What I regret about Kumon is not doing it for our second child. We enrolled our oldest child in Kumon a year before he started kindergarten (4 years, 9 months old). He was enrolled a little less than 2 years. He attended a play base preschool that did no academics. He learned how to sit and do pencil and paper tasks for 20 to 30 minutes everyday. He learned how to read beginner books after not knowing letters and sounds.

He went from not being able to write his name to writing simple sentences with proper letter formation. This is more important than it seems. Schools no longer teach penmanship in kindergarten and first grade- unless the teacher is close to retirement or your kid goes to Catholic school. It is important to learn to form letters top to bottom with correct spacing. Kumon's worksheets do that. I sat next to my kid with an eraser and watched to make sure he followed the arrows on the worksheets. He had a huge advantage in kindergarten because he could sit and focus while completing quality written work. He was pegged by the teacher as a bright kid. Finishing homework was a breeze.

We didn't sign up our younger one because we thought our older one was ignored bit in favor of the kids who were working on kindergarten tasks. We figured our younger one would catch up. Big mistake- his attitude toward school and homework is not the same. The teachers reactions toward him is different as well. They think of him as not as smart as his older brother even though we can see the younger brother has an amazing vocabulary, catches on very quickly, and can make great connections. He is about to start second grade and we signed him up for a Kumon math before summer. It has taken months for him to get used to the idea of daily schoolwork while our oldest readily does extra math and reading.

Is this similar to reading much higher than one's "grade level" or electronic, computing, and science labs higher than grade level?

What does grade level for 6 hours a day have to do with the other hours of the day? Does your grade level drive and define one's interests, passion, and pleasure?

Are any of you using kumon as a supplement? For example, if DC is entering the 4th grade, do you ask a 4th grade curriculum with material not yet encountered?

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, how much does it cost?

I want to say $200 month. Or maybe it's $100 per subject.

Is that once a week for 1 hour?

It's twice per week in the Kumon Center. It takes as long as your child takes to finish the work. It could be 20 minutes, or an hour and a half. The other five days, your child does daily homework (it's 10 pages and the amount of time depends on your child). In this area, the cost ranges from about $150 to $175/month PER subject.

Thanks, that's not bad at all. It would definitely save me some stress.

You have to force your kids to do the worksheets and grade them yourself. Then you have to drive your kid to the center twice a week, not for instruction but to sit at the center and do worksheets. It's incredibly boring for the kids. My kids did it for a while at the Falls Church center. They said Mrs. K. was mean and yelled at kids. One of my kids tell she now (years later) that it was helpful. The other has ADHD and LDs (which we did not know then) It was torture for her. I'd say it's good for structure, but expensive for what you actually get. Whether it's worth it depends on the kid. I ended up 50/50.

My experience has been completely different. I don't have to force my children to do the worksheets because we have emphasized, from the start, that school work comes first. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, is secondary to academic achievement and working hard in school. Although my husband and I correct the Kumon worksheets (because we want to closely track their progress), the owner of the Kumon center we use told us that we don't have to correct the worksheets because they will do it anyway. Btw, my children are at the very top of their classes, thanks to the practice, discipline and sense of responsibility that Kumon has introduced; and that we have reinforced at home.

Look, my husband and I consider ourselves to be our children's primary educators, and we spend a lot of time encouraging and supporting their academic growth. Our children excel because we have set the bar high. You get out of it what you put into it. No wonder immigrants come to this country and whip our asses in the classroom. So many of you American parents are unwilling to be inconvenienced for the sake of your children's education. Good luck with that!

I'm a second generation American of east asian descent and I totally understand what you mean here. But please tell me this is a bit of an exaggeration. The sad thing is, true we Asian might dominate the classroom, but we aren't always the ones who necessarily dominate the job/professional fields later on after decades of education and hard work.

I'm the PP you're referring to here. I'm not Asian. I'm also second generation, but my parents are Nigerian immigrants. I consider myself to be American because I was born and raised here, but I definitely embrace my Igbo heritage that values academic success and hard work. I don't think that there is anything wrong with that because it has served me and my siblings well. We are all professionals (2 physicians and one lawyer), and we're very happy with our lives.

I just don't understand why some people act as if parents' focusing on academic achievement is akin to child abuse. Many Americans don't seem to have this issue when it comes to their children participating in sports.

American here, and I completely agree!

