Kumon?

[alison]

Anyone here have kids who have done Kumon?

I did as a kid, and remember hating the homework. Hating all of it, honestly. But dd needs to get a grip on the basic math facts so that she’s got more confidence with the more difficult stuff she’s doing at school.

Any advice? Dd is on board. I think she knows she needs more practice than what she’s getting at school.

[MrsK]

I have a cousin who owns 2 kumon schools if you have specific questions you want me to pass on.

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[spotty_dog]

Depends on your philosophy I guess. Math facts are important, and memorization is good for the brain. But I am frankly a fan of the Common Core progression. It attempts to ensure the underlying concepts are solid first before moving on to fluency through recall. For third grade, the standard (by the end of the year) is to be fluent in addition and subtraction, but to understand multiplication via strategies.

Or, for an alternative to Kumon, my kids absolutely adore https://www.reflexmath.com/. We've done the free trial twice, and each time it's been enough to bump their fact recall noticeably. We might even spring for the $35/kid/year price tag soon, LOL. They do need a little beginning-of-the-year review...

[alison]

I have no philosophy. I'm going to go to the Kumon center for a presentation and see what they have to say. Dd doesn't mind homework and loves to do worksheets (who IS this child?!), so it might be a good fit. But I'll see.... I'll check out reflex math!

[spotty_dog]

Since Kumon is familiar to you that might make it a great fit! Doesn't hurt to learn more.

I know, I develop philosophical opinions about the silliest things. Elementary math education is one of my interests, so I have more opinions on that than the average bear. But I guess I just mean some people are more parts-to-whole, for example seeing the facts as the foundation for abstract learning. Others are more whole-to-parts, seeing the conceptual understanding as the key to fluent fact knowledge. If you're on one end of that spectrum and your kids' teachers are at another end, then the whole math thing could end up a little muddled. It's hard to screw up a kiddo who is engaged though, so there's really probably no wrong answer.

[ides]

We’ve done the workbooks at home. They are a good supplement. I know some who use use the center but usually give up after awhile due to the misery and just do the workbooks at home.

[alison]

I went to the center last night, and the place was hoppin. So many kids. I told dd about it, and she’s interested, so we’ll give it a try starting next week.

[Vishenka69]

DD does XtraMath at home as part of their homework. It seems like the online version of the worksheets. The program adjusts diffulty to the skill level.

Www.xtramath.org

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[alison]

So far, so good. Dd likes it!

[scrub-jay]

Yay! That’s awesome!

[alison]

Yay! That’s awesome!

In my dynamic with her, I need a third party involved.

[scrub-jay]

In my dynamic with her, I need a third party involved.

I’m really glad she likes it!

[alison]

Thought I’d post an update here. My dd9 went from struggling in math last year to scoring the highest on the placement test she took at the beginning of this school year. And I give Kumon all the credit. She has her math facts down. Finally. And that has given her all sorts of confidence to attack more difficult math problems that she needs to think through. And yes, it’s a lot of repetition without understanding. But ffs she can finally add and subtract and multiply without counting her fingers.