How is Mathnasium?

[Anonymous]

Looking for some math enrichment for my kids. 7yo DS and I both hated Kumon. All the repetition and homework was awful. DS hated doing the same worksheets over and over again and I hated checking the answers.

How is Mathnasium?

[Anonymous]

a waste of money and not evidence based.

[Anonymous]

My son hated Kumon too, so I sympathize.

However I would like to tell you gently that math fluency requires an automatization of facts, and this can only come with repetition.

[Anonymous]

We love mathnasium. I am terrible at math and I have a tough time teaching my elementary school kid the concepts. I help her with English at home and she goes to manthnasium for math. More than anything it helped build a love for math which she never had before. She also is able to use logic to figure out math questions which definitely did not come from school or from me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a waste of money and not evidence based.

How many enrichment math programs are evidenced based?

[Anonymous]

Our DD is now a teen and started doing summer sessions at Mathnasium before third grade. Only summer sessions for us, but it has worked well. Unlike Kumon, they never send home worksheets or anything else; all the work is done during the session at the Mathnasium site. I had friends whose kids did Kumon and both the kids and parents disliked having "homework" which added stress during the school year for them. No homework in the summer for our sessions either.

Mathnasium is a group setting though the kids don't work as a group. The tutors set the kids to work, then move from student to student as needed when a kid completes a sheet or section of work. It means the student is doing the work without the tutor sitting there breathing down her neck, and the tutors can be giving help to another kid while your kid is actually working.

My DD always liked the tutors she had. Who you get depends on who is working at the time you go, and while you might get the same person or couple of people most of the time, you probably can't guarantee that your child would always and only work with tutor A or tutor B. If your kid would do better with working with only one person every single time, Mathnasium might not be for you, but you could ask if they can schedule your child so that your child goes when a certain person is there. We also liked the flexibility -- at least at our closest Mathnasium, they were pretty easy about asking us to sign up that we'd come certain times (say, at 4 on Mondays and Thursdays, for example) but were fine if we turned up at other times or wanted to adjust week to week, which in summer does happen.

It's expensive. I have no idea how it stacks up in terms of price to Kumon or other centers. But we thought it was helpful and our DD has said at times, "We were doing X in math today and I covered that in the summer." (And just FYI, OP, our kid is not that interested in math and is not a whiz at it, so her willingness to go to Mathnasium was one thing that kept us coming back.)

[Anonymous]

We liked it. It's not parallel to FCPS though. It's based on your child's ability to work independently somewhat. I prefer a private tutor actually. Math Camp?

[Anonymous]

http://www.russianschool.com/location/reston

Money well spent. All classes are in English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.russianschool.com/location/reston

Money well spent. All classes are in English.

What do they charge?

[Anonymous]

$200 a month for 2 hour class (once a week)
$40/hour for tutoring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$200 a month for 2 hour class (once a week)
$40/hour for tutoring

This and the posts it's responding to are NOT about Mathnasium -- seems someone posted on the wrong thread. There is a separate Russian language tutoring thread.

OP this is not the cost or time frame for Mathnasium

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200 a month for 2 hour class (once a week)
$40/hour for tutoring

This and the posts it's responding to are NOT about Mathnasium -- seems someone posted on the wrong thread. There is a separate Russian language tutoring thread.

[/b]OP this is not the cost or time frame for Mathnasium

[b]

Then what is the cost and time frame for Mathnasium?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200 a month for 2 hour class (once a week)
$40/hour for tutoring

This and the posts it's responding to are NOT about Mathnasium -- seems someone posted on the wrong thread. There is a separate Russian language tutoring thread.

[/b]OP this is not the cost or time frame for Mathnasium

[b]

Then what is the cost and time frame for Mathnasium?

I've checked several outlets in the area. They run around $300/month. Some allow you to come 10 times per month. Some tell you that you can come as many times as you want. It depends on the area. Some have a 3 mo. minimum. Some have a 6 mon minimum. Ask about a trial month. We did that (paid $300, but no commitment), then decided not to continue for now. There were younger kids in there as well as high school kids getting help with calculus.

I like that all the work is done there (not at home). My child is very shy in situations like this and I didn't feel that they really engaged a lot with her (although she doesn't act very interested, so I understand why they don't really engage much). Still, it's not the same level of interaction as you might have with one-on-one tutoring. But, there is a benefit to it.

