Junior Kumon parents please contribute- really want your input.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I know forcing is your word selection. But, this choice of word is far too mild. I actual have a torture chamber at home for our kids and their lesson plans. They were tortured all the way to academic excellence and the national awards. I tried to get rid of this device but the kids keep coming back for more. I'm not sure what to do. They have chosen the path of masochism.

I have not had a conversation with their brains. I have no glue where their brains want them to be. I'm sure you know where their brains want to be. At least, you know where their brains should be; that is, right behind your own children. Perhaps a functional intracranial MRI will provide glues and targets of where I should position those hyperactive neuronal connections. I guess since we live in the D.C. area the WPSSI will reveal the answer. But, like everyone else he took that 3 years ago with a 99.9 percentile.

Do you also know where their bodies want to be? My 6 year-old swimmer is much faster than the 8 year-olds in the County. I'm not sure where his body wants him to be in terms of pure speed. His body provides me no feedback. The pediatrician says he is in the 94th and 98th percentile for height and weight respectively. There we go agaim, those damn 90 percentiles. Perhaps I'll turn up the torture device and force him to slow and throttle down. Better, yet starve the bloody protoplasm to get him down to where he should be (? 50th percentile). Then, he will transform or reprogram from parrot to slow poke fish and not be ahead of where his body would want him to be. If only I could slow down his brain to a station where his brain would want him to be. Sounds vaguely familiar, leave no child, body or brain behind. I mean leave no child, brain or body ahead except, of course, your own children.

Love this, thanks pp for writing this...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What on earth are you rabbiting on about? Is this supposed to be funny?

Anonymous wrote:

ahead.

I know forcing is your word selection. But, this choice of word is far too mild. I actual have a torture chamber at home for our kids and their lesson plans. They were tortured all the way to academic excellence and the national awards. I tried to get rid of this device but the kids keep coming back for more. I'm not sure what to do. They have chosen the path of masochism.

I have not had a conversation with their brains. I have no glue where their brains want them to be. I'm sure you know where their brains want to be. At least, you know where their brains should be; that is, right behind your own children. Perhaps a functional intracranial MRI will provide glues and targets of where I should position those hyperactive neuronal connections. I guess since we live in the D.C. area the WPSSI will reveal the answer. But, like everyone else he took that 3 years ago with a 99.9 percentile.

Do you also know where their bodies want to be? My 6 year-old swimmer is much faster than the 8 year-olds in the County. I'm not sure where his body wants him to be in terms of pure speed. His body provides me no feedback. The pediatrician says he is in the 94th and 98th percentile for height and weight respectively. There we go agaim, those damn 90 percentiles. he should be (? 50th percentile). Then, he will transform or reprogram from parrot to slow poke fish and not be ahead of where his body would want him to be. If only I could slow down his brain to a station where his brain would want him to be. Sounds vaguely familiar, leave no child, body or brain behind. I mean leave no child, brain or body ahead except, of course, your own children.

i think i 'know' this poster. s/he gets really fired up for every Korean/Asian stereotyping post.

[Anonymous]

As the mother of a high school student and sister of a kindergarten teacher I warn you that this advance instruction often leads to boredom in the classroom come kingergarten because many students will not be as advanced as your child. This begets a whole set of issues. Bored child, frustrated parents, beleaguered teacher.

What is this goal of this advance instruction? What do you hope to accomplish by this leg up? As I often ask, where's the fire? Many schools do not differentiate in math until the upper grades, including some of the most selective privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As the mother of a high school student and sister of a kindergarten teacher I warn you that this advance instruction often leads to boredom in the classroom come kingergarten because many students will not be as advanced as your child. This begets a whole set of issues. Bored child, frustrated parents, beleaguered teacher.

What is this goal of this advance instruction? What do you hope to accomplish by this leg up? As I often ask, where's the fire? Many schools do not differentiate in math until the upper grades, including some of the most selective privates.

simple: to prepare for AAP.

