Frequently Asked Questions

5/12/2008 1:14:38 AM

1. I know this camp is just what my child needs, but my child thinks it is a punishment. How can I convince my child to go?
	Invite your child to visit MathTree's Kids' Page. Have your child attend camp with a friend. Assure your child that there is NO HOMEWORK! Remind your child that there is puzzle and game time. Tell your child how boring it is going to be watching TV all summer. Have your child write an email to the Number Wizard to ask about concerns.
2. How can you put math and fun in the same sentence?
	Math is fun when you get it! We make sure children get it. We tune right in to your child's math level through fine-grained diagnostic testing and custom-select the math skills your child is ready to work on. Your child gets just the right amount of challenge and is supported at the same time. Our teachers love math and love teaching children math, and do so in a lively way. For example, we play lots of games and puzzles that use math in the context of the game, so children get math practice painlessly.
3. What is so out-of-the-box about MathTree Math Camp?
	First of all, we think numbers are just amazing! For example, did you know that multiplication facts come up even three times as often as odd? At MathTree Math Camp, your child will play, yes, play, with numbers. Imagine your child in a number laboratory performing all kinds of number experiments. A camp without a "Wow!," "I get it!!," "Cool!" is rare indeed.
4. What is a typical day like at camp?
	A typical day includes individual work, group exploration, a snack break (outdoors, weather permitting), and game and puzzle time. If your child is also enrolled in G-A-P, there will be a lunch break, extensive math art project time, another snack break, and more puzzle and game time. Children bring their lunch and snacks from home.
5. My child is a math genius. Is this camp the right one?
	If your child decided to be a theoretical mathematician in elementary school, there are other camps that may be more appropriate. MathTree will bring out the best in a broad middle range of youngsters. Because of diagnostic testing, each child is challenged at just the right level. The 200 skills in MathTree go up to negative fractional exponents so there is a challenge for even the brightest. In all the years of MathTree, only about a dozen youngsters have completed all 200 skills.
6. What if my child is ahead of the other children in the camp? Will my child be bored? What if my child is behind the others? Will my child be lost?
	During individual work time, each child works on the skills he or she is ready for. In group work time, children of similar ability work together.
7. Will my child get into Harvard by attending MathTree Math Camp?
	No guarantees here! But your child may very well do better in math during the school year. One youngster who was consistently scoring in the 95th percentile on a standardized test jumped to the 99th percentile after a summer at MathTree.
8. My child doesn't know the multiplication facts yet. What will my child be able to do at Math Camp?
	Enroll your child in Multiplication Matters. We teach the facts in an innovative and deeply mathematical way. NO FLASH CARDS. Not knowing multiplication facts is a serious impediment to much of the math your child will encounter after that. Deal with this issue without delay.
9. Can I sign my child up for just one week?
	No. It just wouldn't work. Momentum develops and peaks sometime in the second week. Your child would not get the full benefit of the camp after only one week. Plan for your child to attend for the full two weeks.
10. Can my child just attend G-A-P (Games-Art-Puzzles)?
	G-A-P is provided as a service to parents who need a full-day program for their children. For each child who attends only the half-day program, however, a place will be available in G-A-P. Therefore, a limited number of places may be available for G-A-P only.
11. Why do you call your company MathTree^®?
	We believe that learning is an organic process, that math skills grow as synapses connect in the brain. The tree symbolizes organic growth.
12. Who's behind MathTree?
	Lynn Salvo, ABD, President of MathTree, is completing her doctorate in Math Education Leadership at George Mason University. She absolutely loves math and more importantly, loves teaching children math, finding ways to make it understandable. How many of the people who have taught your child math can say that? Mrs. Salvo holds one patent and has another nearly completed for devices for teaching math concepts. She has also developed several math games. During the school year, she tutors about twenty children a week in third grade through college who are studying math topics from addition through calculus. For more details, see her curriculum vitae.

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