Mathnasium vs. private tutor -- cost/structure of commitment?

[Anonymous]

I have a child in 7th grade who is not doing as well as she should and I want to get her on top of math before it gets harder with Algebra. Thinking of a private tutor or mathnasium.

What is the commitment and the teaching process (and the cost) with mathnasium?

If you have tried a private tutor, how do they know what to teach or use the time for? I don't want the tutor to expect that DD will have homework to go over. I need them to go beyond the homework b/c apparently, doing the homework is not enough for DD to really understand it.

How much will Mathnasium run me and how often do you go?

[Anonymous]

Why don't you call Mathnasium and ask them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you call Mathnasium and ask them?

because I don't want a sales pitch that sounds good up front but doesn't include the on-going costs or expectations.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

My friend told me her daughter goes to mathnasium. They can go pretty much unlimited times in a month for $350 a month I think. Her daughter goes 2x a week for 90 minutes. The first 45 min they work on Mathnasium chosen topics to fill in missing gaps, the second 45 minutes they work on her HW basically. She could go more hours for no additional cost but the 2x a week is all they can manage to fit in the schedule. It isn't private tutoring but I think the girl shares a tutor with several other older kids each working on their own skills -- the tutor kind of switches between them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you call Mathnasium and ask them?

because I don't want a sales pitch that sounds good up front but doesn't include the on-going costs or expectations.

Thanks.

I agree with you OP. Mathnasium also won't be able to tell you a perspective from a student and parent perspective.

One of my kids has been at Mathnasium for 3 years.
Prior to that, we had a tutor.

Private, independent tutor was charging $30/hour. Former FCPS teacher. Schedule was not very flexible. "Tutoring" was done to prepare for the next test rather than reinforcing basics. It was short term help.

Mathnasium cost is $275/month. During the first year, they let us go for unlimited sessions. Now we aim for 10-12 sessions per month- which is about 2-4 times per week. One hour per session but she has ADHD so 45 minutes works better for her. Schedule is very flexible. They use multiple methods for teaching. She gets assessed every few months. We track the data. The director gives us specific, frank and honest updates. We have a great relationship with the director and it's great that I have someone else worrying about how my kid is doing at Math. For us, this is for the long haul. That director knows my kid more than any other school teacher has. There are multiple tutors at Mathnasium and DD has not complained about a single one. I think it's good exposure for her to work with really smart teachers, some of which are college students. No work is done outside of Mathnasium which is great for our family.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you call Mathnasium and ask them?

because I don't want a sales pitch that sounds good up front but doesn't include the on-going costs or expectations.

Thanks.

I agree with you OP. Mathnasium also won't be able to tell you a perspective from a student and parent perspective.

One of my kids has been at Mathnasium for 3 years.
Prior to that, we had a tutor.

Private, independent tutor was charging $30/hour. Former FCPS teacher. Schedule was not very flexible. "Tutoring" was done to prepare for the next test rather than reinforcing basics. It was short term help.

Mathnasium cost is $275/month. During the first year, they let us go for unlimited sessions. Now we aim for 10-12 sessions per month- which is about 2-4 times per week. One hour per session but she has ADHD so 45 minutes works better for her. Schedule is very flexible. They use multiple methods for teaching. She gets assessed every few months. We track the data. The director gives us specific, frank and honest updates. We have a great relationship with the director and it's great that I have someone else worrying about how my kid is doing at Math. For us, this is for the long haul. That director knows my kid more than any other school teacher has. There are multiple tutors at Mathnasium and DD has not complained about a single one. I think it's good exposure for her to work with really smart teachers, some of which are college students. No work is done outside of Mathnasium which is great for our family.

Hope this helps.

thanks for your really helpful post.

How does the tutor-of-the-day know what your child needs to work on? I want my child to be well prepared for tests at school... but how does the mathnasium process keep your child in-line with what is being covered and tested at school?

[Anonymous]

If you consider Mathnasium visit a few of them in the area. They are franchises and operate very differently even though the materials are the same. There is one that is very strict and focused a lot on data and getting a kid to the "next level." They have a ton of rules about this and that. It is drill and kill but some kids need this and this location is good at this if you have a goal in mind and need to make sure certain material is covered. Another one we visited is much more relaxed. They seem to recognize that some kids have on days and off days and are very patient if a kid is stuck on a particular concept for a while. This second location was a better fit for our DC but I could see how the first location would work better for a different type of kid or family. At our location there was a good mix of kids who were working way above grade level and at the center for fun, some kids who were struggling more, and a lot in the middle. These are kids who are doing fine in school and their parents wanted to keep it that way.

