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

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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?

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

Why?

Tutoring at 4 yrs leads to unhappy children in UK in my opinion.
A 4 yr old needs a parent to spend time talking, reading and playing games. That is all a good tutor would do with them.

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

How strange - in a state school nursery your dc would have had the services of a qualified teacher all day!

At 3.1 my ds will have a qualified teacher for 6 hours a day Guess I won't need Kumon then!

I think that there are a number of parents who, as I mentioned earlier, like the idea of their child impressing their teachers and other parents that they're some kind of mathematical genius because they can "do" tens and units addition at 5. What happens is, of course, that the teachers think "oh God, another Kumon kid," and have to take them back to understanding the underlying principles of maths. And that child, whose parents were so thrilled at their "success" at Kumon, is in danger of having all that confidence dented as they realised that they're maybe not the mathematical wiz they thought they were.

.... a qualified teacher that spends one hour a day focusing solely on maths and English as opposed to arts and craft and stuff.

Maybe we are talking about different things but friends whose DCs went to a state nursery didn't have this.

In nurseries with a full time qualified teacher, children will have Maths and English activities planned throughout the day, rather than just fitted into one hour.

"one hour a day focusing solely on maths and English as opposed to arts and craft and stuff."

Parents make all kinds of choices for their children from the moment they are born, from diet to how they will be educated, and it need not necessarily have anything to do with impressing anyone.
When taught well, children are capable of a lot, and with apparent enjoyment - don't we all enjoy learning stuff and gaining mastery, whether it is of immediate obvious use or not.
Here' is a video clip, quite an old one, from the 60's, of kindergartners doing algebra. No doubt it will horrify some on here, but others will feel vindicated that academic learning can be exciting.(This is from a maths programme taught over a couple of years of 20 mins. a day)
www.zigsite.c om/trainingvideos/zigmathvideo.html

How much time do the children spend learning maths and English in the private nursery AnutherPMF?

When my children were pre schoolers they spent practically every waking hour learning maths and English! And science and philosophy and sport and history and geography. And PHSE.

And music and art appreciation and practice.

Quite-I don't know how you avoid it!

Wow, there is some really strong negativity about Kumon on here. I never can work out why parents who choose not to tutor are bothered by those who do.

I would like to reiterate, that as a parent of two children who went to Kumon for a year or two in reception, yr 1, and year 2, I think it was great for both of them. They are not hot housed. They had plenty of play time. And both sit at or near the top of their class in math. And I do not attribute that success to the school, who don't really care if my children excel beyond bog standard in math.

The school is quite good with literacy so I leave that to them. But math has so gaps and found Kumon (and now kip McGrath) have filled them nicely.

My 10 year old DD, Y5, loves Kumon. She is currently working her way through equations, having successfully completed fractions, decimals and negative and positive numbers. In year 6 she will cover simultaneous equations, functions and graphs and factorisarion. She is at the top of her year group, along with another two Kumon students. My children are not pushed in any way, each day they do their school homework, 10-15 mins Kumon and read in bed. Doing a Kumon worksheet at the breakfast table is simply a mental warm up before school and it works for my family. Every parent does what they feel is best for their kids, why shouldn't that be 15 mins/day maths.

You can do 15 mins maths a day without paying Kumon

We do HOURS of maths a day (less so now, but at some points DS has done maths-related activities pretty much all of his waking hours) and have never paid anyone a penny...

teacher - So you do hours of maths a day with your child but my 15 mins a day is somehow wrong because I pay £55/month for it. My children are happy and doing well at school. If I couldn't afford Kumon I would buy work books instead. But right now Kumon suits me just fine.

Cheap skates!! A lot of people in Britain are suffering 'freebie syndrom'. Its morally wrong to spend on education cos its FREE.

I was taught never to waste money on rubbish and only to buy quality goods and services iyatoda

It's nothing to do with being cheap skates - in fact it has little to do with money (although anyone with any sense would demand value for money).

There is nothing moralistic about expecting an educator to develop and extend a child's knowledge and learning skills, whilst maintaining their self esteem and building their confidence -whether that educator is working within the state education system, private education system, or as an extra-curricular tutor.

mrz - same here, that's why I pay Kumon each month

I suppose it depends on your view of quality Florence. Personally I don't see any reason to pay Kumon for poor quality workbooks (that are available on Amazon if you really can't be bothered to find something better) to use at home then take to an unqualified tutor and bunch of sixth formers to mark but if you regard that value for money then you pay your money.

I bet if the governemnet was paying for it, then the arguement would be different. CHEAP SKATES. Save your money and buy your 6 packs, fags and holiday to Ibiza.

Ah, and here are your true colours, iyatoda.

What is it about Kumon that attracts these lovely, lovely people?