Rebecca Zook - Math Tutoring Online

Get your free copy of 5 Tips You Must Know to Stop Freaking Out About Math!

Call me free of charge to discuss your situation, and we'll see if I can help.

617-888-0160

Triangle Suitcase: Rebecca Zook's Blog About Learning rssfeed

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

The Top 3 Summer Math Mistakes

Monday, June 19th, 2023

The view from my desk — literally

What are the biggest mistakes when it comes to doing summer math?
 

MISTAKE 1.  YOU HAVE NO PLAN.

If you don’t make a plan,
it’s very likely that you will get to the end of the summer
and realize that you didn’t do any math at all.  
 

And most kids forget 25-40% of their math over the summer,
unless they practice,
and after what we’ve been through for the past few years,
no one wants to lose that much!!!!!

MISTAKE 2.  YOU’RE JUST COPYING SOMEONE ELSE’S PLAN.

A lot of families will look around and see,

my neighbor’s kid is doing a math workbook…

or, my kid’s best friend is going to math camp…

or, my niece is doing a math app…

or, everyone in my neighborhood goes to Kumon…

So I guess I should do [insert thing other people are doing].

But if those solutions don’t work for YOU, then they’re not a good plan. 

Even if they’re a good plan for someone else.  

MISTAKE 3.  YOU KEEP DOING WHAT ISN’T WORKING.

If there is ANYTHING we have learned from the pandemic, I think it is, stop doing what’s not working!

This is probably the biggest mistake and the most common mistake of all.  

There are LOTS of ways to learn math! 

If one way doesn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean something’s wrong with you. 

It just means that you need something different.
 

So if something’s not working, you have options!  

You just need to ADJUST based on what you need.

You don’t have to keep suffering, repeating what doesn’t work!

And once you stop doing what’s not working,
it opens space and time for what DOES work instead.

To be continued….

Sending you love,
REBECCA,
the professional math unicorn

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Math Unicorn Ice Cream Social, Sat July 17th at 10 am eastern – FREE and virtual – for 1st/2nd graders and their parents

Saturday, June 19th, 2021

Calling all math unicorns!

What do unicorns do during the summer?  

Well, first, they take a little break to rest, 

and then they use the secret compartment

of the summer 

as a portal 

to the magical realm of math mastery!

So come and join us for the first ever

MATH UNICORN 

ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Sat 7/17 

@ 10 am eastern

1st/2nd graders and their parents together

Bring a friend,

bring your favorite ice cream,

bring a math problem!

UPDATE: The schedule has changed and this event has been cancelled.

Stay tuned, we’ll soon be announcing the details of the next round of math parties

(to take place in August)!

love,

REBECCA,

the professional math unicorn

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Math Unicorn Ice Cream Social, Wed July 14th at 5 pm eastern – FREE and Virtual – for 3rd graders & up, and their parents

Saturday, June 19th, 2021

Calling all math unicorns!

What do unicorns do during the summer?  

Well, first, they take a little break to rest, 

and then they use the secret compartment

of the summer 

as a portal 

to the magical realm of math mastery!

So come and join us for the first ever

MATH UNICORN 

ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Wed 7/14 

@ 5 pm eastern

3rd graders & up and their parents

FREE

and VIRTUAL: on ZOOM!

Bring a friend,

bring your favorite ice cream,

bring a math problem!

And we will have fun 

practicing our summer math 

TOGETHER

WHILE SOCIALIZING

AND EATING ICE CREAM!

love,

REBECCA,

the professional math unicorn

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Plan Like a Unicorn: Summer Math Strategy Spectacular–Sun 6/6 @ 11 am eastern (FREE and virtual)

Sunday, May 16th, 2021

Has the last year of math been, shall we say, a bit of a nightmare?   

Do you wish summer math could be…magical, meaningful and joyful?

But how can you plan for summer math learning, when everything is constantly changing?

When you might feel like your child just got shafted out of a year and a half of math education?

When you might feel completely, utterly at a loss of how to help your child, after exhausting yourself, trying everything, during the pandemic?

