What I do
MathTree, Inc., provides out-of-the-box positive and exceptional summer math experiences for children ages 6 -15. We begin with 6 and 7 year olds in Bean Counting 101 and proceed through Money 101 - Personal Finance for Teens. During our two-week long camps, children focus on math. Not typically distracted by several other academic subjects, children make astonishing progress. We provide full day programs through the services of Games-Art-Puzzles and Before and After Care.
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My Story
I was nearly 50 before I figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up. I had always enjoyed math but didn't know I had a gift for teaching it until I had to at a small private school where I was teaching mainly life science. I began my PhD in Math Education Leadership at the age of 49 and also started Salvo Educational Enterprises (SEE). SEE morphed into MathTree, Inc, in 2001. We began in the basement of a VFW post that reeked of alcohol and tobacco and now have camps in the best private schools in the DC area, including Flint Hill, Langley, Green Hedges, Holy Child, and Burgundy Farms Country Day School. We started with two locations and two dozen campers in '99 and now have 11 locations and nearly 700 campers each year. I have two patents on devices for teaching math. My game, Product Parfait, published by Didax, Inc., launched in Spring 2009! The press has finally found MathTree. We had a cover story in our local newspaper, http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=326631&paper=68&cat=104, were the subject of a Medill news video, http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=97841, and were interviewed with the Comptroller of Maryland on our personal finance course on Wealth of the Nation in May, 2009.
- My passion:
- Making math understandable and enjoyable for children
- Why I started my business:
- To bring enjoyment of math to as many children as possible
- Why I joined the M3 RACE:
- To take my business more seriously
- Best business advice:
- Delegate, but don't abdicate. Plan work for others to do.
- My biggest challenge:
- Reaching parents of public school children; getting through the firewall set up between private companies and school children
- What helps my business grow:
- Referrals from happy camper families
- How I balance work/life:
- I train seriously for triathlons.
- Within five years, my business will:
- Gross $1,000,000 and be franchised in several states.
- My professional affiliations:
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
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My Daily Blog
1 of 2 Entries
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Washington Post
June 30, 2009
After 11 years of working on my business, my company finally got recognized in the Washington Post. Here's a link to the article in the Making It column of the Washington Post Magazine, June 21, 2009:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061202136.html
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Product Parfait, a delicious multiplication game
May 18, 2009
While I was doing my dissertation research on teaching children multiplication facts, I played with all sorts of ways to differentiate multiplication facts and their products. I came up with an unusual assortment of ways to describe products (the answers in multiplication facts), such as "The product is odd," "The product ends in 1," "The digits of the product sum to 3, 6, or 9," and so on. I wrote these out on cards and we played up to six players using ordinary playing cards, Ace through 10, to see who could empty their hand the fastest. I eventually named the game Product Parfait. This spring, Didax, Inc., launched the game at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. On this occasion,I had the real privilege of introducing the game to teachers who stopped in at the Didax booth.
2 of 2 Entries
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