Kumon????

Mummyirfan

New Member
HI Mummies..

Any one sending their kiddos to KUMON...??May i have the feedback from you...

I intend to send my boy when hes 4 yrs...

Hows the fees like?

Wat for they actually teach?

I hear form someone that she sends her P1 there but they do not do problem sums hence her P1 child is not gd is problem solving...

Hmm....

Hope to hear your views..

Many thks...
 

tamarind

Member
I did not send my kids to kumon. But I have bought the kumon workbook for my kids to do at home. I find that their maths and english workbook are very repetitive. For example, you do 1+1, 1+2, 1+3 over many pages. They believe that practice makes perfect. But after a while it becomes very boring.

I heard from another mommy that there are lots of homework to do at home. But if your child is suitable for this kind of drilling method, then he could progress very fast. For example, a 3 year old boy can be doing P3 maths.
 

rjj

Member
u mean we can just buy their workbook and do at home on our own? from kumon itself?
 

rjj

Member
The books are published by Kumon. You can buy from Popular or Kinokuniya.

Kumon Workbooks and Learning Aids:: Kumon Publishing North America

Even if you attend the class, the teacher will just let the kid do the worksheet on their own. It is more of self study, not much teaching.
Ya I heard of how Kumon teaches, they just keep drilling the children into practicing as they believe in the practice make perfect thingy....

Do you find their materials better than the other assessment books?
 
Hi. My boy goes to Kumon for both English and Math.

He started at 4+ years old and now in P1.

Kumon believe in practice makes perfect and the worksheets are designed to repeat and repeat which is true but with a fix sequence and format.

They believe that if you do not lay your foundation strong, it will be difficult to proceed upwards. A P3 boy can do P1 work if he do not have the foundation when he go and do his evaluation test b4 he start his course.

My boy now doing addition (eg. 23 + 14 =) and immediately the answer is out. Is the accuracy and time that they are train in. Is like they look at the question then the answer is out in 1 second

Their math is purely practical which does not include problem solving. By combining English and Math, then the primary sch problem sums would be easy.

For english, they teach vocabs. A lot of vocabs.... can buy their flash cards for each level and learn the vocabs.... one level have abt 150 words and u can imagine how many words they learned after a few level.

I heard before P4 doing Sec1 works too.. or higher...

My boy is just 1 level above his sch year now because he stopped for awhile and transfered diff centre so there's a gap in between.

There's indeed a lot of homework too... cause everyday u will be given homework if u do nto go to the centre for that day. So, i don't buy accessment books for him. He just do his kumon work... this is to teach him to be discipline and to do his work himself accurately and fast.

I got complains from teachers saying my son in sch everyone doing their work and he was like playing by himself. I asked my boy why he play when everyone work? He replied "i do finish already".... which means he is faster in work compared to his peers... though he can be careless at times...
 

Crashz

Member
Hi Wayne Mama had mentioned almost everything what Kumon is trying to achieve for the child... you must believe in the method and stay on for long to see the fruits...The assessment you see outside is different from the classwork or homework, they are different. You can't really learn kumon yoursief without knowing how the worksheet is set for your child and why repetition is necessary for this level.


now my boy who is in nursery is with Kumon, he can recognise number up to 50 and do mentally counting by looking at the worksheet up to 20, the teacher is very amazed that he is the only one in class that can write up to 20 and do counting easily..

either you start your child early by introduce slowly to them at young age, when they are in Pri school, they are not so stressed chasing after what is being taught... like Wayne's mama mentioned, his boy completes his work faster than the rest, then he got more time to do what he likes... pursue what he likes.........
 

jedamum

Member
but beware, cos kumon's aim is 'practice makes perfect', and kids may give up if they constantly could not hit the set time and have to practice over and over again.
that is where the nagging...erm..no...the encouragement from the parents comes in.
surely not suitable for my boy cos 1. i already have a hard time trying to 'make' him complete his daily assessment willingly and 2. my boy may 'cunningly' choose to twick the completion timing for the work so the he can stay at the same level (aka safe zone) and no need to face challenging sums (he said he will happily do 1+1 type of sums for as long as i like...no complaints cos it is easy)
 

tamarind

Member
Not every child is suitable for the Kumon method. Many children do not like to be drilled, or be asked to do piles of worksheets everyday.

Also, I heard that what Kumon teaches is different from MOE. In government schools, knowing how to add and subtract quickly is not important. The kids need to know how to solve problems in a creative way. I don't see Kumon stressing on creativity.

I heard one mommy's comment about kumon : "Nowadays kids are allowed to use calculator in primary school, why still need to practice so hard in Kumon ?"
 
Not every child is suitable for the Kumon method. Many children do not like to be drilled, or be asked to do piles of worksheets everyday.

Also, I heard that what Kumon teaches is different from MOE. In government schools, knowing how to add and subtract quickly is not important. The kids need to know how to solve problems in a creative way. I don't see Kumon stressing on creativity.

