Kumon - Discussion

[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.

[Jav]

I was told when listening to CD refer to textbook then after that read aloud without CD from the worksheet

[phtthp]

actually if you have a clock right in front of your child’s desk, also can do. but for me, i prefer stop watch, because can see seconds.


once you buy the stop watch, you can use it for any subject - not just for Maths or English.

during feedback time, if you come across another kid also N2 same level as you, do not compare their progress. Every child is different! There are also kids facing learning difficulty - also attending Kumon english lessons. Most important is so long as your child enjoys learning and is making some progress, it’s fine! But how much progress, every child differs.

[ilovemymm]

hi any good or bad comments on this two branches? Upper serangoon road and highland centre.Pls share with me.thanks.

[phtthp]

i had never been to these 2 centres before.


however, all Kumon centres are standardized in terms of teaching material. Whenever there is new material to be updated to the curriculum, all centres have to do the same.

most centres will have teachers handling pre-school children, another set of teachers handling Primary school children. For kids aged 4-6, normally have to go twice a week (half hour per session). This is because young kids cannot concentrate so long. Half an hour is the most they can absorb.

however for primary school kids, they can go down once a week, esp. if they stay far away from the centre. Troublesome to come down twice a week. If they go once a week, then its 1 hr per session. But if that child really can't concentrate for 1 hr, then they can still come down for 2 sessions per week.

is your child Pre-school or primary school ? If pre-school, so long as teacher can bond with child, should be fine. Dun worry too much. Because most of the time, it's the parents who need to be with the child more, than the teacher who see the child only half an hour (short time). It is the training and the discipline that the parents have to set from young that's more important.

since that's the case, just try out 1 Term to see how.

go down visit both centres, see the P, talk to her. If can, ask her - is it possible to let your child have a trial first, with that teacher she has in mind ? from this trial, see whether your kid ok.

btw, if you want to see the contents or Kumon syllabus, can ask from the centre. If you want to see detailed contents for each level what they teach, you may also do so.

in the event that your centre doesn't allow you to see worksheets content in detail, you may go down Kumon (Balmoral centre), level 2 to take a look. You can sit down as long as you wish. Their worksheets are all bound up for English, Chinese, Maths, all levels, from the lowest 7A to the highest level. The centre staff at Balmoral plaza nice, won't chase you off, nor hurry you to browse through.This way, you have a clear idea what your kid is in for, and what you're paying $120 every month for.