Kumon Learning Centers

[OnEaglesWings]

Does anyone know anything about or have any experience with the Kumon math and reading centers? Good? Bad? I'd like to hear your opinions.

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

[st_claire]

I've heard its a lot of repetition work. Which isn't necessarily bad, but imo not worth paying big bucks for. Save tutoring money for when they are in high school. What's a better value, $20/hour for someone to babysit them while they fill in timetables, or $20/hour for a grad student to discuss Plato with them?

[JFSinIL]

Friends drove their dd there a couple times a week and paid $$$ - both parents worked, and neither had the time or inclination to just sit down and work with the kid themselves. She brought her workbooks to our house once (for a sleepover) - it did look like basic busywork, not that hard at all for a home school parent to replicate. Kumon tailors the work to the needs of the kid - gee, we do that, too! Only no one pays us home school parents ;)

 

Nothing magic about Kumon.

[Colleen in NS]

Does anyone know anything about or have any experience with the Kumon math and reading centers? Good? Bad? I'd like to hear your opinions.

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

 

My husband owned a Kumon math and reading center for 7 years, and we pretty much agree with what the first two posters said. :) The math is meant to be supplemental, not complete. The reading....there are better ways to teach reading and other English skills. Cheaper, too. If you are a homeschooler, you can definitely teach the skills yourself and save yourself a bunch of money and time. Kumon isn't "bad," it's just that it's expensive, incomplete, and time consuming compared to what you can do at home.

[abbeyej]

I'm not truly disagreeing with the other posters -- especially about the English/reading side of things -- but there are a few things that I think Kumon really does "right" with regard to math practice, and those things can have "magical" results for some kids. And, no, it's not meant to be a complete, conceptual math program -- it's meant as calculation practice, and it does that very, very well.

 

First, they start where kids are, not where they "should" be. They expect a short but consistent amount of practice every single day. without exception. It's like a vitamin -- not difficult, not fun, and more beneficial over time than in a single burst. The give the kid manageable work -- stuff they can do easily already. When they can do that work in a given amount of time, they increase the challenge in microscopic ways. Make one tiny tweak to make the work harder *or* longer (more problems to do in the same amount of time), but no huge change from one thing to another. Just tiny incremental steps to absolute mastery (accurate and quick) within each level. A child is never given work they find overwhelming -- just work they *can* master. But because the practice is absolutely consistent, they progress (and often quickly).

 

Those are all lessons that I think a home schooling parent can easily take and apply to the work their child is doing in order to replicate what Kumon does right. For some parents, it's worth it to go to a center -- to have the practice sheets already made up (the old "your money or your time" decision) and to have the child answerable to someone other than the parent.

 

Ds participated in the Kumon Math Challenge a few years ago, though he did not attend a Kumon center, and I was definitely impressed by the level of achievement of the older children there who were involved in Kumon math. I'm sorry they haven't had the Math Challenge in recent years.

[OnEaglesWings]

Good thoughts. Thanks for sharing. I know nothing about Kumon except that there is a new center near our home and that my daughter is struggling in math and reading.

[OnEaglesWings]

My daughter went back to school this year, and it appears that I've already fallen into the "it's someone else's job" mentality! Thanks for the reminder that I am still capable of tutoring/teaching my child! I guess I wonder if maybe I missed something along the way which has caused her to struggle....

 

Kim

[OnEaglesWings]

Wow, that's interesting! I didn't think I'd get to talk to someone who had actually owned a Kumon Center. Thanks for replying, and your insights are very helpful. Reading is where she struggles the most, so maybe I'd better look into other remedial options. She CAN read, she just struggles with speed and fluency. She is far behind her 4th grade peers. Like I mentioned above to another post-er, sometimes I fear that it is the fact that I taught her to read that is causing her to struggle. Maybe I missed something critical. ??? I guess I wanted a "professional" to figure out what's holding her back. Kumon is probably not the right place for that.

 

Or, maybe she just needs to read, read, read!

 

Thanks

 

~Kim

[OnEaglesWings]

Thanks for your very thoughtful reply. It's very helpful. I had heard that the math results were impressive. While reading is my daughter's biggest struggle right now, there are some math concepts that she misses. Still, maybe the expense of Kumon is not the answer.

 

Again, I appreciate your reply.

 

~Kim

[Perry]

Kumon math was very helpful for my oldest daughter in elementary school. She had a terrible time learning her basic math facts, and it had turned into a battleground between the two of us. We did it for a few years and her computation improved enormously. I do think you can replicate it at home, but it is more complicated than just giving random worksheets.

 

If your daughter is having trouble with reading, I would stay far away from Kumon. I would highly recommend ABeCeDarian for any struggling reader. It's excellent, efficient, and affordable, and there is great support available at their yahoo group.

[Colleen in NS]

Wow, that's interesting! I didn't think I'd get to talk to someone who had actually owned a Kumon Center. Thanks for replying, and your insights are very helpful. Reading is where she struggles the most, so maybe I'd better look into other remedial options. She CAN read, she just struggles with speed and fluency. She is far behind her 4th grade peers. Like I mentioned above to another post-er, sometimes I fear that it is the fact that I taught her to read that is causing her to struggle. Maybe I missed something critical. ??? I guess I wanted a "professional" to figure out what's holding her back. Kumon is probably not the right place for that.

 

Or, maybe she just needs to read, read, read!

 

Thanks

 

~Kim

 

And a few years before dh owned that Kumon centre, we both worked in another one and I supervised the beginning readers!! :) It was just so NOT a good program in which to learn to read or to do "reading comprehension", IMNSHO! :) It was all worksheet oriented, snippets of stories on worksheets, and VERY boring for the kids. You are far better off to just come to these boards and ask for advice on specific problems your daughter is having. You'll get people here with years of experience in teaching reading, with various methods, who will help you think through the problem and find the solutions. Not people trying to sell you on their $100/month program (or however much Kumon reading costs these days). Maybe you did miss something critical or maybe you didn't, but let us boardies help you - it's free and far better! :)

 

I guess since you say she struggles with speed and fluency, I wonder if she knows the sounds of letters/letter combinations well enough. Did she have any kind of phonics program when she was younger? I use Writing Road to Reading (which some think is complicated, but there are easier variations of it out there) to teach the "phonograms" of English - then the child can take that knowledge and read words more easily. Then, it just does take practice to build up fluency.

 

If you want to ask other boardies, I suggest you start a separate thread to get more help for her. :) People can ask you questions to get you thinking about the best solution for your daughter.

 

hth

[Chris in VA]

I was going to work at one of those tutoring centers, until I found out my df was sending her daughter to one--at the cost of $10,000 for a year of tutoring. Well, I thought, ok, perhaps it's worth it. Then I applied, and had a good long talk with the "manager" on the phone, only to hear him say any idiot could do the tutoring--and they only paid their tutors $10 an hour.

So, I guess I'm now philosophically opposed.