Kumon tutoring

[raksmama]

I keep hearing very good things about Kumon, a system of tutoring for both Math and reading that (I think) originally comes from Japan.
I am considering it for my son age 9 because until grade 3 he did not have a good foundation (it is a long story, because of some bad educational choices I made)
All the teachers I have spoken to say Kumon is really amazing and they really see a difference with the children who have done it.
I am wondering have any of your children done it.
Does anyone have any good experiences? Bad experiences?

[EFmom]

I have a friend who has her two kids do this. I don't have personal experience with it.

But from what I've seen with her two kids, I would run in the opposite direction. They are completely miserable when you add the tutoring on top of everything they get at school.

[kmeyrick]

It depends how you approach it. If you bombard your kids with Kumon, yes, your kids will be miserable. Instead, make it special- light a candle, have a bowl of munchies, relaxing music, and say a mantra to "beat the Math Monster." Praise any and every triumph. Remind them how it connects with school- "You know your four tables now, you will get those right in school!" Good luck!

[raksmama]

Originally Posted by kmeyrick

It depends how you approach it. If you bombard your kids with Kumon, yes, your kids will be miserable. Instead, make it special- light a candle, have a bowl of munchies, relaxing music, and say a mantra to "beat the Math Monster." Praise any and every triumph. Remind them how it connects with school- "You know your four tables now, you will get those right in school!" Good luck!

So do your kids do Kumon?

[rainyday]

I used to teach, and I had a few students who did Kumon. The Kumon kids really did have basic computation down in a way most of the others just did not. They also all said they really liked Kumon. I got the sense that they found it satisfying to be proficient at it, and the way it moves through the levels is designed to make sure that kids are always able to succeed on the stuff they're working on, or at least that's what the kids said.

Also, a lot of schools have gone to a very concept-based math approach (Everyday Math, for example), and computational skills in a lot of kids are really lagging, at least among the kids I taught. I think a good balance of comptational practice and concept development is probably the best, and if your school isn't doing enough of the former (which seems to be quite common these days), something like Kumon that reinforces the real basics can be quite helpful.

[kmeyrick]

Originally Posted by jalilah

So do your kids do Kumon?

No, I was referring to tutoring in general, as I've noticed many good programs either triumph or bust depending on the child's state of mind- relaxed or anxious, encouraged or discouraged, etc.

[MillingNome]

My dd goes to a school that hired a Kumon tutor as a teacher for their advanced math groups. DD is in the 8th grade doing Algebra II. It might vary teacher by teacher but dd likes it well enough to stick with it. Because the kids in her class had a different teacher for the previous years they were doing math, there has been a time of adjustment. He does spend a good deal of time going over the proper terminology and reasoning for how to solve the problems. DD is screwed though if she does not get it as I sure don't... I am happy with it so far and lucky for me, don't have to pay extra for it.

[jeca]

I thought about doing it for math for DS but it's kind of expensive for it not be one on one help. I found just adding some enrichment type math activities helped him a lot. My aunt's kids do it and she was the one who suggested it but her DH makes a ton more than mine. Here for us it would be $130 per month per subject.
Here's a link though if you don't have one.
http://www.kumon.com

[RomanGoddess]

Originally Posted by EFmom

I have a friend who has her two kids do this. I don't have personal experience with it.

But from what I've seen with her two kids, I would run in the opposite direction. They are completely miserable when you add the tutoring on top of everything they get at school.

Kumon should not be like this. It should take approximately 15 minutes per day of the child's time and there is NOT actual tutoring involved except for the one hour per week at the kumon centre.

My sister's four kids did it. They were mediocre at math before and kumon transformed them into whizzes.

[raksmama]

This is an update.
I have enrolled my child in the Kumon tutoring.
He will start this week.
I went to the center,read the material and talked to the teacher.
As well I spoke to many of the parents there.
I had a good feeling.
Yes I know it will take some getting used to. My son has a lot of homework at school already but every one tells me that once he has been doing Kumon for a while it will take less and time for him to do homework and the work will become easier for him as well.

[MomToKandE]

I'm thinking about it for dd. Last year she was having some reading trouble. I mentioned Kumon to her teacher and the teacher said that she thought dd would benefit more from one-on-one tailored tutoring vs. the Kumon style. We opted for individual tutoring and were pleased with the results.

This year dd is having some trouble with her basic math skills. I'm thinking the "drill and kill" Kumon style might be just right. It's nothing dh and I couldn't do with flashcards and worksheets but frankly we're just not structured enough to do that easily. It would be much easier and go over much better with dd if it was coming from outside the family.

[treemom2]

Kumon is originally from Japan. My DD attends Kumon here in Japan two days a week for Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji (Japanese reading and writing) and Math. She gets tons of homework and often it is the same booklet or paper 4-5 times in a row, I guess until she does it perfectly (and I mean perfectly, like writing the numbers in a math problem exactly the way the teacher tells her to write them, even if the answer is correct). It is a ton of drills and memorization. The teacher is very strict, but DD likes to go and is learning a lot of Japanese language. However, she isn't loving math as much as she did when she first started. . .in fact, it's turned into a struggle to get her to do the math homework. I will admit that I did disagree with what they were doing in math. My dd was already doing addition before we went to Kumon, but because she wasn't writing her 5s in two steps, or writing a 7 the way they thought she should, they took her all the way back to just tracing and writing numbers over and over and over and over again.

I will admit that I have contemplated pulling her out many times. However, since she wants to attend Japanese elementary starting in April (children here start elementary school after they are 6 years old) she has to know Japanese writing and reading (they will teach this to her in school, but it will be at an accelerated rate and since DH and I don't know Japanese we won't be able to help her and would like her to have a headstart on this so she doesn't fall too far behind). Also, the Kumon teacher has told us she will help DD with her homework once she starts elementary, especially with the reading directions part.

Here in Japan, where we live, Kumon costs 12600 yen a month (about $125).

[karne]

Jalilah my child also struggled due to our educational choices, and while I don't know this particular tutoring method, I do know how important it is for the kids to feel proficient at their schoolwork. I hope your child does well.

[mirlee]

We are a Kumon family. I do highly recommend it. It isn't cheap, but it really helped our son catch up from his terrible year at a school where the only real learning he got was from our supplementing.

It works. The worksheets are progressive and the program is tailored to what your child needs. If they seem to have problems in one section, the sheets will be repeated until the child is able to do them easier. They do frequent testing so you always know how they are progressing.

Our Kumon center has two site visits per week. I noticed one person responded that they go once a week. Our center prefers to see the students more often.

[raksmama]

thanks for all the replies Mamas!
My son is not to pleased about the extra work at this point but I really can see how this kind of work will help give him the solid foundation that he missed.
I am just curious why this method is not done in schools if it works so well.