Mathnasium has been a longtime supporter of RFM, and we think a lot of them, too! We both started out in RVA in 2009, and both of us have grown by leaps and bounds over the last six years. The local Mathnasium owners, James Temple and his mom, JoAnn, make the perfect mother/son team. He was a math wiz in middle and high school and went on to major in math at UVA. After seven years in the Air Force, he returned to UVA to pursue his MBA at the Darden School of Business. It was during James’ time in the Air Force that he had the opportunity to tutor homeschooled children and really started to appreciate the frustration that many kids feel when it comes to math. JoAnn raised four boys and earned her degree in early childhood education in the middle of it all. Working in the school system, she saw firsthand how frustrating it can be for teachers to try to meet the needs of all their students with limited resources and other constraints.
After researching the Mathnasium franchise, James and JoAnn realized this was an opportunity for mother and son to combine their complementary experiences, education, and fundamental values to help children of all skill levels realize their full potential in mathematics and beyond. The Mathnasium instructors use a unique assessment process to determine exactly what each child knows and what they need to learn. Next, they design a customized learning plan for teaching the concepts the student needs to master, and continually check progress to make sure kids truly understand and retain the concepts they’ve been taught. They even provide homework help, a real lifesaver for us parents who learned math back in the day. The results are transformative – kids, parents, and teachers see measurable changes in attitude, confidence, and school progress. And it must work! James and JoAnn now have six centers in RVA and one in Northern Virginia, with plans for additional centers throughout Richmond. The local Mathnasium team has helped more than 4,000 students in grades one through twelve learn math during over 200,000 hours of instruction. We math-challenged parents thank you!
