Doing So Well

As most of you know, Cory has been attending Sylvan Learning Centers. He started off the summer by stepping foot into another form of education! Cory has struggled with math since starting 2nd grade and we have tried many different techniques to help fix them problem. We tried and tried the whole year thru and could never figure out what the problem was or find a way to fix it. His school here in Virginia gave us the opportunity to enroll Cory into Summer school. It was completely optional...we opted out! I thought that in summer school Cory would not get enough one on one attention nor would he learn enough about the subject he was struggling with, instead he'd learn about all school subject whether or not he was struggling. I did some research and looked into Sylvan. I had always seen the commercials and thought that might be good for Cory!! When we first took him in he was given a diagnostic test to see where his knowledge and udngerstanding of math was; to see what the problem was exactly that was holding him back. We found out that one of the main problems was Cory had trouble understanding some of the words used in math (ie. sum, equivalent, etc) and because of that he struggled a lot with word problems or being asked a question orally which is how things were taught in California. His levels on the test were all basically that of a 1st grader!!! I was shocked but then again I wasn't. I knew something was really wrong and this all just proved it.

Well, Cory has been attending Sylvan all Summer (36 hours total) and they gave him another test this past week. I asked Cory the day of the test how he thought he did. He said he thought he did good. I asked him did you guess or did you try your hardest? He said he tried his hardest! I got called into the office today while dropping him off because Dawn wanted to show me the results...I was nervous, LOL!! Felt like I was getting results back on a test I had done!! Much to my surprise...Cory did AWESOME!!! This 2nd test was one level higher than the last test 2 months ago. I'll break it down as best as I can...

**In computation:

June 3rd test-- Cory's knowledge was equivalent to a 1st grade level!

Aug. 11th test-- Cory's knowledge is now at a 3rd grade level!!

**In Concepts & Application:

June 3rd test-- Cory was very close to a 2nd grade level.

Aug. 11th test-- Cory is now a little past the 4th grade level!!

**In Total math (knowledge of the entire subject altogether):

June 3rd test-- Cory was at a 1st grade level with some understanding of 2nd grade problems.

Aug. 11th test-- Cory has now reached the 4th grade level!!

Dawn says that with these scores he should have no problem holding B's in school!!! Cory barely passed math last year (in my opinion) and to know that he can now actually sit down and do a problem without having a breakdown means the world to me!!! When we first started Cory at Sylvan we hoped to have him finish with being 6 months ahead of the 3rd grade level...he's passed that goal and we are soooo proud of him!!! He's given up a lot this summer and now he sees it paying off!!!