Russian School of Mathematics – San Mateo

This is a great math school.
My son loves math but he needed some challenge. He has heard from his friends at school that some were going to after school math programs and he told me he is interested. After looking at some math programs in the area, we decided to go with RSM and we are very happy with our decision.
At RSM, he is getting a strong foundation in math and he enjoys it as well.
They teach math concepts really well in a way it makes logical sense to the kids instead of mindless memorization of some facts.
Needless to say, we love it!

This program is not for the weak of heart nor for every kid. Our kids have been at RSM for several years and have advanced significantly due to the program. The Russians are tough but push the concepts earlier and harder to give the kids more confidence in advanced math skills. Although we are not of Russian descent, I wholeheartedly believe in their approach towards math and only wish the local schools would adopt similar training of math concepts rather than traditional brute memorization.

Be warned. This San Mateo location is NOT the right school for every child. In fact, it is probably a school for children who feel confident in their math abilities and need more of a challenge vs. a place that can help kids who need help solidifying their math skills. I took my 8 year old and had her assessed and placed in the 6 week Summer School program for 4^th and 5^th graders thinking she would get reinforcement of her current skills and maybe get a jump on 4^th grade curriculum and… as the website promised ‘learn that math can be cool and fun!’. After the assessment, my daughter thought it would be fun and was excited to go! Unfortunately, this class did not live up our expectations. In the class she was assigned to, she was completely overwhelmed on the first day with the concepts and we had to spend over an hour at home trying to teach her what she was supposed to have learned in class. We did not complete some of it and the teacher took me aside and asked me to spend more time with her on the homework… After the second class… same thing… So I spoke with teacher and explained that my daughter did not understand many of the concepts taught and we didn’t even know how to explain some of them to her. She said that she could see my daughter was struggling, but she didn’t have time to give individualized attention to my daughter during the 2 hour long class. She blamed my daughter for not paying attention and not being ‘willing to participate’. We decided to try moving her to the 3^rd grade class. In the 3^rd grade class, she understood more of what was being taught but was still confused by some the approaches to solving problems that were being taught… we again were spending time at home reteaching what she was supposed to have learned in class. After the 7^th Class my daughter said to me ’ Mom, I hate math!!’ Which was not something she had ever said to me before. After reminding her that she liked math before RSM, My husband and I decided to speak with principal. That didn’t go so well… The principal blamed my daughter for her lack of interest and unwillingness to participate in the class. She had no suggestions for how the school might be able to help my daughter reengage nor did she seem to want to work with us to find a way to get her back on track. She was completely unapologetic that it didn’t work out for my child or the fact that it made her feel this way about math. Needless to say, we pulled our daughter from the program and won’t be returning to RSM San Mateo anytime soon.