is Kumon really that good?

[Dim Sum]

Does anyone take Kumon and can validate that their results are actually good? To me, it just seems like a tutorial center and they don't even teach much.

 

[Klam]

I had been seriously considering Kumon for my daughter who is 6 yrs old for Mandarin lessons, so I spoke to a wide variety of parents who had children who were being tutored for different subjects.
I received mixed reviews from all the parents, which didn't help my cause but in general the parents were happy with their childs progress. I think Kumon uses their own teaching materials, are pretty strict and set homework for everyday of the week.

Other parents I spoke to, had pulled their child out of Kumon as they didn't think it was worth the money (approx $1000 a month, once a week). Their examples were eg. the Manadrin lesson may only be for 30mins and the tutor will teach for 10mins and the rest of the time, the child is left alone to complete written work by themselves whilst the tutor is teaching another child.
Different centres may work differently but I wasn't impressed with them when I went to visit and asked questions.

I eventually decided against Kumon and through recommendations, I found a private tutor teaching Mandarin in small groups for an hour a week, with her going through what the children have learnt at school to make sure they understood their homework, (obviously, I couldn't help) reading books and then playing games and practicing conversation skills, all in Mandarin and all for a fraction of Kumons price. I love that it's not all work and I believe children learn better when they are playing games.

I think you need to visit your closest Kumon centre and ask as many questions as possible and then come to a better conclusion for yourself. I do know many children that go there for tutoring, so they can't be all that bad.

 

[Histamin]

Hi, I'm a mother of 2 kids and one of them who is 5 taking kumon lesson, for math, is making good process through Kumon tuition.
One thing I can say while I'm seeing his Kumon for several months, is the key for motivation and discipline for building basement of learning ability.
In order to receive benefits of Kumon methods, the students must start tasksheets where they feel easy to finish, and they need to do homework everyday,
Of course, sometimes he feels tired and boring to do it everyday, and I as parent also need to support strongly to the child when they faced some problems.
In these condition, some students have very good result academically and some quited already because they feel useless and very tired of doing Kumon.

But I think it's important that they need parents support and I will keep supporting my child with any conditon and hope he will have good result.

This is what I know about Kumon.

Hope it helps you.

Histamin

 

[ninahudd]

The bain of my life

Kumon is the bain of my life. I am a teacher here in HK and let me give a quick tell of what i have observed.
Kumon is for parents who want their child to pass their exams (nothing wrong with that I guess). In maths, it teaches rules but there is seemingly no understanding. All the children I have taught who have done Kumon can get the answer right but ask more probing questions and clearly the understanding is not there. Also, Kumon does not encourage working out so the children erase their working out. But in tests you can get marks for working out, even if the answer is incorrect (the understanding is more important).
If you want your child (and you) to look good then go for it. I question the foundational understanding (but also confess to never having been to Kumon - so just my personal observations).

 

[uck]

well i think they don't teach much- they give examples and asks you to do excercises
my friends who do kumon maths says she can do it with the example but really show no understanding about the question.
it trains people like a machine

 

[blue_blueberry]

Kumon vs Selin, which one is good?

 

[meganx]

I don't know whether Kumon is good, for we haven't tried it before. But I strongly recommend Beestar.org.
http://www.beestar.org/index.jsp
It is a website full of free math practice, English programs, social studies and Gifted & Talented programs. My little James started school last year, but he really hated the boring math. Then his teacher recommended Beestar to us. He began to like doing the weekly math practice, because there are interesting stories and vivid pictures for kids. I am considering registering other programs for him.

 

[barbwong_130]

In tests you can get marks for working out, even if the answer is incorrect (the understanding is more important).

I’d like to second this statement.

My son is really quite good at maths – but not really any other subjects. A couple of years ago he got 80% in his maths exam even though he got every question wrong! I think it was the pressure of the exam because he kept making silly little mistakes like 2 + 3 = 6. But because he had all the methods correct he scored well. The next year he went back over all the calculations after he finished the work and got in the high 90s

 

[yvonnemommy]

DD did both kumon and beestar.
We liked kumon at the beginning. It helped DD in math calculation skills. But over time, the benefit is no longer that visible and we feel more pressure on its monthly bills. We quit afterward.
DD likes beestar better. The math program is cool and free. We has been using it.
Lisa

 

[MommyTo3]

Kumon is the bain of my life. I am a teacher here in HK and let me give a quick tell of what i have observed.
Kumon is for parents who want their child to pass their exams (nothing wrong with that I guess). In maths, it teaches rules but there is seemingly no understanding. All the children I have taught who have done Kumon can get the answer right but ask more probing questions and clearly the understanding is not there. Also, Kumon does not encourage working out so the children erase their working out. But in tests you can get marks for working out, even if the answer is incorrect (the understanding is more important).
If you want your child (and you) to look good then go for it. I question the foundational understanding (but also confess to never having been to Kumon - so just my personal observations).

I work in a school (not as a teacher) and I heard exactly the same from all teachers. The children don't understand how and why. Even fellow students in my class (especially the ones good in maths) say that can clearly tell who did Kumon and who didn't, and it's not in a positive way.