6 yrs old ds - Kumon level e, when should I stop?

[hoisinnoodles]

My ds has been described by Headteacher as exceptional on his maths and also on G & T(been told yesterday). Age 6, knowing inside out of times table and 4 digits division. Now he is 7 years old(birthday just passed) and stars year 2. He is on fraction, reducing the fraction like 42/63. I gave DS Target Maths year 3 the difficult level and DS can finish easily. I sent him to Kumon Maths when he was 5 yrs old and passed their tests without problem. He always ahead of the school work and my questions are

a. should I stop Kumon and go back to Kumon few years later so that the school work will be at the same pace
b. carry on Kumon and he may be on algebra before ds finishes his primary
c. how can the school stretch DS when he is few years ahead?? (He is in a private school.)

Would appreciate someone give some suggestion as I will have a meeting with Kumon Area manager and meet the teacher at school to discuss DS's progress

Thank you

Does he enjoy Kumon? I thought it was all work sheets , not so much problem solving etc. Being biased and maths obsessed I would not have thought it fun but repeatitive, can you branch out. Give him logic problems , sequences, sums in different bases, simultaneous equations of the I have 2 apples and 3 oranges and it costs X amount, and 4 apples and 3 oranges cost Y how much does each apple and oragne cost....

The teacher would have noticed his maths is she asking for the meeting?

Sorry "orange"

A) If he is genuinely G&T in maths, stopping Kumon so that the school catches up with him is pointless.
B) so what? :) Both DSs did algebra before the end of primary
C) This is the schools problem... Especially as it is private. In this case, your job is to ensure that they are stretching him, not to tell them how to do it.

Also, bear in mind that he may not remain G&T. I do have a friend whose child was G&T but reached a plateau where they began to struggle with more complex stuff. If you continue to stretch him he could reach that plateau earlier and thus have extra time to overcome it. Of course, he may not reach this mind block at all!

Thank you iggly2,

You are right that Kumon is all work sheets, so I have to help him to apply the concept. However, that means more work sheets! I dare not to say DS enjoys the sheets.

I think Kumon want to test DS and see how far he can go. They did not repeat him that much, esp he passed their test one by one. However, my problem is how far should I go? Should I carry one until which point?

The teacher stretch him and understand his ability. However, the school would not allow him to sit at the upper class. They carry on to let him do a bit more difficult worksheet. He is not a trouble maker but feel the work is too easy. Considering he is few years ahead, I wonder what the school can do. Does anyone has similar experience?? Can someone share please?

I am a mathematician. I would not allow my children to do Kumon. It develops fast arithmetic skills in children but not the application of imagination and intuition that are the qualities needed to succeed in maths and science.

If you want your child to whizz through the primary curriculum, continue doing Kumon. It's dull and may put your child off maths in the end. If you want your child to develop mathematically and scientifically let him conduct his own project work on areas of maths and science outside the curriculum. There is plenty there, including set theory, graph theory, ramsay theory that is accessible to a bright primary aged child but not covered until undergraduate level.

Can you summarise "set theory, graph theory, ramsay theory" for me please. I think Ds would probably be interested.

these are good ways in:

mathforum.org/isaac/problems/bridges1.html

gets you into thinking about planar graphs.

www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/proj/ramsey/party.htm

is a way into Ramsey theory but would have to be very paraphrased for a small child

and set theory starts with playing around with venn diagrams and continues with manipulating symbols to do the same, and on to axioms.

Thank you SamsungAndDelilah,

I have a quick look on the link that you mentioned. Sorry to say that they will be hard for a 7 years ols to swallow. As a mathematician, could you please suggest something more junior and hope one day DS can handle the theory that you mentioned. Thank you so much.

Are you already using nrich? This is designed for young children and is a great site.

nrich.maths.org/thismonth/1and2

Is he G&T compared to his peers because he has been doing Kumon? I know I have a maths genius but what you describe sounds slightly advanced not exceptional.

As for the theories, if a child is exceptional at maths then these concepts will not be difficult. DS covered university concepts when he was 5. They weren't har, even I could understand them.

Thank you for all your discussion. I have decided to stop Kumon and coach DS and DD myself.

There have a lot of Maths worksheet website and I can follow their pace to learn. It is a relief for the family.

Colleger, my DS could add and take away up to 20 when he was 4(same as my DD). We see his potential on maths so we sent DS to Kumon. I gave him 11+ question(starter pack) at 6 years old. He loves them and asked for more! He esp loves the non-verbel reasoning and can do 8-9 years Bond book. It is a fun game for him. I can say he find the fun bit from the maths and get the satisfaction when he finishes. This is quite natural for him. Genius or exceptional is just a name!

hoisinnoodles the "set theory" mentioned is mentioned on another thread asking for a maths teacher to explain it in English (in Italy it seems it is primary school!).There is a good link to what it means on this thread and it looks interesting.

If your son likes groups etc I think he will like it.
Sorry for my vague post! Hope you find what I have described. It is in "education " or "primary education" and is entitled something like "any maths teachers what is this in English".