Acumen Summer Online Classes and Tutoring
Start the school year ahead of the game!
Summer is a time for relaxation and recharging, but for most it is also a time for preparation and planning. Acumen Tutoring’s summer classes and tutoring will help your student get a head-start on the coming school year.
All tutoring and group sessions will be conducted via Zoom.
Here’s what we are offering for this Summer 2019:
Jump Start Group Sessions
Once again I’ll be offering small-group sessions to help students to a solid start in the new school year. This year I’m offering two online classes, intended for my students who are entering some flavor of Algebra 2 or Calculus:
- Algebra 2 Regular/Honors:
Algebra 2 Foundations
Students going into Algebra 2 (regular or honors) always need to relearn topics they have forgotten over a year of Geometry. This class reviews all topics they haven’t looked at since Algebra 1. A full description of the class, including a day-by-day outline, is available here.
- Calculus, AP Calculus:
Limits, Derivatives, and Integrals
Calculus is utterly different from the math that comes before it; it's not hard, just very different. Once a student grasps the new concepts, Calculus is easier than Pre-calc. This class introduces the student to the fundamental concepts of calculus so that their first quarter or two in next year's Calculus class will be easy! A full description of the class, including a day-by-day outline, is available here.
One-on-one Tutoring
Barbara and I offer individual tutoring throughout the summer.
Summer School
Tutoring is especially important if your student is taking a course in summer school. Tutoring will make the intense, concentrated nature of those classes easier to deal with.
Preparation for next year
Math, Science, Computer Science
If your student is taking anything from Algebra 1 to AP Calculus, 9th grade physics to AP Chem, twice-weekly meetings through the summer (with breaks for holiday trips, of course) are usually sufficient to cover much of the 1st quarter’s topics in a particular class. Students taking Geometry will especially benefit from learning how to do formal proofs.
Summer Assignments
English, History, Journaling
If you need help with summer reading and journaling, Barbara works with students on analysis and writing for their summer assignments.
Also, for students who will be applying to colleges next year, Barbara can work with your student to write winning college essays.
Test Preparation
SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Test
If a standardized test is in your future for next year, we can prepare you for the trial. If you feel you need to improve your math score or learn how to lay out and writing an SAT essay, we can help.
Computer Science
Java Programming
If your student is going to be taking a computer class next year or just wants to get a taste of what coding is all about, he or she will find it useful to meet with me over the summer. We’ll write Java code (the language taught in the AP CompSci A class) and create a simple game or two while learning the principles and practice of computer programming.
Summer Hours
John and Barbara are available for tutoring during the summer Monday through Saturday 9:00-5:00. Other times are available by arrangement.
Course Descriptions
Following are the complete course descriptions and day-by-day outlines of this summer's offerings. The two prices listed for each class are the standard fee and the Acumen Tutoring student fee.
Algebra 2 Foundations
School-year course: Algebra 2 / Algebra 2 Honors
Prerequisite school-year course: Algebra
Duration: 5 days, 1½ hours/day
Cost: Tutoring student: $300 / Standard: $350
Description
Having finished a year of Geometry, the high school math curriculum returns to Algebra;
Algebra 2 is an extension of algebra, exploring the further reaches of that subject,
adding a great in-depth study of such topics as trigonometry. Unfortunately, students have
had more than a year to almost entirely forget the things they learned in their Algebra 1 class.
Algebra 2 Foundations covers all the Algebra 1 topics that the student will need to make the first quarter of Algebra 2 a breeze. As we discuss Algebra topics, we’ll also look at how those topics will be extended later in the Algebra 2 course so that they will be familiar with those taopics when they finally arrive in the school year.
All in all, Algebra 2 Foundations will make the first quarter of Algebra 2 very, very easy.
Class Outline
Day 1
- Real numbers & integers
- Arithmetic with exponents and radicals
Day 2
- Polynomials and factoring
Day 3
- Rational expressions
- Domains and ranges, holes and asymptotes
Day 4
- Graphing equations
- Parent functions
Day 5
- Parent functions and their transformations
- Wrap-up
Limits, Derivatives, and Integrals
School-year course: Calculus, AP Calculus AB/BC
Prerequisite school-year course: Precalculus
Duration: 5 days, 1½ hours/day
Cost: Tutoring student: $300 / Standard: $350
Description
Calculus is the start of a new era in a student’s mathematics education; it is not difficult, but is utterly different
from all the math that has come before. Once the student understands the new concepts, calculus is significantly
easier than Precalculus.
Limits, Derivatives, and Integrals gives the student an understanding of those concepts. The week presents an overview of the three concepts on which calculus is based: limits, derivatives, and integrals. Going into next year's Calculus class with an initial understanding of these concepts will greatly help the student adapt to this new math.
This course is appropriate for students taking either Calculus or AP Calculus. Note that it's not a useful class for students who have taken Precalc Honors, as they have already studied most or all of these topics in that class.
Class Outline
Day 1
- Review of functions
- Limits of functions
- Working with limits
Day 2
- Limits, slopes and tangent lines
- Calculating limits: techniques
Day 3
- Limits, Derivatives, & Integrals
- Practice Calculating Derivatives
Day 4
- Derivative word problems
- Derivatives and tangent lines
- Product, Quotient, and Chain Rules, Introduction
Day 5
- Area under a curve
- Introduction to integrals
- Practice with integrals
- What to expect in the coming year
Copyright © 2018 John Deubert