Kumon. Anyone used it? Can you recommend?

[HotCrossPenguin]

Have just made an enquiry for my DS's. Don't know a lot about it, but figured that a few MNetters might!

The child I look after goes . It works well for her . it takes about 5 to 10 mins a day and is repetative (sp) adding up and taking away and them multiplication . Looks ok to me but bloody expensive .

Hi HotCrossPenguin,

my children go. It's very expensive for what it is but on the other hand I tried before making up my own extra work for them (they hardly get any homework at their state school which I'm not at all happy about) and as you can imagine, we never got round to doing it every day.

With the Kumon, they accept they have to do it (because the work is not directly imposed on them by me) and so far they don't mind.

They feel more confident with their school work and make progress.

Ds 1 has done it for 1 1/2 years, ds2 for 6 months.

I'm not sure if they're going to do it until they're 16, probably not. Having said that, there are are quite a few older children at our centre who have been doing it for years as you can see from the colour of their folders. But we're going to review if it's still right for them once they're approaching secondary school as a tutor might better then.

So far I'm happy with Kumon but I would certainly not mind if it was cheaper.

Thanks for info. Have only just been able to look back in on MN since I posted!
How much do you pay, if you don't mind me asking? The one I've enquired about is an hour and a half classes, but don't know about the cost yet. Do they get homework with Kumon too? That might be okay for my DS in yr 2 as he doesn't get much at all, but my DS in yr 3 does, and sometimes it's a struggle getting him to do that, so additional homework might not go down too well!

I haven't used it but did look into it. Near us it costs £45 per month plus a £15 registration fee. There is a half hour class twice a week of which you must attend at least one class. At the class you also receive the work for the rest of the week (about 15-20mins per day). I'm not sure if this is the same everywhere.

You have to do sheets of maths every day for it to be effective. The aim is to really get children knowing the basics of maths (number bonds, tables etc) off by heart so they can work out calcs mentally. Here there are 2 classes a week, lasting 2 hours, but you drop in when you want and spend about 30 mins there.
We started dd1 there 12 months ago (when she was in y5) as her mental maths was awful, she just hadn't managed to commit a lot of the stuff to long term memory. It has had a really good effect, and improved her skills enough to get her offers from 3 selective ind. schools. It has also got her over the 'maths phobia' she was begining to develop. Sadly we have just stopped it as she is now in y6 and school are ladling homework on them (sats ) and the level she is on takes 20 mins per day. May well look at restarting in Jan when she has got settled at her new school though.

just found out that 6 children in dds reception class do kumon
think that's really sad at that age

maybe they need a break from it for a while?

Yep, £90 a month is a lot of money. Don't know if it will be that much here, although as it's national, it probably will be. It may be money well spent though, if it really helps them. Your DD, Berries, sounds like she's deone well with it. Oh yes, SATS are awful aren't they? My DD is also in year 6 and has been very stressed by the amount of work they're doing. We'll all be glad when they're over.

I have heard that kumon doesn't actually teach anything just lots and lots of practice of sums (although the worksheets are very clever in that the sums very gradually get harder)

Can do it yourself with a good workbook (I like the Schofield and sims which our library sells) doing a bit each day. Need to keep motivation going which is probably what you are paying the £90 a month for

I love kumon because it taught my children arithmetic - something state schools don't really do very well. If they don't have a basic grasp of arithmetic, they never really catch up, and this country is full of teenagers and adults who cannot do simple sums.

I sympathise Jellyhead!

My husband thinks it's called Kumon because we're always pleading 'Come-on!' to get them to do it.

We've been doing it solidly for a year now, and whilst I do think it's made improvements for both my dcs, I NEED A BREAK (from the constant battles to get them to do it), so we are taking almost a month off. HURRAH!!!!

Hmmm a cou[le of different views here. I guess I could give it a go and see how they get on. DD (11) goes to a tutor, who is an older lady, an ex teacher, and she's done well with her. I have asked the tutor for a slot for DS1 but she hasn't got anything at the moment, and don't know when she will have. She won't take DS2 on yet, as she tiold me that she normally doesn't take them until the end of year 2, but then again, DS2 is nearly at the end of year 2 (well he will be in July.) I think this tutor generally teaches older children though.

I looked after children who had to do this every day (even Christmas day and birthdays) They hated doing it and complained constantly. In my opinion their maths skills were no better than other children who I cared for who didn't do Kumon.

It is great for them knowing their table by heart but I think that you can find a more fun way to do this (I used tapes and songs with the next family I worked for and they loved it).

I won;t be doing it with my children.

Getting ready for the Kumon backlash now!

I also think you get better results (especially from younger children) when you can hide learning in a fun activity - why all this constant need for extra tuition? Who is it really for - the children or parents?

Well for me, it's definately for the children. My DS2 aged 7 recently got 3/30 on a tables test as he confused x with +. So I've been a bit worried, and feel that he could benefit from extra tuition. I know we can do things at home, but my own maths are dire, DH's aren't, but he works long hours, and tbh, often it's finding the time to sit down at home and do more work on top of homework too. Also, they often work better for someone else, and personally I prefer to get them 'proper' help away from home.

My ds did this in yr 3 and 1st term yr 4. Cost £45 per month - this was some time ago and they had homework every day. The teacher/group leader was imo not very great with children so we took them out. Personally I did not feel it was worth the money. They got far more enjoyment and stimulation out of doing books out of WH Smith.

But HCP the kids I looked after had to do it everyday and I had to sit down with them and go through any mistake they made so surely you could do 10 mins maths with them then. And you saying that you haven't got time to do more homework with them as it is - well what is Kumon if not homework? Unless of course you're kids do it a different way.

HotCrossPenguin - if your son likes doing fun maths things then there are lots of games on the net which help kids learn/practice tables etc. I used some of the following with a little boy I tutored who was maths phobic and virtually non-functioning in maths. You could try:

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/numeracy.shtml www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/index.html www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/P/puzzlemaths/md_machine_game.shtml

www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/curriculum/Numeracy.htm (lots of links here to other useful resources).

Kumon maths is very good for the arithmetic element of maths - but as has been mentioned by other people the sing along tapes work too. I used to do a couple of minutes of mental maths every morning while plaiting my daughter's hair and she developed into an excellent mathematician. As the Kumon regime shows it's little and often that does the trick - but you don't need to pay £45 a month to do it!

I'm with the anti-Kumon people. The thing which made a difference for me (and I did my 'O'-levels a year early in a bog-standard comprehensive school) was my Dad sitting down with me and taking the time to talk me through the homework I didn't understand.

Believe me, your kids will appreciate that more (and do better) than if you dump them in a Maths hothouse for a few hours a week.

"dump them in a Maths hothouse for a few hours a week." That seems a bit of an extreme remark. Especially considering the 'dumping' bit amounts to about half an hour (an hour at most for one subject) a week. The rest is done at home afaik. Probably overseen by a parent. In fact, thinking about it maybe Kumon is more about teaching parents to supervise their children's homework for 15mins a day

£45 a month!!!

Never realised Kumon was so expensive.

We did it for a while and tbh it became a bore. You could just write or print out pages of repetitive sums yourself. There is a website where you can make your own worksheets for free. It's called 'Superkids math worksheet creator'. Sorry, can't do links