LA HABRA : District to Begin Family Math Plan

A new “family math” project in the La Habra City School District will use volunteer tutors from the community to teach basic math to parents and their children.

The 32 volunteers will train for 18 hours this month and then meet with parents and pupils once a month in the evenings from February through May.

Tutoring will include geometry, measurement, statistics and word problems and will provide exercises and activities for parents and children to do during the monthly sessions and at home.

The program will benefit pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade at Las Lomas Elementary, Las Positas Elementary and Imperial Middle School.

The three pilot schools were chosen because they work as a team--Las Lomas is kindergarten through second grade, Las Positas is third through fifth grade and Imperial is sixth through eighth.

“There’s also a great deal of interested and determined parents already involved in those schools,” said Ruth Fehr, assistant superintendent.

Fehr said that if the pilot program is successful, it will be implemented throughout the district.

Family math does more than give parents the ability to help their children with their homework, Fehr said. “It will get parents really involved in their children’s education on the whole--it’s a real team effort between parent and child.”

The school district has received $750 from Chevron Oil Field Research for books for the program, and the Orange County Department of Education donated $500 for training. Chevron employees, along with La Habra teachers and Chamber of Commerce members, are also donating their time as tutors.

Transportation and child care will be available to make it easier for all parents to attend.