Kumon - Discussion

[jedamum]

miss_clean:

Hi everyone, I am still very new on this forum. I started my girl on Kumon when she was abt 5.5 yrs old, now she is eight and doing Pri 4 level English. The amazing thing about Kumon is that the kids are taught to be self-learners, and they can progress way beyond their school level. I have also started my son, the younger brother, last year. Both of them enjoy their lessons very much and are we are very happy with their progress. Just some input...

miss_clean,
which Kumon outlet did your kid attend? BBE or BG?

[foreverj]

shiningstar:

WOW...thank you guys!! U all r really fantastic parents...i thought i have been doing alot by getting my son to read books and recite numbers everyday but i didn't know there are still so many things to expose him to...i MUST go popular bookstore today to get all those Kumon workbooks and scissors and playdough and try those 'no need $ ideas' too :lol:


By the way, do i need to buy big pencils or crayons to encourage drawing and scrawling? Previously, i bought some triangular crayons but seems to be too small for his hands to grab....any suggestion what is the 'ideal length' i should get so that it is not too tedious to hold yet big enuf to grab?

And one last thing to Foreverj, since you are starting your child in Kumon for the trial, please share with me after the trial on the things that your dd goes through so that i can prepare mine to be ready for the next time round if there is any...
:celebrate:

Thank you guys once again for your wonderful ideas!!!

hi shining star, went for the diagnostic test (for math) yesterday. the lady in charge first talked to my dd, then checked how far she can count to. then she gave my dd a workbook (i think k2) to do. basically, its to see if she can write her name, do basic counting and write numbers etc. based on the assessment, she recommended us the level of kumon workbook to start my dd off.

for kumon, the kid really cannot hate worksheets. this is becos everyday there are 10pages of worksheets to do! if the child takes up 3 subjects (ie. english, math and chinese) then must do 30! lessons are twice a week so if the child goes to class say mon and thurs, he will go to class on monday and do his worksheets, then collect the homework for tues and wed. when he goes back on thurs, must submit hw for tues and wed, do worksheets for thurs and bring back hw for fri, sat, sun.

so we wil follow the above arrangment for the next two weeks and end of it wil have a parent's orientation to share our experience n to decide if we'll continue with the kumon classes.

so i think its true that u can start letting your child do the kumon workbooks at home first. its to train the child's fine motor skills so that when she's older wil be able to start the class at a higher level. the challenge is, how to make the child finish the ten pages daily without :stupid:

at the centre the kids i saw are all quietly doing their work. no chit-chatting etc. i also saw a 4 yr old arranging numbers 1 to 100 on a board with no assistance and doing it all on his own too!

[miss_clean]

Hi Jedamum, my kids attend the classes at Jurong West Ave 1. The teacher plays a very important part, she is a pretty good motivator.

[shiningstar]

Hi foreverj


Thanks for sharing your firsthand experience on the Kumon worksheets with your gal! Seems that its quite a challenge to do 10 sheets at one go. Your sharing gives me a good idea on how the program works - its more like a daily study kind of thing which involves quite a fair amount of parental support.

How much time does she take to work through the worksheets and does it involve a lot of writing? let me know more about the centre (environment and teachers involved) after the trial...who knows i can send my son to the same place too in the future if its not too far. Hope your gal is enjoying the work and not feeling frustrated at this stage. i will continue my work on the Kumon workbook for the time being :lol:

[csb]

Has anyone any experience with the Kembangan centre? Thanks.

[shaynamommy]

Just my expce : perseverance is the key for Kumon. I started my 5 yo one year ago for maths, then started with English too. Today, I signed her up for Chinese as well. Her maths has improved tremendously but it is always a struggle to get her to do the worksheets. She always kicks up a big fuss when it’s Kumon time at home. Strange thing is that she loves the lessons at Kumon Siglap Centre. Personally, I find the worksheets repetitive but I believe that that’s how kids should learn maths ie thru rote learning. Now she knows her sums and subtractions by heart. It definitely helps to boost her performance in school maths. It is a constant struggle for me n her but I’d tahan as long as I can since discipline is also another good virtue for our kids to have.

[foreverj]

shiningstar:

Hi foreverj


Thanks for sharing your firsthand experience on the Kumon worksheets with your gal! Seems that its quite a challenge to do 10 sheets at one go. Your sharing gives me a good idea on how the program works - its more like a daily study kind of thing which involves quite a fair amount of parental support.

How much time does she take to work through the worksheets and does it involve a lot of writing? let me know more about the centre (environment and teachers involved) after the trial...who knows i can send my son to the same place too in the future if its not too far. Hope your gal is enjoying the work and not feeling frustrated at this stage. i will continue my work on the Kumon workbook for the time being :lol:

hi shiningstar, brought my dd to the first lesson today. since she's quite young, the wksheets are quite easy. mainly to teach her to identify quantity of dots. eg. the picture shows 2 dots so she must write the number \"2\" in the box. today only got up to 5. she did two sets of worksheets (both quite similar) altogether n took 11min for each. she had like 3 mistakes in the first set but managed to get all correct for the second set. at her age, given her fine motor skills r not that mature yet, it's not really the speed that matters i think.

so yes, based on today, i realise how kumon helps the child to get more accurate with more practice. but of course, i understand as time goes by and things get more difficult, the going wil get tough and it won't be easy to sustain the child's interest. but it's so cute to see her sitting there with all the gor-gors and jie-jies in front of the instructors and doing her work seriously. :love:

actually the lady-in-charge did show me the simpler worksheets for even younger children. it seems they look a lot like the kumon workbooks you can buy outside. so really, u can start on the kumon programme now in the comfort of your own home

u can pm me for more info.

[foreverj]

hi shiningstar


check your pm.

[sleepy]

I feel that Kumon Maths is not quite in sync with MOE’s model drawing & heuristic type of questions


In my opinion, seem more suitable for preschoolers, to build a strong foundation in addition & subtraction

[shiningstar]

shaynamommy:

Just my expce : perseverance is the key for Kumon. I started my 5 yo one year ago for maths, then started with English too. Today, I signed her up for Chinese as well. Her maths has improved tremendously but it is always a struggle to get her to do the worksheets. She always kicks up a big fuss when it's Kumon time at home. Strange thing is that she loves the lessons at Kumon Siglap Centre. Personally, I find the worksheets repetitive but I believe that that's how kids should learn maths ie thru rote learning. Now she knows her sums and subtractions by heart. It definitely helps to boost her performance in school maths. It is a constant struggle for me n her but I'd tahan as long as I can since discipline is also another good virtue for our kids to have.

Hello shaynamommy,

wow...it seems that you must have lots of perseverance as a parent (not just the child) to continue the program. I salute your 'endurance level'! It must be tough to struggle with your gal to do her work based on what you described. So besides addition and subtraction, what does she learn in Kumon? I am curious about the long term benefits it brings to a child besides good discipline.

miss_clean mentioned about 'self-learners' in the forum but what exactly does that mean? any idea if that applies to your gal?