Math tutoring center opening in Santa Fe

A new learning center opening on Feb. 6 aims to help students make sense of math and make math fun for them.

The Mathnasium Learning Center will be at 2406 Cerrillos Road in the College Plaza South shopping center. Mathnasium will do team teaching for students in pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, and even college, in all areas of math up to pre-calculus, including algebra, geometry and trigonometry, said co-owner Jaime Connor.

“One of the main things is a lack of confidence,” she said. “Students don’t think they can do it. We try to give them that confidence.”

Mathnasium is a national math-only learning center network established in 2002 with more than 1,000 franchised learning centers. The Connors have the only New Mexico franchise. Mathnasium is in the former Jenny Craig Weight Loss shop.

“Our students will receive the fundamental practice they need to master number facts, build computational skills and improve number sense, an intuitive understanding of how numbers work,” co-owner Philip Connor said.

Mathnasium will open with three teachers but plans for more. Tutoring sessions will be one hour up to algebra and a suggested 90 minutes for high school students, Jaime Connor said.

“We recommend kids come in two to three times a week, up to 10 times a month,” she said. “We don’t want them to burn out.”

The cost is about $30 to $35 per hour. Students start with a free assessment to determine where they are with math and how they feel about it.

“The assessment will show us trouble areas,” Jamie Connor said. “We set up a learning plan specific to that student. We are plugging the holes in their knowledge.”