Kumon????

Supergirl

Member
My girl is only 5 years old this year, my boy will be 4. I don't want to pressurize them too much. I don't believe that doing work sheet is that important at this age. I want to develop their creativity and interpersonal skills, which I think are much are important. They will have enough homework when they go to primary school. I have heard of cases where kids get burnt out at kumon classes and refused to do worksheets anymore.

My girl is already reading very well now. She will finish the ladybird keyword series 12, which is the highest level soon. I will just let her read english books consistently, especially the classics like "Little House on the Prairie", "The Secret Garden", "Heidi", etc. I want her to develop a love of reading, so she will learn on her own. She is also doing long addition and multiplication at home. Other than that, I will just let her learn whatever is taught in her kindergarten and Berries Chinese class.

I am more interested in teaching her other skills, like baking cupcakes and cookies. She loves drawing so I am planning to send her to arts class.
Hi Tamarind

I agree with you totally. The most important part of learning is understanding. I am trying my best to develop my daughter's creativity and interpersonal skills too.

Doing worksheets occassionally is alright but to drill a child to achieve medals will be to stressful. Just my own opinion. I know of children who are very very put off doing worksheets and homework when they reach primary school. Moreover, if they already done everything before the primary school teacher teaches, they will feel very bored at school. Eventually the child will develop a habit of not paying attention during lessons at school even lessons that the child has not learn before.

I don't know what is the difference between teachers and instructors, I only know that Kumon can employ people who are not qualify to teach.
 

tamarind

Member
Supergirl,
Last year I wanted to enrol my girl, who was 4 years old, in a maths enrichment class. I told the teacher in charge, that my girl can already count to 100 and do additions and subtractions. The teacher actually told me not to teach too much at such a young age. She said her daughter is like that, she learnt so much before entering primary school. Then when she is in primary school, she was over confident, refused to pay attention, and in the end made lots of mistakes.

So I will just take it easy, teach my kids what they need to know at their age, and let them understand the concept rather than drilling them.
 
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yvonnemommy

New Member
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I didn’t send my daughter Kumon. I register her on beestar and we have been using beestar until now. It is a curricular-based web site offering math, reading exercises for primary students. It’s more convenient comparing to Kumon because we can do it at home. My daughter likes it very much. Its math exercises are free. Other Beestar programs such as English language arts/reading, science are just $20-$30 per semester, very economical.[/FONT]​
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Lisa[/FONT]​
 

stonston

Well-Known Member
My view on Kumon is a mixture of good and bad.

Good:
Practice makes perfect. This is really true. Kumon gives them BASICS so that they can progress. I have S4 kids who still make mistakes in calculation 5+9! And end up their final answer is WRONG = NO MARKS AT ALL. Whole question gone, just because their foundation is not strong.
Another good thing is cultivate the habit of sitting down to do work CONSISTENTLY. It will help them build their time management skills so when they progress to sec sch or further, they will be SELF-DISCIPLINED to do their own consistently.

BAD:
No 'real' teaching. If students make mistakes, they just do corrections, no one to explain why they were wrong and how to do it correctly (sometimes they need reminders).

But, when I teach the kids i tutor, i give them a mixture. I do create my own worksheets similar to kumon's 'drills' and give them 1 worksheet a day. But we also go through problem sums, creative problem solving, etc etc.
No 1 method is perfect, it is good to MIX the methods :)
 

