Spark Tutors

Parents often tell me their child has shaky math confidence.  Math can mess with the mind.  One of my superstar geometry tutors in Santa Barbara  put it this way, “Math seems impossible until you understand it.  And then it seems simple.”  So you look at new math and you think, “Oh man.  I have no clue.  I’m an idiot.  I knew it.”  And who can learn with that uplifting soundtrack echoing in their brain?  You can’t.  So you struggle to learn and more deeply convince yourself: you and math will never be friends.  When, lo and behold, you do get the new math.  But do you give yourself credit and a pat on the back?  No!  You say, “Hey, that stuff’s easy.  How could something so easy have seemed so hard?  See, I really am allergic to math.”  And that’s how math messes with the mind.  Kids identify themselves as failures at every stage of the learning process: introduction, struggle toward mastery, achievement.  A wise math tutor tackles concepts and confidence in equal measure.  Luckily we’ve got ‘em here in Santa Barbara.

Have I told you lately how great my Santa Barbara geometry tutors are?  They rock.  Case in point:  think of a brain.  Not just any brain. The brain of a 9th grader learning geometry.  Geometry is one big curve-ball for a 9th grade brain.  Algebra, no problem.  Geometry, B. I. G. problems.  Theomems? Postulates?  Have we been abducted to Mars?  So my wonderful math tutors zip around Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria unlocking the mysteries of Geometry.  Bringing unsettled 9th graders back down to Earth, where suddenly their understanding of proofs bursts through like green grass after rain.  The eyes squint in concentration, and then – “Oh, that’s what you do!?  I get it!”  Magical.