for math curriculum

People ask me this all this time, and the short answer is grades 4-12 (so ages 9 and up).

Students must know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers before they can effectively work through the material, but everything else is covered. We start with number sense and pre-algebra and continue through advanced algebra, graphing, geometry, trigonometry and other precalculus topics. There are no materials on calculus at this time.

We go to great lengths to explain every concept and skill clearly and completely, but the curriculum is still challenging. And we make no apology for that. We expect that some students, especially the younger ones, will need to use all the resources available to tackle the harder lessons – and that some videos will have to be watched more than once and some quizzes retaken. But that is all part of the learning process, and in our minds, it means that we are doing our jobs. We did not set out to simplify the material so that it would be more popular; instead, we are teaching real skills and exploring topics in depth, so that students set a high standard for themselves and are prepared for advanced math in the future.

We stimulate students to grow and exceed their expectations by embracing challenge and finding success.

We understand that a lot of families want to take a break over the summer and winter holidays. You can simply cancel your subscription when you’re ready for a break and then reactivate it when you want to resume. All your children’s progress will be saved and available whenever you choose to start up again.

First of all, we make sure that students have easy access to information they need. There are many lessons available on Khan Academy and other websites, but there is no clear-cut structure in place for navigating them. Most students don’t understand why they’re struggling or the names of the topics they need to review, so they waste time looking through the different options and they never know if they’re pursuing the one they need the most. We solved that problem by assessing students in detail and creating customized courses for them.

The System’s advanced diagnostics and custom courses ensure that the scope and sequence of the lessons are clearly defined and focus on exactly what the student needs. When students log in they can get started right away, picking up from where they left off, which saves a lot of time and spares them the frustration of reading through an unending catalog of lessons. Because students’ time is directed to the topics they need the most, they see results and believe in the process.

Secondly, our explanations of the material are the best. You might think that math is math, and that the explanation one person might offer is basically the same as any other. But that is absolutely not true. Dave Bossart has succeeded as a tutor because of his ability to approach topics with a fresh perspective. He had to come up with an alternative explanation anytime a student said “That doesn’t work for me.” It didn’t matter if the explanation he had just offered was accepted by 99% of students or if he thought it “should make sense.” In fact, such judgments are utterly useless. He had to determine why the explanation was confusing and either clarify it further or try something else entirely. That’s what it means to give personalized instruction. Dave embraces that challenge and sees it his core responsibility and the only way to earn his students’ trust. 

Through the past twenty years, Dave has with hundreds of students from dozens of schools, so he has developed a robust set of potential explanations for any of the math topics he has tutored. The diverse learning styles, textbooks, and curricula that he encountered forced Dave to look at these topics from every possible angle. And he put every bit of passion and expertise into the materials that he created for this website, often explaining topics in several different ways. He has taken the time to create lessons and problems that truly capture his breadth of experience to share his expertise on a large scale. There is no other platform whose materials were authored by a tutor who has worked with as many students. And that clearly sets us apart.

Lastly, we have materials that you won’t find anywhere else. There are step-by-step explanations for every single problem on our website, so students can review every problem they miss in detail. We developed an inexhaustible problem bank, so students never run out of new practice problems or example problems with complete solutions. We also made a high-quality video explanation for every type of problem, as many students like to hear problems explained with a calm and clear voice. The videos even contain closed captioning, for those who prefer to watch the videos without sound and others who are English language learners. 

We are deeply aware of the obstacles that students face when learning math and we designed our website in painstaking detail to solve for them. This is a new standard – a different way to think of online learning – and we invite you to explore and participate!

One skill or concept at a time. Through advanced diagnostics, the System determines the entire set of skills that a student needs to learn and the single topic that must be addressed first. The System ensures that the student possesses the necessary skills and information to fully understand that topic, and then explains it completely and demonstrates its application with example problems.

After each lesson, students must apply their newfound understanding to solving problems through a quiz. Whenever they fail to answer a question correctly, they are shown step-by-step how to work out the problem they missed. We have created an inexhaustible problem bank so that students never run out of new practice or example problems.

The System has a video explanation for every type of problem for students who prefer to hear someone explain the steps of solution. We created the videos with great attention to detail; the voice is calm and clear and closed captioning provides additional support for English language learners or those who prefer to mute the videos.

We have distilled the cumulative and potentially overwhelming nature of math into components, so that students know exactly which topic warrants their full attention in the moment. Each topic will be covered, but not until the right time, when the student is prepared to learn it.

The System is reasonably priced, at just $40 per month. While it’s not free, it is designed to be affordable. With an active membership, you can enroll in as many classes as you want and have unlimited access to the content in your course. We are continually looking to improve our materials, so your feedback on improvements or new lessons is always welcome, and we will look to accommodate your needs as soon as we can.

Private tutors can be expensive, so most families hire a tutor only as needed. Most families do not hire private tutors to assess a child’s progress in math and lay out a curriculum to help them catch up and progress in their overall understanding of the subject. That is expensive, and parents don’t always understand that it is often the prior information that causes the problem with the current course.
The advantage of The System is that families pay an affordable monthly rate for unlimited access to all the materials. Students do a comprehensive analysis of their skill set, so that they are prepared for the upcoming math class before they begin. It would take a long time for a tutor to perform such a comprehensive assessment, and they would probably be unable to remember every detail in order to put the lessons in the optimized sequence. It’s also hard to know how competent a tutor is, as the industry is totally unregulated. I personally have over twenty years of tutoring experience and have designed these materials as a reflection of my experience and the students I’ve helped along the way.
Additionally, our explanations are polished, carefully assembled and proofread, so that they are clearer and more cogent than a lesson a tutor comes up with on the fly. Our figures are all pre-prepared and drawn to scale, so the graphics are easy to understand and look the way they’re supposed to.
Since some people feel more comfortable with a physical person guiding them through the material, our lessons are accompanied by videos recorded in a calm and clear voice. The videos are engaging and help students connect with the material and are a strong alternative to a physical tutor.
The System is an effective alternative to tutoring, one that is intended to revolutionize the way that students learn math. We have poured our experience and passion for teaching into its every facet. We invite you to find out for yourself by enlisting in a free trial.

Students hone their skills and build confidence by correctly working out practice problems. It’s a vital part of the learning process. However, students often run out of practice problems in a textbook or other websites, and that dramatically hinders their ability to learn and improve.
We wanted to make sure that our students never run out of practice problems. That’s why we have created hundreds of variations of our problems, so that there is no possible way for students to do them all or memorize the answers. Every single variation has its own explanation that uses the particular numbers from the problem, so that students learn as much as possible from every single problem they are presented with.
This is just one more example of how we have considered every stage of the learning process in order to develop every last material that a student might need.

The System subscription is offered monthly, with one month being the minimum. We want to leave things as flexible as possible, so that students can sign up, learn what they need to, and then stop paying for the subscription. We have set up automatic reminders that will go out several days before payment is processed to encourage families to evaluate if they are using The System and if they want to continue paying for it.