I heard one mommy's comment about kumon : "Nowadays kids are allowed to use calculator in primary school, why still need to practice so hard in Kumon ?"
i agree too in term of math.

In Primary sch, a lot is on problem solving and creative math.. but when they go to sec sch? Will it still be the same when they need to solve algebra, statistics?

Also, it seems that we are all only discussing on math.... how about the languages? Think languages should be pretty standard.... when it comes to vocabs, phasing, grammar etc.
 

tamarind

Member
For algebra, the child should be taught the basic rules, and know how to use these rules to solve any problem. Personally I do not believe in drilling and memorizing solutions.

For english, there are many ways of learning. Check out my blog about teaching my girl to read.

Tamarind Village: Reading

We used leapfrog DVD and the phonics method, followed by ladybird series. Basically no drilling, most important is to understand the phonics techniques. My girl did not feel stressed at all.

I think the Kumon method makes the child practice writing the words over and over again to memorize the spelling. However, if we know phonics, the child can read any words, even those that they have never seen before.
 
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For algebra, the child should be taught the basic rules, and know how to use these rules to solve any problem. Personally I do not believe in drilling and memorizing solutions.

For english, there are many ways of learning. Check out my blog about teaching my girl to read.

Tamarind Village: Reading

We used leapfrog DVD and the phonics method, followed by ladybird series. Basically no drilling, most important is to understand the phonics techniques. My girl did not feel stressed at all.

I think the Kumon method makes the child practice writing the words over and over again to memorize the spelling. However, if we know phonics, the child can read any words, even those that they have never seen before.
hi,

So far from what I see for my son's kumon, they do not learn how to spell.

What they learn is to read the words..... by flashing flashcards and tracing the words.

Tracing of words is to train their writing skill......

Also, the worksheets do have phonics in it... that u read and listen to the cd and learn...

Is not just drilling
 

Crashz

Member
Totally agree with Wayne's Mama! No doubt not every child is suitable for Kumon, I also believe no single method will suit every child. Anyway, there may be some misperception about Kumon drilling the kids and get them to memorizing through constant writing...Kumon is not to drill them and get them to know the answer straight by memorising what they have been drilled... it is a method where they teach the child to find or 'fish for' the answer by themselve through constant practice and reading the example given in the worksheet for every new 'topic'....
 

jedamum

Member
Totally agree with Wayne's Mama! No doubt not every child is suitable for Kumon, I also believe no single method will suit every child. Anyway, there may be some misperception about Kumon drilling the kids and get them to memorizing through constant writing...Kumon is not to drill them and get them to know the answer straight by memorising what they have been drilled... it is a method where they teach the child to find or 'fish for' the answer by themselve through constant practice and reading the example given in the worksheet for every new 'topic'....
i can't believe NLB actually has books explaining about KUMON's philosophy!
not locally though...and published in 1993... :tlaugh:
 
Totally agree with Wayne's Mama! No doubt not every child is suitable for Kumon, I also believe no single method will suit every child. Anyway, there may be some misperception about Kumon drilling the kids and get them to memorizing through constant writing...Kumon is not to drill them and get them to know the answer straight by memorising what they have been drilled... it is a method where they teach the child to find or 'fish for' the answer by themselve through constant practice and reading the example given in the worksheet for every new 'topic'....
yes not every kids are suitable....

but it seems that every kumon centre in singapore are packed!!!

Every week i bring my boy for his lesson, I can see that their business must be good!!! :tlaugh:

What I believe is..... Practice makes perfect...... and that is what Kumon drill in........... though my boy always make mistakes.... is not that he do not know the answers..... is that he is VERY CARELESS!!!. Since Kumon emphasis on speed and accuracy, if he can do his work fast, he will have time to check his work although he is not doing that now..... rather, he will be playing with his own imagination till the teacher complain him not doing his work while the rest are...... without knowing he actually finished...:001_302:
 
i can't believe NLB actually has books explaining about KUMON's philosophy!
not locally though...and published in 1993... :tlaugh:
Is a very old teaching method..... and so many countries have their centres....

I am not surprised....... but who will read? :001_302:
 

Irenep

New Member
yes not every kids are suitable....

but it seems that every kumon centre in singapore are packed!!!

Every week i bring my boy for his lesson, I can see that their business must be good!!! :tlaugh:

What I believe is..... Practice makes perfect...... and that is what Kumon drill in........... though my boy always make mistakes.... is not that he do not know the answers..... is that he is VERY CARELESS!!!. Since Kumon emphasis on speed and accuracy, if he can do his work fast, he will have time to check his work although he is not doing that now..... rather, he will be playing with his own imagination till the teacher complain him not doing his work while the rest are...... without knowing he actually finished...:001_302:
YA. Do agree that Kumon's business is really good.

As I'm staying at Tiong Bahru area, would also like to send my daughter to Kumon. I'm still struggling to send her to Kumon or to Phonics class..
 
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