just took place this past Saturday, March 9th.
HIGHLIGHTS: Victoria, one of the 10 students in P.J’s SAT Group Course, went up 300 points from the help of the SAT course!
HERE’S THE IMPORTANT PART: Our next SAT course starts TONIGHT…. and we have 4 SPOTS LEFT!! P.J. will be the teacher for this SAT Group Course which will help students prepare for the May SAT test. We are only offering one group course on Tues/Thurs!!
We will have one week off for Spring Break so please keep that in mind. If you would like to sign up for our group course please contact our MB office manager Samantha … samantha@studyhut.com or call the Manhattan Beach Study Hut: (310)546-2408.
We have many tips that we share with our students on how to succeed on the SAT – and today our 1st tip comes from Andrew, one of our SAT tutors.
1st Tip: “Lookout for extreme answer choices in the Critical Reading section! If the answer choice contains strong words like ‘never, always, must, impossible, cannot, only, all, none, etc,’ then it is likely incorrect.”
Lastly, if you don’t want to be in the SAT Group Course, we also offer 3 different SAT Packages: 40 hour, 32 hour, and 24 hour (prices range depending on package you pick). We also do private one-on-one SAT tutoring. We have wonderful SAT tutors including but not limited too: Rhiannon, Kristen, Jeff, Frank, Rita, Josh, and Andrew! One-on-one private tutoring costs $100 plus a $65 materials fee.
Finals week is coming quick and you might start feeling that uneasy shadow lingering over your shoulders, but luckily there are several tips, tricks, and techniques to make the next few weeks bearable. First of all, you need to make the trade and remember that drowsiness, exhaustion, and brain drain will all pass, but your GPA is forever. Accepting the climb ahead of you will set you on the right path for success. Regardless of the subject matter, people all learn the same which is why you know that cramming doesn’t work, taking long exaggerated breaks, and side tracking yourself is all sure ways to fail your finals. Thus, find an absolutely quite and if necessary (desolate) place to buckle down and really hit the books; this is a great time to turn off your cell phone and get away from your social notifications. Make goals for yourself and set time limits on how long you will study before you take a scheduled break. Don’t feel the urge to work in study groups if you know they will distract you, instead work on as much material as you can and save all your questions for your teacher, tutor, or friends for later. It’s important to build on what you know rather than give yourself test anxiety on what you need to know. Evaluate how your teacher or professor has given previous tests and quizzes and determine a study strategy that will most likely reflect you’re finals, midterm, test, or even future quiz. Then chunk the material into pieces and absolutely take your time learning the material – It takes more than an hour to digest a century of history! Finally, you need to make it interesting. Take pride in what you’re learning and mentally dazzle yourself.
