Tell me all the negatives about kumon maths!

[iamnotaprincess]

ONLY the negatives please!!!

it's just worksheets that they do over and over and over again

there's no help with actually understanding the maths, it's just practise/memory

you're paying a horrendous amount for someone to mark their work and not much else - no actual teaching

you could probably just get your DC a load of workbooks instead, for the above reasons

...that ok? I worked for kumon for a year btw.

1. It costs a fortune.

2. It's just worksheets - not teaching.

3. If you really want to do death by worksheet, they are available on the internet for free.

It's boring.

you can't ever miss a day, and if you do (ie Christmas day) you're supposed to do twice as much the nest day. So no flexiblity.

Not being able to se the point of it.

It's very limited,mostly to + - x, division.

IME of our trial sessions:

1. not run by qualified teachers
2. the assistants working with the children were sixth formers from local school(s) or university students, def not qualified staff
3. expensive at £50 a month
4. just worksheet after worksheet after worksheet (you can buy workbooks which are very very similar by Kumon for much less cost too)
5. they start your child at a very low easy level - no wonder they can boast that children make such good progress inf irst year - they claim it is to boost confidence
6. very crowded work room with children working on their own, not one to one or even two to one
7. involves committment every single day even weekends and holidays (albeit only 10 minutes or so)
8. no teaching takes place; the assistants (see 2) just mark work and children have to keep redoing until they get the right pass mark
9. huge emphasis on how quick you can do the sums, rather than on understanding what you are doing and why

We were not impressed and didn't sign up after the trial sessions.

Pay £40 instead a year for mathletics. It's far better.

oh yeah I second the crowded thing to.

anyway... why d'you ask?

Boring and expensive is what I heard. Have never personally partaken, however.

rainbowinthesky - that is what I did Recently joined Mathletics online for DD (found a discount code so was £34 for the year) and DD loves it.

Thank you, so it does not work, right?

It's boring, expensive, doesn't work, undermines teachers and preys on the insecurities of parents.

So when parents tell me that their kids' maths improved, they are decieving themselves? Interesting the point about undermining teachers, I had not thought of that.

it depends what you class as improving really. they'll certainly get quicker at mental maths which is no bad thing (it's just a stupidly expensive way to get it!) - but it won't improve their understanding. for that money a private tutor would be much better.

oh, and if anyone saw those adverts for kumon on telly, the sessions look nothing like that...

c'mon then iamnotaprincess, is there a reason for you asking?

expensive
doesn't work long term

The children can rarely apply the number bonds and tables they learn by rote to a different problem, a word problem, money or any one that involves maths vocabulary. So they can manage 20-8=12, but not 'What's the difference between 20 and 8, or 'I have 20p, spend 8p what's my change?'

1. It's all about memory. IMHO it also makes some children think they are brilliant at maths which is then a complete pain in class as they won't listen when you are trying work on the understanding of what they are doing.
2. They can't transfer the "skills" they learn. (word used very lightly)
3. They learn to hate maths (which is a pity as it is fun fun fun!!!!)

parents understandably upset that having spent all that money the class teacher is trying to tell them their child is still struggling with basic maths

oooh where did you get the discount code for mathletics - a teacher was recomending that to me the other day

The kumon kids might improve, but if you spent 5 or 10 mins doing any maths with them (eg you just making up questions for them) they would improve at least as much, I would think more because it would be more tailored, and it would cost nowt.

fabhead - I googled it. I did post it somewhere n MN. I think it is something like GENIUS

I've just had a quick look at the Mathletics website, and it says 'America's #1 Math Website',

Is the material essentially the same from country to country, and is it difficult to find your child's 'level' as children in different countries are taught differently and at different rates/ages?

TIA

DD is in Y3 and we signed her up for the Y3 session which appears to be the same kind of thing and level they do at school.

You can then do the sheets for that level and the tests and see if it is right. You can then click on make easier or make harder buttons.

TBH though it appears to be worldwide and not particularly American.

Thank you very much, it is exactly what i thought, will spend the money on myself instead.