To Kumon or not to Kumon. That is the question.

[megabored]

DD is starting school in September. Below are the Pros and Cons I have been debating recently.

1. She is bright, so should be okay without extra help in school
2. It is too early to put her through this
3. Kumon is expensive and time consuming.

The Pros

1. It may give her that bit of extra confidence at school
2. Earlier is better as then she can grow with that system
3. Its not so expensive as to be prohibitive.

I really cant decide either way. Please someone help?

blue kumon does not claim to make u understand Maths. It makes u faster and more accurate at arithmetic by daily practice.

megabored £85 per month?

Seriously????? £85?!!!!!

And you really think it's going to be worth it?

pooshtun Normally sarcasm would be used in direct response to a comment from someone else, not in the way you used it back there. That may be why people failed to recognise your attempt at 'humour.'

I really wish that I had come up with a series of worksheets to part people from their money!

clam I've finished my reports !!!

Blimey you could get an entire set of CPG work books(if you so desired)tailored to your child's actual year group in all 3 core subjects for a lot less than that.What a rip!!!!

Yay!!!! Round of applause for mrz
I handed mine in electronically today too. All proof-read too.

Wish I could have but am feeling absolutely shite tonight - aches, pains and sore throat so have retired to bed with MN, and am making the DCs wait on me.

Arithmetic is quite simple and it comes with time, some children pick it up quicker. Kumon probably helps you with that but once they are around 8 it is largely irrelevant as all kids have pretty much caught up but these children have spent so long doing these silly sheets that by the time they encounter real maths, the maths that passes exams and leads to qualifications they are really thrown. Their minds are 'taught' to programme and use numbers in a certain way so that when they need to stop and comprehend what the questions are asking them to do with their numbers they are thrown and not as readily able to figure out the maths. I remember my eldests first term tests, it was pure arithmetic, the 5 kumon girls were all top, none of the other girls got a look in. By the end of her first year only 1 was performing well still, the rest were average or below. Fast forward 4 years and they are all well below average. I remember my first parents evening with the teacher saying kumon goes against the natural progression in maths and she always sees burnout in these girls. Many kumon girls are of course bright I personally object to this type of rote learning so would counter that in the long run it is detrimental to how children look at and deal with maths problems. You need to be able to apply mentl arithmetic. I suspect that left to their own devices and with good teaching many of these children will have achieved more at the end of the day without kumon. None of the many kids I see in uber competitive SW London who have done kumon from a young age are a great advert for what kumon can do for children.

I have a child starting reception in September. She is old for the year with 2 sparky older siblings. The idea of putting her into kumon classes is absolutely beyond me. She is so young. What is the point. She would hate it. Reception is meant to be fun. They will be teaching them 1-20 and lots of messy play. How is kumon going to benefit that.

clam and mrz, I'm so . Six reports to do still, but should be finished by the end of the weekend. Hopefully the poor weather will encourage me to get on with it, rather than going out with the family.

Think it must be going around I've got aches and pains and runny nose (most unattractive shade of red) and so tired. Also in bed with MN.

OP If it really is £85 per month that you are going to be paying for a 4 year-old who is not even in school yet then I am sorry but you are as mad as a box of frogs.

Just think how £85 could be spent in other ways for your childs development/enrichment, call it what you want; a huge supply of paper, pens, glue, glitter, paints, pencils for craft; if you want to go down the workbook route, as someone said earlier, a full set of workbooks in every subject; a year's family subscription to The National Trust; a subscription to First News, or aquila, or National Geographic, or RSPB for older children; a fantastic day out at Eureka, or Birmingham's science museum, or The Blue Planet aquarium or a day trip to London to visit countless museums and galleries; paying for music lessons or dance or drama lessons for your child, about six months worth of subscriptions to rainbows, judo or fencing or football or goodness knows what else!!

And you have decided to pay this amount for worksheets. Go figure.

PooshTun

Would your alter ego be pusheed/pushydad by any chance?

holidaymaker Ah!!! Now it makes sense.

What are you all on about?

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.
Ernest Dimnet

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
B. F. Skinner

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forbes

Poosh is pushydad? How do you know Holidaymaker?

mrz love that BF Skinner quote!

Do a search, it's obvious.

We will just call you Miss Marple from now on, holidaymaker.

Today I happened to observe a top set year 7 student at the selective school I work at do her maths homework in the ICT suite at lunchtime (pretty difficult simultaneous equations) followed by some Kumon sheets she'd brought in to finish which were just a pile of really easy divisions (double digits divided by single, bus stop method, sometimes with remainders). Seemed completely bonkers to me and all of the students sitting around her...

I worked it out a while ago. A search through posting history will
throw up huge areas of the same drivel opinions and very identifiable info.

I have always wondered why people that post such nasty stuff, presumably under the cover of anonymity, can post such large flags leading to their identity.

Feenie

That took bloody ages. Trying out my new name change..