Kumon - Motivating my son - Please help...

mumps

Don't know if this would help but when mine didn't want to do homework, music practice or whatever, I would suggest tidying their rooms. It was amazing how attractive maths suddenly became.

mrcow

emsywoo123 wrote: »

yesterday had a shiny new dartboard hung on my garage door

That's a brilliant idea. I might get one too

milliebear00001

I'm a primary teacher and have quite a few children in my class (year 5) who do, or have done, maths Kumon. I think it is fab for those children who are able to knuckle down and do the work - some even enjoy it! However, I get a lot who start off enjoying it, then get bored. Having looked at the scheme and how it works, I can see why!

Kumon concentrates very much on repetitive rote learning. It is fab (for example) at teaching things like written methods and times tables. For these things, I am an absolute advocate of the method. However, as children get older, in school they are increasingly expected to be able to apply their knowledge and understanding. It is at this point that some children begin to find maths increasingly difficult. They find it even harder if they can't accurately use written methods and don't know their times tables, but these skills are secondary to their understanding of problem solving.

Kumon is very poor at developing problem solving skills and is a very repetitive way of learning. As a teacher, I would much rather children learned to tell the time and work out a timetable, learned to find the right money in a shop (and check their change) learned to weigh out ingredients during baking sessions and learned how to estimate accurately. These are all things children can easily learn in fun, stimulating ways. If you can also teach your child their times tables (and maybe even some written ways of working out a maths problem later on) then you can do without Kumon easily.

P.S. try Topmarks website for some fab English and Maths online games. I also second the dartboard idea. I'm thinking of starting a 'darts club' next year if I can get around health and safety!

Valli

Milliebear - get a MAGNETIC dartboard then

and ditto Millie's post...

practical application for some things (change for a 10p, £1, if I have 75p how much more to a £1?, learning to tell the time both analogue AND digital, how many days in a week...how many days until your birthday...)

rote learning for some others - times tables

Sweet_Pea_2

GGGGGGGrrrrrrr, typed a long reply and lost it.

My DD did Kumon, English and Maths. I found the English brilliant, it really helped her a lot. The Maths was a waste of time, it was far too simple and she was so bored she wrote down anything to get it over and done with, because she was getting it wrong repeatedly they refused to move her up a level and we reached a stand off. (She was 9, and it was literally questions like 6-2 and 4+3)

I had to give it up because the nearest Kumon centre to us was miles away and there was nowhere to park the car, it became a weekly nightmare and took up hours of time in the rush hour traffic.

I have tried to apply the principles of it at home since then. She has English and Maths workbooks from Waterstones for the holidays as her school have given her no holiday homework at all. (She is now 12) She had the first two weeks of the school holidays off, and now she is doing 15 mins of English and 15 mins of maths alternately daily. She is also doing about 10 mins of flute practice a day and I have bribed her with the promise of a fiver for every book she reads from cover to cover (this has so far cost me nothing as she has read about 5 pages of one book so far) but have today discussed reading a book TO her (and maybe getting her to do a bit of the reading as I go along) which she seemed keen on. I am finding it hard going getting her to do just 15 mins though, but am happy to bully her into it as when at home she will be glued to facebook otherwise, its no hardship to prise her away from that 15 mins. I am hoping that this way we can avoid the back to school dip that teachers talk about.

Keep up the good work with the kumon, if it is set to the correct level for your child it is great, 10 mins a day is no problem, we all have to do things we don't like and it will be good for him in the long run. I am happy to resort to a bit of bribery, it works to a certain extent with my daughter.

cloudy-day

Nicki wrote: »

We all bring our children up differently. If you feel it's important that they spend ALL their time at this age playing outside, and are happy for them to do less well than they could academically, then that's fine. That doesn't mean it's wrong however for another parent to choose to add 10 minutes maths practice to a day of play and other activities or that this will harm their child in any way.

Come on! You didn't actually mean to say something so snobby and silly did you???

Nicki

cloudy-day wrote: »

Come on! You didn't actually mean to say something so snobby and silly did you???

Meant it exactly as it was typed

I think everyone should make their own decisions about how to bring up their child. I personally wouldn't get hysterical, as some on here have done, about a 6 year old doing 10 minutes maths practice a night. I don't think that will ruin his childhood or interfere with the other 10 odd waking hours of the day he has during the summer holidays to play or do what he wants. And for my son, and maybe the OPs too, it was a worthwhile investment as it stopped him from being stressed and anxious about maths at school, and ultimately got him to a place where he became very good at maths.

Equally, if someone were to say that they didn't want their child doing extra tuition so young, even if that child was struggling at school, and in line perhaps to get level 3 or below at KS2, I would still respect their decision to parent as they see fit. I wouldn't be posting on a thread, throwing around FGS or !!!s just because that wasn't the choice I made for my child.

If that makes me a snob or silly, then so be it.

Blackpool_Saver

The whole point and purpose of Kumon is that you do not have holidays, it is 10 minutes a day, I tell you this, I am so glad my son did it when I listen to his ungrammatical friends who also cannot even remember their tables.

Kumon becomes a way of life after a while, give a little treat after the child has done it.

claire16c

Sweet_Pea wrote: »

I have tried to apply the principles of it at home since then. She has English and Maths workbooks from Waterstones for the holidays as her school have given her no holiday homework at all. (She is now 12) She had the first two weeks of the school holidays off, and now she is doing 15 mins of English and 15 mins of maths alternately daily. She is also doing about 10 mins of flute practice a day and I have bribed her with the promise of a fiver for every book she reads from cover to cover (this has so far cost me nothing as she has read about 5 pages of one book so far) but have today discussed reading a book TO her (and maybe getting her to do a bit of the reading as I go along) which she seemed keen on. I am finding it hard going getting her to do just 15 mins though, but am happy to bully her into it as when at home she will be glued to facebook otherwise, its no hardship to prise her away from that 15 mins. I am hoping that this way we can avoid the back to school dip that teachers talk about.

.

My school never gave us homework in the summer holidays ever. I think kids need school hols to relax.

I think this back to school dip is exaggerated unless your child has learning difficulties or something. My teachers certainly werent worried about it, hence the no homework. It would have been impractical anyway because each year you had new teachers etc.

If your child is struggling at school then I can see why things like Kumon or extra work could be useful. But otherwise I don't think people need to worry so much.

charlie-chan

I used to work at a Kumon Study Centre and I believe it to be a really good method for learning. I do think that some children aren't "wired" to that type of learning and prefer a hands on approach.

Stick to the English for your child and practise Maths in other ways e.g. baking sessions like another poster suggested or taking them shopping and asking them simple maths questions for items.