Julie Kotoff

About the Teacher

Julie Kotoff has been an educator since 1975. She has been a classroom teacher, an administrator, and is now teaching groups of students Mad Dog Math while running her small business called by the same name. She started ILA, Meridian, 2 1/2 years ago and is presently teaching her Mad Dog Math classes to groups of homeschool students in the Treasure Valley. 

As an administrator, her chief tasks were mentoring new teachers and coordinating curriculum from kindergarten through sixth grade. As a mentor teacher, she had the opportunity to experience each grade level. Of them all, her love is third grade.

As a third grade teacher, she developed and perfected Mad Dog Math. She knew the importance of her students memorizing their multiplication and division facts. If not, she knew they would limp through math at best from then on. She has succeeded in developing an exciting, motivating, and challenging program to help students commit their facts to memory for future success in math.

As an administrator, she went on to develop addition and subtraction Mad Dog Math for 1st and 2nd graders using the same successful principles. Many kindergarten teachers wanted to use it in their classrooms as well, thus, Puppy Dog Math was born!

She has taught in public (briefly for a principal friend who needed a 3rd grade teacher)) and private schools and has worked with all ages of children. She volunteered to teach ESL to adults, and loved that as well. She has been happily married to her husband Dan since 1982 and lives with two rescue pit bulls, Addy and Bonnie. 

Her Mad Dog Math program is named after her beloved Ruff, a one-of-a-kind Golden Retriever, whom she lost to cancer in 2004. Although he was not a “mad dog”, his name and image will live on through the Mad Dog Math program.

She and Dan moved to Idaho 3 years ago and fell in love with the pastures, cows, horses, farm animals, fields, barns, and open spaces. Teaching, gardening, walking, reading, healthy eating and living, involvement in their church, entertaining, and her Thursday Bible study are all things she its grateful for. 

Julie is looking forward to working with all the families and students God beings her way this year. It's going to be a GREAT year!!