Singapore Expats

Hi, i received a flyer from my friend that Kumon is having a free trial campaign from 18 to 31 July. Thinking of enrolling my 6 yr old child. My friend says that her daughter is more disciplined and work skill improved a lot. Can someone gives me an advise?

since it is free, go for it. what other advise would you need?

No harm trying. Just make sure kids are happy to do it.

Hi there!

My son is in Kumon for about a year and he has developed pretty good study habits to do his worksheets everyday. But i guess a lot of hardwork from us as parents as he only attends classes twice a week. The rest of the 5 days, i need to make sure that he gets his work done...maybe that's what you meant by developing discipline, i think. I am also sending my son to try on another subject (English) to see if he can cope with additional work. Go for it!

I attended their opening for franchisee early this year. Wanted to set up one myself while taking care of bb. (part-time kinda idea). Anyway I think it is not bad a centre but that is if you believe in drilling and route learning. No fun, games or any other fanciful stuff. Just paper and pencil.

Personally I think it is a good way to build up the foundation.

Hi, i went to attend the parents info session and my son took a Diagnostics Test. instructor shared with me the progress of my son, i quite like the method of progessing at my son's pace. However she says that my son will need MY SUPPORT at home! Anyway will attend the lesson and see how it works.

I agree with the above - since it's for free why not check it out? I'm a firm believer in the Kumon method as I'm a "Kumon Kid" myself. I was able to excel a grade level in first Math and then Reading. So, is it effective? Yes. Does it take diligence (from parent and child)? Definitely. Growing up with Kumon was not fun most of the time as it is mundane and repetitive work (seen from the eyes of a child / teenager); however, in retrospect as an adult, I would recommend the program. You won't see results overnight, like most enrichment programs, but if you give it a few months, it is worth the money spent.

My child has been using Kumon for a while. We liked it at the beginning. It helped my child in math calculation skills. But over time, the benefit is no longer that visible and we feel more pressure on its monthly bills. Then we accepted the advice from our neighbor, and started to do the worksheets on Beestar (www.beestar.org). To my surprise, she loves the 10 quick questions very much and it really helps kids thinking. Plus, I also don’t have to drive her to kumon.
Lisa

Not coming from an Asina background, this is a fascinating subject for me. If your kids go to school everyday then Kumon or other tutoring every afternoon plus school homework, when do they have time to be kids?

You know - climb trees and play in the pool etc ?

It is not a criticism - more a question.

Because my kid is so busy with school stuff and extra activities that I just can't imagine finding the time at the expense of "kid time".

Would really like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

Totally agree with @vealshank.

I'm not sure how much benefit our children will gain from having their lives micromanaged as much as we do today, and so geared towards sedentary activities that sound "academic" and make parents feel will make the children "smarter".

Unfortunately, genetics will largely dictate your child's ability to excel academically. Rote learning helps in standardized testing, but it doesn't create leaders or geniuses. It produces decent accountants or software programmers, though. We have a ton of those where I live....

The benefit of Kumon is that your child will improve their calculation speed. But they won't be any better in math problems that involve other kinds of thinking, e.g., word problems. Speed of calculation has advantages and if your child can handle a worksheet per day, I don't think it's a bad thing. It doesn't take that long, 10-20 minutes at most.

jazzle wrote:....if you believe in drilling and route learning. No fun, games or any other fanciful stuff. Just paper and pencil..

Sounds a bit sad, when I look back on my younger years I can remember with a big smile hours spent, playing with my mum and chums in the trees, beach, pools, experimenting with playdough, gumby, cart racing, etc. I have to admit I cant even remember much about school?!

ddesg wrote: Speed of calculation has advantages and if your child can handle a worksheet per day,

It has been years since I last posted on kumon. My daughter has turned 3.5 and recently I started her at kumon. She showed tremendous improvement within a short span of two months. And all we did was 10 minutes of daily work with her.

How are your kids progressing?

I heard the one at Bedok Reservoir is giving free diagnostic test too.