Math is One of The Most Important Life Skills
A college professor once remarked, “When I hear some of my students tell me that they intend to stop taking math classes, I tell them to listen to the sound of closing doors”. Undoubtedly, proficiency in math is one of the most important life skills. Almost two-thirds of future jobs will require proficiency in algebra, statistics and data analysis. Studies have shown high correlation of economic well being of individuals that are proficient in math versus any other subject. Math is the key to getting into the right college and landing the right job, but beyond that, it is fundamental to understanding of the world around us, and to our ability to think logically and make good decisions in our lives.
Developing Analytical Mind
Our program is designed to give kids solid foundation in mathematics, with main focus on conceptual understanding (vs. memorization) and on long-term retention of learned concepts. The curriculum is custom developed and incorporates many best practices, and is in part based on the rigorous Russian mathematics programs. The topics are methodically built and sequenced to provide an effective stepladder for the learning process.
Compared to the standard curriculum in US public and most private schools, our program raises the bar to challenge the kids; it involves rigorous in-class exercises and homework; it delves deeper into topics to ensure better comprehension; it is based on early introduction of Algebra as “the language of math”, and incorporates a variety of proven approaches and methodologies to drive kids’ engagement and learning. Most importantly, our program is fun that kids truly enjoy.
Students Spend Average of 15-17+ Hours Per Month
Our classes are held weekly and last 1.5 hrs (shorter for K-level), and students average another 2.0-2.5 hours for homework and test preparation per week, equating to an average 15-17+ hours per month.
Our program goes from beginning of September to the end of July. The material is modularized so students, if unable to start at the beginning of the school year, can enter at any time. We try to minimize the break time as it contributes to students forgetting some of the information and skills that they learned.
Homework is delivered online or in handouts.
There are 3 tests during the school year, and students get a composite grade for the course based on the tests as well as homework. Minimum 60% passing grade is required to advance to the next level course.
Our Program is Not Just for the “Gifted”
The program is for those parents and students who feel that they are not getting sufficiently challenged in mathematics in their current school environment. While our program is a good fit for kids with demonstrated math potential, we believe that vast majority of kids have much higher math potential that is being underutilized in our school system, and it takes a program like ours to bring it out. We offer different grade levels depending on kids’ capabilities that allow for both a faster progression for advanced students as well as the ability to go slower for those at a lower level of proficiency.
Our courses are labeled 1000, 1100, 1200 and so on, which is loosely based on “Elo rating” system used in sports and games like Chess to rate the skill level of players. The use of the Elo rating system is not coincidental. Chess, for example, has many parallels to math, and shows the potential of kids’ minds. It is not uncommon for the best Chess players to become Masters at age 10-11 and Grandmasters at age 13-14. We want to provide the same “unhindered track” in math through offering fluid, merit-based and age-independent class progression.
Another reason we do not use class grades, is that our classes will likely diverge from typical school grades, especially at the later stages of the program. For example, our lowest level course, 1000, should be appropriate for most Kindergarteners, first graders or second graders; 1100 will be appropriate for first, second, third and forth graders; while 1400 will be appropriate for 4-, 5- , 6- , 7- graders (and even 8–graders). In other words, our “grades” do not correspond to ages, but rather are strictly based on the skills and proficiency level of a student.