Kumon - English programme?

[BabyMommaDec2012]

Hi - just wondering if you had any experience of the Kumon English modules? Planning on signing my DS (6) up over the summer hols to help increase his writing skills and to keep his mind working over the 6wk break.

Kumon during summer holiday for 6 years old sounds like a horrible idea.

Ok, I’ll bite... why do you think it is a terrible idea?

I have an appointment on Saturday for maths and English for my 7 year old. He’s being doing a page a day out of a maths book and writing 5 sentences on his reading book every day too.

He got admitted to a selective grammar in September but we have decided to keep him at his less academic pre-prep (that suits him pastorally better!) so I want to keep on top of his academics too. We have broken up now for summer, so hoping Kumon keeps him going until September.

He's 6 his mind will still be working over the entirety of the holidays without a stupid program to adhere to. Just let him be a 6 year old his writing skills will improve naturally as he gets older making him do work during the summer holidays will probably have the opposite effect.

I don't have personal experience of Kumon but it generally has a reputation on MN for being rigid, boring and out of touch with the curriculum.

You might like to consider encouraging him to write a holiday diary instead, and doing the summer reading scheme at your local library. He could write postcards to send while you're on holiday. If you go for a day out somewhere a bit 'educational' he could perhaps produce a poster to take into school for 'show and tell' in September.

He could do some wordsearches, maze books, colouring books, or if you can't resist 'proper' work, an age-appropriate workbook which you can pick up in a supermarket or book shop.

All of these would be more fun, and probably more beneficial, than Kumon.

The problem with my DS is that he works well for me in the home environment but messes around at school. I want to get him used to working well for someone else/in a classroom-type/formal learning environment to help him when he goes into year 2.
School has been a complete nightmare because he just doesn’t seem to ‘get’ school even though he genuinely loves learning - I’m trying to help him by keeping a school-type routine going over the long summer hol. Don’t worry, he’ll have lots of fun too - play dates, summer club days and skateboarding lessons are all booked in as well!

Just bumping! Has anyone had experience of the Kumon English programme?

We have our appointment later today - happy to report back this evening and let you know what we found out!

Problem wit Kumon is, imo, that the parents need to be involved every
day.
There will be no way out for the child. And Parents needs to mark all the mark sheet your child has done. It just sound like a torture for bot child and parents.

We do work at home every day anyway. The Kumon guidelines say 30mins a day is needed - over the summer hols when he’s not at school, this is nothing! My DS struggles to concentrate at school so we do bits each day at home anyway (often probably longer than 30mins as he reads a short chapter book from school each night too).

If you have the kind of kids that are thriving at school Rain then I’m genuinely happy for you. My son isn’t. His school experience is woeful. He likes learning, he just doesn’t seem to ‘get’ that he needs to school work at school (he’s under investigation for ASD/ADHD). I’m trying to help him to keep his head above water.

Kumon is incredibly repetitive and dull. It might turn him off reading. Could regular trips to the library to find something to read for pleasure be more useful?

He’s actually ahead with his reading. It’s writing that’s the issue. He can write legibly but isn’t meeting expectations because he does ‘expand’ on his ideas when he’s writing (he’s far ahead of his years verbally and so there’s an mismatch in his written work). I help him at home but formal formal input from a trained tutor will be helpful.

I don't believe kumon tutors have teaching qualifications. I remember my daughters used to enjoy writing a little book review and then illustrating their work every time they finished reading a book. I think the key is to find something they enjoy. I've yet to meet a child who enjoys kumon

We've done Kumon English before and are currently doing the Maths programme as it keeps our DS ticking over during the long holidays and having the hand the worksheets in every week ensures that we actually do them. You can also buy Kumon books to do at home, if you don't want the faff of having to go to the centre, just search on Amazon or ask in Waterstones. Bear in mind that the 'grade' on the front is the US grade, so it's one year behind i.e. Year 2 here will be Grade 1. We always do some Maths and English over the summer as it's well-known that kids lose some of their skills if they don't.

Thanks zafferana. Did the English sessions help your kids with their writing skills?

We only did the English program from 4-5 years old to get them familiar with holding a pencil and making legible marks before they started school and yes, it worked very well. I'd do it again, if we hadn't discovered CGP and Bond workbooks, which we really like for English and are a bit more varied and interesting for kids. Some kids though will respond better to the worksheet a day method and it does get them (and you!) into good habits of completing the work each day. If it's just a book on the table that you don't have to hand in it's much easier to let that slide!

I haven’t ever used kumon myself but my understanding is that little teaching actually goes on at the sessions - you go each week, hand in your work and are given your next weeks work, no actual teaching. (I used to work for a different tuition company and interviewed/employed ex kumon employees and heard this from them, as well as parents who’d used it).) Parents are expected to mark child’s daily work.

As mentioned above, most kids don’t enjoy it. I think it’s fab for practice of basics and rote learning (times tables etc) but I cannot imagine it improving the quality of a child’s writing.

I’ve not used either, but when I looked into it I found much more positive reviews for Kip McGrath centres, as their staff are actually teachers, and there is more new learning rather than rote practice compared to Kumon.

If he messes around at school, he’ll mess around at Kumon. Kumon only works for kids prepared to work hard and good tutors will expel your child if they aren’t prepared to put the effort in.

Teddybear45 - The point is that i’ll be there with him (or at least just outside the door) during his Kumon study sessions at the centre. I’ll be there to quickly shut down any hint of messing around. He works well for me in the home environment - I want to train him to work well in other environments.

Thanks Zafferana - it’s good to hear that the English module was good (if repetitive!).

When my DD was that age, I bought her a pad of sticky notes and some pens. We would have an hour a day when we wouldn't speak to each other, just pass notes back and forth. It was much more fun than worksheets and really helped her writing and reading.

We went for the assessment this weekend and I’ve signed up for the English component. I was very impressed with the person running it (ex teacher) who explained it IS repetitive, but that’s so that the basic skills are utterly mastered and you then have the building blocks for moving forwards. My sons advanced in English, but I wanted him to have extra support outside of school for this as we have chose a less academically pushy school which is better for him overall. The kumon lady did an assessment booklet with Ds and then explained to me that she would give us a booklet for every day, and she would like us to attend 2 sessions a week at the centre. She showed Ds how to fill in the booklets, and me how to mark them. They focused on proper letter formation, reading the sentences and pulling bits of information out of that in a different format. She said it would take between 20-30 mins a day per booklet, and it was important to remain positive - when you mark it, you let the child correct any mistakes so the score is 100 less however many were initially wrong, now 100. So they always end up on top marks (hope that makes sense!)

I can TOTALLY see how it wouldn’t work for many families and kids, and if I had the skill set to push DS myself then I would. We already write a paragraph on the book he’s reading each day and write each other notes etc, but I didn’t know how to take it beyond that. We are going to give it a go for the summer and then once school starts back reassess the commitment, because it is a hefty chunk of time you are signing over.

Can't be of much help, but don't worry too much about your son, at least not yet. In Year 1, I thought my son was going to be the first ever to 'fail' that year. Disliked school, struggled with reading and writing, couldn't concentrate on anything, I didn't even want anyone to see his school reports, now finished Year 2 and I couldn't be prouder. Half way through the year it was like a light bulb just went on. He is still very playful but his reading and writing has improved so much.

@2cats2many love that idea!

No direct experience of Kumon but the boy in dd's class who'd started pre- reception is one of the worst behaved in the year & terrible concentration wise.
The people at work who used it moved on to 11+ tutoring soon after. It's all repetition as opposed to understanding. I guess like anything it will suit some children more than others and you know your child best.
No harm in trying.