Kumon - Discussion

[Jav]

Hi, your gal progress is v fast. Can you share how u discipline ur gal to complete e worksheet? Till to date I am still struggling with my son. But I must admit my gal is easier. Maybe this is e difference bet girl & boy! Sigh

[phtthp]

she only do English, not Maths.

maybe English is easier compared to Maths (more complex subject).

i train her discipline this way …

a) once reach home, 1st thing is she learnt how to remove all the staple(s) by herself. because if dun remove staple, it gets in the way as she turns each page to write.

for her age N2 (4 yrs old) - homework workload assigned by Kumon tr is much simpler - only 5 pages of A5 size (half A4 size pge) per day. Not 10 pages.

10 pages per day are for those bigger, older students like Primary school kids.

b) write her big name down on the front page of per stack of every 5 pages.

c) show her the daily timetable.

she attends N2 PM class, school bus come and fetch her 10.40 am daily.

so after breakfast - when the clock says 9.30 am, she’ll go to her desk
sit down, start her Kumon homework.

first, she’ll activate the stop watch. Write down the start time on the front page of that stack. I bought the stop watch from Kumon for $5.

a) next, she’ll press the button on the mini compo (on her desk) to listen to the CD first, for 5 pages. This CD will teach her how to read, and how to pronounce, word by word. As she listen(s) to the CD, if not sure how to pronounce that noun or word she comes across, i taught her to circle that particular word, using a pencil.

b) after finish listening, she’ll press the stop button on the mini compo.
Then go back to page 1 - try to read out aloud this time, without the help of CD. This time if she dont know how to read any word, I taught her to underline that particular word.

c) after she finish, she’ll write down the End time on the front page, and staple back the stack of 5 pages A5 size.

overall from beginning till end, ususally takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete 5 pages.

d) when i come home, i say ‘Now is reading time. Would you like to read to mommy, please ?’.

i’ll check her progress. For any word that she doesn’t know how to pronounce or can’t read, i’ll transfer that word into a small notebook. I’ll also zoom into those words she had highlighted in circle plus those she had underline. Along the way, if she can’t pronounce, i’ll apply Phonics to help her how to decode the word, to pronounce.

I’ll also test out the list of common sight words given by Kumon - that every child must know. Every level, they’ll give you a list of commonly encountered high frequency sight words. The child must master this list, for each level.

I like Kumon, because it enforces self discipline in a child daily.

[phtthp]

the whole idea is to train her up now at N2 (4 yrs old), to do some independent work on her own.


i don’t want to keep always having to handhold her, keep sitting down beside her to do homework with her from beginning till end. Very tiring ! Whatever she can do on her own like circle or underline those words she not sure of, let her try to do on her own. Come back then check on her progress.

[Jav]

Wow I am v impressed! Must learn from u. Initially I did not know how to use the CD as DD already v familiar with all the words in L7A 6A due to her exposure in Montessori Phonics but e centre wanted her to start fr e beginning. So i did not find the CD is of any use & just went straight to worksheet. I gauge that her level is at Level 4 & she just started mid last month. I did not know kumon has stop watch, must ask the centre later.

[Jav]

Btw did the centre taught u all these steps? Mine never said anything !

[phtthp]

actually the stop watch is meant for kids doing Kumon Maths, not meant for Kumon English.


initially the Kumon admin girl din want to sell it to me. She said my child only learning English, not Maths. So i went forward to speak to the centre P, explaining the reason. She’s a nice lady - closed one eye, said ok, let me buy the stop watch for $5.

purpose of letting yr child listen to the CD is to discipline the kid in a way. To make kid listen, try to do some independent learning on his own. Because as kid listens, the kid is also learning. If you dun make use of the CD, then the onus lies back on you the parent, to have to teach your child how to pronounce. Who is going to teach ? either CD or you. If CD can allievate our parents workload, why not ? better still !

English is a language, so can have CD.
but then for Maths, it’s about understanding concepts. Not sure if got CD.

[Jav]

Hi, need to clarify, when did u refer to the textbook ? While listening to the CD? And if not sure circle d word on the text book & underline on the worksheet if still don’t know the words later?

[phtthp]

No, my centre never teach me all these.

i learn from feedback time.

during feedback, i asked Kumon centre teacher - can share with me how those diligent Kumon kids do their homework daily, with minimal supervision ? How do their parents train them to be independent ? so she started sharing with me bla bla bla … she said there was this boy also N2, very focused, very disciplined. He did 3 subjects - Kumon Maths English, and Chinese. His parents trained him well …

this boy after collecting all the worksheets for the week … come home first thing is to remove all the staples. Then stack up all the worksheets for 3 subjects neatly, side by side. Everyday at a designated time according to timetable schedule, he’ll go to his desk and start automatic homework. Due to habit cultivated, now becomes auto pilot run. Everyday after finishing all homework, he’ll call his mother up on handphone saying, "Mom, i have finished 3 sets of homework - for english, maths, chinese! "

i asked Kumon tr - how come his parents so good ? Tr replied that the parent told her: if you don’t start to discipline your child now from young, next time you’re going to have a headache when they go Primary school. Everyday, everynow and then, you got to call up handphone to check on your child at regular interval, "so son, have you learnt yr tingxie, spelling already ?" This going to be very tiring, and taxing - imagine, parent chasing after kid on homework status.

after learning, i try it on my girl. Beginning not easy, struggle, but after a while, she got the hang of it. Explain to her the reason(s) why we’re training her up this way, from very young.

btw, during feedback time, Kumon tr also chart a path for your child. They’ll explain to you that roughly by end of each yr, your child most likely reach what stage, what level. They target the chart, according to the progress of each child.

[phtthp]

so far i din use the textbook. Let me find out more, get back to you.

[Jav]

Mmm interesting. My feedback session comin up in 3 weeks. Guess this time round they will hear lots from me. The last feedback I did not know what to say apart from having difficulty to discipline son, they did not tell me much! Yeah its like that bla bla. Son is doing math but never heard about stop watch leh.


Many thanks for your sharing, phttp. Really appreciate it.

Moderator, this is valuable info about Kumons. Should merge into Kumon thread.