The Award

Yaayyy .. the crystal award from the Three Best Rated is finally here! In the picture, Yani and Riwan from Mathnasium of Red Deer, with Michel and Lisa from the Mathnasium corporate are proudly showing off the crystal award 😊

We have been around for three years in the community, and three years in a row we are awarded as one of the three best tutoring programs in Red Deer – that means we are the best Math-only learning centre in town 😊 To us, that means a recognition that we have been doing the right thing since day one. To you, that means you know where you need to go when it comes to giving the best math support for your child.

The History

The history of Mathnasium of Red Deer itself began way more than three years ago. I was reading an e-newspaper on a Saturday morning and there was an ad about Mathnasium looking for those who are interested in running a centre. Hmmm .. I was always interested in children’s education – and actually that was one of our major reasons why we moved to Canada almost 20 years ago: to give the best education that we can afford to our kids.  

Then I searched the internet to know more about Mathnasium. The more I learned about it, the more I liked it – especially the philosophy to teach kids in a way that makes sense to kids – not to us adults. It teaches children lifelong math skills through number sense, and goes beyond rote exercises and memorization of procedural knowledge. This actually could have helped my kids a lot with their math learning so that they could learn more effectively and have more fun.

Mathnasium Method and Instruction – Why It Works

Still, three years in the business, I am often floored on how Mathnasium – through its continuous improvement – uses a common-sense approach to teach math concepts. Hey .. who would think teaching multiplication by 5s easily is through halving times 10? Or teaching times 8 is through doubling three times or doubling times 4?

And who would think that actually all math problems from K to grade 12 actually consist of just these three components: counting, wholes and parts and proportional thinking? All of these need to be taught since pre-K to build a strong number sense. Thanks to Larry Martinek, the man behind the Mathnasium Method, who has started conceptualizing math teaching since the 1970s – millions of kids have gained their math confidence back.

Mathnasium instructors are the math whizzes but not necessarily teachers. All candidates are required to pass a test similar to a teacher’s certification exam – without the help of a calculator. It is designed to see a candidate’s logical thinking and how they approach a problem. No multiple choice and they need to show the work on how they get the answers. After being hired, they need to go through Mathnasium University training to absorb Mathnasium philosophy and teaching methods. During their tenure, they also attend some levels of training, conducted by Larry himself.

Mathnasium – Changing Lives Through Math

We love our community and you can find us in festivals in Red Deer – like Family Expo, Children Festival, Canada Day, etc. We were also one of the speakers at CATCA this year (CATCA is Central Alberta Teachers Convention Association). It’s so fun to see kids enthusiastically playing math games and answering math problems during the festivals. It’s even so rewarding when you hear them say “I didn’t think math could be so much fun!” But the most rewarding of all is when you can help a child gain their confidence back. The next stage is when they report to us that they become one of the best students in class. Or also when a parent told us that not only their child’s math grade is improving, but also grades of other subjects! That’s because math improves your child’s reasoning and logical thinking. It is a life skill, not just a math skill. Yes, “changing lives through math” is not just our motto. It’s all we do!

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YOUR CHILD STRUGGLES IN ALL SUBJECTS? START WITH IMPROVING THEIR MATH!