That’s why I am going to share the secrets of how to plan like a unicorn.

And you’re invited!

WHAT: PLAN LIKE A UNICORN: SUMMER MATH STRATEGY SPECTACULAR

WHEN: Sunday, June 6th

@ 11 am-12 noon eastern 

WHO:  2nd-4th graders and their parents

WHERE: On zoom!

COST: FREE!


During our Summer Math Strategy Spectacular, you will: 

• Be guided through an interactive self-assessment process

• To create your own customized summer math learning plan that your child will actually embrace

• While discovering ways to make summer math effective and enjoyable!

• Plus, hone your math magic with us, 

practicing problems of your choice that you submit in advance.

 And, learn from each other, as students take turns 

getting one-on-one magical math guidance in front of the group

 all sprinkled with stories, songs, joyful movement, and meaningful interaction.

You will be on your way to having a new, better, DIFFERENT experience of math this summer—unicorn style. 

Put your best dress-up outfit, bring a scrumptious snack, and grab your most magical pencil!  I can’t wait to see you there!

Join us from WHEREVER you are — it’s on zoom!

I can’t wait to share this with you!

Sending you love,

REBECCA, the magical math unicorn

PS. Do you know someone you think might want to come to our party? Invite them to join us, too!

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Plan like a unicorn: summer math strategy spectacular — Wed 6/2 @ 5 pm eastern (FREE and virtual)

Sunday, May 16th, 2021

Has the last year of math been, shall we say, a bit of a nightmare?   

Do you wish summer math could be…magical, meaningful and joyful?

But how can you plan for summer math learning, when everything is constantly changing?

When you might feel like your child just got shafted out of a year and a half of math education?

When you might feel completely, utterly at a loss of how to help your child, after exhausting yourself, trying everything, during the pandemic?

That’s why I am going to share the secrets of how to plan like a unicorn.

And you’re invited!

WHAT: PLAN LIKE A UNICORN: SUMMER MATH STRATEGY SPECTACULAR

WHEN: Wednesday, June 2nd

@ 5-6 pm eastern

WHO: 2nd-4th graders and their parents

WHERE: On zoom!

COST: FREE!


During our Summer Math Strategy Spectacular, you will: 

• Be guided through an interactive self-assessment process

• To create your own customized summer math learning plan that your child will actually embrace

• While discovering ways to make summer math effective and enjoyable!

• Plus, hone your math magic with us, 

practicing problems of your choice that you submit in advance.

And, learn from each other, as students take turns 

getting one-on-one magical math guidance in front of the group

all sprinkled with stories, songs, joyful movement, and meaningful interaction.

You will be on your way to having a new, better, DIFFERENT experience of math this summer—unicorn style. 

Put your best dress-up outfit, bring a scrumptious snack, and grab your most magical pencil!  I can’t wait to see you there!

Join us from WHEREVER you are — it’s on zoom!

I can’t wait to share this with you!

Sending you love,

REBECCA, the magical math unicorn

PS. Do you know someone you think might want to come to our party? Invite them to join us, too!

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Now interviewing candidates for Making Math Magical Summer Mastery Program

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017


I am super excited! I am starting to interview candidates for my very special Making Math Magical Summer Mastery Program!

Here are the details:

This summer, Rebecca Zook, Math Mastery Mentor and Joyful Learning Expert, and founder of Purple Tutu Math Tutoring, is offering a very special
Making Math Magical Summer Mastery Program:
a private, one-on-one, live, math summer camp
completely customized in every single nanosecond to your child’s unique, magnificent mind.

Do you feel totally lost when it comes to setting up your child to be successful with summer math?

Are you worried about the 2.6 months of grade level math learning that are typically lost each summer?

Your child can use the summer to catch up or get ahead with math without having it be a boring, stressful chore, but actually magical, meaningful, fun, and effective, so your child is competent and confident.

This camp is especially suitable for creative, passionate, unique, visionary kids,

whether they are in crisis (freaking out, failing, or secretly crying themselves to sleep about math, even though they’re trying their best),

or if they are in “math-preventative” or “math-acceleration” mode and want to use the summer to get ahead or bump up a level.