Dhiah

New Member
My son started kumon maths in early 2007 when he was 13yo,Sec 1. He has improved alot on his Maths and mostly scored above 90marks for exams. There were times when he almost gave up the entire program but with my husband and my encouragement and monitoring, he continues till now. He is scheduled to finish the maths program by end June2009. He is glad that he didn't give up the program at that time. By being so advanced in Maths in school, it gives him more time for his other subjects (Sec has 9 subjects in total!) And he has asked me to put him into Kumon English & Chinese asap. I will still need to discuss this issues with his Kumon Instructor. He had attended Mindchamps, Tien Hsia, Morris Allen and even private tutor (one to one) but they all didn't do much for his progress. Singapore education system is very structured and very much exam-results orientated. Hence, certain teaching-learning method will work best like rote learning. I agree that is not the best method to teach or learn but until the education system changes, we will be able apply other more holistic method of learning. I have also put my N2 to Kumon maths but I do not pressure her to do the worksheets. I would ask her if she wants to do them. Most of the time she will do it on her own accord when she sees her elder brothers doing thier homeworks. The Kumon instructor is very passionate in her work. She make sure that my N2 feel comfortable at the Kumon class. Besides it's only about 30min lesson for my N2. She has been attending Kumon lessons for about 4mths and she is moving rather fast as compared to when she was attending the daily playgroups and nurseries. She also attend other enrichment classes for english and I am very pleased with her progress. By not going to the daily pre school classes and attending enrichment classes only, not only she has more time to play but she is less susceptible to sickness(the commom flu and HFMD), more time to be with me and the family, still have plenty friends from the different enrichment classes, less stress and most importantly she is happy and thus she is progressing very well in life.
 

meganx

New Member
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I didn’t send my daughter Kumon. I register her on beestar and we have been using beestar until now. It is a curricular-based web site offering math, reading exercises for primary students. It’s more convenient comparing to Kumon because we can do it at home. My daughter likes it very much. Its math exercises are free. Other Beestar programs such as English language arts/reading, science are just $20-$30 per semester, very economical.[/font]​



[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Lisa[/font]​

Hi, Lisa, we were using Beestar when we were in Boston, and my son really liked it. But since we moved back to Singapore, I don't know whether the practice is suitable for the educational system here. I am searching for this answer from some friends, and they are not sure about it. Do you know whether my son can do it now? Thanks!
 

yvonnemommy

New Member
Hi, Lisa, we were using Beestar when we were in Boston, and my son really liked it. But since we moved back to Singapore, I don't know whether the practice is suitable for the educational system here. I am searching for this answer from some friends, and they are not sure about it. Do you know whether my son can do it now? Thanks!
Sorry that let you waiting such a long time. I think it’s Ok for your son to use beestar after you’re back in Singapore. Maybe the educational system isn’t quite suitable, but there shouldn’t be too many differences. Moreover, you can accommodate the worksheets yourself according your local education system. If it’s a little faster than that in Boston, you can sign him up ahead of the grade in beestar. If slower, then behind.
Lisa
 

meganx

New Member
Sorry that let you waiting such a long time. I think it’s Ok for your son to use beestar after you’re back in Singapore. Maybe the educational system isn’t quite suitable, but there shouldn’t be too many differences. Moreover, you can accommodate the worksheets yourself according your local education system. If it’s a little faster than that in Boston, you can sign him up ahead of the grade in beestar. If slower, then behind.
Lisa

Lisa, thank you for your kind advice. I will let my son do his favorite math and reading in Beestar. I am so glad that Beestar still suits the educational system in Singapore, because Beestar is the best educational website we have seen. Thanks again!
 

yvonnemommy

New Member
Lisa, thank you for your kind advice. I will let my son do his favorite math and reading in Beestar. I am so glad that Beestar still suits the educational system in Singapore, because Beestar is the best educational website we have seen. Thanks again!
You are welcome. It is great that beestar is available in Singapore. DD also likes math the best. I have resister her the math enrichment program on beetar for her summer vocation. Summer vocation is coming!:001_302:
Lisa
 

Andrea S

New Member
You are welcome. It is great that beestar is available in Singapore. DD also likes math the best. I have resister her the math enrichment program on beetar for her summer vocation. Summer vocation is coming!:001_302:
Lisa
I'm thrilled that Beestar is available in Singapore, too! Beestar is a great and wonderful website for children and parents. Beestar is less restrictive on the way information is taught in comparison to Kumon. Kumon is consistent in providing the same information over and over while Beestar utilizes different teaching methods and reward system to keep students interested in learning. Beestar also has a variety of subjects available like math, reading, science and social studies. Another great thing about Beestar is that the math portion provides a great structure for students to follow and to build up concepts over time.
 
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