Kumon - Discussion

[AgDearie]

Hi Sleepy,


Not that I know of there is one. Every all the "mastery" courses, British Council, Kip McGrath, Lorna etc…, their lessons are basing on Primary XX.
Even Learning Lab, their intake also based on school level and they teach 25 to 30% higher standard than the school.

I also gone through many consideration, in case my son is not able to continue as the level goes beyond and he cannot cope. So far, I think Kumon is the one that does not restrict and allows to stretch the kid potential in that subject. What all rounded coverage are you looking for? English is basically, make up of comprehension, composition, vocabulary, grammar and oral. For Kumon, their oral already covered until at Level FII, which they usually encourage the child to listen to CD in the centre and at home, and they believed thru listening and reading, it will build up oral and skill of using the right grammar in speech. That level should be a secondary school level. As after Sec 4, there is no more oral in school. The major reading and writing will start from level GI onwards… In Kumon, they really have a lot of vocabulary the kids can pick up as they do their worksheets.

If you come across any of all rounded courses and does not restrict the child protential, please let us know. I also would like to consider…

[sleepy]

AgDearie:

So far, I think Kumon is the one that does not restrict and allows to stretch the kid potential in that subject. What all rounded coverage are you looking for?
English is basically, make up of comprehension, composition, vocabulary, grammar and oral.

I gather that higher levels format in Kumon English is still reading some passages & then do comprehension? Students indirectly learn grammar & vocab from those passages?

I don't see the composition component. Also indirectly? After reading lots of passages, can write better? But the same result can be achieved if the child reads lots of good books

AgDearie:

For Kumon, their oral already covered until at Level FII, which they usually encourage the child to listen to CD in the centre and at home, and they believed thru listening and reading, it will build up oral and skill of using the right grammar in speech.

Oral very hard to train. Especially the picture conversation part. I don't find listening to Kumon CDs useful in oral exam. Probably need separate speech lessons

AgDearie:

If you come across any of all rounded courses and does not restrict the child protential, please let us know. I also would like to consider.....

Yet to find another enrichment center that allows her to skip grades. Meantime, I let her practice on a variety of assessment books between 1 to 4 years above her school year to keep her stimulated. Sort of following Kumon's method by not confining the child to a specific age group

[AgDearie]

Hi Sleepy,


Well, oral is not difficult to train. Through a lot of reading, eventually they will speak well and Oral picks up. Thru oral and reading eventually they will write well and creativie will be thru how much exposure of reading does the child has. Picture conversation or composition is basing a lot of visualisation to score point. The pictures are dead, is how you make the pictures alive.

For Kumon their worksheet are extract from novels, science, biography etc, very wide content. Especially for those who does not read a lot of those books will be a great opportunity of exposure.

Just like my son he will never read Chinese Cindellera, he said it is a girl’s book. After he had done the extract of this book in the Kumon worksheet, he realised it was a great book to read. He borrowed the book from his cousin and finished the book within 2 days. At least he read a "proper" book compared to his usual Beast Quest or so. Isn’t this is like doing Secondary school’s Literature.

Do you realise that school does not teaches Grammar like during those days in the past? You can never depend on the school to teach Grammar.

[sleepy]

AgDearie:

Hi Sleepy,


Well, oral is not difficult to train. Through a lot of reading, eventually they will speak well and Oral picks up. Thru oral and reading eventually they will write well and creativie will be thru how much exposure of reading does the child has.

For Kumon their worksheet are extract from novels, science, biography etc, very wide content. Especially for those who does not read a lot of those books will be a great opportunity of exposure.

Do you realise that school does not teaches Grammar like during those days in the past? You can never depend on the school to teach Grammar.

Thanks for sharing

Glad to know I'm on the right track. She's already reading extensively, ranging from general knowledge to award winning novels. I guess there's no need to resume Kumon then. In a way, stopping Kumon free up her time for more reading. Her grammar is alright. She can manage grammar assessment books 4 years above her school level.

She attended Kumon during her preschool years, must give credit to Kumon for the foundation work

[chrisho]

My son who’s now in P4 started Kumo when he’s in P2 and now in level F. It’s taking him quite a fair bit of time daily to do the worksheets. Was thinking to quit but feel such a waste after so much effort being put in. Some told me it’s not worth the time while I feel it do help in his Maths some how or rather. Any suggestion?

[sleepy]

chrisho:

My son who's now in P4 started Kumo when he's in P2 and now in level F. It's taking him quite a fair bit of time daily to do the worksheets. Was thinking to quit but feel such a waste after so much effort being put in. Some told me it's not worth the time while I feel it do help in his Maths some how or rather. Any suggestion?

There's a thread on Kumon
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=995&start=130

Coincidentally, I withdrawn my girl at level F.

[goldenretriever]

I took my girl out of Kumon when I realised that she had too much homework from her school. It was really meaningless because she was rushing through Kumon worksheets, thus committed several mistakes. The centre would of course had to ask her to redo the same worksheets again.

[yqyq]

I enrolled my girl a year ago when she was K2 as she was considered by her K2 teacher as very average student and unable to read. Now she is at P1 and has been guaranteed ASHR awards in Bronze for both Maths & Eng next month.


Glad listen to my fren and sign her up to Kumon last year…

As for the worksheets…agreed with other parents of the kid workloads nowadays, thus after discussion w the Kumon principal, we decided to half the worksheet…so that my girl will feel more happier and enjoy her less stressful daily routines…

[JennyP]

yeah me too, i enrolled my son in jan 2009 for math in level 5A, now he is at level C and he might can achieved gold award in June ( still one month to go, not know can achieved ma but guaranteed in silver already :celebrate: ).

and then, i enrolled him to eng in basic from 7A, because he does not know how to read and write ABC, the childcare teacher very worry, so i let him start at April ( because cannot start both subject in same time).
first, very hard to let him to do the spelling, who knows he can read very well amonst all the kids in K2 and achieved bronze award too.

I want to thanks Kumon as my family not a english speaking family but my son have a very good eng foundation :celebrate:

[starlight88]

Hi JennyP


Your son is amazing. His results are fantastic. Could you share more on his learning journey; any difficulties or bottle neck along the way?

I enrolled my boy for Kumon Maths in Jul09 when he was coming to 4yrs. He started with level 7A. Currently, he is at the last stage of level 2A, meaning he is doing the addition up to 10. This is one of the topic that he needs alot of time to get started and when he does, he loses the momentum frequently (playing with eraser, pencil etc). We need to check on him on and off to ensure that he continues the worksheet. The same happened when he was doing addition up to 7. Compared to doing the same number in a set, he seems to resist doing a combination of numbers in one set. :?

I checked with the instructor if the worksheets could be reduced. She said to continue, else the same issue will surface when he starts level A.

Any idea I can help my boy on it?