Help your child thrive in Maths.
IThrive Math offers more than tutoring — Esmé is a Math Learning Specialist who addresses both the conceptual gaps and the emotional barriers that hold learners back.
What makes IThrive Math different
More than tutoring. More than marks.
Most tutors go through the work. Esmé goes to the root of it.
If your child is struggling with Maths — falling behind, losing confidence, or convinced they're just 'not a Maths person' — the answer isn't more of the same. It's a different approach.
IThrive Math combines deep mathematical expertise with an understanding of how children learn, how they feel about learning, and what gets in the way. With 26 years of experience, a Master's in Mathematics Education and an Honours in Educational Psychology, Esmé doesn't just teach Maths — she rebuilds the relationship a learner has with it.
Neuroscience-informed
Approach grounded in how the brain actually learns.
Developmental
From hands-on concrete experience to confident abstract thinking.
Personalised
Every programme is built around the individual learner's gaps and pace.
Whole-child
Addresses Maths anxiety and mindset alongside conceptual skills.
Find the right support for your child
Three services. One approach.
IThrive Math offers three services, each designed for a different stage of a learner's journey. All are rooted in the same neuroscience-informed approach — and all are led personally by Esmé.
Service 1
Maths Groups
Does your child need to keep pace with the curriculum, build exam confidence, and have a space where Maths makes sense?
IThrive Math's small group sessions offer more than a tutor going through homework. Learners work through the concepts properly — understanding why, not just how — with the added benefit of learning alongside peers in a focused, low-pressure environment.
What's included:
- Small groups for focused attention
- Termly passport — a summary of essential Maths concepts learners must master
- Weekly quizzes to track and celebrate progress
- Exam and test preparation guidance
- In-person sessions at Esmé's home near Curro Primary School, Durbanville
Service 2
Personalised Maths Intervention
Is your child falling behind, avoiding Maths, or convinced they'll never understand it? There's a reason — and it can be found and fixed.
Personalised Maths Intervention goes deeper than tutoring. Esmé begins with a thorough assessment of where understanding broke down, what misconceptions have formed, and how your child feels about Maths. From there, she builds a programme tailored specifically to your child — closing gaps, rebuilding confidence, and shifting the mindset that says 'I can't do this'.
What's included:
- Diagnostic assessment of conceptual understanding and emotional engagement with Maths
- Personalised programme built around your child's specific gaps and pace
- Mindset and resilience work — reframing the story your child tells about Maths
- Home-based activities to support sessions
- Regular parent feedback so you understand your child's progress
Service 3
Ditch the Fingers Programme
Does your child still count on their fingers? It's slowing them down — and it's knocking their confidence. The good news is it's completely fixable.
Ditch the Fingers is a structured, research-backed programme that moves learners from finger counting to confident mental addition and subtraction — step by step, at a manageable pace.
Available in two editions:
- Home Edition — for parents and caregivers to run at home
- Facilitator Edition — for NGOs, schools and community programmes
The IThrive approach
How IThrive Math works
Most learners who struggle with Maths don't have a talent problem. They have a gap problem — somewhere along the way, understanding broke down, and nobody went back to fix it. IThrive Math goes back. Every learning programme Esmé designs follows three developmental stages — meeting the learner where they are and building understanding from the ground up.
Stage 1 — Concrete
Learners work with physical materials — bead strings, number lines, blocks — to build a real, hands-on understanding of mathematical concepts. Abstract thinking can't be rushed. It has to be earned.
Stage 2 — Visual
Once learners have a physical feel for numbers, they move to visual representations — drawing number lines, sketching models, mapping their thinking. This bridges the gap between touching and thinking.
Stage 3 — Abstract
When the foundation is solid, abstract thinking follows naturally. Learners can calculate mentally, work with larger numbers, and approach new problems with genuine confidence — not just a memorised method.
Addressing the emotional side
Maths anxiety is real — and it shows up as avoidance, tears, freezing in tests, and the quiet belief that 'I'm just not a Maths person'. Esmé addresses this directly. Using trauma-informed, resilience-building approaches, she helps learners reframe their experience with Maths and find evidence that they can succeed.
