Kumon - Motivating my son - Please help...

Mojisola

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

My sister's two children did Kumon math from about that age as well. The decision was made because they felt that the kids were struggling with their lessons in school. The kids both hated doing their ten minutes day and there was no end of carping and complaining but they stood fast. Parents know what's best for their own children and sometimes in life you just have to knuckle down and get things done even if you don't like it or would rather be doing something else more interesting.

I'm glad it worked out for them but there's other anecdotal evidence that some people are completely turned off a subject by being forced to do extra practice when they hated it.

If a 6 year old can be turned on to a subject by doing enjoyable free things with a parent as discussed earlier, it's worth trying.

BitterAndTwisted

I would disagree that spending a mere ten minutes day would manage to turn a child off a subject for life. Kids should be spending a great deal more time than that each day just tidying their rooms and helping to do some chores. We all have to do things we don't like in life and if we end up poorly educated and/or innumerate we might have to spend our entire working lives doing it.

I think the OP should persevere and follow through with a modest reward each day.

skylight

He is 6 and he hates it. I have a 7yo that loves maths and a 9yo that hates it. I tailor their free from the internet worksheets/games etc so that they have something enjoyable to do. They are both very good at it.

If they hated it I would find something that is more enjoyable for them and make sure there is a great treat each day for doing it.

peopl

Dear csrivats999, I don't have any children so I can't comment on raising a child. However I started Kumon at 5/6 years young and continued for maybe 6 or 7 years.

Admittedly at times I really didn't enjoy doing the maths sheets everyday (back then, Kumon only offered maths tutoring) but truthfully most of the time I didn't particularly mind. The times I really hated doing it was when I was struggling, it meant I had a hard time forcing my way through papers, in addition I was well aware it was going to be the same for the rest of the week (and the foreseeable future for all I knew!), and it took well over 10 minutes.

Have you asked why your son doesn't enjoy Kumon? Has it been like this since day one, or only crept up more recently?

If you find out that the reason he's not enjoying the work is because he's struggling with the content perhaps have a look at his work. Go through/watch him do a paper and try to identify where the problem lies. Maybe if you can help him, then he'll settle down into a routine of doing the papers. Trust me, doing papers quickly and with relative ease doesn't hurt your confidence and suddenly completing the papers everyday stops being a chore (and, dare I say it, even becomes almost enjoyable)!

Perhaps something that you might find useful is explaining how well he's doing. I think for me, I would have been far more motivated had I been aware of the level I was working at. I got to highschool and was thoroughly surprised when the algebra taught in the first year or two was stuff I had already covered towards the end of my time at Kumon (which I stopped attending sometime in my first year at highschool).

Just for your information I've since gone on to do a Mathematics degree, almost finished my Masters (again in Maths/Stats) and will be doing a PhD in that area. Now I'm not saying Kumon was the catalyst which started me down that route but it certainly helped me identify that I was pretty good at the subject and based on how clueless I was when I was picking AS level subjects, I was glad to at least have Maths as a first pick.

I'm not trying to contradict the general feeling on this forum that 6 years old is very young to start additional work at home. However I would argue that there are some kids who genuinely do not view it as work or an obligation.

csrivats999

Thanks a ton for all your valuable comments! - this forum is jsut amazing.
Rather than stopping kumon all together me and my wife have decided to keep him on just english and see how he gets on with it.
We did try doing this a few months ago but the kumon instructor did convince us that it was a bad idea as she thought my son was doing so well..blah blah blah.
Many thanks once again.

skylight

csrivats999 wrote: »

We did try doing this a few months ago but the kumon instructor did convince us that it was a bad idea as she thought my son was doing so well..blah blah blah.

Sure they did - they lose money if you pull out so its not in their interests whether your son doesn't like it or not! Glad you all came to a compromise on it.


One thing I do pay for with the kids is Education City. Its an online "game" thats great for the kids and only around £30-40 for the year. There is a thread if you search MSE that people get a free 3 months, use a code then add yours when you join up. Does maths, English and science all tailored to you sons year in school; you can change that if he is below or above average. You also get a short free trial to see if your son likes it. http://www.educationcity.com

I also have details of https://www.brightsparkeducation.com/ which is an online Maths tutor. Haven't used it yet but a couple of friends love it. At 6 your lad is still a bit young, but its certainly something to keep for the future! (Like me, I have it in reserve) A tip is to enter into the competition and if you dont win you normally get a code for discounts on the hourly sessions.

Jesswithwings

Glad that you and your wife have come to a decision, its not to say that he can't pick up the maths Kumon in a little while but I think you were wise to suspend the extra lessons right now. Hope you enjoy the rest of his summer holidays

Oldernotwiser

pulliptears wrote: »

Removed now misunderstanding has been cleared up so as not to derail OP's thread

Mine as well.

Oldernotwiser

Person_one wrote: »

That's what trips to museums and historical sites, reading for pleasure, choosing a project you're interested in or making things are for. Not to mention the fact that plenty of play can be valuable educationally and developmentally.

Sitting down at a table to do maths problems isn't the only way to keep learning.

Of course but, as you'll have seen in my link, quite a large proportion of children don't even pick up a book during the holidays and it's only a minority of parents who take their children out on trips like you describe.

I don't think 10 minutes a day of more formal learning's going to wreck anyone's holiday

emsywoo123

Apologies in advance, as it bugs me when people do this, but I have not read all the replies (I need to go to bed-getting old ) BUT as an alternative, my DD (8 next week) has a tutor once a week, an ex-teacher from her school, and she LOVES her time with him!

He comes here and does 30 mins maths, 10 min break then 30 mins english....he has loads of ideas for getting maths into her everyday world as extra practice...we play dominoes nearly every day now, and yesterday had a shiny new dartboard hung on my garage door