About Me

WELCOME!!  My name is Sharon Houston and I am the founder of Virtual Math USA.  I am a San Francisco School Teacher of 27 years,  currently providing one-on-one virtual math support to students in grades 2nd through 6th.  

While teaching 7th grade pre-algebra in San Francisco’s schools, I discovered that many of my students had difficulty accessing their curriculum. I began teaching a math enrichment class to support these students and the problem became clear! Many students miss a lot of school every year from illness / travel/ family matters, or because the classroom setting is not ideal for all learners.  Unfortunately, in these instances, essential math components get completely missed and the students are forever stuck falling behind. Imagine being expected to learn fractions before learning to add?  

The small group provided me with an opportunity to help “fill in the blanks” and it was a huge Aha! I took this aha and changed the format of my regular classes to a format that allowed students to move ahead when ready, while those needing support could be part of a small in-class tutor group. Here they could learn the basics they had missed: fractions, decimals, long division, multiplication, negative integers, etc., and receive homework help when needed.  These students who were originally struggling, began making great strides in their regular math classes. When I finally made this connection between the missed topics along the way and the success of the small group, I began seeking out ways to reach these students beyond the classroom setting. I knew that if these students could get caught up, they could be successful in all of their classroom efforts.

After retiring from classroom teaching 5 years ago, I began tutoring students individually and in small after school groups.  Student who had been struggling, were finding success learning the topics when working one-on-one.  When Covid locked students out of their classrooms, I redesigned my curriculum for online tutoring and VIRTUAL MATH USA was born.  Online classrooms were mostly a unsuccessful, causing great deficits, but much was gained.  The upside is that students learned this new skill and as it turns out, learning one-on-one through a screen is a very successful way to receive 30 minutes of meaningful individualized support.  (Review, strengthen, build new skills, play topic related game, and/or assess the weeks efforts.  

If you would like more information please connect with me through email or text.  I look forward to supporting your child’s growth in math.