Tools for managing stress during tests and exams are also part of the work — so that the progress made in sessions can translate to performance when it matters.
Meet Esmé Schmitt
Math Learning Specialist · Founder of IThrive Math
I became a Maths educator because I love the subject. I stayed in it because of the children.
Over 26 years of teaching — from Grade R to Grade 10, from township schools to university lecture halls — I kept seeing the same thing: bright, capable children who had written themselves off as 'not Maths people'. Children who had hit a gap somewhere in the foundation years, hadn't been helped across it, and had spent years building their identity around not being able to do Maths.
IThrive Math exists because that story doesn't have to end that way.
My approach is grounded in neuroscience-informed, developmental pedagogy — which is a formal way of saying that I meet learners exactly where they are, build from what they already know, and never rush the understanding. I also hold an Honours in Educational Psychology, which means I understand the emotional side of learning — the anxiety, the avoidance, the shame that can build around struggling with Maths — and I know how to work with it, not around it.
IThrive Math didn't start in a day. It grew out of 26 years of working in Mathematics Education — in classrooms, in research, and alongside hundreds of learners. I formally launched the business in 2024, and since then I've developed the Ditch the Fingers programme and continue authoring Mathematics textbooks for Oxford University Press for Grades 4 to 9, published both in South Africa and internationally across Africa.
But the work I am most proud of is simpler than all of that: the learner who said 'I actually like Maths now'. That is what IThrive Math is for.
Master of Education — Cum Laude
University of Cape Town, 2008
BEd Honours in Educational Psychology — Cum Laude
Stellenbosch University, 1997
Bachelor of Primary Education
Stellenbosch University, 1993–1996
SACE Registered Educator
Registration no. 1067762
Published author — Oxford University Press
Over 15 textbooks and 15 teacher guides · Grades 4–9 · South Africa and across Africa
26 years in Mathematics Education
Grade R to Grade 10
Move from fingers to mental Maths.
A structured, research-backed programme that replaces finger counting with confident mental addition and subtraction — in about 12 weeks.
For parents: Home Edition · Grades 3–5 · 15–20 minutes per day
For NGOs and schools: Facilitator Edition · Grade 3+ · Designed for group settings in under-resourced communities
You've seen it happen.
Your child sits down to do homework. They stare at 8 + 6 and immediately reach for their fingers. They count carefully, lose track, start again — and sometimes still get it wrong.
Or maybe you run an after-school programme in a township, and you see it across the room — learner after learner, still counting on their fingers, falling further behind every term.
This is not a sign of low ability. It is the sign of a missing strategy.
Finger counting is exactly right for a Grade 1 learner. But as number ranges grow, ten fingers simply cannot keep up. Calculations become slow, errors multiply, working memory is overloaded, and confidence drains away. For many children — especially those in under-resourced schools — the transition to mental calculation was never properly taught. They were left on fingers, and fingers became a ceiling.
The good news: this is completely fixable.
One strategy. Three stages. A permanent shift.
Ditch the Fingers teaches children a single, powerful mental strategy — and builds it from the ground up through three carefully designed stages.
Stage 1 — Concrete (approx. 3 weeks)
Learners use a bead string to physically experience how numbers work — grouping, splitting, and building the number bonds that underpin everything. They record their thinking in a daily activity booklet, but the bead string does the teaching. No fingers. Beads first.
Stage 2 — Visual (approx. 4 weeks)
The bead string gives way to number lines. Learners draw their thinking — mapping jumps, seeing the strategy on paper. The support gradually fades: printed numbers disappear, then guided arcs disappear, until learners are working on empty number lines independently.
Stage 3 — Mental (approx. 4 weeks)
The number line becomes a backup, not a crutch. Learners solve problems in their heads. They track how many sums they can answer immediately — and watch that number grow week by week.
Two editions. Same proven programme.
Ditch the Fingers was built for two very different settings — and each edition is designed for the realities of that setting.
For parents and caregivers
Home Edition
You don't need to be a Maths teacher. You just need to show up for 15 to 20 minutes a day.
The Home Edition is designed so that you, as a parent, can guide your child through the programme yourself. Every session has clear, plain-language instructions. You'll know exactly what to do, what to say, and what to look for.
