Kumon Families - do you give a gift to your Kumon teachers?

[Anonymous]

This is our first year in Kumon, just started in October.

If so, what do you do?

[Anonymous]

No. Today was our last day until after the new year. We get very little personal help from the high schoolers (or the owner) who hand out the booklet twice a week.

There is no personal relationship.

If I was sending my kid for reading and my child always had the same person helping him/her, I could see the point of giving a token gift.

[Anonymous]

We didn't either.

[Anonymous]

What about Jr. Kumon teacher? DC started this September and is always with the same teacher in the Jr. Kumon room.

[Anonymous]

I think a note and little treat for your junior kumon teacher is very thoughtful. One of my kids stumbles a lot when learning new things and can take twice as long to complete a level. A little gift that acknowledges their patience and support goes a long way.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious--what types of "issues" in school are your children having that caused you to turn to Kumon? Or is literally just an eagerness for your child to "get ahead"? Is Kumon assisting with reading skills or just math? These are sincere questions--not snark. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious--what types of "issues" in school are your children having that caused you to turn to Kumon? Or is literally just an eagerness for your child to "get ahead"? Is Kumon assisting with reading skills or just math? These are sincere questions--not snark. Thanks.

Three months ago I enrolled my son who just turned 5 after attending a parent meeting at his daycare/preschool. I love his play-based preschool that provides loads of outside time. I asked his teacher if he was not interested in coloring or picking up a pencil this year if they would make him write or color anything. His teacher said she would only encourage him as all writing tasks would be optional. I don't want to switch him from his preschool so I thought Kumon would be a good balance. We read tons of books, play math games at home (chutes and ladders, card games like war, go fish, etc.) but his fine motor skills are terrible. I bought the Kumon workbooks and tried to do some of them, but I wanted something more structured. He has learned how to separate and go and sit with a teacher he doesn't know to work (Jr. Kumon students are seated with specific teacher apart from the other students). He has learned to focus and complete written work for 15 minutes once a day, every day. The elementary school we are going to send him to uses Everyday Math so we were planning on enrolling him eventually in Kumon, but decided he would benefit from starting early. We just signed him up for math, and he has learned a lot (he can now count and read numbers to 100 and write numbers to 50, but I see where he has really improved is in his fine motor skills and his ability to focus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious--what types of "issues" in school are your children having that caused you to turn to Kumon? Or is literally just an eagerness for your child to "get ahead"? Is Kumon assisting with reading skills or just math? These are sincere questions--not snark. Thanks.

Child was struggling A LOT with learning add/sub math facts. Younger sibling could answer 6+4 type of questions in a snap. Older child was hearing sibling answer while s/he was still counting on fingers. Child was saying "I'm just not good at math." and "I hate math." After trying to help child by giving math worksheets with a secret picture to color and other workbooks, and facing a lot of resistance, we turned to Kumon so that child would get these basic facts down and then feel successful when these topics were covered at school.

Child pretty much hates Kumon, and we have still had many times where child says "I hate math" and there have been tears and times where I just put aside the "timing" element and helped child work through 200 problems (I'm talking about 6+9 and 5+7, etc). HOWEVER, child is learning the facts and now that they started that section in school, child is seeing that she is actually faster/better than many of the kids in her class.... which is creating an impression (in her mind) that child IS good in math! So, it is paying off. I do not plan to continue for the long term. I've told child s/he needs to get through adding, subtracting and probably the start of multiplying (at least some of the basic tables, not advanced). Then she can quit. My goal is for child to get the basics so that she can make use of what they are trying to teach (in very curory way) at school.

If you don't have the basic computation skills, math is going to seem hard your entire life. I refuse to let my child be counting on his/her fingers in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious--what types of "issues" in school are your children having that caused you to turn to Kumon? Or is literally just an eagerness for your child to "get ahead"? Is Kumon assisting with reading skills or just math? These are sincere questions--not snark. Thanks.

Child was struggling A LOT with learning add/sub math facts. Younger sibling could answer 6+4 type of questions in a snap. Older child was hearing sibling answer while s/he was still counting on fingers. Child was saying "I'm just not good at math." and "I hate math." After trying to help child by giving math worksheets with a secret picture to color and other workbooks, and facing a lot of resistance, we turned to Kumon so that child would get these basic facts down and then feel successful when these topics were covered at school.

