Important announcements

MARK TWAIN / BAY ACADEMY PREP COURSE

Mark Twain/Bay Academy Prep for Computer-Math & Science and Creative Writing Admission Exams
read more

"I have been involved with School-Plus for 13 years, and I have always found it to be a wonderful place where learning is meaningful and fun at the same time. Whenever I go to Russia, I find that my Russian language skills are invaluable when I talk to my grandparents, cousins, friends. Reading Russian books and having discussions about Russian culture in class has given me a depth of knowledge with which I can hold up a conversation with anyone - a family friend, a museum docent, a store clerk, etc. I am currently a Biology major, but almost all my General Education classes that are not fulfilled by AP credit, are fulfilled with Russian literature and Russian history classes and I got special permission from my professor to read “Eugene Onegin” in Russian.  Math classes at School-Plus were also indispensable. With them, I was able to get a solid background in algebra, geometry and trigonometry before we covered them in public school. When we got to those subjects in school, I was well prepared.
My summer camp experience has been unforgettable as well. As a camper, School-Plus Summer Camp was fun and educational simultaneously. We played sports and swam in the pool in the morning, and after lunch, we rotated through math, Russian, music and drama classes. I made some great friends and participated in my very first play - I was a shy elephant.
As I grew up, my role in the School-Plus family changed from student to assistant teacher and camp counselor, and I have loved every moment of working with the new generation of School-Plus children. This past summer, I got the pleasure to be the head counselor at the School-Plus summer camp. My campers and I grew to enjoy every game we played outside, every class we rotated through in the afternoon. And I got the chance to act in my latest play - I played a flight attendant in a surprise skit performed by all of the counselors. I can't wait to see what comes next for School-Plus! "  Polina P. , former student of School-Plus


"We are visiting School Plus for years. We first came here when my daughter was 2. She is almost 12 now. We chose School Plus because we wanted to keep Russian language for her. During those years she learned to read and write in Russian and she keeps this language at a very good level. However, not only the Russian lessons attract us in this Sunday school. First of all it is a good Russian community - great teachers and friendly environment. My daughter is making very good friends there (and she can practice her Russian with them!) We met nice parents, having the same goals for their kids. In School Plus we tried many different classes, for example, Math and Drama, Art and Chess. Math lessons are in English - in order to provide the same terminology as at everyday school. But students develop different math approaches and solve wide range of challenging problems at these Math classes. As a result, my daughter was among the winners on some Math Olympiads.  My son is 6 now and he takes Russian, Math and Chess for the 3rd year. He is also enjoying being there. The administrators of School Plus are very nice and helpful - all the questions, concerns and doubts they solve in a very kind and friendly way. So, for us School Plus is not just some additional lessons on Sundays. It is rather family quality time. We are very grateful to School Plus for the opportunity to be the part of this community."  O.G.



"We came to SchoolPlus in 2003, just after moving to New Jersey: our daughter Julie was 11 and our son Mitchell was 3, and we stayed with the program until 2015. It still feels weird not to come there every Sunday like we have done for 12 years!  We were looking not for a tutoring program, but for a place that would allow our children to go above and beyond the school mathematics and English classes in addition to the study of Russian in depth.  Needless to say, we met and surpassed our goals! 
Both our kids moved on to the take honor and AP classes in school and both of them took the AP Russian Prototype exam and passed it with the grade of 5. We are very grateful to S. Berger and J. Gordeeva, the wonderful past and current SchoolPlus Russian teachers. Our daughter was accepted in NYU and 2010 and graduated in 2014 magna cum laude. She continued taking advanced Russian classes at NYU as her elective choices. Our son was a winner of MOEMs and math Kangaroo Olympiad for many years thanks to the marvelous teacher Mary Marvin, and is currently taking AP Calculus BC. We cannot thank Mary Marvin enough for Mitchell's score of 800 in subject math SAT and for giving him necessary foundations for achieving the composite top score of 36 on the ACT. The classes in SchoolPlus are small and each student gets the individual attention. The math program moves at a good pace and precedes the topics the kids learn in regular school afterward; therefore ensuring success and excellent grades in school. The Russian program covers classic and contemporary children books as well as writing, grammar and the functional usage of the language. The teachers in SchoolPlus were very special to us not only for their knowledge of the topics but also for their dedication to our kids as people! It is due to the influence of Ms. Marvin and Mr. Berger that our daughter Julie chose to teach as her career! I would add that some teachers at SchoolPlus became our dear friends, and our children keep in touch with their former classmates as well." O.R.&A.R


