After teaching a million kids, we know that every kid can learn math.
It’s not your kid. It’s the system.
In a class of thirty, the teacher has to teach to the average. But no kid is average, and when you teach to the average, average is what you get. The class moves on, whether your kid is ready or not.
Most kids who “hate math” are missing one thing from two chapters ago.
Math is built in layers. When one earlier idea never landed, everything on top of it wobbles. The HeySensei Math Graph maps 10,000 skills and how they depend on each other, so we find the missing piece and fix it first.
Challenged, never overwhelmed. We call it the zone of genius.
Too easy and they zone out. Too hard and you get the tears. In between is what we call the zone of genius: hard enough to stretch, close enough to finish. Every lesson is built to land there for your kid. Older topics keep coming back in the mix, so anything that starts to slip gets caught and fixed before it becomes a gap.
We never give the answer.
A kid who’s told the answer learns the answer. A kid who’s guided to it learns how to think. We ask the question that gets them to the next step, as many times as it takes.
Can you just tell me the answer?
Almost there. You have 3x + 5 = 20. What could you do to get the 3x on its own?
Take away 5?
From both sides. What does that leave you?
3x = 15. So x is 5!
Every explanation is tested before your kid hears it.
We’ve seen how 1M+ students learn math. For each concept we compare explanations and keep the ones that get more kids unstuck, and keep them unstuck. Your kid gets what worked for the kids before them.
A scared kid can’t think.
Worry takes up the same working memory a kid needs to solve the problem. So we’re patient, a little funny, and we never sigh. A mistake is a clue, not a failure.
If it isn’t 100% right, it isn’t ready for your kid.
Every lesson, hint and problem is written by our team of teachers and math experts, then checked before any kid sees it.
Teachers and math experts write every lesson, hint and problem.
Every answer and every step, verified by computer algebra.
Every answer we give is tested for whether it helps your kid learn, not just whether it’s right.
The research we build on
- Doignon, J.-P., & Falmagne, J.-C. (1985). Spaces for the assessment of knowledge.
- Bloom, B. S. (1968). Learning for mastery.
- Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society.
- Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning.
- Slamecka, N. J., & Graf, P. (1978). The generation effect: Delineation of a phenomenon.
- Chi, M. T. H., et al. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems.
- Ashcraft, M. H., & Kirk, E. P. (2001). The relationships among working memory, math anxiety, and performance.
- Ramirez, G., Gunderson, E. A., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2013). Math anxiety, working memory, and math achievement in early elementary school.
