# Anyone have experiences with KUMON



## bemused (May 19, 2012)

I'm thinking of giving my nipper a little boast at school. He just needs some extra focus on maths and english. I was thinking of a tutor but I've found the kumon system which seems structured and has some decent reviews. Has anyone here used this method?


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## biggus dickus (May 19, 2012)

fuckin KUMON!!!


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## Greebo (May 19, 2012)

bemused said:


> I'm thinking of giving my nipper a little boast at school. He just needs some extra focus on maths and english.<snip>


In your shoes, I'd discuss it with your son's teacher first - there may be other things which can be tried first and which will cost less.

IMHO children spend all day learning at school and the very last thing they need to do after getting home is to be given more work.  If he's at primary school, a little bit of homework might already be set (eg spelling lists, memorising tables, or half an hour's reading) but beyond that IMHO children need to have some free time just to be children.


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## Miss-Shelf (May 19, 2012)

my daughter went to some classes when she was about 13 or 14 iirc(she might have been younger)
she hated it and it was a nightmare to motivate her to go and do the homework
Its something you really have to commit to and it was more that she or I could do at that time

In theory I think it could work if your child is young enough to get in a regular habit of doing it
the idea is that there's lots of practice of work at a level that's initially slightly easy for them and they build up confidence in basics and in the habit of doing it and incrementally move forward

I think it is something that you'd have to be in for the long haul - are you up for that with time and money?  is your child really behind?  I think a lot of parents think they should be arranging maths and english help for their primary age children and Im not sure it's necessary:  I think sometimes tutors are just taking money off them with no clear purpose
What if tutors have very different pedagogy than schools? where does that leave a child?  what about time for doing other stuff/seeing friends/just hanging out?


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## purenarcotic (May 19, 2012)

I'm with Greebo on this one, I'd talk to his teacher first and see if there's anything that could be implemented without having to do extra classes at the weekend.  Kids spend enough time in school as it is, unless there's a really big issue, most kids will just catch up in their own time.


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## ShiftyBagLady (May 21, 2012)

Yeah I know a few parents who have sent their child to this thing. To be fair, they speak highly of it but they all admit that the time it takes up is a drag. Aside from bringing them there you also have to do an hour of work every day, well not you the child but you the parent have to build this in to your routine every day. I can't do that, I'm afraid neither of us have the time because by the time we are home,refuelled and relaxed it is already bedtime.

I also disagree with the notion that the solution to slow learning is more classes. Better to investigate different ways of learning to see what clicks for the child, people learn in different ways and if they are not quite getting it in class it's better to find out why than to try to make them get it in other classes.
I also think that the daily repitition of work rather than the course they teach might be the key to pushing up attainment, practise innit.


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## weepiper (May 21, 2012)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> Yeah I know a few parents who have sent their child to this thing. To be fair, they speak highly of it but they all admit that the time it takes up is a drag. Aside from bringing them there you also have to do an hour of work every day, well not you the child but you the parent have to build this in to your routine every day. I can't do that, I'm afraid neither of us have the time because by the time we are home,refuelled and relaxed it is already bedtime.


 
That certainly wouldn't work for me - I have enough trouble fitting the homework they already get into the day tbh, and in fact I resent the time it takes out of their day as kids. They have their entire adult lives in front of them to be doing what they're told and having no free time to do what the hell they want. Kids need to be allowed to be kids.


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## Mrs Magpie (May 21, 2012)

All it's good for is mental arithmetic. Expensive mental arithmetic.


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## ShiftyBagLady (May 21, 2012)

I agree. Sometimes I reckon it's a shame and that if I hothoused him a bit my boy could be a GENIUS but then, he wouldn't had time to build spiral Lego things and read star wars encyclopaedias and we all know how life enhancing they are...
Plus, I'll be honest: I'm not the most patient person. There's only so many times I can hear "I do get it" before I want to do the fucking sum myself.... I did homeschool my brother for a couple of terms of his GCSEs and it a real responsibility to take on teaching, you've got to more in more work than they do.
I talk to my boy about art, philosophy, plays, poetry, music, tv, history and literature over dinner, I wouldn't want to swap hat for algebra. BORING.

Not to mention the equally valid aspect of having relaxed time with them. Time is more important to me than SATs results


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## purenarcotic (May 21, 2012)

There's lots of creatives ways you can improve maths and english without it being a) boring or b) pushy.  Getting them to read the sign for you, getting them to weigh out the ingredients when you're cooking, getting them to count your change when you've been to the shop and seeing if it's the right change, playing card games / board games.  There's a myriad of ways to improve skills without involving masses of extra pressure and work for them; basically ways that allow them to still be kids.  Plus it gives it a practical aspect, which I sometimes think in the classroom is lacking and possibly makes the work seem a bit dull and pointless.


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## purenarcotic (May 21, 2012)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> I agree. Sometimes I reckon it's a shame and that if I hothoused him a bit my boy could be a GENIUS but then, he wouldn't had time to build spiral Lego things and read star wars encyclopaedias and we all know how life enhancing they are...
> Plus, I'll be honest: I'm not the most patient person. There's only so many times I can hear "I do get it" before I want to do the fucking sum myself.... I did homeschool my brother for a couple of terms of his GCSEs and it a real responsibility to take on teaching, you've got to more in more work than they do.
> I talk to my boy about art, philosophy, plays, poetry, music, tv, history and literature over dinner, I wouldn't want to swap hat for algebra. BORING.
> 
> Not to mention the equally valid aspect of having relaxed time with them. Time is more important to me than SATs results


 
I wish I could like this more than once tbh.


