Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both kids are failing math- 9th grader, algebra 1 and 10th grader, algebra 2. I sent them to mathnasium a couple of months and it’s not helping.

Mathnasium has a system of sort, steps, which may have helped if we started in 7th grade but it’s not helping now with quizzes and tests. They have both kids in a foundation level (meets 2x a week per our contract) that seems far behind and impossible to catch up to the level of their current class level. Should I just drop it? So expensive but a private tutor would be more. We need a tutor, I feel 3x week.
Recommendation how to move forward. The kids just don’t get the concepts, they have short term memory too- coupled with a shitty teen attitude, I’m at a loss.

Oh no, oh no! You have started shockingly late. If they are struggling in Algebra 1 and 2, there is no way that your kids were ever great at Math in ES or MS - so you are waking up only now?

Mathnasium cannot help you immediately with the Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 content because your kids are so far behind with Math and pre-algebra. It will take them the time it will take to bring them up to speed. I shudder to think what your kid will do junior year. It is rough.

If your kids work very hard every single day, and you also work very hard with them every single day, and maybe private tutor works very hard with them a few day, there is a chance that your kids can catch up in a few months.

You are extremely melodramatic.

It worked well for my kid in MS. He said all the practice and drills really reinforced what he was learning in school. He started out getting Cs and Ds and was a solid B by the end.

But we stopped because he felt like he couldn’t get the individualized tutoring he wanted, and the time slot we needed got really loud and crowded.

He’s in HS and working with a tutor now.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t know how to advise you as I used Mathnasium for both of my kids successfully. But I did so at the elementary level, not high school. So it might be that their method is less effective at helping kids catch up at that age and grade?

I will also say the problem might not be Mathnasium, but your kids. I spent a crazy amount of money on a private tutor but it didn’t help my kids with math as a teen. What helped was them getting their ass kicked enough and me holding them accountable with consequences for them to get over their shitty attitude and push through the learning curve and making the commitment to invest the necessary practice time to get good at math.

The problem I see with most kids who struggle with math at the high school level is their negative attitude and lack of willingness to put in the practice hours to get good. A tutor might help with that but they also might not. Your kid really holds the keys here.

+1
Same. I have heard of good results with Mathnasium in elementary school

Anonymous wrote:I have a 12 year old and 14 year old in Mathnasium. The problem is your kids did not get the skills they need to be in the classes they are in. I homeschool so I’m delaying Algebra 1 and prealgebra till Mathnasium catches them up and fills their holes. Consequently my kids won’t be ready until later this Fall. Unfortunately schools just plug ahead whether or not your kids can keep up. I would pull them from the class if possible not Mathnasium. Once they fill their holes and gaps they can fly faster through the appropriate math level. Once my kids are ready I want Mathnasium to switch from filling holes to accelerating math learning. To me it shows just how broken the school system. Kids should learn at their own pace.

If you homeschool there are so many cheaper programs! You are crazy to pay mathnasium prices.

You can hire an online tutor for $25-$ 35 an hour who can tutor Algebra. Companies like Wyzant have tutors in low cost of living areas so they don't charge much. Sometimes you have to try a few to get a really good one.

I found one that was a retired middle school math teacher who worked with my son four times a week for the first month. He went over the lesson he learned in class and had him do his homework. My son would have to talk out the steps he was taking and if he was doing it wrong the tutor would help get him back on the right track. It was a couple of years ago but since I committed to a long term lessons he charged $25 an hour so I spent a little more than $400 that month (there are some extra fees to Wyzant). Once my son was on the right track we went down to 2-3 times a week. You have to make sure the tutor isn't telling your student the answer and is actually making your student do the work.

So many tutors are available for Algebra 1 and 2. I paid more for harder subjects like honors chemistry.

Anonymous wrote:Both kids are failing math- 9th grader, algebra 1 and 10th grader, algebra 2. I sent them to mathnasium a couple of months and it’s not helping.