[Anonymous]

As the mother of a high school student and sister of a kindergarten teacher I warn you that this advance instruction often leads to boredom in the classroom come kingergarten because many students will not be as advanced as your child. This begets a whole set of issues. Bored child, frustrated parents, beleaguered teacher.

What is this goal of this advance instruction? What do you hope to accomplish by this leg up? As I often ask, where's the fire? Many schools do not differentiate in math until the upper grades, including some of the most selective privates.

Therefore, the brilliant solution you are proposing to avoid potential "boredom" in our stellar American elementary school systems is simply retard the academic and intellectual advancement of children to avoid "boredom" when they
enter the alluring ivy gates of our outstanding public and private elmentary and primary educational institutions in the D.C. area.

Now that we have yourexpert opinion as mother and sister of a kindergarten teacher. I wonder what a music, art or sports Coach would do with a 5-year-old advanced at the violin, lacrosse, soccer or swimming?

From your logic, this Coach would warn the parents that advance instruction often leads to boredom in the music classroom, pool or soccer field because many students will not be as advanced as your child...the problems this may beget for the child, Coach, music teacher are legion. Why advance. You would recommend restricting the child's instrument playing, time on the soccer field or swimming pool, time reading a book because of the "boredom" the child will certainly get being ahead of many other students.

Your solution is simply academic and intellectual retardation of the developing mind rather than stimulation, advancement and enrichment. This strategy will synchronise the child's progress to our wonderful and challenging elementary schools and teachers in the D.C. area.

Would you also recommend this solution for music and art teachers, lacrosse, tennis, soccer and swim coaches with young kids performing at much higher levels than their peers?

I appreciate your maternal instincts and philosphy regarding raising and educating children that are at a stage in life where their minds and bodies are so plastic and malleable (e.g., sponges) they take rapidly to all forms of stimulation and challenge. I am always struck by the children I visit in Africa and Europe speaking many languages (including English) before the age of 7 or 8. I rarely encounter this in the US and I would not discourage their exposure and learning of multiple languages simultaneously even if it means these kids will be far more advanced , linguistically,
than their American counterparts. The American standard is not de jure the gold standard. The D.C. area school
educational standard is not de jure the gold educational standard ... certainly not for my children. Is mathematics any different? Is reading any different? Is computer science any different? What are your recommendations for advanced 4 and 5-year-old swimmers, runners and musicians? if the wordadvanced disturbs you, it simply means these kids run and swim much, much faster than kids their own age. How should these kids avoid the boredom of running and swimming against snails?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not worried about DC learning to read naturally. We read a lot of books everyday. I really want to get an edge in math, I "play" math at home with the kids, general counting, etc. We screened at Kumon and they suggested reading first but I only want the math. Has anyone pursued only math for their toddler?

Please share experiences of Junior Kumon with your child. Thanks.

Wow, out of 49 posts only 5 or so posters actually shared experiences of Junior Kumon. Like the OP, I also am interested in knowing more about the experiences of parents who actually had their child attend Jr. Kumon. I don't care if you are for or against tutoring for children, if you have never enrolled your child in Kumon. So if anyone has anything specific to say about the program, I would love to know more.

[Anonymous]

Read between the lines. Junior Kumon for many children is a form of enrichment and advancement in certain domains of mathematics. It does not retard or hold back your child in order to synchronise their achievement and performance in mathematics to the D.C. area school standards. Some kids love the experience. Some kids hate the experience. Anything else you need? Try seaching the site for several threads on Kumon math if you are still wanting.

[Anonymous]

12:34 the goal of my post was to get OP and others to think through what they are doing. Why is that? A mother I know is dealing with this right now with her son, who got lots of enrichment, Kumon in fact, before starting school and is now bored out of his mind and is a challenge to the teacher and is disruptive in class. The parents have told me that did not think this through. Please know I am not opposed to Kumon or academic enrichment ahead of K, as you seem to have construed. It's clearly the right thing for many children. But parents have to be prepared to deal with the consequences, unintended or not. What's the harm in thinking them through?

