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Math Whizz making summer math fun for students

07:47 AM PDT on Friday, June 13, 2008

By JANE MCCARTHY / KING 5 News

Video: Math Whizz making summer math fun for kids
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SEATTLE - With many students beyond ready to start their summer break, a lot of teachers are concerned about them losing knowledge they've learned over the school year.

You may have heard about summer reading programs. Now the Everett School District is pushing summer math for some of its students with the help of an online tutor.

It's a program called Math Whizz and it's geared toward kids 4-13 years old. The Everett School District has been using it for a couple of years and now it's available online for anyone to buy.

Some teachers are already using the program to keep math brains sharp during the break. Math can be a scary subject for some students, but the program seems to be the magic bullet for students.

Each screen of the program is different because the program tailors itself to a student's individual skills.

"If they're weaker in fractions or decimals, it will focus more on those areas," said Ben Keogh, Math Whizz.

Since using the program, Everett teachers have seen some students gain a year of math knowledge in just three months.

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"I wasn't doing too well in math and it's helped me out a lot," said one student.

And with summer approaching, they don't want all that knowledge to slip away. Studies show that summer break isn't always good for the brain because students can lose months of knowledge.

"They lose up to two or three months and struggling students even more," said Mary Ann Stine, Everett Schools Curriculum Director.

Students will be able to keep their virtual tutor over the break by logging on to any computer to keep those skills fresh.

"We have enough trouble keeping up as it is, we don't want end up losing any for sure," said Stine.

Whizz Education is based in Seattle but started in the UK. It's available on a subscription basis for $19.99 per month.

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