Area students have new tutoring option

For the Press-Citizen

Iowa City resident Bryan Hosford despised math as a grade-schooler.

Today, the 48-year-old holds a bachelor's degree in math and computer science, a master's degree and is working on a Ph.D. in the same field. And now his third-grade son, Connor, is dealing with the same frustrations with math.

Three weeks ago, Hosford enrolled his son on the opening day of the new math-focused tutoring center, Mathnasium of Iowa City.

"Could I say that I'm really good at math?" Hosford said, an IT project manager at Pearson. "I can do it and I did it in college, but was I in his situation when I was a kid? Yeah, I was not interested in math. I hated it, and I found out later I could do it. I was just as a kid, nobody ever tried to find a way to reach me."

Many students, like 9-year-old Connor, struggle in math early in their school careers. More than 430 Mathnasium centers across the United States and worldwide aim to help children burned out by arithmetic using the motto "We Make Math Make Sense." Mathnasium of Iowa City is the second center to open in the Corridor and the third in Iowa.

Sheila Anderson, a certified public account and director and franchise owner of the new center, said she's always been very fond of mathematics

"I love math," she said. "I love the logic of it, the fact that there is a right answer. Math always made sense to me and would always come. I feel for students who don't like math, and I think that if we can build their confidence -- in Mathnasium, we're all about building a child's confidence in math -- then (the students) will enjoy it and maybe be crazy about it."

The centers employ the Mathnasium Method -- a distinctive program developed by founder Larry Martinek that provides each child with a customized learning plan and personalized instruction in a way that makes sense to them. These centers operate on the core belief that any child can become great at math.

Anderson, who spent 25 years of her career in executive finance and human resources roles, decided to open a Mathnasium franchise in hopes of giving back to the community.

Working at ACT as a scorer reinforced her readings about chronic student struggles in math and led her to pursue the opportunity, she said.

"When I went and visited the Mathnasium headquarters in Los Angeles, I was very, very impressed by the curriculum and the Mathnasium method, the way we instruct students," Anderson continued. "So it's a way to do something positive in the community and also a challenge for me to own my own business."

Hosford he doesn't like to see his son or other children crippled by the fear of math.

"They don't have to be Einsteins, but being afraid of it or being like, 'OMG, I hate math,' that's the concept I want to get (my son to get) over," Hosford said. "He may not be good at math, but he'll get the basics and he can move from that point without having that kind of hang-up."

Mathnasium was founded in 2002 by Martinek, David Ullendorf and Peter Markovitz with the first center opening in Westwood, Calif. Martinek said math made perfect sense to him as a child, but that's just not the case for all children.

"Everyone has the potential to be exceptional at math, and the key thing is relevance to their own lives," he said. "Some will just get it beyond a certain point, but everyone's capacity is so much higher than anyone has any notion of."

Developing the core human intellectual skills -- language, art and math -- are important, Martinek said.

"Many kids have asked what I think the most important subject is," he said. "They think I'm going to say math, but I say language because if we don't have language, we aren't talking. Ultimately, math describes nature. That may be as mundane as forecasting the weather or learning how the human genome works, but everything has a mathematical and a language component."

Jeanne Giles, center director for Mathnasium of Cedar Rapids, said the Mathnasium Method taught at the centers really teaches to an understanding rather than a memorization process.

"A lot times kids will learn their multiplication tables up to 12 and they will learn that 12 times 12 is 144," she said. "As soon as I ask, 'But, what's 12 times 13 then?' they're like, 'I don't know, I didn't have to learn it.' "

Martinek said in his experience, getting kids meaningful education has been and will continue to be a tough road.

"There are so many uneven experiences kids have. In order to get your kid an appropriate education in public or private school, you have to be extremely proactive. If you leave it to the system, you have no idea what you're going to get," he said. "My greatest hope is that children will be coming out of elementary school at grade level. If that doesn't happen, we're just doing a lot of repair work. Kids fall behind, and if you fast forward to eighth, ninth, 10th grade, there's a titanic boatload of stuff to get caught up on."

Katharine Lohse, one of the Iowa City Mathnasium instructors, said she, too, hopes help kids move further away from hating math.

"Math always came easier to me, so I didn't mind it in school growing up but I know a lot of people who hate math who just don't understand it," the University of Iowa alumna said. "And because they don't understand it, they feel like it lowers themselves I've found. I love math. I think math is great. I want to spread that math isn't such a bad thing."

Mathnasium

of Iowa City

* What: Mathnasium of Iowa City specializes in teaching kids math the way that makes sense to them, offering math tutors, custom learning plans and personalized instruction and homework help.

* Where: 2451 Coral Court Suite 5 in Coralville.

* Hours: 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.