Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I see many parents sending their kids to Kumon. Is it worth it ? I noticed that my private school pre-K books are Kumon books ? Anyone have any experience with Kumon? What is the right age to send a kid ?
I have 3 Kids in Kumon right now, Elementary, and middle school. For elementary ages it helped them a lot but when they are in middle school it is a little bit of frustration. They wont give you an explanation of the equation so the kids get frustrated. But overall it helped them prepare for the future. The kids hated it though.
I have 3 Kids in Kumon right now, Elementary, and middle school. For elementary ages it helped them a lot but when they are in middle school it is a little bit of frustration. They wont give you an explanation of the equation so the kids get frustrated. But overall it helped them prepare for the future. The kids hated it though.
Exactly! My mom had my brother and I enrolled in this back when I was a teen. I'm sure it's very different now, but I do remember the frustration with not being shown the steps for equations, because that's where i needed the help.
Kumon is very effective for helping kids get caught up who are behind.
Kumon is not as effective for kids who are not behind, or for kids who are ahead. Those kids would be much better served by a good advanced workbook with mom or dad at the kitchen table. But if mom or dad can't sit at the kitchen table with the kids, then Kumon is better than nothing.
Public school math by itself, in the United States, with no extra instruction or help from someone, is really awful. Everyone I know who took advanced, honors, or AP math in school got extra help from somewhere, usually mom and dad.
At the elementary level it's good for getting the fundamentals down pat.
And that is where many struggle later on in MS and HS..they can't multiply, divide or do anything with fractions.
All of that is elementary Math.
You can do it at home just devising your own worksheets. The math is repetition which isn't awful, but it is excessive. I could take my kid going twice a week and doing what he had to there (which was basically a half hour of "minute math"), but the homework was a little much.
Kumon is very effective for helping kids get caught up who are behind.
Kumon is not as effective for kids who are not behind, or for kids who are ahead. Those kids would be much better served by a good advanced workbook with mom or dad at the kitchen table. But if mom or dad can't sit at the kitchen table with the kids, then Kumon is better than nothing.
Public school math by itself, in the United States, with no extra instruction or help from someone, is really awful. Everyone I know who took advanced, honors, or AP math in school got extra help from somewhere, usually mom and dad.
I actually was good with public school math until the the youngest child who is now ten got caught up in CC aligned math. My older ones are in high school and taking the classes you speak of. One needs my ex-math teacher mom; one does not. I think that would have happened regardless - some kids just don't do math that easily. They have a good enough foundation to get through this.
My youngest however, has had his math stalled by the CC. I know it's not a curriculum, but the tests they are taking for it has the weird, age inappropriate concepts that make no sense. I do hope he can recover.
I actually was good with public school math until the the youngest child who is now ten got caught up in CC aligned math. My older ones are in high school and taking the classes you speak of. One needs my ex-math teacher mom; one does not. I think that would have happened regardless - some kids just don't do math that easily. They have a good enough foundation to get through this.
My youngest however, has had his math stalled by the CC. I know it's not a curriculum, but the tests they are taking for it has the weird, age inappropriate concepts that make no sense. I do hope he can recover.
I'm a big fan of common core, but I know exactly what you are talking about with the weird, age inappropriate concepts that make no sense. And those really are curriculum based.
For example, here's an excerpt from the common core 1st grade math standards:
"Students develop strategies for adding and subtracting whole numbers based on their prior work with small numbers. They use a variety of models, including discrete objects and length-based models (e.g., cubes connected to form lengths), to model add-to, take-from, put-together, take-apart, and compare situations to develop meaning for the operations of addition and subtraction, and to develop strategies to solve arithmetic problems with these operations. "
In the common core math curriculum that I picked out, purchased, and use with my children at home (Singapore Math), we do this by getting blocks that link together. Then we go through addition and subtraction problems by modeling them with the blocks. For example, for 2+3, we get 2 yellow blocks, then 3 red blocks, and link them together, and count 5. Yay! And then, we can draw a picture of the same thing. 2 yellow squares, and 3 red squares, and count 5. Yay! Then after that they get the problem 2+3=? and they answer 5. Yay!
The different common core math curriculum that they use at school (Every Day Math) has a box, with an arrow from the box to a bubble, with another box off to the side, where they want you to put 2 in the first box, 3 in the bubble, and 5 in the last box. To demonstrate something they call "add-to". But if you put the 3 in the first box and the 2 in the bubble, then it's wrong. And then they ask you how you knew to put the 3 in the bubble, and make you write a sentence. I have no idea how you're supposed to know to put the 3 in the bubble, my kid always gets that one wrong. Lol. My kid's teacher is really really nice, and I love her, and my kid loves her, but she can't do math to save her life.
Anyhow, there are two methods I know to combat the crappy curriculum they use for common core at school. 1) get a better curriculum at home and teach it to your kids after school and 2) get a copy of the same curriculum they use at school, including a teacher's guide if necessary, and sit down with your kid and take the time to understand what they are *trying* to teach.
In fact, I'll probably be getting a copy of the everyday math workbook next year to go through at home, because the little handouts they send home are just worthless.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
