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?

We're = were !!!

"I think SOME people may be jealous that they are not doing kumon or similar and therefore their child might suffer as a result of my child MAYBE knowing her arithmetic!"

I think SOME people are MASSIVELY delusional....

Why would a child 'suffer' because another child can add/subtract?

How odd.

""I think SOME people may be jealous that they are not doing kumon or similar and therefore their child might suffer as a result of my child MAYBE knowing her arithmetic!" "

OK, so if I needed any evidence that I was wasting my time on this thread, this is it. megabored you quite clearly haven't understood that article at all, as everything you've said since has shown. I suspect that your main wish is for your dd to "shine" at school by appearing to know how to do certain functions in maths. Fortunately, her teachers won't be fooled, and they will spend their time teaching her properly (and we may see you back on these threads bemoaning the fact that she isn't being "stretched" at school. And who knows? She may well turn out to be good at maths anyway. But please don't kid yourself it has anything at all to do with attending Kumon.

I wanted advise to make my own decision. Not have my decision made for me by democracy.

teacher 'why anyone would bother' with kumon.

Hm, It currently just gives me 'structure' to
Teach her. All the fun things we do with numbers, it just gives me yet another 'tool' to underline what she is learning. It is expensive for what it currently is but saves me time which I value more by having someone else do the leg work for sheets. I find that the workbooks we have from m&s etc move on too quickly to the next level of understanding. Kumon so far has not done that. We infact may be more in danger or repetition and therefore boring her but I will deal with that when I come to that point. Even learning the alphabet repetition is
necessary. It also helps with motivation when we collected the books from the centre and my dd sees other children, two younger than her doing the same but at a higher level (don't want to bring race into this but 1 Chinese and one Asian).

Megabored I think you should continue to pay Kumon £600 a year at least until A levels ... There are you happy I've agreed with you

I think that the infants, especially reception, is the worst for competitive parenting and after that it settles down. There was a thread, only this week, where someone was upset because their 'advanced' DC who was ahead at nursery and reception had been 'moved down a group' in year 1. Posters just pointed out that her DD wasn't doing any worse- it was just that the others had caught up and, in some cases, overtaken.
It is a marathon and not a sprint! My DS was in the lower Maths group all through primary school, he was the one who overtook and got the top grade in public exams.
They are much better off at 4/5yrs with Quip's way than worksheets. Quip's DC is the one that has the firm foundation to build on.

A fool and his money are soon parted

Hmm. Another reason to object to Kumon- they let the children see what level the other children are on!

mrz I am not so insecure that I need people to agree with me. Nor do I need a dozen 'followers' to backup every post I write.

seeker do they? How? Not reached that stage yet. Folder dd has just says year 1 of kumon study.

You just said that your dd was motivated by seeing other children working at a higher level than her.........

Ah, sorry, what I meant was that she liked the fact other little children were there. It was just coincidental that they were on a higher level. (with all these posts, I was concerned about starting too early. But I saw a child who had started at 2.5! that's what I meant)

But I saw a child who had started at 2.5! that's what I meant)

The poor thing-words fail me.......

Megabored, this is whwtnto you actually said! " It also helps with motivation when we collected the books from the centre and my dd sees other children, two younger than her doing the same but at a higher level"

Why would anyone be jealous if your child was going to kumon?

Would you honestly think your four year old is better than another one because they can add up?

As for a two year old being there it's disgusting thought four was bad enough.

I want a happy child with great social skills the rest can be taught by properly trained teachers later.

I'm afraid megabored whether or not you are insecure this thread reads as if you are seeking approval (of one kind or another)

mrz good links yesterday. Thanks. I also noted that on the second link there is a whole paragraph on the emphasis of written mathematical notation and its importance. Interesting.
These discussions have helped me breakdown how a child might think and learn if anything.
Don't think I am being totally fingers in ears.
I would not consider kumon for a 2.5 year old either! Even me, dim and insecure me!
I think we have discussed this to death. I will sign out of this thread for now. And maybe return some weeks from now with an update on whether I still feel its worth carrying on with kumon or not. Ciao for now.

My DCs went to a private nursery where, from the age of 3.5 they had the services of a qualified teacher for one hour a day. On top of this, at home they would read to us before going to bed.

If we didn't have a teacher then I don't doubt that we would have done tutoring at the age of 4.

So, I'm with mega but whether we would have chosen Kumon is another matter.

Did you look at the examples of written mathematical notation megabored? They are nothing like Kumon workbooks I'm afraid.
nrich.maths.org/6894
I recommend www.amazon.co.uk/Childrens-Mathematics-Making-Marks-Meaning/dp/1412922836

AnutherPMF I don't have a problem with young children learning (I've spent 2 decades teaching 4 year olds ) my issue is purely with the appropriateness/ effectiveness of Kumon

I would be more impressed with kumon if they refused to take a 2 year old-it appears that money comes first.