One thing I would be cautious about -- the assessment test. They gave my child an assessment for what they said was "pre-algebra". That is what her grade level is. I know for a fact that some of the things on the assessment are NOT things that my child has been taught in adv. math (which is what leads to pre-algebra in FCPS), or in her actual pre-algebra class. I had to wonder if they purposely put things on the assessment to make it look like "gee, you're kid has some gaps" -- when I know she didn't get them wrong b/c she missed the concept. She got them wrong on the assessment b/c she's never had that before. And I am pretty sure it is not part of the pre-algebra curriculum b/c those concepts aren't in the workbooks that I got for pre-algebra either. So, I'm a bit suspicious on that. But, I think Mathnasium can be a good thing....it's just a big expense when you think of it month after month after month.

I really don't like my child's attitude when it comes to teaching her math, but for now, we are doing it at home b/c I just can't pay $300/mo for pre-algebra. If you are already planning to spend that much on tutoring, Mathnasium is a reasonable option (especially if it is located near something else that you will use alot while your kid is at mathnasium... like a gym or grocery store or mall. It does get tedious after awhile to drive them there and pick them up. At home tutoring doesn't have that issue... but then you don't get as many sessions as you would at mathnasium for the same $$)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I really don't like my child's attitude when it comes to teaching her math, but for now, we are doing it at home b/c I just can't pay $300/mo for pre-algebra. If you are already planning to spend that much on tutoring, Mathnasium is a reasonable option (especially if it is located near something else that you will use alot while your kid is at mathnasium... like a gym or grocery store or mall. It does get tedious after awhile to drive them there and pick them up. At home tutoring doesn't have that issue... but then you don't get as many sessions as you would at mathnasium for the same $$)

My child recently started Mathnasium for prealgebra. She's lacking some 5th and 6th grade skills: fractions, decimals, ratios, percents. She can do the work correctly at school if she follows the exact formulas she has been taught, but if you step outside anything she has specifically learned, she can't figure it out.

I hesitated about spending the $300 a month for this, but it seems to me that if every we are going to do remedial tutoring, earlier is better than later, so she has more time to catch up to where she should be. If she's behind (as she was) in 6th grade, just doing more of the same isn't going to improve her trajectory, she is just going to fall further and further behind. There's NO WAY she'd let me tutor her at home (productively) for 3 hours a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I really don't like my child's attitude when it comes to teaching her math, but for now, we are doing it at home b/c I just can't pay $300/mo for pre-algebra. If you are already planning to spend that much on tutoring, Mathnasium is a reasonable option (especially if it is located near something else that you will use alot while your kid is at mathnasium... like a gym or grocery store or mall. It does get tedious after awhile to drive them there and pick them up. At home tutoring doesn't have that issue... but then you don't get as many sessions as you would at mathnasium for the same $$)

My child recently started Mathnasium for prealgebra. She's lacking some 5th and 6th grade skills: fractions, decimals, ratios, percents. She can do the work correctly at school if she follows the exact formulas she has been taught, but if you step outside anything she has specifically learned, she can't figure it out.

I hesitated about spending the $300 a month for this, but it seems to me that if every we are going to do remedial tutoring, earlier is better than later, so she has more time to catch up to where she should be. If she's behind (as she was) in 6th grade, just doing more of the same isn't going to improve her trajectory, she is just going to fall further and further behind. There's NO WAY she'd let me tutor her at home (productively) for 3 hours a week.

I'm the PP -- and I totally hear you! It's not just $300, it's that the next month, it's another $300 and the next it's $300 more, etc. When I thought about $1800 over 6 mos.. well, I just couldn't stomach it at this point. I'd rather use that for a family vacation! But, if your finances allow it, then Mathnasium is a good way to lower the drama and power struggles.

Re: catching up now.... I've been under that philosophy since first/second grade with my child. And here we are in 7th grade and it is EXACTLY the same. She has even gotten advanced pass on some SOL tests, so it's not that she's always behind the curve and never catching up. The truth is that my child doesn't pay close attention at school, nor when she does her homework. Whether that is a lack of maturity or simply not caring... I don't know. Since we moved to a "better" school zone and her teacher is the head of the math department, I think this is as good of teaching as we can expect. So, the only thing that is consistent over these last 7-8 yrs is my child.

I relate this only to caution you that "catching up" may not be a reasonable long term goal. Your child may "catch up" enough for this year, then go off course late fall next year, then need to "catch up" in the spring, etc., etc. Getting your child on track now may not "solve" this. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make that horse drink. You can take a kid to Mathnasium, but you can't *make* them care. It has to come from within. In the meantime, you just keep parenting and supporting the best you can...