As for the other things you mention, you know they are not going to have unintended consequences in a classroom! That's just silly! My child did soccer, piano, etc.

[Anonymous]

But what about the intended consequences in a music classroom or on the swim team. There are many kids bored by school. I doubt KUMON is the culprit here.

I listen to kids that are avid readers since the age of 4. Most find school unchallenging but many don't whine about boredom ... or at least have learned to challenge this boredom constructively.

Retarding the progress of children is not the solution. The solution is teaching those kids, who are always one or two steps ahead of others (including the teacher atimes), how to channel boredom while waiting for the teacher and her pupils to catch up. The answer is plainly not taking away swimming, running, math, computer science or avid reading habits because of the fear for future boredom.

[Anonymous]

PP sound like she owns/works for Kumon...

[Anonymous]

I wish I did. Sounds like a much better financial investment.

signed,

Toru

[Anonymous]

kumon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As the mother of a high school student and sister of a kindergarten teacher I warn you that this advance instruction often leads to boredom in the classroom come kingergarten because many students will not be as advanced as your child. This begets a whole set of issues. Bored child, frustrated parents, beleaguered teacher.

What is this goal of this advance instruction? What do you hope to accomplish by this leg up? As I often ask, where's the fire? Many schools do not differentiate in math until the upper grades, including some of the most selective privates.

I'm a NP who opened this thread because I'm thinking about signing up my 4 year old DS in Kumon. He's also at a play-based preschool, like the other PP and while I love the school, think I need to do more for DS before he goes into KG next year.

I just want to say that this line of argument drives me nuts! Why in the world is that a reason to not teach your child? You're worried about your kid 'knowing too much'??

I'm not the PP who keeps talking about sports, but would you use the same logic in sports? Would you not make your really good swimmer practice as much because you don't want her to be 'too advanced'?

The thinking that we should slow down our kids educational advancements so that they are not 'bored' in school is so disheartening to me.

FWIW, I'm not Asian, but I have a math/science background myself and want to encourage it for DS.

[Anonymous]

I'm a NP who opened this thread because I'm thinking about signing up my 4 year old DS in Kumon. He's also at a play-based preschool, like the other PP and while I love the school, think I need to do more for DS before he goes into KG next year.

I just want to say that this line of argument drives me nuts! Why in the world is that a reason to not teach your child? You're worried about your kid 'knowing too much'??

I'm not the PP who keeps talking about sports, but would you use the same logic in sports? Would you not make your really good swimmer practice as much because you don't want her to be 'too advanced'?

The thinking that we should slow down our kids educational advancements so that they are not 'bored' in school is so disheartening to me.

FWIW, I'm not Asian, but I have a math/science background myself and want to encourage it for DS.

Only voice making any sense. Do the math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm a NP who opened this thread because I'm thinking about signing up my 4 year old DS in Kumon. He's also at a play-based preschool, like the other PP and while I love the school, think I need to do more for DS before he goes into KG next year.

I just want to say that this line of argument drives me nuts! Why in the world is that a reason to not teach your child? You're worried about your kid 'knowing too much'??

I'm not the PP who keeps talking about sports, but would you use the same logic in sports? Would you not make your really good swimmer practice as much because you don't want her to be 'too advanced'?

The thinking that we should slow down our kids educational advancements so that they are not 'bored' in school is so disheartening to me.

FWIW, I'm not Asian, but I have a math/science background myself and want to encourage it for DS.

Only voice making any sense. Do the math.

LOL @ 'Do the math.'

I have a DD who LOVES gymnastics. She's actually got some decent talent and I encourage her to practice so she can sharpen her skills and get better!

If you have a kid who is interested in math (or reading, or science, or whatever), wouldn't you want to find ways to encourage/practice those skills also?

My DD might never be a world-class gymnast, but I still want to help her reach her potential. Same with academics. Holding a child back because you're worried they'll be 'bored' seems silly and a somewhat boring/sad way to raise kids.