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## weepiper (May 21, 2012)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> I agree. Sometimes I reckon it's a shame and that if I hothoused him a bit my boy could be a GENIUS but then, he wouldn't had time to build spiral Lego things and read star wars encyclopaedias and we all know how life enhancing they are...


 
Yes! Exactly.


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## ShiftyBagLady (May 21, 2012)

My typos make me look illiterate 
(((ShiftyJunior's life chances)))


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## bemused (May 24, 2012)

purenarcotic said:


> There's lots of creatives ways you can improve maths and english without it being a) boring or b) pushy.  Getting them to read the sign for you, getting them to weigh out the ingredients when you're cooking, getting them to count your change when you've been to the shop and seeing if it's the right change, playing card games / board games.  There's a myriad of ways to improve skills without involving masses of extra pressure and work for them; basically ways that allow them to still be kids.  Plus it gives it a practical aspect, which I sometimes think in the classroom is lacking and possibly makes the work seem a bit dull and pointless.



I do loads of stuff with my kids, reading, homework, sports etc. I've no intention of being either boring or pushy. I expend far more effort on things they enjoy rather than school. However; I'm really looking for proven ways of providing some structured additional support. There is a balance - I get that.


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## purenarcotic (May 24, 2012)

Does the school not have somebody who comes in and does this sort of thing?  I just think that if you can keep it within school hours as much as possible, so it doesn't eat into free time it's better for them overall.   KUMON doesn't seem to have glowing reviews from any posters on here tbh lol.


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## equationgirl (May 26, 2012)

I think the best thing you can to do is encourage your child to practice basic maths skills more - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division - after talking to the teacher. Mastering these will give your child a lot of confidence with maths, and as someone who's taught one-on-one, never underestimate how few children can actually do the above well.


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## Mrs Magpie (May 26, 2012)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> I talk to my boy about art, philosophy, plays, poetry, music, tv, history and literature over dinner


Cultural Capital pisses all over Kumon


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## lisayvonne (Sep 2, 2012)

bemused said:


> I'm thinking of giving my nipper a little boast at school. He just needs some extra focus on maths and english. I was thinking of a tutor but I've found the kumon system which seems structured and has some decent reviews. Has anyone here used this method?


My child attended Kumon for a while. We liked it at the beginning. It helped her in math calculation skills. But over time, the benefit is no longer that visible and we feel more pressure on its monthly bills. Then DD's teacher sent us to beestar for free online math programs, and we have been using it. All real life word problems, challenging stuff to help kids thinking. DD loves it a lot. Plus, I also don’t have to drive her to kumon, saving my time and $$..
 Lisa


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## Knotted (Sep 2, 2012)

I once considered becoming a Kumon teacher but then decided against it on principle. It seems to be a load boring drills for kids under pressure from pushy parents. Children should be taught to think through problems not drilled into solving standard set problems for standard set exams.

Edit: The pushy parents bit was a bit unfair - but I suspect that's the case with the majority. Thinking about it, it might be good for primary school children who have problems with basic arithmetic - it will probably be good for things like learning times tables, which is important.


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## stuff_it (Sep 2, 2012)

I got sent to a private maths tutor when I was late primary school age. They had a Saturday daytime thing with a group of about 8-10 of us basically just mucking about with computers and logic puzzles and a bit of showing us how maths could be fun and useful. No extra take home work or anything like that. Not sure how much my maths improved but it definitely improved my motivation for maths - being shown that I would need to work reasonably hard at it to get the most out of other cool stuff like science and computers, taught me how to program the logic turtle etc a bit younger than I would have seen it otherwise, etc.

Don't reckon it was that expensive and was more like a club than any sort of serious drilling. I got the impression that it wasn't that expensive either as it was a group of us rather than 1 on 1.

That said this was back in the day where school drilled you till you knew your times tables, and teachers still told you that you wouldn't have a calculator with you everywhere you go. 



equationgirl said:


> I think the best thing you can to do is encourage your child to practice basic maths skills more - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division - after talking to the teacher. Mastering these will give your child a lot of confidence with maths, and as someone who's taught one-on-one, never underestimate how few children can actually do the above well.


I agree with this, making a concerted effort to integrate maths into day to day life without having it as extra 'work' time could make a massive difference as well. You could spend the money saved on treats for improvement rather than the 'punishment' of extra homework that young for falling behind.


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## el-ahrairah (Sep 3, 2012)

my mum teaches it.  she was sold it as a part-time job but it's basically a full-time job with massive franchising costs to set yourself up.  she regrets doing it but if she stopped she'd have lost money on it so far.  she doesn't speak highly of the central organisation.  is it any good?  yeah, it's alright.  you can probably spend the time better doing maths with your kid yourself for just as good an academic outlay, unless you could do with primary level maths instruction yourself.  but if you can't spare the time and can afford the cost most kids _seem_ to benefit.


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## kebabking (Sep 28, 2012)

our sprog went (goes) to kumon and we've been impressed - she moved from one schooling system to another and it was immediately obvious that she was about a year behind kids her own age in the new system. the school were very good and laid on loads of extra help, initially she went to 'Explore' for extra tuition, and while that initially rocketed her up the scale, she kind of plateaued out. kumon was the next option - it was cheaper as well - and she's now caught up, and is improving a little faster than most of the kids on the same level as her, which is broadly in the middle of where she should be.

handy hint to the wise - do not tell your childrens school that they will be leaving in 9 months, turns out the school might not be so fastidious at ensuring they get all the additional support they might need...


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