is there any training to help kids get into elite school program?

[nana053]

Originally Posted by chicagojlo

It's not a complaint about Kumon as such - they may do an excellent job of teaching your child reading and math. But if it all undermines everything their regular school teacher is trying to do then you've not only wasted your money and their time, they are going to be even more confused than before.

Unless their teacher feels they need extra help you are wasting your money.

This is not really true if the method is sound and the child learns the math he is supposed to learn. Math is math regardless of the method by which it is taught. If you are teaching real mathematics for understanding, then it will not confuse a child to be taught differently than the school system's method.

I am not sure how one can *undermine* what the teacher is trying to do with Kumon or Singapore math.

[chicagojlo]

Imagine how hard it is to be trying to teach a class of first graders how to do something and one kid pipes up with 'that's not how I learnt to do it'. The way they teach math today is a carefully planned out process and disturbing it doesn't help the child, it just confuses them.

If your child isn't struggling in school your money would be better spent in a 529 plan for college.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by chicagojlo

Imagine how hard it is to be trying to teach a class of first graders how to do something and one kid pipes up with 'that's not how I learnt to do it'. The way they teach math today is a carefully planned out process and disturbing it doesn't help the child, it just confuses them.

If your child isn't struggling in school your money would be better spent in a 529 plan for college.

Seriously any teacher who is worth their salt should be able to handle this. *This is a different way of doing it, but yours is ok too.*

My son at 6 learned about negative numbers in a book where he saw the number line. In 1st grade they were writing addition facts to 10. When it was his turn he wrote *-2 + 12 = 10* The teacher looked at it and said, that's correct, but we haven't learned about negative numbers yet, so the other kids may not understand that. I would have been really pissed if she told him that was *wrong.*

[LisaMc46]

Send him into the testing site with a bribe?

[NCN]

Start reading to your child at birth.

I used to tell the parents of preschoolers this, "Spend enjoyable time reading to your child now or spend flustrating time helping them with their homework when they are older."

My children needed very little help with their homework. My husband had to help them with math, but they were able to do their own homework in other subjects without parental help.

There are books written about what a child should know when. I never had to read them, but I have heard other parents talking about them. My daughter-in-law is a preschool teacher and studies books like these to help her prepare for class.

As a librarian, I experienced many parents teaching their children by picking out the books they read. I didn't say anything because it is my belief that when God gives that parent to the child, he has picked out the best parent for the child. But as a librarian, I have seen too many parents turn children off to learning. Preschool learning should be fun and reading material should be the choice of the person reading the book in my opinion. But it takes all kinds of parents.

My children were interested in almost everything and I encouraged that interest. I sometimes limited the number of "treasures" brought home after a walk in the neighborhood. We could have had a whole yard full of animals if we had not limited them to one per child too.