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?

Dd started uk on in year 1 and continued until mid year 2. It was the best thing we ever did for her (educationally). It gave her an edge on respective/arithmetic/memorisation that still boosts her confidence today. For the more abstract math where she needed to understand a concept rather that quick snappy memorisation, kip McGrath is better. We have been at kip McGrath since we gave up uk on a couple of years ago. They are fab too. Different, but equally fab.

We discussed....and we moved on. You can't control the turns a thread takes, megabored. And it's a little embarrassing to throw a fit as the OP because it doesn't stay on the subject as you see it.

When you are in charge of the whole internet, we will all do as you say.

rose, she has now been kumoned for almost a week. The sheets are colourful, and take about 10 mins to do. (both subjects) as we are trying not to 'push'. . The key is to catch her early in the morning. I see improvement already in the way she holds her pencil and instead of counting randomly and counting the same thing twice which she used to do, she is already more systematic. The down side is making her sit down every day. It takes a little bit of persuasion but she enjoys the scribbling once we start. She also likes the one to one attention she gets when we do this. Too early to tell yet of impact but let's
See. I may continue for a couple of more months before deciding to continue or stop.

will we?

Do people 'claim' to be teachers if they are not?

Would she not enjoy the one to one attention if you were doing all the other, far more interesting things, mentioned?

strix, yes, that is one of the reasons why I am trying this. The confidence boost. Glad to know it has worked for you. I think McGrath is a little too early for us. May consider it if school does not live up to expectations.

Seems better than i thought, not too time-consuming and the idea of a switch to kip for more applied maths later seems a good balance.
Would be nice to hear from you in a few weeks as to how it's going if you wouldn't mind posting again.

Why does a child who hasn't started school need a confidence boost with regard to academic subjects?

rose, for sure. If this thread is no longer taking posts by then, I will create a new one.

Mrz, its teachers like u who think Maths is academic and not fun have made it so. To me, it's the same as teaching dd to use a
Knife and fork or put on clothes or even draw.

As for English, if is desperate to read and write so why not teach it systematically?

Interestingly the new curriculum doesn't regard either as prime areas of learning

No magabored I think worksheets are boring
real maths is fun interesting and active but Kumon worksheets are simple arithmetic

megabored: "Mrz, I am beginning to understand why a lot of posters in here dislike you."

Eh? Since when? I've seen many, many threads on here where mrz's extensive knowledge and expertise in primary matters has been much sought after. But, if your dd hasn't yet started schooling properly, then you won't know that.

The reason that teachers tend to say that you shouldn't start academic learning until 7 is because there's no need to. The research has been done, it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference.

Children under 7 need to learn how to learn, through play, so that when they hit the academic subjects seriously, they are ready to. They also need sleep and rest, which they won't be getting much of if they spend an hour studying mathematics every day.

fedup I'm not suggesting that children shouldn't learn maths and to read and write until they are 7 far from it. I'm suggesting that Kumon is a poor model for academic subjects. Looking at the workbooks most children are going to become very confused as the methods don't match the way the subjects are taught. The Kumon "writing words" book uses word shapes and initial consonant blends (methods not used in most schools in decades).

Incidentally the Kumon workbooks are available from £2.00 ... much cheaper than paying Kumon

I completely agree that key to success in Kumon is to do it first thing. We used to have breakfast, then Kumon, then leave for school. Again, I think the confidence boost that comes from Kumon often surfaces places outside the class room. I remember when the boys started telling dd that they were smarter and I particular better at math. Dd told me what she had learned, and I started asking boys about their times tables with dd present and she always knew the answers better than they did. Knowing the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts early (and well) has allowed her to excel in math while her peers were still working on the basics. So this work in years 1 and 2 continues to boost her in year 4.

However, as I said early, the math topics she does now are better taught at kip McGrath, and we are now very happy there.

Can I just add that I hate the apple spell corrector word replacement "feature".

Also, I found that Kumon gave dd that edge and encouragement that no state school year 1 teacher would ever have time to focus on. In my experience our state school teachers are very happy once my children have achieved the required minimum. But, that will never be my goal.

The problem is of course not the teachers themselves, but the class size of 30. It's just not feasible for them to focus on individual abilities. Pity. :-(

Strix the OPs child is FOUR years of age ... imagine what it is going to do to a child's confidence when they find out what they have learnt at Kumon is not the same as they learn in school and they have to learn to do things correctly.

Gawd, the world of Kumon was a restrictive, boring, soul-less one in our experience.

Go for a walk with your child instead, chat about language, maths, whatever, and spend some of the spare cash on cake and ice cream.

Then read to them at night before bed.

Sounds like you have a bit of academic competition going amongst your children there - is that healthy?

(That was at strix)

pink yes, it could get that way. I will have to wait and see what happens. But so far, its been great.

Strix, yes, I understand the apple autocorrect. I can read beyond that so dont worry. Thats exactly why I am trying out Kumon. Not to make dd into a math genius but to give that little bit of confidence so that math then does not become a chore at school. not sure if my theory will work but i am willing to try it out. I understand that Kumon does not do much for the rest of the math subjects like stats, mechanics etc but hoping it will 'set her up for life' in basic fast arithmatic to boost that confidence so that she continues maths at a higher level and does not become fazed by it. thats my theory. lets see.

As for English, trying it for the sake of it (will probably be crucified on here for that comment). DD recognises all the letters of the alphabet and can read 3 and 4 letter words but struggles to write. So I thought I would try those sheets.

Today we discovered these workbooks we have purchased earlier in the year from ELC. Very much like Cbeebies magazines. After trying Kumon english for 5 days, approx. she pulled out those books herself to try! Just before bed (before we begin reading the Hobit!!).

Whao megabond, can't believe you signed up for kumon eventually despite the very negative comments on this thread. well done to you! My DS who did this for 8 months from when he was 3.6 yrs is alive and well. I moved his unfunded nursery placement from his nursery to a private school that had provison for 3yr old in March hence giving me the confidence to stop kumon. So he goes to his nursery to 'learn through play' 2wice a week and the private school to learn in a focussed manner 3 times a week. The private school have been teaching him phonics, how to count, write his name etc and he is thriving.

Got his report yesterday from private school and the comments were so positive all round. I have continued to support him at home too by reading and getting him to write his name on birthday cards for his friends. Learning through play was not working for him at former nursery as the play was not focussed from what I can gather and other parents have made comments.