Your child works through daily activities — called quests — earning rewards and titles as they progress through each level. The programme moves at your child's pace: slower when they need it, faster when they're ready.
What's included:
- E-Learner activity book with all daily quests
- E-instructions for making bead strings (10 and 20 beads)
- Printable quest stickers and progress tracking pages
- Parent Guide with session-by-session instructions
- Weekly group coaching sessions with Esmé on Zoom
- Bead strings and printed sticker packs available to purchase from IThrive Math
For NGOs, schools and community programmes
Community Edition
In many township schools, the transition from finger counting to mental calculation never happens. Children are left on fingers — not because they lack ability, but because no one had the tools or the time to teach them a better strategy. Ditch the Fingers changes that.
The Community Edition is designed for organisations working with children in under-resourced communities. No teaching qualification is required. The programme includes a step-by-step Facilitator's Guide, all learner materials, bead strings, and at least five training and coaching sessions with Esmé to make sure your facilitators are confident and supported.
What's included:
- Learner activity book for every child
- Bead strings (10 and 20 beads) per learner
- Facilitator's Guide — step-by-step for every session
- At least 5 facilitator training and coaching sessions with Esmé
- Folder and storage container per learner
- Ongoing support throughout the programme
What changes by the end
Real mental strategies — not faster finger counting
Stronger number sense that supports Maths performance right through primary school
More confidence, less anxiety — children who believe they can do Maths
A foundation that lasts — the programme ends, but the understanding stays
"After the programme, learners should continue daily addition and subtraction practice through to at least Grade 6 or 7. Building fluency takes time — this programme gives them the foundation."
A parent's story
From 40% to 73%
in three months.
My daughter entered Grade 4 with a shaky foundation in maths, missing key building blocks from earlier grades. Her third-semester quarterly test mark was 40% and I realised that we have a big problem.
I took her to Esmé for help. Esmé assessed her and confirmed that she does not have dyscalculia, which meant she has the ability to do maths.
Three months ago, Esmé started the IThrive Math programme with her that initially focused on very basic number sense — it felt like Grade R work to me. I was surprised at how quickly they progressed through the levels and it was amazing to see my daughter's confidence grow. About a month ago they started working on multiplication. My daughter struggles to memorise her tables, but the programme has practical strategies and step-by-step methods to use whenever she gets stuck.
After being on the programme for 3 months, she is now at the same level as her peers. She is not scared of maths anymore and in her most recent test she got 73%.
I honestly didn't think it was possible for her to ever catch up, but the programme definitely worked for her. It's so fundamental and simple, yet incredibly effective. I am very grateful for this programme and would highly recommend it to anyone!
Is this programme the right fit?
For parents:
Ditch the Fingers is designed for children in Grades 3 to 5 who:
- Still count on their fingers for addition and subtraction
- Take a long time to complete basic Maths work
- Make frequent errors in addition and subtraction
- Struggle when asked to do mental Maths quickly
- Lack confidence in their Maths ability
It's also well suited to capable children who have simply never been taught a mental strategy. Many bright children count on their fingers because no one showed them a better way.
For NGOs, schools or other community programmes
The Community Edition is designed for organisations working with learners from Grade 3 upwards who:
- Rely on fingers for basic addition and subtraction
- Are falling behind as the curriculum moves forward
- Have never been explicitly taught a mental calculation strategy
- Are in communities where classroom support for this transition is limited
The programme aligns with CAPS requirements for mental calculation and uses tools — bead strings and number lines — that CAPS itself recommends.
Ready to close the gap?
Whether you're a parent looking for the right support, or an organisation wanting to bring this programme to your learners — start with a conversation. Tell Esmé a little about your situation and she'll get back to you.
Prefer to reach out directly?
Let's talk
Every learner is different — and so is every organisation working with learners. Whether you're a parent looking for the right support, an NGO bringing Maths programmes into communities, a teacher seeking tools for your classroom, or simply someone who wants to know more — the best first step is a conversation.
No commitment. No pressure. Just a conversation.
Location
Durbanville, Western Cape
In-person sessions near Curro Primary School in Durbanville
Online (Zoom) available across South Africa and Africa