A mom at my daughter's school told me about Kumon which has programs for children as young as 3 (which is how old my daughter is) for reading and math. My husband thinks my daughter is advanced and that we should do everything to fully develop her potential, but I am not convinced that all this early "training" translates into long term scholastic success. Have any of you mom's heard anything good or bad or have personal experiences you can share?
Thanks!!
Great comments from everyone! I think my daughter seems "advanced" because we do all of the suggested activities with her already. She was speaking in full sentences by 1 1/2 because we always talked to her. At 3 she has extensive vocabulary because we read and talk about everything and we don't censor the big words. She asks us when she doesn't know what we mean - just today she asked me what defeat means! She can count and do phonics and all of the age appropriate things because we make learning a part of our every day. I didn't know if she needed more stimulation because she started sounding out the words and doing basic addition and subraction on her own. She is enrolled in preschool and goes nearly full time so she's learning about the social interaction aspect as well. I'm going to wait on this and put her in karate instead :)
I had the exact same question for my 3 year old! So thanks for asking the questions and really appreciate the answers too :).. My husband is also very much interested in starting Kumon at this age! Well I agree with most of you, its a little too early and I would rather have him enjoy playtime than do the math! Kids grow up all too fast anyways :).
As a former elementary school teacher - I say spend the money on books and outings - she will get more from experiences / trips to different places (these will help her comprehension later) than for learning to read more complicated words.
Read to her at home - alot - all the time, and talk to her about what you read - ask her to make predictions, make connections to other things she knows, how a character felt, etc.
Get as many experiences for her as possible - zoo, museum, riding on public transportation, farms, cities - and talk about everything you see. That will give her a basis to get a deeper understanding of what she reads.
Please do yourselves a favor and trust nature. All research shows that play is essential for learning in the early part of life, and in fact, research shows that structured formalized learning shouldn't even start until 6 or 7. Finland took our research, applied it, and is now killing us on terms of testing.
Play with your daughter, count cookies, have FUN and let her interests guide you as you explore the world. This is how kids learn best.
I personally am not a fan of Kumon for younger children. As Amanda pointed out, the playing field does seem to level out sooner than later.
The other reason I would encourage a family to wait is because of *how* the child's brain develops. When children are interested and asking questions about letters and numbers, we know their brains are ready to learn the information. There is a huge spectrum of time in which kids naturally manifest this interest. The child's brain is learning a great deal of things in its own time. Kindergarten steps in and introduces more information than a child would seek out on their own, and five is a perfect age to begin more of the direct instruction we see in public kindergarten.
Instead of Kumon and individualized instruction, consider a more peer-oriented environment for your daughter. A couple mornings of preschool a week would be a good place to start. For children your daughter's age, the social development piece is very important, it is a fundamental building block for kindergarten and elementary school. As a preschool teacher myself, I focus first on providing the support for children to master social skills like sharing and taking turns and being in the group; this helps to augment the more academic lessons and learning opportunities taking place throughout the day.
Mama's On Call had a great blog piece about the emerging trend toward academics at an ever-earlier age and the importance of free unstructured playtime in a child's life.
http://mamasoncall.com/2011/05/never-too-young-for-the-ra...
I will also say that from my experience with kids that when they are ready to learn information and showing interest, they do often pick things up more quickly than we would expect. I've also noticed that parents who stress academics at an earlier age seem to have more anxious kids. I think three years old is a bit too early to have to worry about making perfect letter and numbers for someone else's approval, or to have to do it again and again until it's correct. That would be a stressful job environment for an adult, too.:)
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I think it's great to want your child to develop her full potential... but at age 3, you can do that at home simply by reading to her, talking to her, answering questions, etc. I have no problems with Kumon -- in fact my best friend sends all three of her children (ages 6.5, 8 and 9.5). However, at 3 it's just not necessary in my opinion and probably won't have any major effect on her scholastic success. What will have an effect is her parents' involvement, and if you guys are already talking about Kumon - then you've got that covered!
Do NOT exercise that part of the brain at 3. You will actually be harming her in the long run. Until she is 5/6 reading and math should not even be a thought for them. Choose sensory motor activities to build the right brain which will strengthen the left later on. All movement, art and music should be persued for her. Leave Kumon alone. I have seen it happen many times with children I treat. They were exposed to reading too young and they do not have comprehension that comes naturally.
From what I've been reading lately, even children who test as "advanced" for their age tend to even out by 3rd grade.
I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with giving your daughter some extra time working on her skills, but I also don't think it helps that much.
IMO, let her be a kid - help her learn through her experiences and play...
Other than that, I don't know much about Kumon and long-term scholastic success after training starting at age 3...
Thinking your daughter is advanced does not mean that she is. Not meaning to sound critical, but it irks me when parents think their child is advanced and then all of a sudden they decide to start trying to teach them to read, signing them up for "enrichment classes", and whipping out flash cards. I've had the same questions about my daughter too, but as her 3 year old preschool teacher pointed out to me, even if a child is gifted, they still need to play. They still need to just be kids, and learn best through play and regular everyday experiences. As others have pointed out, there are plenty of other things you can be doing with your daughter that will help stimulate her mental powers without it being a chore. There is so much more to learning then just knowing reading and math. Enroll her in a preschool program with other kids her own age a few days a week and see how she likes it. If she shows any interest in reading, or learning how to read on her own, you can try teaching her from a book called "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons". But right now all you need to do are things like reading stories to her every day, taking her to places like a children's museum, the zoo, and outdoor concerts, baking and cooking together, playing games like Candyland and Memory, and going for walks in the woods.
At this age, Kumon may not have the long-term impact you are seeking. Before you start spending... go visit. Take a tour. Find out what their acceptance criteria is... and the tuition.
There are SO many things you can do to nurture cognitive development in preschool. Kumon "packages it" very well, but it's essentially literacy immersion!
My daughter is very gifted(testing shows it) and we saw it very early on when she was 2. However, play-learning is so important at a very young age and should be the main way of learning. They usually don't test for gifted until 1st grade and it is not based on what they know. That is acheivement testing. Gifted is how they think and figure things out. I spent most of my daughters early years reading to her and playing games. When she was 3, she took it upon herself to start reading to me and created her own games. I did sign her up for music classes because our family has always felt that it does develop the brain and brings serenity during hard times. By 4, we did stick her in Mandarin classes because her daddy is from China, and I'm not in the position to talk to her in Mandarin. Even those classes were all about play and music. She is now 7 and in a gifted school, so you don't have to push for future acheivement early. If your daughter is truly gifted, she will discover it. On a side note, she didn't get that trait from me! LOL
I think 3 is young for something as academic as Kumon. At this age, she would learn more and get more out of something play-based and fun.
Your daughter can learn reading and math in so many other ways. Read to her. Play games that have words and pictures together (like Zingo) so she can start matching the words to their images. Buy her a cash register and play store, asking her to count the money and make change. Count things you see in every day life (ex: you have five more carrots to eat and I have three more. How many carrots is that total?)
My son's preschool teachers really emphasize the importance of play. They are pretty opposed to worksheets and rote learning. There is so much time for that later. Let your daughter enjoy her preschool years and save the rigorous academics for later.
Happy Holidays!
K.
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