Cornelia's Tutoring Blog

Dear Students and fellow tutors,

There are so many resources out there to help you succeed in math. In fact, are there too many? If you do an internet search on a math topic (linear equations, for example) are you overwhelmed by the response? How many hours will you waste looking at bad web sites?

OK, stop wasting time and go to the library to check out these books by mathematician and actress Danika McKeller:

Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail
Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss
Hot X: Algebra Exposed!
Girls Get Curves:...

Tune into this YouTube video if you have math anxiety, or just want to see what math anxiety looks like. Patricia Heaton (star of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The Middle") is in the hot seat on the TV Game show "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire." Watch her reaction to the math question. (You can fast forward to about the 3:00 minute mark to get to the question).

http://youtu.be/Rn_OhPKBjB0

So, here is what happened. Patricia saw a math question and completely froze. Her anxiety got in the way of her brain function. Do you ever have that kind of reaction to math? Well, Patricia didn't even TRY...

I don't ever endorse any specific product or company, but here is a great resource to all my parents wanting to find some summer activity books and software:

http://criticalthinking.extole.com/a/clk/3f22RN

Summer is a great time to do FUN academic challenges. The goal isn't to learn Algebra, because your child will learn it in school this Fall. However, summer activities can get his/her brain ready to learn!! So, check out the web site (you can search by grade-level or topic). The products are 100% guaranteed.

As always, I'm here to help! Everyone is good at math, perhaps they just don't...