Kumon - Discussion

[mummyloves]

Anyone sends your kids to Kumon chinese? Usu Kumon is known for their Maths prog… but heard someone saying that their Chinese is good too! ANy comments?

[Yerdua]

I saw a P5’s chinese kumon comprehension wksheet, OMG, it abt ancient chinese war period with lot of diff phrases but the child is still able to answer the qns… So its pretty impressive…

[shiningstar]

Hello Mummyloves,


I managed to find out some info from one of my relatives about kumon language program. She enrolled her son at around 4.5 YO and he completed the program when he was 9 YO last year. I flipped though some of the worksheets he did and find it pretty impressive too. He was reading stuff like Macbeth from Shakesphere and Classics like Pride and Prejudice!! i understand from the mother that this language program (i think applicable to both English and Chinese) is more for building reading habits and improving comprehension skills...but will take a while to see results like his son did.

Hope this information i've gathered helps

[mummyloves]

shiningstar:

Hello Mummyloves,


I managed to find out some info from one of my relatives about kumon language program. She enrolled her son at around 4.5 YO and he completed the program when he was 9 YO last year. I flipped though some of the worksheets he did and find it pretty impressive too. He was reading stuff like Macbeth from Shakesphere and Classics like Pride and Prejudice!! i understand from the mother that this language program (i think applicable to both English and Chinese) is more for building reading habits and improving comprehension skills...but will take a while to see results like his son did.

Hope this information i've gathered helps

Hi Shining star

Thanks so much for feedback! WIll go for the trial class to see if my son enjoys it.

ANyone whose kid is at Parkway Kumon or Katong mall Kumon? Which one is better? think the teachers play a v big part in the prog too...

any feedback?? TIA!

[shiningstar]

hmm…not sure about the 2 centres you mentioned but the one my relative sent her boy to was at Siglap centre. She mentioned that it was quite good n that is probably why her son manage to graduate from the kumon English program. Is this centre anywhere near the ones you mentioned at Katong or parkway? If so, you may check it out.

[miss_clean]

Hi everyone, I am still very new on this forum. I started my girl on Kumon when she was abt 5.5 yrs old, now she is eight and doing Pri 4 level English. The amazing thing about Kumon is that the kids are taught to be self-learners, and they can progress way beyond their school level. I have also started my son, the younger brother, last year. Both of them enjoy their lessons very much and are we are very happy with their progress. Just some input…

[jedamum]

miss_clean:

Hi everyone, I am still very new on this forum. I started my girl on Kumon when she was abt 5.5 yrs old, now she is eight and doing Pri 4 level English. The amazing thing about Kumon is that the kids are taught to be self-learners, and they can progress way beyond their school level. I have also started my son, the younger brother, last year. Both of them enjoy their lessons very much and are we are very happy with their progress. Just some input...

miss_clean,
which Kumon outlet did your kid attend? BBE or BG?

[foreverj]

shiningstar:

WOW...thank you guys!! U all r really fantastic parents...i thought i have been doing alot by getting my son to read books and recite numbers everyday but i didn't know there are still so many things to expose him to...i MUST go popular bookstore today to get all those Kumon workbooks and scissors and playdough and try those 'no need $ ideas' too :lol:


By the way, do i need to buy big pencils or crayons to encourage drawing and scrawling? Previously, i bought some triangular crayons but seems to be too small for his hands to grab....any suggestion what is the 'ideal length' i should get so that it is not too tedious to hold yet big enuf to grab?

And one last thing to Foreverj, since you are starting your child in Kumon for the trial, please share with me after the trial on the things that your dd goes through so that i can prepare mine to be ready for the next time round if there is any...
:celebrate:

Thank you guys once again for your wonderful ideas!!!

hi shining star, went for the diagnostic test (for math) yesterday. the lady in charge first talked to my dd, then checked how far she can count to. then she gave my dd a workbook (i think k2) to do. basically, its to see if she can write her name, do basic counting and write numbers etc. based on the assessment, she recommended us the level of kumon workbook to start my dd off.

for kumon, the kid really cannot hate worksheets. this is becos everyday there are 10pages of worksheets to do! if the child takes up 3 subjects (ie. english, math and chinese) then must do 30! lessons are twice a week so if the child goes to class say mon and thurs, he will go to class on monday and do his worksheets, then collect the homework for tues and wed. when he goes back on thurs, must submit hw for tues and wed, do worksheets for thurs and bring back hw for fri, sat, sun.

so we wil follow the above arrangment for the next two weeks and end of it wil have a parent's orientation to share our experience n to decide if we'll continue with the kumon classes.

so i think its true that u can start letting your child do the kumon workbooks at home first. its to train the child's fine motor skills so that when she's older wil be able to start the class at a higher level. the challenge is, how to make the child finish the ten pages daily without :stupid:

at the centre the kids i saw are all quietly doing their work. no chit-chatting etc. i also saw a 4 yr old arranging numbers 1 to 100 on a board with no assistance and doing it all on his own too!

[miss_clean]

Hi Jedamum, my kids attend the classes at Jurong West Ave 1. The teacher plays a very important part, she is a pretty good motivator.

[shiningstar]

Hi foreverj


Thanks for sharing your firsthand experience on the Kumon worksheets with your gal! Seems that its quite a challenge to do 10 sheets at one go. Your sharing gives me a good idea on how the program works - its more like a daily study kind of thing which involves quite a fair amount of parental support.

How much time does she take to work through the worksheets and does it involve a lot of writing? let me know more about the centre (environment and teachers involved) after the trial...who knows i can send my son to the same place too in the future if its not too far. Hope your gal is enjoying the work and not feeling frustrated at this stage. i will continue my work on the Kumon workbook for the time being :lol: