Is screen time appropriate at this age?

In ten to fifteen minute sessions, alongside physical materials, yes. We say so plainly: this should not be your five-year-old's main activity.

My child can count to 100 but cannot add.

Rote counting and number sense are different skills. Counting to 100 is memorization; knowing eight is two away from ten is the one that matters.

What if my child is not reading yet?

Everything at this level is read aloud. No reading ability is assumed.

Kindergarten Math Help in Durham, NC

Durham sits at number 93 among US metro areas by population (625,485). Scale is not the point, though. What matters is that your child gets time on the exact skill they are missing, every day, without a forty-minute drive attached to it.

Written for parents · Durham–Chapel Hill, NC · ≈625,485 residents · 93rd largest US metro

What we actually do

Kindergarten math is not arithmetic - it is number sense. Knowing that seven is one more than six without counting, that a group can be broken apart and put back together, that quantities have relationships. Children who build this at five rarely struggle at nine, and it is built through play, not worksheets.

Durham metro at a glance

Metro area: Durham–Chapel Hill, NC
Population: ≈625,485 (93rd largest in the US)
State: North Carolina · Region: South
Combined statistical area: Raleigh–Durham–Cary, NC

Start with the foundation

Ellis Abel AI sits on top of the Ellis Abel Learns books, not beside them. The books teach the three habits every math learner runs on — owning a mistake, staying calm inside frustration, and trying while afraid. The tutor teaches the math. Your child gets both, and you get a dashboard that tells you which one is actually the problem this week.

Next step

Start with the diagnostic. It takes about twelve minutes and tells you the earliest skill your child has not locked in — which is almost never the one their current homework is on.

Questions Durham parents ask

Is screen time appropriate at this age?: In ten to fifteen minute sessions, alongside physical materials, yes. We say so plainly: this should not be your five-year-old's main activity.
My child can count to 100 but cannot add.: Rote counting and number sense are different skills. Counting to 100 is memorization; knowing eight is two away from ten is the one that matters.
What if my child is not reading yet?: Everything at this level is read aloud. No reading ability is assumed.