Moving from Montessori to Kumon or Enopi Math?

[elmostoney]

I am looking for some advice.  DD attended Montessori for 3 years until this fall.  She will be 5 1/2 by November.  I wish to let her continue in Montessori until primary school, but life doesn't always go as one wishes. 

From the time she was 4, her Montessori teacher started introducing addition using the beads.  Within one year, the teacher has gone through subraction, multiplication and division concepts.  Theoretically, if dd stays in Montessori, this year will be the year that these concepts are transferred to paper.  To help her make this transition without Montessori, I have enrolled her in Enopi Math (similar to Kumon, but less drilling and it doesn't time your work).  She has to do 5 to 6 pages per day, but she doesn't like to do her work.  The maximum pages she would do is two.  I also see problems such as 107 + 3.  She can't do those problems and will refer to a chart.

My questions are:

1.  I have ambivalent feelings.  I am a firm believer of Montessori and my younger son is still in the system.  This type of drilling seems to go against Montessori.  Sometimes, I also ask myself - is it sufficient for the child to understand the problem?  As long as she can solve it, is it necessary for her to do similar problems for 300 times?

2.  DD hasn't mastered counting of bigger numbers.  She can probably handle counting up to 40 or so.  Is it necessary for her to master counting first?

[JanieBabe]

Hi, I decided on Kumon for my four children 12 years ago.  They are all now teenagers with strong skills in maths and English and I believed it was the best thing that I am became a Kumon Instructor My centre is thriving in the Capital City of Australia with 250 children ranging in age from 3 years to 18 years.  I don't know anything about Enopi except that the man who started it was at one time a good friend of Toru Kumon.  I believe that if you choose Kumon you will need to work closely with your instructor to always ensure you are working in line with him/her as your child progresses through the worksheets.  It's when specific and purposeful instruction is given to students that we see remarkable advancements in students. The key is a good attitude towards study, a continued development of work skills, daily study and an individualised study plan.  In my opinion, I would do my best to make either program (Kumon or Enopi) a daily task which is simply incorporated into my daily life without fuss or stress.  I would give out loads of encouragement and be greatly interested in the work being accomplished each day.  In the long run don't forget you are investing in their future or taking out an insurance policy that your child will be well prepared for high school and life.  I hope this has helped.  All the best with your child's education but I am confident it will be all you want it to be.

Cheers

Jane

[Rose-Roget]

I don't know Kumon or Enopi math programs, but it sounds very different from Montessori.  I came across Right Start math, which seems to be a nice bridge.  I haven't followed the whole program, which is very manipulatives based, but I like the abacus they have.  Montessori gives a much more concrete representation of the larger number concepts (she can hold, touch, feel 100's squares or 1000's cubes), but the abacus helps with the understanding of carrying, borrowing, etc. 

I found Math Busters activity books add a little extra interest to just doing math problems.  The answers to the math problems help direct the child through a map, draw a picture, or answer a mystery question.  Those motivate ds, and there are enough questions on a page that I feel he has sufficiently practiced by the end of a page. I found them at Fat Brain Toys, but I'm sure they're sold elsewhere. 

Also, a 100's board would be pretty easy to make to help her learn to count higher.  I'm not 100% about the Montessori progression, but I thought usually the 100's board and development of those higher number concepts came before or simultaneously to learning all the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division concepts.

[BCFD]

I agree with you on the practice worksheets being overkill.  I don't know anything about Kumon or Enopi, but my DD's attend a charter Montessori school and they use the Accelerated Math program.  At the beginning of the year, they do testing to find out the child's level and then put them all on their individual plans.  They get anywhere from 3-6 pages of math worksheets sent home on Monday and are due on Friday.  They are pretty easy for DD, but I'm not sure whether she is just yanking my chain or really doesn't know what "10 less than 73" is.  She has done the 100's board since preschool and we even let her use the 100's board control chart to do her homework and she keeps looking at us like she doesn't get it. Usually if I ignore her whining, she will mark the right answer (which makes me think she is just being a little pooper!)  They also do these worksheets in the classroom (which I'm not really happy about that, but at least they do get traditional Montessori math lessons using the M jobs several times per week).

I do agree with Rose that you should get her a 100's board (I made mine using small tiles available at Home Depot and a sharpie marker).  My kids will still pull that job out at home and do it from time to time, so why my DD pretends to not know the answers make me raise an eyebrow.  We also have this http://www.alisonsmontessori.com/Small_Wooden_Number_Cards_1_3000_Premium_Qualit_p/pm38.a.htm which also helps to understand units/tens/hundreds/thousands.