I love Kumon! The anti-struggle way to learn.make them struggle
The Kumon method, Step 1:
Students begin at a comfortable starting point—determined by our placement test—with work that can be easily completed. This way your child will master the basics and gain complete proficiency with each successive step. Kumon students develop better concentration and study habits because they don't get frustrated by our learning process.
Also, from Step 5:
Your child’s individualized program is never compromised by the needs of a group or a prescribed teaching agenda.
education professors: students must struggle
KUMON: "work that can be easily completed"
handing it to the student
PERFECT!
ReplyDeleteThis is EXACTLY the quote I need for my next post to Irvington Parents Forum.
I directly attribute my 8th grader's success this year in Algebra to the 2 1/2 years that she spent at Kumon.
ReplyDeleteI had sensed that something was amiss with the math curriculum when she was in 1st and 2nd grade. I spent the first half of her third grade year begging the teacher for additional practice and mastery of basic arithmetic. When she finally responded that she was doing what the other third grade teachers were doing (and therefore saw no need to change anything), we decided it was time to try Kumon.
M. gets math conceptually; she actually catches on quickly to the theory behind the math. However, what was missing was both the sequential progression of the arithemetic algorithms and repeated paper and pencil practice. It was an interesting mix of "math heavy" from a theoretical standpoint and "math lite" from a procedural fluency standpoint.
My husband and I recognized that we needed the external accountability that Kumon provided; if we were paying $88 per month, then we would make darn sure that M did the worksheets on a nightly basis.
boy, that's for sure
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd gotten Christopher through the hard year - year D, right? is that the long division year??
I should look back and see how much I did get him through
It was certainly worthwhile
I could use a KUMON lite, however.
ReplyDeleteIt is REALLY hard to keep a standard-issue American kid going through KUMON (especially that long division level!) -- and I would have kept him going through something less demanding, as I've done with VOCABULARY WORKSHOP & MEGWORDS.
What I really need is a systematic KUMON-like drill book with every single computation in a pre-algebra, algebra 1, and algebra 2 book.
The long division level was initially a bit painful, no doubt about that. Catherine makes this point so much more eloquently than I can, but if and when a school transfers its responsbility for mastering the basics to the parents, it creates the potential for a real struggle between the child and the parent.
ReplyDeleteI'm not talking about the homeschooling issue; I think the dynamics of that relationship are different from the outset. First, here we were, requiring our third grader to do something that her classmates weren't. Our standard line was that it wasn't negotiable; she would do Kumon, period.
I think she also had thoughts at first that somehow Kumon was remedial; we constantly assured her that this was absolutely not the case.
But you are so correct about how hard it is to keep a standard-issue American kid going through Kumon. M had a good math teacher in 6th grade, and by that time, her arithmetic foundation was strong enough that I felt safe in stopping. It would have been great to have continued, but by that time, there were so many other time constraints.
Actually, one of M's good friends still goes to Kumon. She happens to be Indian, and her parents just insist that she keep going. Not surprisingly, she also has done well in Algebra this year.
I continue to wave the Kumon banner loudly and proudly to anyone who will listen. Obviously, I would prefer, of course, that the elementary schools take responsbility for the teaching of arithmetic.
I might add that on more than one occasion this year, M. has said how much she likes working Algebra problems. She says that it's like solving a puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHere again, I think the discipline and habits that she acquired from Kumon provided her with a work ethic.
If you miss more than 3 on a Kumon worksheet, you have to redo the problems on that worksheet (and that's in addition to your nightly worksheet). This is a great incentive to do the problems correctly the first time, and to pay attention to detail and to check your work.
I too am a Kumon believer. The program has been around for 50 years and continues to grow because it really does teach to mastery. The gradual increases in difficulty are so subtle that the student almost doesn't realize that it is becoming more challenging each day. There is a science in the order of equations, the order of content, and number of repetitions. When a student doesn't achieve the accuracy or the time, they may repeat that particular worksheet until they do. You do not continue to progress until you achieve that formula of speed + accuracy = mastery. It's good stuff!
ReplyDeleteEnrolling my third grader in Kumon has been one of the best investments I've ever made.
ReplyDeleteHe complains that he knows no one at his school who attends Kumon and comments that he does not need to know "this stuff" because it isn't taught in class. Lately, he has been asking when he can quit.
He is having a bit of trouble with two-digit multiplication. I thought it would be easier since he seemed to have mastered his multiplication table, but that hasn't been the case. I see him becoming frustrated because of the time factor. He wants to get them all right, but that would require for him to slow down.
I have to constantly remind him that it isn't about speed. Speed will come in due time, but you have to be patient.
Speed + accuracy = mastery is a good formula!