Kumon, Tutoring for children

babybimbles

tanith wrote:

I think that comparing your child to others children is pointless , they all develop differently and at different speeds they may be better at certain things at different stages of development.. and apart from supplying good books and plentiful supplies of paper and pencils and taking time to encourage your child to read I think they should be allowed to develop in their own time ...... and I found that children that were pushed to do things then fell back later on or got bored and lost interest............ JMO of course...:rotfl:

You are so right so but unfortunately the education system in this country prefers traditional testing methods that groups all abilities together according to age.

I do follow what you are saying but I just dont know when Im getting too relaxed iyswim! x

bunty109

She does sound bright and you sound like you are doing the right things for a child of her age. How about other ways of stretching her? A musical instrument has proved a really good way of offering alternative stimulation to my bright DD, and she does the theory as well so it helps challenging her thinking.

If you did think of doing this you can rent an instrument to give it a trial before you buy, and lessons would be around the cost of what you would be paying for Kumon.

It's workied well for us as it is "academic", but also fun, and although my DD need a bit of cajoling to practise now and again, she does get a real kick out of achieving new skills with it now!

misty

My son is in year 1. He has homework to do maybe once a week but they have a week to complete it - this is spellings,literacy and numeracy. Fortunately, he loves doing it and wants to do it straight away.

Personally, I think they start too early with additional work. I also bought him some numeracy and literacy work books for his age group from the cheap bookshop - again he loves doing these. We also play on the BBC website - this is grouped according to subject and is very interactive - again these are fun to do and have some worksheets too.

My son says he has used these at school too and they refer to the topics at school. I feel doing these, as well as being free, support the work he does at school rather than add to it.

I agree about the lists too - he writes endless lists/registers/notes/letters - there are constantly bits of paper stuck to the door.

Nicki

hobo28 wrote:

Can anyone explain Kumon to me?

Is this a system where you have to work each day? Is it just worksheets at home or more go to a centre? The website isn't clear to me.

Does anyone here who has used it recommend it (or not)?

I have a 6yr old who seems to be falling behind at school. She is really really keen but when she has a problem she "switches off". Plus she has problems concentrating for long periods and I've found that short 10 minute bursts more frequently works better with her than one long slog to get it out of the way.

Yes. The idea is that the child does a worksheet every day of the year (holidays and Christmas day included!) which should take them about 10 minutes and which they should find very very easy. The idea is that the child gets used to the idea that they can do maths (or english) easily and quickly (ie they always succeed). The difficulty level is pushed up very slowly so the child shouldn't notice the worksheets are getting more difficult. Its the practise and the confidence building which makes it work.

You can do it all by correspondence class if you want, but most people I think do it through a centre, where the child goes once a week to do a worksheet with a tutor, pick up new work and get feedback and encouragement on what they have achieved so far.

I did think it benefitted my DS in terms of confidence, but was happy to let him drop it as soon as he felt it was becoming too onerous. My motivation for him was just to improve his confidence as he was much better at english and reading than at maths, and I felt I perhaps passed on my own insecurities about maths to him (and love of english) and wanted him to have the solid grounding I never had, and still sometimes miss.

boltonangel

Hi

I am considering enrolling my son into a local Kumon centre for english lessons, he is aged 5, in reception class and his teacher has expressed concern at his learning in a particular part of english (blending words) I have tried to do homework etc with him at home and he simply refuses to do it and makes stupid answers up! his teacher says he's really good at school, so i was thinking that another type of classroom setting after school to boost his confidence may help.

i would appreciate any feedback on Kumon.

thanks

BernadetteN

I have never enrolled my kids in Kumon but believe the cost is over £500 a year for an hour a week. Personally, I think non educational activities such as dancing, football, swimming are far more beneficial to a 5 year old than yet another classroom setting and are likely to be cheaper on your budget.

Find something your son excels at and likes to do and encourage that rather than something he currently doesn't enjoy.

I'm going a little off topic here, but I watched a programme which covered Chinese sports schools a few days ago and a teacher at a school said that sport is no good without brains and vice versa - what she meant is that a sport makes your brain work better at academic things and academic stimulation was also beneficial to sporting performance. It doesn't have to be sport, it could be music, art, whatever uses your child's brainpower will help them when they have to do something academic.

zfrl

I agree with BernadetteN it is expensive, but can be worthwhile - friends children do it. 5 seems very young to have such criticism. You could look into games that will help rather than more formal educational methods. There must be some teachers on this forum that could recommend some.

Oldernotwiser

Just over £10 an hour for after school tuition is very reasonable and 1 hour a week isn't going to restrict any other activities. If he gets left behind in learning to read it will influence every aspect of his education.

Our (foster) son did Kumon maths for a while at the age of 6/7 and we felt it reinforced his maths learning tremendously.

bizzybee

My two go to the Sainsbury's Explore sessions which is computer based. It's not cheap (£80 for first child) but I can get to choose the times we go which is important because of my work and their social life!

Before investing in Kumon have you tried computer based learning? There are loads of sites that offer learning games for free on the internet (CBBC is a good starting point and will use characters he will recognise so it will seem more like a game rather than learning). I would have thought that the school would be able to point you in the right direction of others.

That way he can do 15 minute bursts periodically rather than having to concentrate for an hour at a time which is difficult for a 5 year old especially after a day at school.

Sarahjovi

I enrolled my son in once a week extra lessons with Kip Magrath as his reading wasn't up to scatch, he hated reading and refused to read at home. Unfortunately it didn't work as they wanted him to take books and worksheets away with him to do during the week, thus creating more reading homework! So it was a bit of a struggle to get him to do the extra homework, let alone the normal homework and in the end they told me that if he won't do the homework then there is no point in him attending. In the end I went into the school and insisted that they helped him with his reading and got an Individual Education Plan and help with an assistant hearing him read every day! Which helped loads and he now reads at home of his own accord. However my son was 7/8 when this happened and is now 11.

Find out if the Kumon place will set more homework first.

Sarah