Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Kumon?

But don't you wonder, ACS, if you would eventually have gotten past that in an environment where it was "manditory?" I do.

I do believe that drilling is important, but fear that the 100% thing would diminish enthusiasm for learning and put my kids off mathematics. They need challenges in addition to the repetition. So we approach this by alternating topics: we'll learn something new during one session, and then spend the nexct couple days going over the stuff that needs repetition. This keeps my kids interested.

But I think I can use the experience to teach a lesson about learning how to take a test. This could be valuable.

Val

I am not convinced. I believe that the approach you describe was used with one of my siblings and resulted in a LOT of screaming and, ultimately, despair and, finally, dropping out.
Lessons learned by parents and school resulted in a kinder and gentler approach for me.

The thing is that none of us have had any problem getting things precisely right if we believe that it matters. When calculating something that we need to know to make something or perform some task for work or home, there has never any problem--the attention to detail problem only emerges when we are presented with a problem for the problems sake. We do not even like to solve puzzles, only real world problems that we are actually facing.

Sorry to hear about your siblings experience! Glad you were spared. As my friend puts it, "All children deserve to be thought about well." No easy feat!
Trin