Mumsnet Talk

Just found out about Kumon classes. Tried to google some reviews got mixed answers. Just wanted to know what all the expert mums say ?

cheers..

I love it. Mine are 6 & 7.. have found it fantastic!
Maths - now really quick at mental maths
english helps with spelling and hand writing.
lots of rewards really confidence building
starts back at the basics (can be frustrating!) and quickly works through to own level!

Extremely boring, expensive, doesn't link in with what they are doing at school, and yet another commercial organization preying on the insecurities of parents.

<seeker sits on the fence on this one!>

I'm not sure about it-not having personal knowledge. I have found it frustrating that some DCs who go are very stuck with 'this is the way that I do it at Kumon maths', the subtext being-this is the 'right' way and I'm not going to even try and see it differently! However this might just be the personality of the child! I think that some might go without even mentioning it and be adaptable and flexible.

You could search on MN - there have been lots of Kumon threads.

I used to be a classroom assistant at a Kumon maths class. The endless repetition can seem dull, but because the children don't spend more than a few minutes on it each day, they don't all feel it's dull, and like the challenge. At the class they would do some worksheets and also some other activities and then daily practise at home. I think it's a 'marmite' activity - you either love it or hate it. I used some of the ideas with my lower maths set in Y3, and they certainly benefitted.

I'm with seeker on this one.

I worked there too and I think it's a total waste of money TBH. Worksheets and repetition are great for some children - and I agree rewards build confidence - but you can do it yourself! Get some cheap workbooks, ask them times tables over breakfast or have family maths quizzes. There's even websites that create free worksheets for you - I discovered this a while ago.

I'm a former Kumon instructor.

The pros and cons are all true! Generally the families who love it are those who have done it for at least a year or even more, it does take time to get through to the higher levels but many students do Kumon because they don't have a solid foundation in arithmetic, and sorting that out can turn the maths phobic child into a confident mathematician in the long term.

It's not the easiest form of maths outsourcing; parents still have to mark the work and make sure that the worksheets are completed on the other 6 days they're not at the centre. However it's cheaper than private tuition.

Yes you can do it yourself, my DIY Kumon approach explains how to use the website MathsMadMummy talks about.

Good distinction there zap.

I've also heard that the kids start off at very low level worksheets that they can breeze through - inevitably they then go up the levels quicker as this gives a greater appearance of progress to the parents...

so I've heard anyway.

From my experience as a teacher and Senco I would say zapostrophe has summed Kumon up pretty effectively. Lots of drill that impresses parents but doesn't equip children to apply maths

I was right then, judging by the replies! I have found that although they can do it 'their way' they can't apply it. I have just been teaching a DD in one to one tuition (she didn't do Kumon maths but had a similar attitude)and she had written methods but didn't know why she was doing it. She had missed connections and in yr 6 had somehow missed the fact that if you half something you divide by 2. Everything was in isolation with no common sense e.g. ask her 609 take away 595 and she set down the sum in vertical columns! She was at a huge disadvantage in mental arithmetic. This is the feeling I get with Kumon maths-no connections or flexibility.

My ds has done kumon for a year now - we have just handed out i month notice in.
Thought is was ok - a lot of commitment for us and arguements getting ds to do it each day.
have suscribed to education city and using workbooks instead.

The one thing that really helps is knowing their tables-instant recall. My one to one pupils were all chosen because they were weak in maths. Only one knew his times tables. If you don't do anything else with them make sure they know their tables so that if you say 8x7 they don't have to have 3 minutes working it out!
I thought that this game was great Start easy and work up -the parents that I talked to like it.

yep times tables are a gateway to loads of other maths IMO. with my DSDs I cut out squares of card and wrote numbers 1-12 on, several times over. lay them all face down. DSD turns over 2 cards and gets one chance to say what the product is (you could also do addition for younger children), if it's wrong they turn them back over. keep going until they've picked up all the cards and time each session so they can see themselves get quicker

sorry OP I know you weren't asking for that, just thought I'd share

Here my insider's Kumon review which gives pointers on how to use some of the things Kumon does, to tutor your child yourself.

good review IMO. (as in accurate)

point 3 - about them not teaching. this is a big deal. there was a lovely girl at my kumon class, really struggling with long division. nearly in tears, poor thing. I wasn't allowed to teach her how to do it. She was told to just keep trying, practise makes perfect. um, no, it doesn't make perfect if you don't know what you're doing in the first place!

so I thought: bugger the rules. I taught her how to do long division. it only took a few minutes of one-to-one attention. from then on, she was really happy

4 years sitting on the fence thinking should we shouldnt we.
DDs clasmate followed Kumon since reception and all I would hear is DD complain she would never be as good as X.
Her teacher persuaded me not to put her in Kumon for the reasons others have given.
This year we followed MathWhizz ( which has been great as unlike Mathletics it does show the working out) and done additional timed tests at home. DD finished ahead of Ms Kumon in the end of year exam.
My conclusion the timed test aspect of Kumon gave a definate advantage in the classroom but it is all achievable with a bit of leg work!

I found it really really beneficial for DS1. He started going at the end of year 5 and has only stopped going a couple of months ago. (He is just fininshing year 9)We only intended it for a boost to help him with his stats but doing it short term isn't very good.

It brought him on and it was worth every penny as far as I am concerned.

it is an awful lot of pennies!

haven't tried Kumon but have tried Kip McGrath education centres which seem more individualised in English anyway - am assuming their maths tuition is similar. English was good value for money and very good at building on basic skills.

MathsMad.. I thought it was a lot of pennies but it's pennies (and lots of pounds) that I'm glad I spent.

MathsMadMummy - Yes I got pulled up on that one myself by my manager- us maths teacher types were not the ideal instructors. I finally developed a compromise approach - Ask the student to read the example and try the 1st question, if they can't do it then read through it with them twice, the 2nd time emphasising the key ideas, if they still can't do it then show them how, but still try to get them to do the 1st question as independently as possible. Use it still when helping my kids and now I have to fight to get them to hear the full explanation!

THK - That's amusing but maybe classmate would have done even worse without Kumon. I too like timed tests (Kumon times are a little too tight sometimes). Of my two speedy Kumon offspring, one works quickly with accuracy and the other works quickly with much less accuracy. Not sure if this is Kumon's fault.

Upahill-Great! It's been great for my kids too! You were right to see it as a long term thing, it's best not to see these things, whether Kumon, tutoring or helping your child yourself as a quick fix.

that's a good method, I'll try to remember that for future homework-helping

thankfully I didn't get spotted helping this girl. she was so upset though, I just couldn't morally let her carry on struggling on her own!