EARLY YEARS: Mathnasium of Roanoke helping families struggling with math problems at home
Tutors help students from second through 12th grades
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Are your children struggling with math this year? They’re definitely not alone.
Mathnasium of Roanoke owner Cory Applegate is here to help, and understands that math might not be everyone’s strongest subject.
“When I was younger, I was kind of impartial. I grew to like math as I got older,” says Applegate.
After opening Mathnasium in August, Applegate and his wife have seen demand for help with everything from algebra to pre-calculus increase..
“The school year’s progressing, and students are moving through their year; the need is more prevalent and parents are noticing it through their grades and their struggles at home at homework time and things like that.”
The combination of the so-called COVID slide, along with the typical summer slide in learning, has left some kids behind.
Students who come to the Mathnasium first get an assessment to see where they are.
“That’s the key to it, that each student that’s working with us is on their own individualized learning plan. It’s not group teaching. It’s one-on-one instruction, so each student has their own plan,” says Applegate.
It’s recommended that students come for one on one help, two to three times per week.
Each session is typically an hour long. For families uncomfortable going to the facility, there’s online tutoring, as well.
“The biggest thing with kids and math is a lack of confidence. And so we work to build that confidence up. Once they’re feeling confident about it is when they succeed and then that confidence will spill over into their other classes, as well,” says Applegate.
Building confidence, while making math fun.
The Applegates use lots of visuals and games in their instruction. And students even leave their own mark on the Mathnasium, with many of their cute quotes on the walls.
“The thing that makes it so great to come in here each day and help these kids is when the parents tell us, 'my student loves to be here, they want to keep coming back. They don’t want to leave. They’ve never gotten that experience when they’ve gotten tutoring before," says Applegate.
Copyright 2020 WDBJ. All rights reserved.
