Courses
We offer small group classes as well as individual instruction and a very wide variety of courses to meet diverse learners’ needs.
We think that it is crucial for students to be placed in the appropriate level classes in order to ensure a positive lifelong learning outcome and provide the appropriate level of challenge and academic progress. We also offer virtual classes to students who live far to take our academy’s face-to-face classes.
In addition to the classes we offer, we form and train a very selective mathematics team that competes yearly in the most reputable contests in mathematics. Our students have been awarded various state awards and have achieved national recognition in past year events. Even though we do not push students to be overly competitive or to be involved in contest events, we encourage students who are ready for a challenge to try to make the team. Most of our ambitious students try out but participation is entirely voluntary.
The individual tabs contain brief descriptions of our courses by type but if you are unsure about the appropriate class to register for, please schedule a conference to discuss your family’s learning goals and your child’s mathematics background. We can advice you on the right placement and can administer a placement test.
Fundamental
Fundamental classes are designed for students who benefit from more practice of the school level targets. If interested in our fundamental classes, please explore our homework boosters, school targets and comprehensive review classes.
Homework boosters are for students looking to gain confidence in their mathematical skills.
Traditional School Targets Class (3rd-12th grade):Our traditional targets classes are designed for students who need support and direct instruction and regular practice to learn the school targets systematically for each particular grade level and topics course.
Comprehensive review classes address the needs of students who are preparing for an upcoming important test. However, frequently they are taken by students who simply want to make sure that they have a good basis to build on and find it beneficial to revisit important notions
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Enrichment
Enrichment math classes & clubs for those needing challenge above school level work. Courses are offered by topic field and there are different strands to pursue.
PROBLEM SOLVING CLASSES
Introduction to Problem Solving (1st – 3rd grade): 50 min/wk, This class offers weekly meetings in which students receive guidance and instruction on self-contained challenge sets.
Problem Solving Strategies I (3rd – 5th grade) & Problem Solving Strategies II (5th – 8th grade): 1hr/wk, As the natural continuation to our introductory course, the structure of these classes is similar to our introductory course of the same name.
EXPLORING MATH
Fun with Math I (2nd - 4th grade) & Fun with Math II (4th – 5th grade): 1hr/wk
Elective Special Topic Course (MS, HS or college students only): 1hr/wk
MATH CIRCLES
Topics for sessions are chosen to be general and to meet the needs of a diverse group of students and their interests. As a whole, math circle sessions tend to be 1.5-2hour long and very explorative. There is no dry lecturing involved. Students observe, think, make conjectures and build on step by step by thorough group discussion under the directions of a mathematician
ELECTIVES
Elective classes or independent study sessions are offered to our advanced learners who have discovered a topic that interests them to pursue in depth. Strong mathematical background and experience is a must for a student considering independent study and students are required to give a presentation of their discoveries once the course of study is complete.
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Test Preparation
Comprehensive Important Math Topics Review (upper MS and HS students)
1.5hrs/wk
This class option is designed for upper middle school students and beginning high school students who would benefit from a comprehensive overview with extensions on the most important mathematical topics. Students are responsible for weekly homework practices in addition to the class lectures and need to be ready to dedicate outside of class time for completion of weekly assignments.
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Perfect Score on Math (HS students or upper MS students who have mastered school Pre-Algebra and Algebra)
1hr/wk
This class option is designed for high school students who are ready to train for a perfect score on the math sections of SAT and ACT. Students in this class should be able to score at least 650 (out of 800) on the math section of any test. The class will not cover fundamental topics in great detail but will tackle the most difficult problems and traps from standardized tests. Students will be given weekly tests as practice with the hardest problems found on such tests to practice on. Weekly solution sets are collected and graded and meetings times are used to discuss interesting solutions and strategies. Instructors for this class are perfect scorers and will share their strategies and the thinking that brought those high marks.
Contest Preparation
Problem Solving Seminar ES
1.5hr/wk
This class option is designed for upper elementary school students who have already had some problem solving experience but are willing and ready to take on a bigger challenge. Students are assigned past competition problems and given a week to work on their problem sets. Weekly solution sets are collected and graded and meetings times are used to discuss interesting solutions and strategies. Particular attention is paid to solutions write-up and the way students approach past competition problems and organize their thinking to reach solutions.
Problem Solving Seminar MS
1.5hr/wk
This class option is designed for middle school students who have already had some problem solving experience but are willing to take on a bigger challenge. Students are assigned past competition problems and given a week to work on their problem sets. Weekly solution sets are collected and graded and meetings times are used to discuss interesting solutions and strategies. Particular attention is paid on solutions write-up and the way students approach past competition problems and organize their thinking to reach solutions.
Problem Solving Seminar HS
2hrs/wk
This class option is designed for high school students who have already had some problem solving experience but are willing to take on a bigger challenge. Students are assigned past competition problems and given a week to work on their problem sets. Weekly solution sets are collected and graded and meetings times are used to discuss interesting solutions and strategies. Particular attention is paid on solutions write-up and the way students approach past competition problems and organize their thinking to reach solutions.
Teams
We host several math contest events throughout the year. Some are open to the public but most are reserved for our own students.
If you have an advanced math learner and their school conducts no math tournaments, or they simply want to take the contests through us, encourage them to try out for our teams. We form teams and support individual contester for most prestigious contests.
Students eligible for our teams are invited to attend exclusive practices limitted to team members. They are also eligible for special lectures and exploration seminars and higher level problem solving training series. Those preparation sessions require a time-commitment and are conducted periodically throughout the year. They are timed to be most intense prior to specific math contest events.
