Does you child go to Kumon while at private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir parent here and yes, my child is doing Kumon. Beauvoir's math program is above average but the kids are above average too and they should be doing more.

WHY? It must be bc you know Beauvoir's math program is notoriously weak and you are trying to make up for it.

Or that PP has high standards for math programs and feels enrichment may be good for her kids.

[Anonymous]

Another Beauvoir family here with a child in kumon. We have found that kumon, through all the repetition, really hones math facts skills so they become second nature to the child. I know there are quite a few other kids at Beauvoir that do kumon or receive tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Know of parents too at expensive private who send their kids because 3rd grade they don't know their math facts. We left that school a few years back for another private - not one of the elites, but great fit for our DC. Our DC knows math facts cold in 2nd grade. Personally, I think there is a window to learn it before it becomes more mindless.

Also - I hear the same issue with MoCo's "accelerated" math program. Kids in accelerated math in middle school and don't know math facts.

[Anonymous]

My children attended an MCPS elementary school in the BCC cluster and were always in the most accelerated math track. When they reached middle school and moved to a very selective DC independent school they were initially a little bored in math, but the curriculum became much more challenging and interesting once they entered the upper school. They never did Kumon or any other tutoring. No math camps, no Johns Hopkins programs. Just regular old school. The two oldest, who have taken the SATs, had math scores of 780 and 760 respectively.

FWIW, our experience in MCPS was, as a PP noted, devoid of any drilling in math facts. In fact, when our oldest, who is now completing his second year of college, was in 1st-grade, his teacher told us very bluntly that it was our responsibility to teach him basic facts. I appreciated her honesty and got some flash cards -- at Bruce Variety, not even a specialty store or Child's Play! We used the same flash cards for the second and third kids, then gave them to neighbors with younger children. (This was, BTW, the same way that I remember learning math facts when I was in elementary school in the early '70s).

Really, if all that Kumon offers is drilling in basic facts, you can do it yourself. Even if your life is simply too crazy busy, busy, busy, you can hire a nice middle school or high school kid from your neighborhood to run drills with your child. Use little rewards like Japanese erasers or Silly Banz for your child and offer to pay the teen $10/hour. Believe me, you will have young teens beating a path to your door and your child will learn his/her math facts very quickly.

[Anonymous]

Quizlet has tons of flashcard sets (free) and apps for various tablets/mobile devices.

[Anonymous]

Hahaha PP. While there are a handful of stereotypical skinny women in yoga pants at Beauvoir, most of us working moms are dashing out with our hair tied up and in not so fashionable polyester suits.

To answer your questions, I started Kumon because my child loves Math. I'm not hardcore about it though. It's a Saturday thing on and off. I really don't want to push her. Am I concerned that Beauvoir is not intense enough in Math?---absolutely--well at least for my child. Is it stupid to be paying a lot of money for private school and side classes?--my father would say yes, but I honestly cannot fathom sending my child to our DCPS inbounds school which scores a magnificent 5/10 on greatschools.org, plus unlike my parents, I can afford private school tuition for my child.

On the other hand, my child is not that athletic and has learned tremendously from the school's PE teachers. I personally know many parents that dedicate a lot of weekend time and even weekday time after school on sports, beyond what goes on in school. I think my supplementing school Math is analogous to that.

I think this is less of a Beauvoir issue and more of an issue regarding Western-oriented American cultural values and expectations. I'm a second generation Asian American and my parents and I are scientists. Science and Math is very important in our culture. I value Math and know my cousins's children back in the motherland will move on to Calculus by the time they are 14 as opposed to 18 (which is optional at best) here.

[Anonymous]

My children attend a Catholic elementary school that uses Everyday Math. We are huge Kumon fans.

[Anonymous]

Will someone please explain why the hell anyone would pay to send their kid to Kumon to get drilled in basic math facts? Is it really that difficult for parents to handle this themselves?

[Anonymous]

How much does Kumon cost??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will someone please explain why the hell anyone would pay to send their kid to Kumon to get drilled in basic math facts? Is it really that difficult for parents to handle this themselves?

Can "handle it" just fine. So can my kids. They and I just prefer not to spend our time together on it. We work together much better and more happily on reading and analysis subjects, but math together, especially drills, makes us all cranky. So we essentially outsource it and we're all happy.

Will someone please explain why the hell PP cares why anyone would pay to send their kid to Kumon to get drilled in basic math facts? Is it really that difficult for her/him to handle that people choose to spend their money, and their time with their kids, in different ways?

[Anonymous]

I am the 11:30 poster. Just to clarify, I previously work at a Sylvan Tutoring Center which I assume is very similar to Kumon. While the vast majority of students did make considerable progress, I almost felt guilty working there...I really wanted to take the parents aside and tell them they could save themselves tons of $$$ by loading up on workbooks and doing the drills themselves. The only reason I can see for spending money to send a child to one of these places if if it's a very high level of math that the parent doesn't feel comfortable teaching, or if the parent and child truly clash. As far as preferring to spend the time with your child on other things... Well, you could probably cover the same amount of material that they would learn at Kumon just in the amount of time it would take you to transport your child to and from the center, thereby leaving you the time to do other, more fun activities with your child.

[Anonymous]

To the Beauvoir Kumon families - what grade are your children in? I'm wondering what is the best grade to do Kumon - 2nd? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

You also don't need to spend a heck of a lot of time on this -- 10 minutes a day is all that is required, not an hour. C'mon, use your imagination, you can make 10 minutes fun! Think of Tom Sawyer -- he made painting that fence sound like a whole lotta fun.

[Anonymous]

4 year old at home (no formal pre-K) started Kumon math exactly 3 years ago. He will turn 7 in a week and is finishing Grade 1. He is now working with fractions (adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying) and will move on to decimals this summer. Best time for this 20-min/day drill is early to build the math foundation, for good, prior to leaving elementary school.

Of course, what he is now doing in school mathematics in Grade 1 has absolutely no correlation with his present knowledge and comfort level with basic mathematical principles and concepts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4 year old at home (no formal pre-K) started Kumon math exactly 3 years ago. He will turn 7 in a week and is finishing Grade 1. He is now working with fractions (adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying) and will move on to decimals this summer. Best time for this 20-min/day drill is early to build the math foundation, for good, prior to leaving elementary school.

Of course, what he is now doing in school mathematics in Grade 1 has absolutely no correlation with his present knowledge and comfort level with basic mathematical principles and concepts.

Buy a math homeschooling curriculum, start when your kid's young, spend 20 min. 3x a week doing this, and you too can have a kid who excels in math. Really not too hard or time consuming, and can be done on the cheap.