[Anonymous]

My son just started at Mathnesium about 6 weeks ago; was struggling in Algebra 1 and I knew we needed something but wasn't being proactive in finding a tutor. Another mom mentioned that her kids loved going to Mathnesium--I honestly wouldn't have every considered the place if it wasn't for this positive feedback. Anyways, my son is actually loving it and it is so much more convenient than the scheduling issues related to having a tutor. You drop your child anytime during the window and return later when they are finished. My son's confidence is growing, as are his grades. It is way worth the $ and actually is $/hr cheaper than getting a tutor, at least the tutoring rates I'm aware of in the area. Highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

13:09 Here

How does the tutor-of-the-day know what your child needs to work on? I want my child to be well prepared for tests at school... but how does the mathnasium process keep your child in-line with what is being covered and tested at school?

Each kid gets a binder that has their personalized curriculum on it.
Our director lays out the work for the kid many sessions ahead so when my kid comes in, she picks up her binder. The tutor of the day will pick up where the last session left off.
When the director is not there, sometimes the tutor of the day debrief me on my child's session. It is helpful to hear multiple sources of feedback.
The director does sometimes pair up my kid with certain teachers that are able to work better with her.

The FCPS curriculum is on the website.
Mathnasium follows the school curriculum but that wasn't always the case.
Initially, they had to do so much work on my kid to get her math skills caught up. Then for a while, they started to work ahead.
For Algebra 1, I discussed with the director that I just need them to help her with her homework and prepare for tests. The goal right now is just to not get behind.

[Anonymous]

Really like Rachael at Burke's Mathnasium and the program overall. I will say that school and Mathnasium are totally separate. You can take homework and test prep in for some help but most of the time the students are there is for Mathnasium work. They work at their own pace and test into the program. It's great and my son learned a lot. He's very far behind and his skills are spotty so it was tricky. Rachael is honest about where your child is and what she thinks the program can do. I'd say get a tutor now and Mathnasium in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Why is your child not doing as well as she should? You need to understand this before you decide on tutor or mathnasium or another program.
Does she have basic math calculations down cold or does she have to think about basic math facts such as 17-9 or 8 X7 or 42 divided by 6? Can she look at a fraction like 8/32 and know instantaneously that it is 1/4 and that is 25% or .25? Can she multiply using the standard algorithm 256 X 27 and divide 169 by 13 (and bonus points if she realizes 169 is a perfect square)? Too many kids have not learned these skills which then means it takes up too much effort (working memory) to focus on what the problem is asking and solving the problem when you are still counting on your fingers or can't automatically solve basic math. If your child can't, blame the elementary school she attended.

Or she has down basic math skills but doesn't understand how to problem solve and has trouble solving word problems?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is your child not doing as well as she should? You need to understand this before you decide on tutor or mathnasium or another program.
Does she have basic math calculations down cold or does she have to think about basic math facts such as 17-9 or 8 X7 or 42 divided by 6? Can she look at a fraction like 8/32 and know instantaneously that it is 1/4 and that is 25% or .25? Can she multiply using the standard algorithm 256 X 27 and divide 169 by 13 (and bonus points if she realizes 169 is a perfect square)? Too many kids have not learned these skills which then means it takes up too much effort (working memory) to focus on what the problem is asking and solving the problem when you are still counting on your fingers or can't automatically solve basic math. If your child can't, blame the elementary school she attended.

Or she has down basic math skills but doesn't understand how to problem solve and has trouble solving word problems?

Mathnasium does a diagnostic test and determines where the deficiencies are. The test is written and they also interview to check for fluency.
I thought i knew what the issues were but I was wrong. They were able to give me a plan of how they were going to address the issues and they give me progress reports.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone go to mathnasium if their child is advanced? What is the program like in that case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone go to mathnasium if their child is advanced? What is the program like in that case?

We started taking our DD to Mathnasium BECAUSE she is advanced. She was going into compacted math, and I was concerned that the faster pace might leave areas that are not sufficiently covered. This is a concern because math is a cumulative subject so even if a kid starts out advanced, without the proper foundation they can start to struggle very quickly.

We’ve been doing it about 8 months now. My child started out loving it and telling me that it helped a lot. Her MAP scores jumped dramatically. As the months have gone by, she’s less enthusiastic about it (no longer begs me to take her everyday) but she still really likes it. At her age and location, it’s only costing us $200 a month. At that price, I see no reason to pull her out, even though she seems to have plateaued there.

[Anonymous]

How does the mathnasium curriculum compare to common core? Up thread someone mentioned that they changed it from following their own curriculum to better aligning with the county curriculum.

Thank you.