“We have joined the School Plus family when our oldest son was three years old. Our first priority at that time was to make sure that he remains a fluent Russian speaker able to communicate in the language on various levels, not just everyday home conversations.  When we came to the school for a trial lesson we also learned that the school offered other classes for the young. Thus, it the fall of 2006 our son joined three classes for very young learners - Russian, art, and music. We loved what we saw - all classes were aged appropriate, with highly qualified teachers who cared for the children and were flexible in their approaches to make sure that little kids learn without losing interest and drive. A couple of years later our twins have joined the school. 
Now that the children are older, the focus has shifted from art and music to more academic driven subjects, namely, higher levels of Russian and mathematics. Now our main goal is to show our children that learning skills are important and that learning happens in many different situations. School Plus teachers allow us to do just that by offering in-class support, online work, a variety of assignments, and flexible approach to building the programs of study. Throughout the years, we have seen our children grow and mature. Part of this success definitely belongs to SchoolPlus. We like the fact that the school involves parents in the teaching and learning process, it allows us to be a part of our children's growing up and shows us that all our children are unique and require different methods of teaching (event talking to each of them!). The lines of where school plus helps the children and where we do are blurred and that what makes it such a great experience. We all work as a team. Currently, all three of our children take honors classes in mathematics and in science, two of the three are in honors classes in Language Arts. Exposing our children to art and music at a very young age allowed the kids to be more confident, taught them to train their eye and ear. Using their math skills in a variety of ways in and out of class, allowed the kids to think more about what they encounter as they go along in their learning. Participating in various math competitions allowed them to learn that what they do each and every day matters on many different levels. One of them is relying on oneself and working individually to succeed. Teachers like Mary Marvin, who always give challenging unorthodox work to the young make the learning exciting. Countless times at home during homework time, we had our own mini competitions as to who can solve a problem faster, the kids or their mother. Kids learned to love challenge and are not afraid to encounter it in their schooling and in daily life.  Furthermore, we believe that Russian language instruction is equally responsible for their success. This is because teachers of School Plus teach not only language skills, but they teach the kids to think globally, to view the world from many different angles and, most importantly, to think critically about what they see. Incorporating music, art, cinema, and literature in their classes is what gives out kids a solid language and liberal arts basis for the current and future success. Unfortunately, too often schools in the United States compartmentalize the instruction to the point that children do not see the interconnections among various disciplines. SchoolPlus tries to bridge this gap and, for the most part, does it gracefully. Many of our friends and many of our children's friends are those families who attend or used to attend the classes at SchoolPlus . When kids are in classes, we, as parents, take this opportunity to connect to one another, exchange ideas, laugh, and eat together. Out of class, our children help each other with schoolwork and rely on each other if they have to miss a class because of a sport event or an illness. SchoolPlus organizes camping, feasts, and outdoor fun times from time to time and that brings us all together as well. Celebrating student success as a school - singing together, watching kids on stage - all of this makes SchoolPlus a special place to be. We have spent countless Sundays at SchoolPlus. Without events like these, without our friends and without caring administration it would have have been impossible to sustain this regiment for years.  We would recommend School_Plus to our friends! It is always on our minds and we invite anyone who would like to experience the joys of shared learning to join us.” E.C&M.C


"Our family has spent Sundays at SchoolPlus New Brunswick for the past 13,5 years. A few years ago, as we were leaving home for SchoolPlus, my daughter said “Mom, do you realize that people who see us go somewhere every Sunday think that we’re going to church?” And it struck me as a great analogy - in the sense that just as the church is a community, SchoolPlus is a community of parents and teachers highly dedicated to best interests of the children. Teachers of Russian always research the best methods to teach the language to children growing up in a bilingual (or multilingual) environment. Math teachers are working on providing a deep understanding of concepts and challenging problem solving. SchoolPlus helped us to give our children a great early start. Learning to read in Russian before English helped to keep them truly bilingual, able to communicate freely with grandparents and extended family, and, as they grew up, made learning another foreign language in public school very easy as well. A solid foundation in Math in elementary school, preparation and successful participation in math olympiads from 3rd grade on gave them confidence to attempt any kind of challenging problems. One of my children is a math and programming “nerd” while the other one is more science and humanities centered, but they have both benefitted from the math program - my son getting the extra challenge he needed and my daughter getting nearly perfect score on the SAT and not being afraid to go and take challenge of AMC-12 competition in her HS, which gave a panic attack to her valedictorian friend, who was always earning perfect grades, but unable to think outside the box. And of course, both my children enjoyed the enriching Chess and Art classes; my son, who is now a junior in high school, is still visiting Nonna M. Karakashyan’s class whenever possible. After so many years, not going to SchoolPlus on Sundays feels strange, as if something is “not quite right” in our life." A.P.