Making Math Magical: Summer Mastery Program is the equivalent of private training with an elite athlete or performing artist, nurturing your child to achieve math mastery and experience math as a source of joy and strength.

For students from rising 4th through 12th grade.

Does this sound like something you’d like to explore?

Just fill out this special application.

Once your application is received, I’ll reach out to schedule a special interview appointment for us to talk on the phone and get clear on whether this program would be a fit for your child.

I am so looking forward to connecting with you so we can make math magical this summer!

Sending you love,
REBECCA

UPDATE: Enrollment for my summer programs is now closed. Click here to apply for my magical fall programs!

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Make Math Magical this summer: Bklyn Heights Wed 6/14

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017

Making Math Magical: Summer Edition:
How to use the summer to catch up or get ahead (without burning out or going crazy)
for parents (of students 3rd grade through high school)

While summer is the perfect time to catch up on math or get ahead, students typically lose 2.6 months of grade level learning in math each summer.

Many families, even those who enthusiastically embrace summer reading, feel overwhelmed or completely lost when it comes to getting started with doing summer math.

Come learn how you can use the summer so your child can catch up or get ahead with math without having it be a boring, stressful chore, but actually magical, meaningful, fun, and effective, so your child is competent and confident.

You will learn how to:
-create achievable and meaningful summer math goals
-find summer materials that really work for you
-plan, pace and schedule yourself and your child
-fun ways to learn math on the go or on vacation
-access the magic that comes from true math mastery

Everyone will leave with specific tools and strategies to take home and use immediately.

Wednesday 6/14
6-7.30 pm
Brooklyn Heights Interim Branch
109 Remsen St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
(inside Our Lady of Lebanon Church)

For parents of kids from 3rd-12th grade.

Free and open to the public.

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Make Math Magical This Summer – Th 6/8 in Millburn, NJ

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017

I’m super excited to announce:

Making Math Magical, SUMMER EDITION:
How to use the summer to catch up or get ahead
(without burning out or going crazy)
for parents (of students 4th grade through high school)

While summer is the perfect time to catch up on math or get ahead, students typically lose 2.6 months of grade level learning in math each summer. Many families, even those who enthusiastically embrace summer reading, feel overwhelmed or completely lost when it comes to getting started with doing summer math.

Come learn how you can use the summer so your child can catch up or get ahead with math without having it be a boring, stressful chore, but actually magical, meaningful, fun, and effective, so your child is competent and confident.

You will learn how to:
-create achievable and meaningful summer math goals
-find summer materials that really work for you
-plan, pace and schedule yourself and your child
-fun ways to learn math on the go or on vacation
-access the magic that comes from true math mastery

Everyone will leave with specific tools and strategies to take home and use immediately.

This talk is for: Parents of kids from 3rd through 12th grade.

Where: Millburn Free Public Library
Meeting Room A (auditorium)
200 Glen Avenue
Millburn, NJ 07041
Date: Thurs 6/8/2017
Time: 7:00-8:30 PM

#Millburn #NJ #NewJersey #MillburnFreePublicLibrary #MakingMathMagical #SummerEdition #summermath #mathforparents #stopsummermathloss #mathworkshopforparents

Posts Tagged as "summer math"

Do you wish your kid could feel like Albert Einstein?

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

My student who loves to sing and dance about math boldly announced to me during our tutoring session, “I feel like Albert Einstein!”

Ok, so let’s back up for a second. How did this happen?

When she told me she felt like Albert Einstein, I told her, “I think this is really important. Let’s look at this together for a minute.”

What was the process that led to this lightbulb moment?

Here’s the breakdown.

We were working on a problem that combined multiple circles shapes to make a complicated-looking shape that LOOKED super scary and weird – but was actually just a bunch of circles combined in an innovative way.

When my student first saw the problem, her first thought was, “I don’t want to do this. This is too complicated.” (Initial resistance to the problem.)

