Sugar Land's Pride - Beestar

About 20 miles southwest of Houston, there is the #1 growing suburb in Texas - Sugar Land. Sugar Land is an economically strong and culturally diverse city of approximately 70 thousands residents. Of all the cities in US, CNN Money magazine rates it the 3rd of Best Places To Live in America. Sugar Land is well-known for its schools. Besides its straight exemplary-ranked campuses, every year dozens of local high school graduates go to the nation's top universities: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford... For three consecutive years, William P. Clements High School seniors have won the United States Presidential Scholar Award, the highest honor for high school students in America (2 students per state). Sugar Land middle school students have been outstanding in state MATHCOUNTS contests for years. In 2005, they finally won the first National Champions for Texas. To make the honor convincing, Sugar Land students brought back the MATHCOUNTS titles again in 2007...

Many families come to Sugar Land for their children. Caring kids education is a profound community tradition. Sugar Land people believe that a solid childhood education is vital for kids' future success and greatness.

Beestar is an educational organization founded by Sugar Land teachers and parents. Serving the Houston area since 2003, Beestar specializes in developing online math and reading exercises for elementary school kids. These after school programs foster students' interest and help them to achieve excellent academic grades. Beestar system also facilitates parents to participate in their children's learning process, so they can understand and assist their children along the way to accomplish their goals.

Since its inception, Beestar is run by voluntary community teachers and parents. Most Beestar developers are also its users. They have witnessed the positive changes the exercise programs bring to the children. They are committed to expand and improve the web site to benefit more families. Beestar team's goal is common: to raise happy confident children with a bright future.

What Users Say

We have received many praises from our community families. They motivate us to get up early and stay up late for this web site. Here are some written ones:

I have looked many math and reading web sites for my child. Beestar is the most helpful one. A seemingly small site offers so much real stuff. What a pleasant surprise!

-- Clifford Sanders, Methodist Hospital, Houston


My son did not like math. It wasn't a big issue until in his 2nd year when I received his poor grade. He was sad, too, because all his friends seemed knowing numbers better. I don't want my son to slip behind others in such an early grade. I tried different things. As a working mother with a career, I was almost exhausted sitting with him, watching him reluctantly doing math homework. It's so hard.

I'm so glad my neighbor referred me to Beestar. It changed my son little by little over time. Maybe because it's computer-based, or maybe because he knew his friends were doing it, too. My son started to have interest in math that I could not imagine in the past. He began to care about his scores. For Beestar math, I don't have to supervise any more. When he got all ten questions right, he would shout "YES! YES!" and punch his fist in the air with excitement. His grade in school is much better this semester. More importantly, he has more confidence and is on the track to get better. I'm so happy that we used Beestar. Hope it will provide more exercises in the future.

-- Anne Godinish, CPA, Schlumberger Limited, Sugar Land


As an experienced educator, I recognize that it is difficult to meet the breadth of students’ learning styles within the classroom group instruction; we often cannot provide sufficient practice of skills, the essential tools for comprehension and knowledge acquisition. Schools cannot do it alone. I would recommend Beestar to parents because it is an enriched practice resource that promotes students' understanding and self-confidence. It addresses the needs for both those struggling with basics and those needing more academic challenges.

-- Tracy Potts, School Teacher (over 20 years elementary education experience and teaching GT kids.)


... Beestar came just in time to prepare my child for the state TAKS tests. The programs are very effective. His scores jumped from the average to well beyond it. We are so happy about it.

-- Pollyanna Madeline, United Health Group, Houston


I have observed many a learner who struggles with basic computation skills. Beestar exercise program allows for the kind of drill and practice needed to master or ‘imprint’ number sense.

-- Kim Hodges, 2nd grade teacher


...in the past I had to supervise him constantly to make sure that he was studying and wasn’t playing. Now with Beestar, it's much easier. He likes it and is motivated to score high. I'm so glad he enjoys studying. Beestar is like a windfall fortune for me.

-- Larissa Smith, A Mom, Houston


Beestar encourages parental involvement, a cornerstone of academic progress. And for students and parents alike, it is a convenient, self-motivating program built on a balanced approach of assessment with step-by-step practice to achieve mastery of numeracy and literary skills.

-- Elizabeth Muller, Elementary Teacher


If you want your child to be good at math, you should additionally find some thought-provoking math programs. My friend referred me to a Houston community web site http://www.beestar.org. It provides free math exercises every week with interesting math problems. I signed up my son last semester and we both like it. In the past my son only played games on the Internet. Now he solves math problems online every week. I love it.

-- Christine Harvey, a parent from MA


Thank you very much for providing such a great web site. My son likes your honor roll very much. He worked hard to earn the ribbons and learned a lot in the process. He was pretty good in school and was content of himself in the past. Now he knows there are so many smart students out there and so much room to improve. The timed exercises are great. His reading and problem solving are much faster than before. Thanks to your well designed exercise programs. Great Job!

