Have been watching Nick Junior with the kids, what on Earth is this Kumon shite?

[NumberJill]

It it a way of legitimetly hothousing your kids until they develop a stomach ulcer or something?

It plays on every fear a parent has, for God's sake "Now our future's bright" - with the implication that if you don't do their course, your child's future will not be bright.

I hate the way companies are always tweaking on the guilt button.

Yes - the Muzzy ads use the same tactics.

I saw that the other day. I teased DD, asked her is she wanted to go after school and do some more school. She was very keen

She hasn't started school yet, btw.

this country has a horror of an child who is of less than stellar intelligence and performance. It is far better to be pleasant and hardworking, and will certainly get you further!

The children I know who have been subjected lucky enough to have parents willing to pay Kumon can complete page after page of work but can't think for themselves when faced with a problem.

It's an extra study club, they do maths and english. The child attends after school 1/2 a week at a local study centre and they got given work to do at home. It's claimed to boost a child's levels at school.

Well, I certainly won't be sending my kids to Kumon for poetry lessons, after watching that crap advert.

It is really quite expensive too - ovver £40 a month per subject. And the child is expected to do some form of work every single day, relaed to it.

It was the biggest waste of money ever for us.

DS2 (profoundly dyslexic) came out crying once because the teacher yelled at him across the room.

From her reaction, you'd have thought he'd stabbed her grandmother.

He'd actually be using his fingers to help him count.

He was 6.

My friend's son is autistic and very creative. He flourished doing the English course, but for his maths he was given the same sheets to do for three months straight. He became demoralised and upset - unsurprisingly.

The teacher had specifically promised my friend and I that Kumon had a great track record for helping children with special needs.

IME that is a crock of shit.

All the Indian kids here in Kenya do extra Kumon lessons after school and at weekends to ensure they are top of their classes! From age 6 as well. It has seriously affected the confidence levels of the other kids in the class who are not doing Kumon.

and the people running the classes don't have to be qualified teachers, they just have to be able to afford to buy the franchise.

We get leaflets for it from school- its as if they're advertising they can't / would rather not do their jobs really (they're actualy pretty good teachers just seems strange)

Friends dyslexic son has benefitted it seems
but mine wouldn't, ds1 would sob at the thought of extra school, what he ahs is hard enough for him!

we tried it when dd was struggling with maths. Load of expensive tripe. She just had to add up rows of dots and we timed her - no relation to school maths at all.

My friend sent her daughter for it a few years ago. We were discussing it at work and friend said 'well its just like maths when we were at primary school'

ie, lots of reciting, repeating, learning times tables etc etc.

Children now just use calculators and computers whereas we did long multiplications/divisions with pencil paper and brain, and at secondary school used logarithms. O and A level maths with no calculators.

I think its just going back to getting children to use their own brains to work things out!

I am ready to be corrected though if my second hand reports of it are incorrect

And yes the 'our futures bright' really made me too!

I had a child in my class who did kumon a couple of years ago. He was slightly below average, but nothing to worry about. He found school hard work, then he went home and did his Kumon homework and classes.

He made no more progress than he would have done without the kumon.

There was quite a clique of mums who took their children; I'm sure it works for some, but I really can't understand why parents would want their children to do this; let them play instead!

my 2 do kumon and I think it's great - they both struggle with maths at school and the kumon has really boosted their confidence and has taught thenm that plugging away at it really does reap benefits. The work they do is not at the same level as at school but reinforcing basics that are really important - it gives them time to master these basic skills that they wouldn't get at school

was thinking of signing my son up for this

It was the cost I found most off putting.

£50 per month on their site

I just felt it was a lot of money for a lot of repetitive worksheet stuff. DD doesn't seem to learn that anyway, and her Maths is now fab anyway especially practical maths, just not as perfect at quick-fire mental maths, but will also develop on its own.

DD aged 6 has been doing Kumon maths for about 4 months now . She visits the centre once a week for about half an hour and does about 10 mins ( often less if she's quick) of very repetative maths . Although very sceptical about the whole thing I have to conceed that her confidence has really grown and she seems to be making real progress with her number bonds . It is expensive but it keeps us focused and she does actully quite enjoy it strangely enough !!