There is no screening, no entrance test, and no expectation of unusual talent.
Not a remedial program
This is not catch-up work and it is not tutoring for a struggling student.
For any student willing to work
The one real requirement is genuine effort, week to week.
What makes this different is the kind of mathematics, not the difficulty level and not the pace.
The gap this addresses
What school asks
Can you produce the correct answer to this type of problem?
Learn the procedure, practice it, recognize the type. There is a bank of worked examples to pattern-match against.
What university asks
Here is a new concept. Can you derive from it?
New concepts arrive weekly. There is no bank of worked examples, and no time to build one.
How a class works
The scribe method
I derive a theorem or property at the whiteboard. Students transcribe it in proper mathematical notation as it is built. Because the student writes out the reasoning themselves, the why behind each rule is internalized rather than memorized. By the end of seven weeks, each student has built their own textbook.
The Theory Book
A hand-written, formally organized record of mathematical truths. Proper notation, the reasoning written out, kept as a permanent reference.
The Problem Book
Theory applied immediately, in class, while I circulate one-on-one. Homework goes here too.
Oral recitation
Written work alone does not reveal whether a student understands an argument. Speaking does. Throughout every class I stop mid-derivation and ask a student for a short defense of the step we just took. Each week, two or three students defend a complete derivation at the board to their peers.
If a student cannot answer, I help them — nothing is graded on it and nobody is ranked. Speaking every week about material you have already written down yourself is a gentler version of what some may be picturing.
Ninety minutes, every week the same shape
Structure of a 90-minute class
10 min
Warm-up problem and homework check
15 min
Oral recitation by the week's assigned students
30 min
New theory derived at the board; the class transcribes
30 min
Students apply the theory while I work with them individually
5 min
Homework assigned, next week's reciters named
A real derivation, from week six
Read it from the top. Drop a perpendicular from C to the opposite side and call the foot C₁. That single move splits the triangle into two right triangles, whose areas we proved the week before. Add them, factor out the common terms, and notice that AC₁ + BC₁ is simply AB. The familiar formula falls out at the bottom — earned rather than announced. This is what a student's Theory Book page looks like.
One detail worth noticing: this proof is stated for an acute triangle, because the foot of the perpendicular falls between A and B and the areas add. In an obtuse triangle the foot falls outside, and the same argument needs a subtraction instead. Knowing that the distinction matters, and why, is the skill this course teaches.
What Course 1 covers
Weeks 1–2
Order of operations and basic equations
How operations are ordered, and the formal rules that govern basic equation types.
Weeks 3–4
The logic underneath decimal operations
Why the standard procedures for decimal arithmetic work — derived, not asserted.
Weeks 5–7
Spatial reasoning and 2D geometry
Geometric reasoning and the derivation of properties of two-dimensional figures, including the proof shown above.
The course sequence
Each course is one quarter, seven weeks. The material is cumulative — every course assumes the one before it — so students enter at Course 1 and advance in order.
Course 1 — Order of operations, basic equations, decimal operations, geometric figures
Course 2 — Divisibility, rectangular parallelepiped, common fractions
Course 3 — Exponentiation, rational numbers, circles and polygons
Course 4 — Solids, proportions, polynomials
Course 5 — Algebra on polynomials, foundations of geometry
Course 6 — Linear equations, congruent triangles
Courses 1–3 are written for 6th and 7th grade; Courses 4–6 for 7th and 8th.
On pacing, three separate things
How fast you move through the series is up to you
Three courses a year is the maximum, not the expectation. Take Course 1 this fall, skip winter, pick up Course 2 in spring — that is fine. What matters is that your student stays comfortable.
The order is fixed
Course 2 assumes Course 1. There is no starting in the middle.
Inside a course, the pace is set
Seven weeks, fixed material, each week building on the last. This is why the class is not drop-in, and why a missed week is costly.
What your student needs to start
One thing: comfort with multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and long division, by hand. No prior algebra or geometry is expected.
Wednesdays, September 23 – November 4, 2026 (seven sessions)
Time
4:15 – 5:45 PM
Where
San Ramon Community Center, in person
Ages
11–13, 6th and 7th grade
Class size
15 students maximum
Homework
About 30 minutes a week
Cost
$295 course fee, paid to the City, plus a $20 materials fee paid on the first day
What to bring
Nothing. The materials fee covers the Theory Book, the Problem Book, a geometry kit, and all curriculum materials.
Questions
Will this help my child's grades or test scores?
It should help, but it is not test preparation and the payoff is longer than one grading period. Students come out better at reading a problem carefully, justifying what they claim, and writing mathematics clearly. Those things show up in school work, but they show up over a year rather than a unit test.
Is the oral recitation going to be difficult?
A student who cannot answer gets helped, not corrected in front of the room. Nothing is graded on it and nobody is ranked. They are speaking about material they wrote down themselves the week before, to a group of at most fifteen. Many may find it easier than expected, and speaking about technical work is a skill worth building early.
Do we have to commit to all three quarters?
No. Each course stands on its own as a quarter. Three a year is the maximum, not an expectation.
Can my child start at Course 2?
No. The material is cumulative, and later courses use results derived in earlier ones. Everyone enters at Course 1.
What if we miss a week?
Each week builds directly on the last, so a missed session is costly and cannot be folded back in later without holding up the class. If you know about a conflict in advance, write to me and we will work out how to cover the material.
How much do parents need to be involved?
Nothing beyond making sure the homework happens. It is about thirty minutes a week and it mirrors problems we worked together in class, so it is not new material your student has to figure out alone. If they get stuck, they can write to me directly, and so can you.
My child is in 5th grade, or in 8th. Can they join?
Course 1 is written for 6th and 7th graders. If your student sits just outside it, write to me and we can talk about whether it is a good fit.
Registering
Registration is handled through the City of San Ramon Activity Guide. Course 1 begins Wednesday, September 23.
