Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 9/2/2021
LONGMEADOW – Mathnasium, a math education center, officially opened their physical location at 801 Williams St. in July. Previously, Mathnasium had been operating through virtual classes only due to COVID-19.
Mathnasium was started by Lawrence Martinek over 20 years ago in California. Martinek realized that there was a disconnect between how students understood math and how it was being taught.
“The core philosophy of Mathnasium is to teach math to children in a way that makes sense to them so that they can understand it instead of just memorizing a set of steps for a test and then forgetting it in a week,” said Alison McDonough, center director of Mathnasium Longmeadow.
According to McDonough, each child that comes to Mathnasium receives an individualized curriculum. The first step is for the child to take an assessment which will help Mathnasium instructors understand them as a student and figure out what they know and what they specifically struggle with.
“Usually when a kid starts struggling with math, the initial problem happened much earlier and they were just kind of getting by enough to not get noticed until that tiny little rip became a big, gaping hole,” said McDonough. “What we do is build a curriculum that meets them where they’re at, that addresses those holes without wasting their time with a lot of other stuff from that year that they do already know how to do and we seek to get that kind of Goldilocks sweet spot of challenging enough to be interesting, but not so challenging that they’re demoralized.”
McDonough said that Mathnasium is successful for kids who are struggling and also for kids who are excelling. Some students feel bored with the curriculum they are being taught, so Mathnasium works to build a new curriculum that challenges them and meets their skills, according to McDonough.
Mathnasium teaches math to students in Grade 1 up to Pre-Calculus in high school. They operate on a drop-in structure and McDonough said that two to three classes a week are recommended.
“Less than that, it’s really hard to build anything meaningful and more than that and you’re risking burnout,” she said.
Parents are able to sign their children up for classes year round and McDonough said that both virtual and in-person sessions are offered.
For elementary and middle school students, the cost is $299 per month. For Algebra classes and up, the cost is $349 per month. McDonough said that students usually come in about 10 times a month, so the cost of each class is about $30 to $35 an hour.
McDonough encouraged parents to get more information on Mathnasium or sign their child up to help figure out why they are struggling with math and help them succeed.
“It’s a great place to find out why your child is struggling. A lot of other tutoring places, or if you’re to hire an individual tutor, they don’t necessarily have the resources to dig into exactly what’s going on in your child’s mind. A lot of tutoring is just triage. They’ll watch Bobby do his algebra problem and tell him if he’s doing a step wrong and then tell him how to do it right, but then they’re not really digging into where the conceptual disconnect is happening,” said McDonough. “We’ll do the diagnostic work necessary to really find out what your child needs.”
Mathnasium will work to teach math to children in a way that makes sense, she said.
“Kids think that they hate math, but they really just hate being asked to do something that they don’t understand and they don’t know what the point of it is or why they’re doing it. I see tons of kids who come in and really kind of open up and brighten up because they understand what they’re doing for the first time and for the first time they feel smart doing math,” said McDonough. “A huge part of what we try to do is help them feel smart and confident and then that confidence carries over into their math classes at school and it carries over into other aspects of their life as well.”
Those interested in learning more about Mathnasium Longmeadow are encouraged to visit their website at https://www.mathnasium.com/longmeadow or call 300-6090.