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

[Anonymous]

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

In 3nd grade, our kid was having issues at school because he was starting to disengage. We took our DS to Mathnasium and discovered that he was very advanced in Math.
We took him there a few times a week and he just loved it. He was so bored at school but looked forward to being challenged.

He's in middle school now and we just took him back earlier this year. He finished 2nd quarter with a 98 in Honors Math. He's keeping up just fine but wishes Math was more interactive at school.
So now he looks forward to going to Mathnasium where Math is a lot more interactive and he can ask a lot of questions, which can get annoying to the teacher at school.

[Anonymous]

I love Rachel too. My son isn’t there right now but he was and she is great. The process is great and it pays off in the long run.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the needs of each kid. Some kids do well with tutoring centers, other kids need private tutor, our kids needed something easily accessible to meet our needs. I think that Mathnasium is worth checking out, but the cost can be pricey and the tutors may or may not change frequently (teacher burnout, I get it). Our kids have been using Beestar these past few years and it has been extremely helpful. The kids are able to try out different reading and math worksheets and its been awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I think this is the thing....if your child needs actual help in math a tutor is the best route. If your child needs practice and enrichment -Mathnasium is for you.

[Anonymous]

Depending on which of these might be nearby, other options worth considering include: Art of Problem Solving (AoPS), Kumon, Russian School of Math.