Mathnasium has a system of sort, steps, which may have helped if we started in 7th grade but it’s not helping now with quizzes and tests. They have both kids in a foundation level (meets 2x a week per our contract) that seems far behind and impossible to catch up to the level of their current class level. Should I just drop it? So expensive but a private tutor would be more. We need a tutor, I feel 3x week.
Recommendation how to move forward. The kids just don’t get the concepts, they have short term memory too- coupled with a shitty teen attitude, I’m at a loss.

Why can't you teach your kids yourself? They need daily tutoring in a systematic way. Take a textbook, go to Khan Academy, do the Math courses on The Great Courses. It is not hard,

Mathnasium has been very helpful for my fifth grader. She’s improved with her math knowledge. It’s been more helpful than a tutor. The tutor would help with current homework, but couldn’t fill in gaps of knowledge that were missing. Mathnasium does an initial assessment to identify math level and skills that need taught. Then teaches skills. Then does reassessments to check progress.

I have a 12 year old and 14 year old in Mathnasium. The problem is your kids did not get the skills they need to be in the classes they are in. I homeschool so I’m delaying Algebra 1 and prealgebra till Mathnasium catches them up and fills their holes. Consequently my kids won’t be ready until later this Fall. Unfortunately schools just plug ahead whether or not your kids can keep up. I would pull them from the class if possible not Mathnasium. Once they fill their holes and gaps they can fly faster through the appropriate math level. Once my kids are ready I want Mathnasium to switch from filling holes to accelerating math learning. To me it shows just how broken the school system. Kids should learn at their own pace.

I only read some of the pp, so forgive me if I'm restating. You can speak to the owner/manager of the Mathnasium and ask to customize the sessions. MS and HS students typically get a hard copy of a syllabus/schedule at the beginning of each unit, complete with test and quiz dates. Use that to schedule session with targeted topics. Send text/email photos of the homework at least 2 days before the session so the instructor knows what sorts of problems to work on. We have used Mathnasium in this manner for Math 7 HN, Alg 1 HN, Geo 1, and now Alg 2 HN. Not every session of course but many of them. Good luck!

It didn’t work at all for my daughter and honestly made her anxious with all the noise and activity in there and feeling like she had to go backwards in math. We quit and hired a private Tutor worth every penny.

Mathnasium pulled my kid's MAP-M scores up from below grade level to just above grade level. I recommend it, though results may vary depending on the quality of the location since it's a franchised business.

Mathnasium was terrible for my kid that just finished third grade and was way behind in math (covid and LD and ADHD). Kid just stared off all during the sessions. Got 1.5 goals out of more than 20 they expected to get to during the summer.

My son had a C in Algebra in 7th and mathnasium helped him raise that C to an A. It takes a while to catch up to what they are learning in school.

DS went to mathnasium every free afternoon he had. Some weeks he went 4x per week.

My second son also started with a B- and did not go to mathnasium. He did go to office hours every week and did every assignment more than once and was able to get an A.

Your kid has to put in the effort.

Our son always had As and Bs but we can see it was a lot of stress and just keeping up but not fully understand the fundamentals. In middle school he was in Honors Math; Mathnasium is not a tutoring class even though they will work w your kids the last 30 minutes of the hours if there are math homework problems but they also needs be a able to have the students to work on their curriculum. It took a full year for my son to catch up and master the fundamentals of 6th grade math. Our son is now in 7th grade and taking 8th grade Honors and he has shared recently what he was learning at Mathnasium was comprehension of math operations therefore the math at school though not the same but is easy for him now due to the fundamentals Mathnasium has given him. We knew when signing him up it will not be a quick fix and he needs to put in the work while attending. Hope this helps

Mathnasium has been great for my 5th grader. Not sure if we'll continue it in middle school next year, but it's absolutely covered the gaps left my insufficient math instruction at their elementary school.