Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Kumon?

Has anyone tried Kumon for their kids? We live in the Bay area and there seems to be one Kumon center per town around here. I think they're all over the country.

For those who don't know, Kumon is a Japanese system/company that provides instruction and lets kids work at their own pace in maths and reading/writing (in fact, the whole point is that they move at a pace that suits them). The Kumon maths program goes from counting to 10 to calculus and probability/statistics. The reading and writing run through similar levels.

We haven't tried it yet but we're going to look into it. I was wondering if anyone else has tried it. Kumon could also be a good option for homeschoolers.

Regards,

Val

They are out here on the East Coast as well, but I don't know anyone who has tried them. Please keep us posted, ok?
Trin

I went to our local Kumon and talked to the owner. She told me that a lot of kids go to Kumon specifically because they work above grade level. She was very specific about the idea that Kumon's approach is that students go at their own pace and are never held back because they're too young.

Kids go for a free placement test (reading or maths), and they spend one or two sessions a week at the center. They have homework, too.

They also have contests and I think they give away prizes (there was a glass case full of what appeared to be prizes).

Val

Free placement test! Sounds like that could help a lot of us as we try to puzzle out what a child's readiness level might be. ((big smile))
Thanks and Good luck with it -
Trin

I know many kids in Kumon and it seems that they are put in by parents wanting to improve their skills or give them an academic advantage. These kids seem to be pushed a little hard to be at the top of the class. I have been asked by parents where we have our daughter tutored, they assume she is, but she is not. I have never thought of it for gifted kids, it would offer them higher levels of work, but I think it is designed as an adjunct for regular class. Maybe they are trying to capitalize on the needs of the gifted group which could be interesting. I think it is expensive.

The owner told me that her business was divided between kids needing extra help and kids who are ahead of grade level.

I expect you're right that some of the parents are pushing their kids. That said, the owner told me that she has one kid doing algebra in 3rd or 4th grade, and another who's doing algebra in 5th grade. No amount of pushing would get those two kids to algebra at that age.

I wonder if some people use it to replace poor instruction in regular classes. For example, at my kids' school they use "reform" mathematics (aka spiral mathematics). Last year the 1st grades cut out pictures of triangles from magazines ("geometry") and copied the names of presidents on coins (???). Argh. So I have a deal with my 2nd grader: I do his pointless math homework and he does work at his level at home. Today I wrote a two sentence story about lions. This was "mathematics." I am not making this up.

We're thinking of trying Kumon. My sons love maths and are excited about the contests and prizes.

Ugh! I took DS to Kumon today to find out about it. They gave him a placement test.

Ugh! They focus on "mastery." Mastery means that they get a perfect score on a test. One mistake and they can't move up.

So he missed a couple of signs in mixed addition/subtraction and they said he had to start on 6 + 6 = ?, 15 + 7 = ? and do complete a unit of 300 PAGES of this type of problem (7-9 problems per page) before moving "up" to 103 + 54. They didn't like the way he regrouped in subtraction (?) and said he'd have to learn their way. Getting the right answers didn't count. It has to be their way.

He is currently learning long division w/remainders with me and also fractions and can identify numbers to a billion.

I said that we were looking for new ways to challenge him and that 300 pages of simple addition problems (followed by 300 more pages equally simple problems with slightly bigger numbers) would probably bore him. She shrugged her shoulders and said it was the Kumon way. He gagged when I showed him what he'd have to do. I had high hopes for this place. Oh well. At least it taught him a lesson about checking his work.

This is so frustrating. Why are people so afraid to challenge a kid? It's such a simple concept to just test kids and group them by ability instead of age. Why is this approach so taboo?

Argh! Help!

Frustrated,

Val

It�s too bad that program didn�t work out for your needs. Another option you may be interested in is Mathnasium. We have one locally which my son tried for a few months last year when his school (finally) bumped him up a grade in math. I wanted to be sure he hadn�t missed anything. After the assessment, they started him at a level that was comparable to his new subject level, and then skipped him up one after a month.

My son did not enjoy it and felt that everyone else was there for remediation. He did not receive much one on one instruction because he did not need much help. Finally, he told us that we should stop wasting our money and buy a workbook from Sam�s Club instead.

After hearing so much praise for ALEKs, we finally signed the kids up for six months at less than the cost of a single month for Mathnasium (for one child). I find it is a much better value and quite similar in content. Home access rather than driving to the franchise saves quite a bit of valuable time also.

Interesting the wide range of opinions on what is the best way to procede with educating children. I think a mix of drill and concept is best, but there are plenty of folks who belief in drill as a base, and they apparently get good results. Apparently there are some families where the child is either open to that level of drill or convinsed that "what the Adult say goes." I have seen the downside of a kid being "treated like a person" and although I hope it will work in the long run, I can see the appeal of the path not taken.

When it came to touch typing, it was easy for me to hold out the expectation that dull was the way to go. The rewards are so big and obvious to me. Practing a musical instrument - not problem - it just has to be dull. Math facts? I guess I'd check into what the "reward" is - if they ramp up to bigger ideas quickly, maybe it's a good learning experience - ((shrug)) Some kinds of learning have a good dash of boring in them. It's so hard to know....

Best Wishes,
Trinity

Yikes! With 100% as the definition of mastery, I shudder to think where I'd be stuck--I'd probably still be doing their basic addition packet.

Details have never been my strength. I remember a college physics test that I got an A- on, which was really good considering I didn't get the right answer for a single question--I flubbed every calculation, even though I set up the problems perfectly. My friends dubbed me the "Queen of Partial Credit."