Kumon & Reading Recovery Programmes

[castlesintheair]

I had a quick search and there seems to be masses of stuff on old threads but I feel too stressed to read through it all at the moment. So, does anyone please have any experience that they can share of these programmes? My DS is 5 and I've just received a (private) ed psych report that recommends he follows these 2 programmes. If anyone can tell me about their experiences I would be very grateful. Costs etc, as well.

I also posted this in Special Needs.

I've mentioned this on another thread tonight, but we do have experience of Kumon Maths - not sure whether you are thinking maths or English. It costs £45 per child per month - but you have to put in a lot of time and effort yourself! They do worksheets every day which you have to mark and record how they've done, then you take them in once a week to do their work with a supervisor.
Basically it's lots of repetition. It seems to make an improvement in most people, if you can stick to it. It causes a lot of battles in most houses though I think!
We did do a reading programme for a while a couple of years ago, but I can't think what it is called - will have a look and post again if I find it.

It's called Word Wasp (you'll find it on google). The workbook is quite expensive, but the school got hold of it for us.
Having said that, I'm not sure this particular programme did make much of a difference to my child personally.

We had the 'Hornet' book but this may be too difficult for your ds if he's only 5. There is an easier one, but not sure what it's called.

Thank you for all that info, babygrand. I have answered you on our "dreamy" thread. I agree, I think my DS is too young at the moment.

Hi castlesintheair,

Have a look at MathsWhizzDemo for an engaging national curriculum / numeracy strategy based online maths tutor.

Through Mini IQ there is a reduced rate of £19.99 for the first month (usual rate £27.50) and a reduced annual subscription of £229 if you decide you and your little one get on with it. It's great fun and has a track record with children with special needs.

Have a look at the demo and if you like it then you can try it for a month at the reduced rate using the code UK-0000833 and saying that you heard about it through a Mini IQ Associate.

Castles, my mum is a teacher, specialising in Literacy problems so she knows LOTS about all these type of programmes. I'm going to see her for a few days next week so if you want to email me with a brief/as detailed as you want summary of ds's problems and what the ed psych concluded then i'll have a chat with her and let you know.

Olihan 1 at hotmail dot co dot uk (obv without the spaces!)

See you over on PN later!

Wow, thanks everyone! Will take a look at the MathsWhizzDemo over the weekend, Homebird8. Olihan, will e-mail you. Thanks so much xx

If you want to ask anything else about Maths Whizz you can reach me on

drruthwilliams at netscape dot net

If you do decide to try it don't forget to use the code UK-0000833 to get the discount!

the easier one of wordwasp/hornet is toe by toe - personally i think it's great, I've used it with my ds3 for over a year, and his improvement has been massive. Cost is quite minimal - buy the book as a one off, and thats it - think it's about £15-20. School use it as well with a number of pupils.
just google for toe by toe and it should come up.