Kumon for early reading?

[Anonymous]

You'll find a lot of strong opinions against early reading on DCUM and in our area in general. You should really think hard about whether it's your child who wants to read early or if it's you who wants her to read early so you can tell people how smart she is. If she's really interested, go for it but you should know there will be people who judge you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're getting very defensive in this thread.

The person who is saying that it's fine to teach young children to read if they are ready to learn to read is me, and I am not OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe how many are taking this seriously. Of course not. Wtf?

Q: My daughter, who is almost 4, really wants to learn to play piano and spends hours and hours "playing" piano. Should I get her lessons?
A: No, of course not. Just keep providing an enriched environment with plenty of piano music, and she'll learn to play piano eventually on her own.

No one is suggesting the OP "just provide an enriched environment". They are suggesting that she just provide an enriched environment now, so that when she is ready to benefit from structured learning in Kindergarten she moves quickly and confidently.

Q: My daughter, who is almost 4, really wants to learn to play piano and spends hours and hours "playing" piano. Should I get her lessons?
A: No, of course not. Just keep providing an enriched environment with plenty of piano music. If she doesn't learn to play by herself now, she should wait until she gets lessons a few years from now.

At 3, a child is the age to start Suzuki lessons if she's interested in piano. In Suzuki method, the parent is very involved in the lessons and practicing at home. OP has already indicated that she has no desire to teach her daughter anything, so Suzuki method for piano wouldn't work for her. Nor would teaching her DD reading, or letter sounds as pre-reading, work for them, as a method of learning to read with lots of parent participation.

[Anonymous]

I did not read all the posts - I'm sure they are full of unhelpful DCUM bitchy attitudes. I did Kumon as a child in addition to working at a center in college. I believe in it 100%. I also have a 3.5 yr old who sounds a lot like your daughter. We are just starting Kumon now-
I took her to our local center and they said that they don't typically start until 4, but will start earlier depending on whether the child is academically and socially ready. My daughter did great socially (separated without a problem, followed directions, etc) and tested 2 levels ahead of the starting level. I'm very glad we are starting now!

[Anonymous]

Don't do it OP. Let her learn on her own time in the usual way. She i off to a great start - -seriously. At this point all yo can do is mess up a good thing by pushing it in the wrong way. Let it be.

The piano analog is totally off, btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't do it OP. Let her learn on her own time in the usual way. She i off to a great start - -seriously. At this point all yo can do is mess up a good thing by pushing it in the wrong way. Let it be.

The piano analog is totally off, btw.

The usual way is: somebody teaches you how to read.

[Anonymous]

Hi this is OP. I initially posted this in general parenting, and it got moved here, and I just found it!

I read through the responses - thank you for the advice, especially information on how Kumon works and whether it would be helpful. I don't have any exposure to the Kumon classes, so know nothing about how they run, but I've come across their workbooks at stores. From the responses, it sounds like it might not be a good fit for her.

To those saying I'm pressuring my daughter, I'm so NOT. She's the one who has been telling us for the past couple months that she wants to learn to read, and I haven't made any organized effort yet to do so. I tried for a couple days to help her sound out words in a book with simple words, but we both got frustrated (mostly me), and I didn't know how best to teach her, so haven't tried again since then.

Why am I interested in helping her learn to read? 1) Because she is telling me she wants to (but then again, she also tells me she wants to be a superhero, so I do take her statements of desire with a grain of salt). 2) Because if she had her way, she'd have me and my husband read her 20 books a day - and I don't mean short simple books, I mean long story books with dialogue. She begs me to read to her or tell her stories 20 times a day, and with an active 1 year old to take care of, I don't have the time to indulge her. I've made my own voice recordings of stories for her so she can sit and listen on repeat, and I also have gotten her audiobooks which she listens to as well, so I don't have to constantly read to her. I actually fantasize about the day when she can finally read on her own, so she can read as much as she wants without always needing me to do it for her. And 3) Because I believe she could probably easily learn it at her current age given the right guidance. Her mind works just like her dad's and her dad was reading well before kindergarten as well.

I wish I was a good enough teacher to do it myself, but I don't know if I am. And I struggle with patience with my very determined but willful daughter. Also my time and energy is limited. My husband mentioned one of his colleagues suggested Kumon, and we have a center nearby, so I thought I'd find more information about it here. I didn't expect to get such backlash for it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I wish I was a good enough teacher to do it myself, but I don't know if I am. And I struggle with patience with my very determined but willful daughter. Also my time and energy is limited. My husband mentioned one of his colleagues suggested Kumon, and we have a center nearby, so I thought I'd find more information about it here. I didn't expect to get such backlash for it!

The general belief on DCUM is:

1. No child less than kindergarten age is ready to learn to read (and many children of kindergarten age are also not ready to learn to read).
2. If a child less than kindergarten age were ready to learn to read, that child would teach itself.
3. The only reason anybody would want to teach a child of less than kindergarten age to learn to read is to brag and hothouse.