-- Robert Zhang, M.D. General Orthopedic Surgeon, Baylor Medical School, Houston


Beestar is a very useful web site for kids to elevate their math and reading skills. I found what I have been looking for. ... with all the out-sourcing, globalizing, and downsizing, American kids will face tough competitions in the future. Our kids have to learn more and work harder than before to meet the challenges. If you completely leave their education to school, you will have a good chance seeing them rank below the average in highschool. Responsible parents should find ways to give the kids an early good start. After-school study is necessary and often makes the big difference. Beestar is an important part of my daughter's after-school activity. It has enhanced her knowledge and skills significantly with virtually no cost. I often review her exercises and statistics online. It gives me the peace of mind that my daughter is doing fine. We will definitely use it every week.

-- Phyllis Moore, Associate Professor, University of Houston


... very good problems presented in a progressive way. I don't need to look around for suitable workbooks any more. Doing such daily exercises helps to cultivate good habits for kids. My son used to be very slow and procrastinating when asked to do homework. Now he uses Beestar without much pushing. Sometimes he even reminds me to dial in for his exercises, because the due day is near. No matter he scores high or low, I always review all his mistakes with him. His grade is definitely improving. Thank you so much! I definitely recommend your web site.

-- Cathy Scofelia, EPW Manager, Shell Exploration and Production, Houston


I always knew my son was smart, but never saw it on the report card. I see it now. Thank you!
-- Larry Dixon, Senior Engineer, Direct Energy, Houston



We had been trying different homework-help web sites for my daughter until we were introduced to BeeStar. The big difference between BeeStar and other various sites is that BeeStar pays more attention to its substance rather than fancy web page interface.

I know some of the staffs who work for BeeStar. They have their own kids of the same age as our kid. They know exactly what these kids are learning at school; they understand what these kids want and how things need to be done; they share the same expectations for their kids as other parents do; they enjoy the same excitement as we do when kids are making progress everyday. Above all, they share the same passion as every parent does to make our kids successful.

As a result, all the exercises at BeeStar are well designed to meet not only the needs of children at different levels but also the expectations from parents. These exercises help kids review what they've learned in class as well as prepare them for new skills and materials.

-- Benjamin Huang, Senior Consultant, US-Analytics Solutions Group, Houston


As a home school mom, I like that my daughter can get practice on test taking in the comfort of our home.

-- Lynette Winstead, a user from Arizona


My daughter loves math and reading. She is a self-motivator. As a 1st grader, she is definitely not satisfied with what she learned from school. It's a good thing for kids, however a tough thing for me, a working mom. Buying activity books here and there, trying to keep up and check her progress...I was looking for other solutions. Here comes BeeStar! Web based exercises, providing answers and keep tracking the score, even email parents the exercise results each week. That's just what she needs! She starts BeeStar and as I expected, she loves it. She has learned a lot from math exercises, a busy bee in math kingdom. Her reading comprehension has improved dramatically too, a star reader in her class. She is always excited to check honor rolls and the trophies, and study harder to earn more...

We are pleased to be BeeStar users, would like to share our experience with others and hopefully more kids can benefit from BeeStar.

-- Ning Cheng, Imperial Sugar Company, Sugar Land


SPEED + ACCURACY = MASTERY. Thank you for providing such a nice web site for children to practice math and reading. My child's speed and accuracy are improved significantly.

-- Debbie Jerome, Technical Manager, Hewlett Packard, Houston


It is widely recognized that parental involvement is a key determinant of a child’s cognitive development. Often times, parents cannot get involved in the remedial education of their children because they are not familiar with the material that their children are struggling to master. Through accessible examples and ample practice material, the Beestar math and reading curricula provide a unique opportunity for parents and children to learn together. The shared learning experience in turn fosters a relationship between the child and the parent. It builds the confidence and motivation necessary for success and lifelong learning. In addition, the shared learning experience equips parents to be an advocate for their children with teachers, because they can track their children’s progress and communicate that progress more effectively. In short, the Beestar math and reading curricula provide a unique opportunity to build the foundation for cognitive/motivational structures that will last a long time.

-- Dr. Anna L. Yu, Senior Research Scientist and a former postdoctoral associate in the PACE Center at Yale University


... [Beestar] gives parents a chance to easily and timely get involved in their child’s learning. It also provides attractive recognitions to good work... Consequently, this feature can maximize not only the effect of learning but also the motivation of children to learn.

-- Dr. William M. Chen, Associate Professor, UH


The on-line accessibility and convenience will be a key feature to parents who wish to improve their child's numeracy and reading comprehension skills.

-- Sookie Anselme, 2-3 grade teacher


I find the [Beestar] program to be very clear, concise, attention-getting, and pedagogically-sound. The exercises follow an increasingly difficult progression of items and levels to master, which is ideal for students to learn at a pace that neither taxes nor bores... Such online resources hold promise for an Internet age in supplemental education.

-- Dr. Michael Peveto, Course Director, University of Houston


Often parents ask me for materials and/or programs that I can recommend for them to use at home with their children. Beestar is a comprehensive resource, well organized and easily accessible on the web that parents can use to remediate, supplement, enhance their children’s skills in math and reading comprehension.

-- Linda Corosky, 3rd grade teacher and counsellor


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