Then, she thought, “OK, why don’t we just try it, because if we skip it, I might forget to do it and then I won’t ever get it done or learn from it.” (Willingness to engage with the problem.)

As I was talking to her about the problem, this student started playing around with the diagram, trying to break it into smaller shapes.

Without freaking out or trying to force anything, she just playfully engaged with the problem, without being worried that she “didn’t know how to do it.” (Willingly engaging with the unknown with a sense of playfulness and lightheartedness.)

While she was listening to me, she started getting a mental image of Mickey Mouse ears, and a Mickey Mouse cartoon she had seen where Mickey lost his ears. Then, when Mickey found his ears and put them back on his hat, half of the full circle disappeared into the hat, so only a semicircle stuck out to make the ear.

(Her subconscious started to make non-linear connections. She let her subconscious flow without shutting it down.)

Then my student realized that the same thing was going on in the diagram we were looking at – the little circles were being “stuck” into the big circle and half of them were disappearing.

(Her subconscious/visual mind clearly showed her how to solve a problem she “didn’t know how to do.”)

Then she knew exactly what to do and was off and running! (She immediately applied her flash of insight to successfully solve the problem.)

What makes me SO HAPPY about this is… very advanced scientists, mathematicians, and inventors often rely on their creativity and their subconscious mind to solve the problems that really stretch the limits of their current understanding.

But you don’t have to wait until you’re in graduate school or interning at CERN to start working with your creativity and subconscious to solve problems.

In fact, you can start right now… even if you’re “just” a rising 7th grader!

Here’s how you, too, can start to invite more Albert Einstein moments into your math learning:

1. Be willing to engage with the unknown. When you see a scary problem that looks unfamiliar, instead of shutting down and saying, “I don’t know how to do this,” or, “I need someone else to show me what to do,” just say to yourself, “Why not just take a look at this and see what happens?”

2. Let yourself play with the problem and explore. You don’t have to know what to do. Try to break it down into something you do know how to do. Look at it from different perspectives. It doesn’t have to make sense immediately.

3. Remember that it doesn’t have to be linear and you don’t have to force it. Just hold the problem lightly in your mind while you are exploring.

4. If you start to get some unrelated images or ideas, let them come through. Maybe they will show you how to solve the problem!

5. If you do have a lightbulb moment of insight, go ahead and apply it to the problem and solve! This is so satisfying!

6. VERY IMPORTANT: If you don’t solve the problem right away, it’s OK to take a break and come back to it later. (In fact, professional mathematicians and scientists do this on purpose! And many of the most important problems of their careers took them months or even years to solve.)

7. ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: Even if you DON’T solve the problem, practicing deliberately being with the unknown is incredibly valuable.

I’ve come to realize that deliberately being with the unknown and having the courage to experiment is maybe the most important skill we can learn in math and in life. To me, it is an incredible meta-skill that allows so many other beautiful learnings, creations, and opportunities to come through. Unfortunately, it’s something that is not mentioned or encouraged in most educational environments.

Just as an example of how this skill is developed as part of my work, when this student first came to me, what was going on was if she didn’t immediately know what to do, she would give up right away and ask her Mom to show her how to do the problem.

Now she her instinct is to explore, instead of give up, and she is living in a completely different world.

Is this a transformation you would like your child to also experience – from giving up as soon as they don’t know what to do, to having their own moments where they feel like Albert Einstein after a blinding flash of insight?

Then I invite you to apply to my super powerful one-on-ones tutoring programs.

Just click here to get started with your special application for my one-on-one math tutoring programs.

Once your application is received, we’ll set up a special phone call to get clear on what’s going on in your kid’s math situation and whether or not it’s a fit for us to work together. (This level of attention to incoming families is unparalleled in the tutoring industry!)

I’m excited to connect!

Related posts:
Does having a math tutor make you a “loser”?
Case study: a 5th grader goes from thinking “math doesn’t like me” to singing and dancing about math while wearing a purple tutu
I just can’t keep this a secret any longer
How to experience math as your own unique creation
Is your kid a creative, passionate, unique visionary of the future?