Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Math clubs?

I keep noticing various math tutorial stores. There's one called Kumon and one called Mathemporium or something. They seemed designed for kids struggling with math but has anyone had experience with kids who excel at and enjoy math? I'd like to augment my son's math education with some fun and I could see a social math club being right up his alley. Thoughts?

Well, if there isn't one, just form it
How old is your son?

Kumon and Mathemporium are tutoring facilities just like Sylvan. They will take on a student who excels in math but as far as I know there isn't a club. They are also very pricey.

Don't know about Mathemporium, but I know lots of kids who are very good at math and go to Kumon. It's self-paced , so some kids get material way above their grade level at school.

Don't know how old your son is, but if he is 4th grade or older, you can also look at math competitions and talent searches. There is also a thing called Math Circle that is for very advanced kids, you can google and see if there is one near you.

Or you can organize a math club. I just did at my son's school. It's working really well and I'm just so happy to see that so many kids and parents are enthusiastic about it.

We did Kumon for awhile. My kids found it frustrating because of the endless drill. They had to start at a level or more beneath what they knew (because they not only had to get the answers right, but fast). Then, they had about 200 pages of worksheets that they had to complete, and if these had mistakes or weren't fast enough then they got them again. Each new level was only slightly harder than the last and resulted in another 200 pages of worksheets. We spent about a year doing it and when we finished my sons were just getting to the point where they would soon learn something new.

It did help solidify the times tables for my one son, but most gifted kids hate that drill and kill approach and my youngest was seriously starting to get turned off math.

Our neighbour's son, who is good in math and is in public school, is getting some challenge now beyond what he would get at school, but he's been doing Kumon for more than two years to get to that point.

Do you have a university nearby? Maybe someone there runs a math club for elementary kids.

I see. You guys have explained it well. I'll skip them. I'm looking for a place that features those expensive montessori manipulatives so that I can supplement the abstract math that I have him do with fun stuff. I really want to preserve his math love. Based on recs on this forum, I think I'm going to buy a Singapore book for now and see if that provides a bit more challenge.

I'll put in a plug for maths club. It's really not that hard to set up. And it's huge fun! Keep numbers small; group by ability not age; and have lots of varied activities. I find a circuit-type set up works well so there's 5+ activities and you get some mastery by repetition without being drilled and having to go over and over things. There are lots of online websites to help for interesting activities. But just finding top 10 ways to learn timestables can be good fun and really useful. Always room for some worksheets if you're not feeling terribly creative. And lots of parents are willing to help... jojo