Kumon - Discussion

[foreverj]

hi sleepy, ya decided to stop it and take a break. break for myself and break for dd haha… not so kanjiong abt advancing her now. cos i prefer her to enjoy her childhood too and also to maintain my own sanity. take a break first n maybe explore other math enrichmt. enopi math or mpm. very likely mpm cos its got many locations n heard the worksheets need only be completed at centre n no need to bring home. spare myself the pain… wil update soon…

[greentea2005]

Hi All, need your advice.


My kids have been in kumon since 2.5yrs old. One is currently 5yrs old and the other is 3 yrs old. Both telling me the same question. they don’t like kumon as alot of worksheets. thus I’m thinking whether should i switch them to mpm.

Had went through the link of mpm in this forum. But would like to know, do they have trial and is there alot of worksheet?

[AgDearie]

Hi Greentea2005,


i would suggest you should talk to the chief instructor, understand their progress. Usually the reason why they lost interest and even think of stopping is because they are no longer in their comfort zone. If they are doing 1 or 2 years ahead of their school level, they have no patience to try and once they are repeated too many times they get bored.

As a Kumon parents, you have to understand why your child needs to repeat. Do you want your child to have a strong foundation or "just know" foundation. My elder son in P4 has been with Kumon since middle of K1. He will be a English completer earliest end of next year, hopefully he can make it before P6. His Maths, he had done more than 3 years ahead learning in school level. He had wanted to give up many times, countless times. I believed that if I allowed him to drop out than I may be sending him a wrong message. In future, he may just give up easily as long as he does not want to pursue or fail just over one or 2 trys.

Give them more support or maybe rewared them with stickers or even create score cards - each homework complete will have a star and the number of stars will be rewarded etc. they are young, you have to be creative and I am not asking you to bribe your kids but once a while, it is ok, as long as you managed well.

When your child in P1, you will see the beauty putting them in Kumon. Not only they already have the foundation to count and even able to apply the 4 operations with confidient. Not forgetting giving them good english foundation is also very important. some children in P1 are not able to read and especially doing problem sum will be a headache. Have all the foundation started early before P1 will be helpful. As you know the teacher in school may not able to focus 100% on every child and they canot pause too long if the child can read or understand, they have to move on.

My boys are already in P4 and P2, and Kumon does helps my boys and which I think even tuition teachers may not be able to teach in such a systematic way.

[dreams]

hi,


can anyone recommend a good kumon centre around sgoon/hougang/bishan/thomson area?
:?

[AgDearie]

Kumon Novena is a very popular branch,

You may look for Mrs Josephine Raj.
My boys used to be with this branch before we move them to
Kumon Parkway Centre.

Her husband has a branch in the Yishun Branch - I have no idea of the address.

My gf said the branch in Whampoa is small and new but the Chief Instructor. is friendly.

You may check the Kumon website for the add / tel.

Importantly you must have very good rapport with the chief instructor

[dreams]

thanks a lot. i will go check it out now. My son is currently at a branch in Hougang area but i feel that the chief instructor is not very helpful and not very attentive to the kids. Whenever i speak to her with regards to my son’s progress, she doesnt really give me enough feedback and usually will somehow brush me aside. He has been there for 9 months already and i don’t really see any significant improvement in his attitude towards his work or self learning skills. in fact, his mental calculation is also very weak and somehow they kept advancing him to the next level. Now i am teaching him his kumon work at home because he claims that nobody teaches him in the centre even when he doesnt know how to do it.

[sleepy]

AgDearie:

He will be a English completer earliest end of next year, hopefully he can make it before P6.

Hi, can you share what does Kumon cover for level D & beyond? Wondering what's the coverage at higher levels?

Mine stopped at level C. I'm considering whether to continue. My impression of Kumon English is mainly comprehension. I find its coverage too narrow...

Do you see value in Kumon English? How's your son's grades in English? Is he good in creative writing too?

Thanks for sharing your experience

[AgDearie]

Hi Sleepy,


Currently he is doing GII, for a P4 kid is really tough. Subsequently in H level onwards is a single level, no HI/HII so the Chief Instructor is targeting him to complete by next year hopefully before he start his P6.

Level D which my P2 son is doing, it is a start of sentence construction. It does helps in the comprehension in School. The construction of sentence will starts with copy from passage, then partly self construction then narration and so for. They used those classic novels, publication etc. as the comprehension passages, and usually they encouraged the kids to read those books. You can get a copy the books to read for each level, and also the books that will copy for each level. Even Ronald Dahl’s books are also one of recommended books.

So far does helps in maintaining my son’s standard in schools. He comprehension and creative writing does helps. From P3 onwards, the challenge in school is always vocabulary… no sure about other schools.

[AgDearie]

Hi Sleepy,


So far my son in P4, as per his last CA1 paper, he did 86 and his composition is 16/20. He only attend Kumon English for his English, no tuition. As he reads alot of books, regardless is Puffins Classics recommended by Kumon or Beast Quest or whatever, creativity in writing comes from reading as well. Of course in Kumon they have to write passages and eventually he will pick up using correct grammars etc…

Since he had already doing Kumon English since K1, what is another 1 to 2 years to complete. I felt I will encouraged him even it is tough and it mark as an achievement to him. Regardless how much he applies. Importantly, once the kids sense the achievement in them, it makes a lot easier for them to move on to others, regardless in school work or other activities.

[AgDearie]

Hi Dreams,


I heard Kovan is a very good centre to consider. You can actually request for transfer if you do not like your current centre. You do not need to pay the registration fee. If you are really upset with the Chief Instructor attitude, I would suggest you make a call to Kumon HQ, look for the Area Manager. They have the record of your child performance and they analysis for you. They may even ended up visit the centre and arrange you to comeby to discuss about your concern. Once the CI knows you are serious about it, they will be very proactive and it really make a difference. I can tell you thru experience.

Try to talk to the CI again if there is a need.

How old is your kids? What level is he doing now? As far as I know, usually average 6 months you will see some progress. You can ask the CI like what improvement did the CI seen so far on your child. What is the weakness of your child in maths - careless, not concentrating?

Ha Ha - I think those Kumon CI will hate me…