I think you're wrong to characterize Americans as unwilling to help their children succeed academically. I'm a white American (5th generation so well established) and we do lots of enrichment and use Mathnasium. Meanwhile, our daughter's friend group is mostly second generation (African and European) and none of them do tutoring. The enrichment-focused segment of parents tends to be Nigerian, Asian, and affluent whites. So please, just stop bashing American culture.

Not true. Americans are into athletic (e.g., lacrosse, swimming, baseball, soccer, gymnastics) and recreational enrichment bigly!!!
Where do you live? Not our America.

What about opioid enrichment...hugely? Just look at the increase to the organ donor supply over the last few years!

Tutoring and enrichment activity are NOT limited to Nigerians and Asians. Other Americans spend billions of dollars on tutoring, enrichment, camps, athletics, clubs, NIKE this and that for their children. Americans are the global kings of tutoring, enrichment, and opioid abuse by a very long shot despite a 5% proportion of the global population.

What about opioid enrichment...hugely? Just look at the increase to the organ donor supply over the last few years!

Not true. Americans are into athletic (e.g., lacrosse, swimming, baseball, soccer, gymnastics) and recreational enrichment bigly!!!
Where do you live? Not our America.

I think you're wrong to characterize Americans as unwilling to help their children succeed academically. I'm a white American (5th generation so well established) and we do lots of enrichment and use Mathnasium. Meanwhile, our daughter's friend group is mostly second generation (African and European) and none of them do tutoring. The enrichment-focused segment of parents tends to be Nigerian, Asian, and affluent whites. So please, just stop bashing American culture.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, how much does it cost?

I want to say $200 month. Or maybe it's $100 per subject.

Is that once a week for 1 hour?

It's twice per week in the Kumon Center. It takes as long as your child takes to finish the work. It could be 20 minutes, or an hour and a half. The other five days, your child does daily homework (it's 10 pages and the amount of time depends on your child). In this area, the cost ranges from about $150 to $175/month PER subject.

Thanks, that's not bad at all. It would definitely save me some stress.

You have to force your kids to do the worksheets and grade them yourself. Then you have to drive your kid to the center twice a week, not for instruction but to sit at the center and do worksheets. It's incredibly boring for the kids. My kids did it for a while at the Falls Church center. They said Mrs. K. was mean and yelled at kids. One of my kids tell she now (years later) that it was helpful. The other has ADHD and LDs (which we did not know then) It was torture for her. I'd say it's good for structure, but expensive for what you actually get. Whether it's worth it depends on the kid. I ended up 50/50.

My experience has been completely different. I don't have to force my children to do the worksheets because we have emphasized, from the start, that school work comes first. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, is secondary to academic achievement and working hard in school. Although my husband and I correct the Kumon worksheets (because we want to closely track their progress), the owner of the Kumon center we use told us that we don't have to correct the worksheets because they will do it anyway. Btw, my children are at the very top of their classes, thanks to the practice, discipline and sense of responsibility that Kumon has introduced; and that we have reinforced at home.

Look, my husband and I consider ourselves to be our children's primary educators, and we spend a lot of time encouraging and supporting their academic growth. Our children excel because we have set the bar high. You get out of it what you put into it. No wonder immigrants come to this country and whip our asses in the classroom. So many of you American parents are unwilling to be inconvenienced for the sake of your children's education. Good luck with that!

I'm a second generation American of east asian descent and I totally understand what you mean here. But please tell me this is a bit of an exaggeration. The sad thing is, true we Asian might dominate the classroom, but we aren't always the ones who necessarily dominate the job/professional fields later on after decades of education and hard work.

I'm the PP you're referring to here. I'm not Asian. I'm also second generation, but my parents are Nigerian immigrants. I consider myself to be American because I was born and raised here, but I definitely embrace my Igbo heritage that values academic success and hard work. I don't think that there is anything wrong with that because it has served me and my siblings well. We are all professionals (2 physicians and one lawyer), and we're very happy with our lives.

I just don't understand why some people act as if parents' focusing on academic achievement is akin to child abuse. Many Americans don't seem to have this issue when it comes to their children participating in sports.

Again, I totally understand your priority but are you saying academics really take precedence over family and health? Because that was what I was trying to get at. My parents were most def tiger parents in the traditional sense (siblings and I are doctors and lawyers) but they also made sure my siblings and I were healthy first and foremost and knew about our family/heritage before attaining academic success.

Ok, I misunderstood your point. Family and health are the most important. When I referred to academic achievement as number one, that was only in reference to other activities related to school. I was merely trying to emphasize that academic success takes priority over other extracurricular activities in our family.