Homestead High School asks families to make careful course choices early, then expects students to keep pace with them. We provide one-on-one tutoring for Homestead students, and every tutor we send is a current or former Stanford student.
Tell us about your student, and we’ll match them with a Stanford tutor who fits.
Why the eighth grade math request matters at Homestead
Math placement at Homestead begins in the spring of eighth grade. The school weighs the course a family requests alongside a spring diagnostic test, seventh and eighth grade test scores and eighth grade marks. Its counselors are frank that changing afterward is difficult: once classes start, a math switch can mean rebuilding the whole schedule and giving up an elective. The math department also advises against skipping a level, and current students who want to must meet their teacher and file a waiver. So a tutor is often most useful before the request goes in. We can review Algebra 1 or Geometry with an eighth grader and show what Geometry Enriched will ask of them, so the family chooses with open eyes.
Algebra 2/Trig as the doorway to honors
Homestead describes Algebra 2/Trigonometry as a more rigorous Algebra 2 with an in-depth trigonometry unit, and it is the course that prepares students for Pre-Calculus Honors, a fast-paced class that reaches introductory calculus. Our math tutors slow that pace down for an hour a week, reworking the unit circle or logarithms until the next test feels fair. The same goes for programming: Homestead’s sequence runs from Digital Innovation & Design through Java to AP Computer Science A, and we help at each step.
American Studies and the junior year English choice
Homestead juniors choose among American Literature and Writing, its honors version, and American Studies, a double course that joins honors American literature with U.S. history. Seniors pick from classes such as Mythology/Folklore, Humanities, British Literature and AP English Literature. Whichever route your student takes, the essays get longer and the reading denser. A tutor can talk through the book, pressure-test a thesis and mark up a draft before it’s due. See our English and writing tutoring.
Support in math and science
“My son had a wonderful experience with Cardinal Tutors when he needed help with his High School math and science classes.”
Amy C., Palo Alto · Yelp review
What a parent says about our tutors
“At each level of math needed, we found these Stanford students to be not just helpful tutors but great mentors as well.”
Christy S., Portola Valley · Yelp review
We meet one-on-one at your home in Cupertino or online. Students at Cupertino High work with us too. Our Cupertino tutoring page has more, or simply send us your student’s schedule and we’ll match a tutor to it.
Tell us about your student, and we’ll match them with a Stanford tutor who fits.