All About Primary School Math Enrichment

[MMM]

I just called and wow, there is a waitlist even for weekdays evening.

[belinda]

ck123:

Hi all expert out there,


I am trying to figure out which is better CMA or MPM for my 4year old boy.

Appreciate your views.

Thanks

Hi,

If yur boy is only 4 yr old, I am not sure whether he can start MPM cos I just enrolled my 4 yr old in the Jelic cos the school recommend MPM to start at 5 and suggested Jelic.

My girl which is 6yr old now has attend CMA when she is 5 yrs old and it is rather useful as it help to build her numbers sense. Currently I have enrolled her in MPM to train her in logic concept, manuplative...etc. Looking at the MPM wkbook, I am glad that she has her CMA earlier as she can grasp the concept of addition/substraction faster.

[BlissMom]

My son has been on Kumon for many years. When he was in Pr 6, I stopped him for about 1/2 yr because it was taking time and not helping much in the problem sums. He continued after the PSLE and is now at Level I (secondary 3 level supposedly) and he is currently in Sec 1. My girl was onto the course but I stopped her by Level D about 1 year ago. Bascially, the drill method in Kumon does not address the conceptual/heuristic math which is really the basis for primary math. Also, my girl being more right-brain, does not go well with too much structure and drilling. She, in my view is not a suitable candidate for Kumon. Despite the decision to stop her at level D, she did better in her examination as she no longer needs to struggle in reconciling between the requirements of Kumon and that of the school’s. Also now with calculator approved for primary school, why bother with mental sums. Might as well use the time to improve on problem sums solving technique since it takes up about 50 to 60% of the PSLE paper!


As for my son, he continued merely out of interest i suppose. Plus when you are at Secondary level, the approaches to Math have not changed much and Kumon is rather helpful here for A and E math. Still, we are reviewing the course as he felt that the syllabus is not as updated.

However, if your child is relatively weak and slow in the Mathematical Operators, Kumon is a great start! This is usually most appropriate for children aged 9 and below.

[MMM]

Blissmum,


We are just contemplating whether we should let our son continue with kumon. He is gg to P1 next year. Though I’ve heard that kumon is a long term program and it’s benefits are long term wise. Hubby felt that kumon is quite ltd in term so of scope for pri purpose. Eg. kids are not taught problem sums, time,etc… So besides good in mental sums, doing rationale check we are wondering how will kumon help him.

Also, it’s not feasible for us to send him to 2 maths program as we don’t have that kind of time to do so.

[BlissMom]

Hi MMM


Only my opinion and based on personal experience - while the Kumon approach is limited, it serves the purpose of reinforcement through drill, discipline and better grasp of mathematical operators. These being fundamentally good attributes regardless and especially if child is young like P3 and below. Unless there's counter productive behaviour like as a result of Kumon the child builds a protest against Math or like my daughter just not suitable for drills, there's really no harm in letting the child continue.

Also, bear in mind at Pr 1 to 4, Math should be rather manageable - again this is only my opinion. Problem sums challenge really starts in P5 when the level of difficultY accelerates with multiple considerations all captured in 1 problem sum. So go easy with the child and personally, i won't opt for tuition UNLESS it is truly necessary. My son only had tuition when he was in late P5 and that's really because he needed it for specific subject and I had no time for him. Then, I worked till 8'ish every night

[hquek]

Hi all,


My son is going to K1 next year. I’m pondering if I should start him on any math enrichment classes at all.

Based on your experience, does starting them that young (ie K1) help them in their Math, or is it enough to rely on what the schools (ie kindy and primary sch) teach them?

Thanks much.

[ChiefKiasu]

hquek:

...Based on your experience, does starting them that young (ie K1) help them in their Math, or is it enough to rely on what the schools (ie kindy and primary sch) teach them?...

I will definitely recommend that you start them as young as K1. Either teach them yourself or send them to Math enrichment classes. Primary schools these days \"teach less and learn more\". You may save yourself some stress when your child is in P1.

[Pen88n]

The \"teach less, learn more\" refers to teacher teaching less, and the children learning more from enrichment / tuition lessons.

:lol:

[jedamum]

digress abit, one question...

4 x 6 is it defined as:
\"4 groups of 6 items each\" or \"4 items times 6 times\" :?:

[Emelyn]

jedamum:

digress abit, one question...

4 x 6 is it defined as:
\"4 groups of 6 items each\" or \"4 items times 6 times\" :?:

It means 4 groups of 6 items.