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is Kumon really that good?

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    432

    I bought a few Kumon workbooks for my son , and he does a few pages every week and I have to say it has helped him and given him a lot of confidence in Math.

    At ESF the kids are taught mental math, so there isn't any working out and he gets the answer wrong by 10 or 100 because problems are written horizontally and not stacked, as we were taught, and he forgets to carry a number over.

    So when he does Kumon, I ask him to stack the numbers and add each column.

    Have also tried to teach him long division and multiplication which they no longer teach schools.

    Kumon also have word problem workbooks which they do in his school, and its good practice for him.

    We don't do it daily, just 1 or 2x a week.

    There are loads of workbooks and they are reasonable.

    http://www.shopinhk.com/search.php?t...archterm=kumon

    Last edited by ESFMum; 28-03-2011 at 07:03 AM.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Happy Valley
    Posts
    123

    We tried a variety of exercise books over the years and none of them kept the interest of our kids for very long.

    This year, I discovered Mathletics. Worth every penny and the kids look forward to getting online and doing their exercises and playing the games.

    HC

    shri likes this.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    HK
    Posts
    21

    Interesting thread about tutorial centres around Hong Kong (another form of big business here) and their relative worth.

    Am more interested in what the teacher nina had to say as it rather mirrored my views.

    My daughter (11) has only had Mandarin outside school (as , at the time there was none at school) now she learns this at school and it works better this way.

    It is funny to me that in Hong Kong, people think its absolutely normal for a junior school child to have extra lessons outside of attending school full-time (and a private fee-paying school,as is mostly the case) without any particular goal in mind.

    Many parents seems to think that their child will be more successful in life, academically (perhaps they want their child to succeed where they have failed?) if pushed from a very early age.

    Are these all so far below the level for their class in the subject taken that they require extra personal tutoring on a regular basis?

    Some of my friends, (Hong Kongers) who themselves, had this sort of upbringing (very little free play, time frequently scheduled and after-school activities highly organised this 'lesson' or that, throughout their school life) talk bitterly about it.
    I can understand it, if the child is falling well below the level expected for their age, but this must be a minority and there are other factors at play, which need addressing, in many cases.
    But the wheels of business will keep turning!


  4. #14

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Happy Valley, HK
    Posts
    11

    Hi - Are you sure that they do not teach long division and multiplication anymore in school? How then do they do big number sum? Using calculator?


  5. #15

    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    15

    Rachel is now in Year 5 and although she hasn't started long division yet. I think the teacher is building up to it. She definitely knows how to do both the horizontal and vertical calculation methods.

    SARAH

    ESFMum likes this.

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