So yes, backlash.

Seriously, take a look at Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. It's funny-looking, and not all of the 100 lessons are easy, but you can break it up into very small bits, and the lessons are scripted, so if you don't trust your teaching skills, you can just follow the script. (My personal recommendation for a child who is not yet 4 is to skip the parts about writing letters, if that part is a struggle.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe how many are taking this seriously. Of course not. Wtf?

Q: My daughter, who is almost 4, really wants to learn to play piano and spends hours and hours "playing" piano. Should I get her lessons?
A: No, of course not. Just keep providing an enriched environment with plenty of piano music, and she'll learn to play piano eventually on her own.

No one is suggesting the OP "just provide an enriched environment". They are suggesting that she just provide an enriched environment now, so that when she is ready to benefit from structured learning in Kindergarten she moves quickly and confidently.

Q: My daughter, who is almost 4, really wants to learn to play piano and spends hours and hours "playing" piano. Should I get her lessons?
A: No, of course not. Just keep providing an enriched environment with plenty of piano music. If she doesn't learn to play by herself now, she should wait until she gets lessons a few years from now.

At 3, a child is the age to start Suzuki lessons if she's interested in piano. In Suzuki method, the parent is very involved in the lessons and practicing at home. OP has already indicated that she has no desire to teach her daughter anything, so Suzuki method for piano wouldn't work for her. Nor would teaching her DD reading, or letter sounds as pre-reading, work for them, as a method of learning to read with lots of parent participation.

Suzuki is to piano as Montessori is reading. Each is a developmentally appropriate approach, designed for preschoolers.

The piano equivalent for Kumon would be flashcards with individual notes, and endless scales and drills.

I wouldn't choose Suzuki or Montessori for my kid, but I think both are well established and well designed. Kumon is neither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I wish I was a good enough teacher to do it myself, but I don't know if I am. And I struggle with patience with my very determined but willful daughter. Also my time and energy is limited. My husband mentioned one of his colleagues suggested Kumon, and we have a center nearby, so I thought I'd find more information about it here. I didn't expect to get such backlash for it!

The general belief on DCUM is:

1. No child less than kindergarten age is ready to learn to read (and many children of kindergarten age are also not ready to learn to read).
2. If a child less than kindergarten age were ready to learn to read, that child would teach itself.
3. The only reason anybody would want to teach a child of less than kindergarten age to learn to read is to brag and hothouse.

So yes, backlash.

Seriously, take a look at Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. It's funny-looking, and not all of the 100 lessons are easy, but you can break it up into very small bits, and the lessons are scripted, so if you don't trust your teaching skills, you can just follow the script. (My personal recommendation for a child who is not yet 4 is to skip the parts about writing letters, if that part is a struggle.)

Thanks, I will look into the Teach Your Child To Read lessons and see if it's something we could do!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I wish I was a good enough teacher to do it myself, but I don't know if I am. And I struggle with patience with my very determined but willful daughter. Also my time and energy is limited. My husband mentioned one of his colleagues suggested Kumon, and we have a center nearby, so I thought I'd find more information about it here. I didn't expect to get such backlash for it!

The general belief on DCUM is:

1. No child less than kindergarten age is ready to learn to read (and many children of kindergarten age are also not ready to learn to read).
2. If a child less than kindergarten age were ready to learn to read, that child would teach itself.
3. The only reason anybody would want to teach a child of less than kindergarten age to learn to read is to brag and hothouse.

So yes, backlash.

Seriously, take a look at Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. It's funny-looking, and not all of the 100 lessons are easy, but you can break it up into very small bits, and the lessons are scripted, so if you don't trust your teaching skills, you can just follow the script. (My personal recommendation for a child who is not yet 4 is to skip the parts about writing letters, if that part is a struggle.)

or, OP, there are a lot of lazy parents who don't want to teach their kids and justify it with all kinds of non-sense. If your child is in that window to learn to read, teach them. It makes K. so much easier going in knowing the basics. A good parent teaches their kids and doesn't wait for someone else.

We did flash cards, basic step readers, videos, iPad apps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

or, OP, there are a lot of lazy parents who don't want to teach their kids and justify it with all kinds of non-sense. If your child is in that window to learn to read, teach them. It makes K. so much easier going in knowing the basics. A good parent teaches their kids and doesn't wait for someone else.

We did flash cards, basic step readers, videos, iPad apps.

This is just as silly as "you must not teach your child to read", in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

I think OP must have a lot of time on her hands to be able to think about taking a three year old to Kumon.

[Anonymous]

Will they take a 3 year old in Kumon?

[Anonymous]

Gosh you guys are really stuck on the 3 year old thing. She'll be 4 in a couple weeks, and her verbal/language/comprehension is very advanced compared to her peers.