Kumon Learning Centers - Worth the Investment?

I have not participated with the centers, but I love the Kumon work books. I looked at all the books on a kiosk when my daughter was about to enter kindergarten. Kumon had the most colorful books, which is what I was looking for to hold her interest.

Can you buy workbooks and do the work at home? We are reviewing kindergarten now, but this book is actually a Schoolastics book. There was a whole table of them at Costco. It is all too easy, but I think it is a good review before going into 1st grade. She completes about 25 pages per night.

Thanks for asking - I thought they were better than the reviews MP has given. Good insight.

As a former math teacher, I have seen several students go through Kumon and Sylvan programs. It was extremely rare to see that these investments improved anyone's understanding in math.(And the few occasions we saw improvement it had more to do with lucking out and getting a great teacher there, not necessarily the programs.) All Kumon instructors are trained in their methods and many are former or current teachers. But most are not MATH teachers. This makes a difference. From my observations they use a lot of repetition. This is boring. If your child already dislikes math, this will NOT improve their attitude. The methodology is different from the classroom. They often rely on "tricks" without the explanation. It causes confusion when the teacher tries to show "their" way. And kids may come out knowing arithmetic a little better, but math has become much higher level thinking. It's more problem solving and word problems, not merely churning out answers to simple math. It will be cheaper and probably better for your student if you invest in a qualified math tutor. One on one instruction by a trained educator or educator in training.

My dd has done Kumon math for one year and is way ahead of her classmates (just finished 3rd grade). I feel bad for the other kids who don't do it because the schools (at least here) are really bad at teaching basic math.

Really what you pay for is to have them force you and your kid to get their practice in. They do math packets every day...this is how they get good at it. I could do this on my own, but we'd probably let it slide. My only complaint is sometimes the center is a little crowded and they don't always review with her how to do some newer functions when she moves to new calculations (i.e. division)

I would talk with your center director about this.

my niece taught at Sylvan....so don't know if this applies to Kumon.

Soooo, here's her take on her time w/ Sylvan:

#1 verify & request a committed TOTAL class size. Make sure the instructor is not overloaded.
#2 make sure the class is age-appropriate. There were many, many nights when she had KG-12th grade, & it sucked. She felt it was detrimental to each & every child having to share her time. I agree.
#3 she found that private tutoring was cheaper for the parent/more $$ for her. With the help of her local principal, she quit Sylvan & began private tutoring...in-home for all families involved. One-on-one w/ the child & cheaper for the parent....a win-win for all involved!

If you are seeking just math tutoring, consider Mathnasium instead. It's a national chain of centers and they do ONLY math. And unlike Kumon, which sends home loads of worksheets the child must do outside the tutoring center, Mathnasium sends nothing home at all -- the child does the work right there with the tutors present to check the work and explain things on the spot. My daughter is in her fourth summer of Mathnasium and enjoys it. Be aware that Mathnasium is not totally private tutoring -- the student goes, does worksheets alongside other kids (but each child is working on his or her own thing) and the tutors circulate among the kids, checking and explaining. It is a much better use of time and your money than paying a tutor a bundle to sit there doing nothing while a child does worksheets; the tutors are always working with someone, yet always have time to explain things to each child.

The other thing we love about Mathnasium is that while they do ask you to set the times you'll be coming in each week, they are very flexible. We only use it in the summers, and our local Mathnasium is great about letting my child come in whenever it's convenient, even if it's not the times we specified. They understand that kids' summer schedules change from week to week as kids go to different camps and activities.

We have not done Kumon but know several families who have, and they say it is a ton of work at home -- mostly a worksheet factory that expects parents to oversee kids doing a lot of things in their own time.

The provide the worksheets. You and your kid do all of the work. No actual tutoring. Not worth it.

Its a lot of work on the parents to make sure they do the worksheets...mostly repetition so from my research works best in higher grades...i had put mine in K and the only thing helped was she started reading in a week but later it was boring and she refused to do the worksheets (repetition hence boring i guess) so i took her off...maybe will put her in math when she's in higher grades

I took one of my sons to Sylvan Learning Center and they did nothing but take my money. Their ads saying they will give you your money back is all smoke and mirrors. My son did not improve in school at all.

If the Kumon Learning center is the same as Sylvan, I'd not even bother to drive down there.

Good luck to you and yours.

I called 5 different centers in my area and ALL of the instructors had very broken English (Japanese, where it originated). I figured, If I could barely understand them, how in the world would my son understand their direction.

There is a newer program that I'm curious about. It's called Mathnasium. It's not supposed to be as boring. I believe it's a franchise like Kumon. They have a website with center locator at mathnasium.com.

I think it's overrated and sucks money from parents who think their kids are special.
My granddaghter spent a year in Kumon, she did great, but I think it was only generated by my DIL being over proud.
They will get you in your weak spot if you allow it.
Just my opinion.
My granddaughter is as smart as a whip, but we didnt need to pay Kumon to tell us that.

My kids did it for a couple of years. If they are willing to do it, I think it's worth it. However, it won't really teach math conceptually - it will teach doing problems by rote.

If your child will actually learn the conceptual part from school (a good teacher) and not be bored because they can do the problems they remember from Kumon, then it's really good. If they end up not listening in class because they think they already know it, that's another thing.

Dawn

We did Kumon when my kids were little and they still kvetch about it. When we drive by Kumon, even today, they start moaning (sigh).

It did not help them whatsoever.

The thing about Kumon (per their website) is that the centers are not really there to TEACH or even TUTOR. The key to Kumon is the repetitive practice and the way that the materials are organized so that students practice until a skill becomes rote then move on in very SMALL increments so that they are always able to do the work INDEPENDENTLY.

MOST of the work is done at home. They have pages to do each day corrected by the parent. At the center, they have their work checked off and do TIMED drills corrected by the instructor.

To ME, it's not worth the money to have someone correct my son's work. You can actually BUY Kumon workbooks (they don't have as many practice pages on each skill as might be available in the center, but as long as your child is progressing nicely, you won't need more than what's there) to use at home.

For things you want memorized and automatic (basic facts) it's worth buying the workbooks and having your child do a page a day. My son has the Kumon Summer Review and Prep book he's been doing this summer. It's one page of math one page of reading/spelling for each day with a chart to track his progress.

HTH
T.