Child pretty much hates Kumon, and we have still had many times where child says "I hate math" and there have been tears and times where I just put aside the "timing" element and helped child work through 200 problems (I'm talking about 6+9 and 5+7, etc). HOWEVER, child is learning the facts and now that they started that section in school, child is seeing that she is actually faster/better than many of the kids in her class.... which is creating an impression (in her mind) that child IS good in math! So, it is paying off. I do not plan to continue for the long term. I've told child s/he needs to get through adding, subtracting and probably the start of multiplying (at least some of the basic tables, not advanced). Then she can quit. My goal is for child to get the basics so that she can make use of what they are trying to teach (in very curory way) at school.

If you don't have the basic computation skills, math is going to seem hard your entire life. I refuse to let my child be counting on his/her fingers in 9th grade.

Kudos to you, Kumon parent! I also am the parent to a child who said "I hate math! I hate school! School isn't for me. Even the younger kids are smarter than me." After two years my kid was 100% competent in math and reading thanks to Kumon. Our school doesn't have resource teachers so there was no extra help at school. Going to Kumon and sticking with it through the tears and hard work has totally paid off. We're three years into it now and even my child can say what a difference it has made. That's nice to hear as a parent.

[Anonymous]

How much does Kumon cost per month and when does someone know it is time for their child to stop going to Kumon?

[Anonymous]

We did Kumon for our daughter in 3rd grade for 8 months. It was perfect for what she needed. Everyday math curriculum used in many DC and Private schools is just lacking in exercises that teach addition and subtraction, multiplication and division facts. By 3rd grade we found she had no problem with the higher reasoning required, but math was taking so long because she was still doing the basic stuff counting on her fingers. After 8 months of everyday practice from Kumon, she was doing great. They pushed us to stay as their goal is to get the kids ahead. We did not do that, but found it helpful for what she needed. She loves math now and does very well.

And no, we gave no gift to staff. Did not occur to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much does Kumon cost per month and when does someone know it is time for their child to stop going to Kumon?

It is $120/mo. with a six month requirement and there is a registration/materials fee of about $125. It is PRICEY, but then I think about the fact that I don't pay tuition for school (we are in public school), so compared to paying $25K per year, it doesn't seem so bad. I figure it is worth it to stay for 6-12 mos. and get all the basics (if child isn't naturally inclined toward math) and then rely on school to teach the rest. Ideally, I'd like my child to be considered for the excellerated math program at school, but child will never qualify for that if s/he doesn't know the basic computation facts.

My philosophy is that I take public school for what it has to offer and I add to it where a child has needs. That's pretty cost effective.

You can stop Kumon anytime after the first 6 mos. Just depends on whether you have the money to continue or you want your child to move ahead of what is taught in school.

[Anonymous]

Oops... I need Kumon for spelling.


I should have said the "accelerated math program." I guess I was thinking about child "excelling" in math!

[Anonymous]

And do most children only do the math program but not the reading program? Thanks for asking all of my questions! (I'm most interested in a 3rd grader getting all those math facts down & some reading comprehension assistance.)

[Anonymous]

Math and reading are separate. So the cost is $120 per month for either one. If you do both, it is double ($240). Seems like preschoolers do reading; most of the elementary kids seem to be doing math.

I want to be very clear that in math, there isn't any "teaching" (except a few little tricks by the Kumon owner), but really, they don't "teach." Kumon is a program for practicing, practicing and practicing basic facts starting from things the kid already does with ease. The idea is that it progresses so slowly that the next step will be evident (i.e. after doing many X +2 problems, the child will figure out how to do X +3). This doesn't always work smoothly and that's when you as the parent have to step in and help the child with the problems (which might be 15+9 --- going over the next tens digit).

They provide a structured program, that IF you follow it religiously and do the work, your child will see improvement. You have to be willing to ensure that the work gets done every day. You have to check it everyday and make sure your child makes the corrections. It's a time commitment for parent and child.

Kids who do reading seem to meet with an assistant one-on-one and they take home books during the week. So there seems to be more "teaching" in the reading program.