Kumon Classes Post Reply

[Cupcakesw12]

Our daughter has just started nursery in Balham and I have noticed over the last few weeks that quite a few of her classmates are attending Kumon classes.

Now I know nothing about Kumon, so please could anyone who has experience of sending their children to these classes provide me with some insight.

Thank you.

[Cronut]

Hi,

My 5 year old niece attends the centre in Balham and my sister has found the classes to have really helped with her confidence and concentration. The classes last 20 minutes per subject and the 1-2-1 supervision/teaching has really supported her in areas where her school has not been able to do so. She attends straight after school. I think the cost is £50 per subject and they provide a free assessment to start with to see at what level your child is.

Hope that helps.

[Annabel (admin)]

Hi
Can I step in.

My daughter goes to the Balham one and it has helped an INCREDIBLE amount.

The biggest difference is she is not "scared" of maths anymore so when she attempts a question she thinks about the underlying logical problem and doesn't get into a tizz about her tables etc.

She did have issues with tables etc and the sheer repetition has really helped.

Can't recommend it enough.

A

[danijeanne]

I am really keen for my son to do it, as he has little confidence and very shy at school, but loves maths! I thought this could help him build more confidence BUT I read on another site that some people thought it hindered their learning in school as teaches them differently and this was from a. Teacher. S confused now! If a teacher has any feedback to give that would be fab!

Thanks
D

[nanny_kitty]

I think there is some confusion over teaching a child a different method, and teaching a child a different way to visualise or approach a problem.

I don't have any experience of Kumon but if they allow a child to approach a problem in a different way then I can't see it doing any harm. Sometimes problems in application arise from a lack of fundamentals like times tables. Learning these fundamentals alone builds confidence.

A good example would be the difference between teaching a child two completely different ways of writing out a division problem (two different methods) and bringing out a big bag of sweets and physically dividing them up with the help of the child (approach/visualisation).

I'm not a teacher but am Montessori qualified and help with homework everyday!

[Cupcakesw12]

Thank you so much everyone for your advice.

We are going to book in for the free assessment and probably give it a go for 1 month.

[schoolgatesmum]

I've heard great things about Kumon from friends whose children have done it however they were all school children. Are there really lots of people sending nursery aged children to Kumon? They are only three yrs old! I find it quite depressing

[LauraBrown]

I can see that this might have benefits for older children but if by nursery age, we mean 3 year olds, I find it hard to imagine that this is a particularly good idea. In my opinion (but obviously we all have different ones of those!), there is so little time, in the context of our children's full childhoods, for them to play and be little. Learning through play is everything at that age, following their interests and letting them explore and enjoy themselves. They'll learn proper maths and spelling all in good time and I don't see any advantage to putting them in a formal setting (with an initial test for goodness sake!) at that age. It's not a race! Maybe Kumon isn't too formal for 3 year olds so I'm v willing to be told I'm completely wrong on that