Answering your most commonly asked questions about our decision to enroll the girls in Kumon.
What age did you start your kids in Kumon?
My 8 year old started at age 6, and my 5.5 year old started Kumon at age 5. (For reference, I have friends who started at age 3, but we decided to wait). Kumon has a reading program, but we are only enrolled in math. For us, the decision was mostly convenience. Our Kumon is located in the same center as the dance studio, and between school pick up and dance class, there was extra time in between. My parents often do the pick ups, and it was their suggestion to add Kumon as part of the pick-up duties as it was in the same plaza. Perhaps the grandparents needed an extra 20 minutes of down time (I wouldn’t blame them) or perhaps they just felt enrolling me in Kumon as a child was helpful and encouraged the same— I didn’t quite argue. I just put down my credit card and cried a little. (Just kidding, I have no memories of hating Kumon as a child. I loved doing worksheets, and apparently the children inherited that from me.)
Is there teaching in Kumon or mostly homework?
There is a helper when you attend the Kumon practice time at the Center with a low teacher-student ratio. But it is mostly self taught and guided through memorization and practice. That said, there seems to be enough instruction that I don’t have to help the kids much with their homework. I use the answer book to grade worksheets.
How often are the classes?
We are enrolled in a 2x weekly in-person class (20-30 minutes per subject). In the summer if my parents are not available for pick up, I only attend once a week because it is more disruptive to my work schedule to go twice a week. Otherwise, with the help of my parents doing pick up, they do attend the second session in the week. I do think the extra sessions help with additional instruction.
What’s in the blue Kumon bag?
The Kumon bags are grade-specific, and they get to trade bags when they graduate certain levels. Inside, they receive their homework (worksheets bundles), answer sheet (for parents to grade homework), and space store their pencils, erasers, and star reward charts.
Do your kids like it?
This feels like a loaded question. I will say when my 8 yo started (age 6), she enjoyed it and currently still enjoys it. Around 7 (in the middle), she started getting frustrated with some of the math worksheets. Overall, we aren’t spending more than 25 minutes a day (combined both school/Kumon), so I also think my older one’s frustration was the result of her sister was not being enrolled Kumon so it felt like big sis had ‘extra work’. That said, lil sis was already doing hand written versions of these worksheets because she wanted to “be like big sis.” That’s how we knew it was time to enroll little sis. Magically, upon enrolling little sis in Kumon, older sis loves Kumon and worksheets again. They now had a Kumon buddy.
At age 5, when my younger started, she was ecstatic (finally a big kid just like big sis). Currently, her packet sizes are fairly large (extra pages of worksheets) so she’s been getting tired and frustrated too. Big sis assures her once she ‘gets over this addition hump’, it will be good again. I presume it is the around the same time frame of when big sis was getting upset over Kumon, too.
That said, they are both mostly enjoying it when they do it together. But they are also worksheet loving gals. Yes, there are still days when it is a struggle to get them to finish a packet (usually during late afternoon when little sis is tired). But, on other days, they will race to do Kumon without me asking, and sometimes they’ll ask to do multiple packets in one day.
Kumon uses positive reinforcement rewards. For each homework packet they turn in, they get a sticker (or initial) on their reward chart. There are different rewards at different levels and “top prizes” if you save and accumulate your rewards. Big sis has enough to redeem for several prizes, but she is waiting for little sis to catch up so they can redeem together.
Overall, I’m not super strict with it. It’s probably not the best attitude to take when you’re shelling out $$$, but overall consistency and continual growth is more important than to me than ‘quick mastery’ so if you can’t call me a true “tiger mom” over my lackadaisical attitude, you said it not me. (Also: I’m really not — to my parents disappointment, but they weren’t either).
And while I wouldn’t necessarily say I bribe the kids, our Kumon is also very conveniently located in the same plaza as Cha for Tea (boba shop) and Yogurtland. It certainly is not a weekly post-Kumon treat, but it probably definitely happens more often than not.
In sum, they currently enjoy it (perks and all), but it’s not without an occasional off day.
Is Kumon worth it?
I think this depends on a lot of factors — convenience, cost, what you expect out of it, and how your child thinks/learns.
Convenience. If I had to drive out of my way to go, I wouldn’t do it. Because there are no set “hours” of instruction, it’s not the best way to catch up on work. I can usually get 20 minutes to finish up review on an existing agreement, follow up on emails or take a call, but I don’t have an hour of time to really dive into a new project. They leave when they finish their in-class assignment, and you’re expected to be there for pick up. I’ve been late once (ie. sitting at the cafe finishing a contract review) and there were tears.
Cost. If I didn’t have disposable income allocated to multiple extra-curriculars, I wouldn’t prioritize this as my top extracurricular. I’d spend that income on other activities that are harder to excel at in a school setting (ie. art, music, sports, writing). If I felt they needed additional support in one of the subjects, with limited income, I would divert said funds to a tutor instead. I’d determine if the topic was something they needed extra practice in or an actual tutor, then compare the cost of extra work sheets versus a tutor.
Learning Style. As said above, my girls really enjoy doing worksheets and workbooks. They love the feeling of accomplishment to complete a worksheet. For math, Kumon is more brute-force memorization than a breakdown of common core understanding. Because they enjoy doing worksheets — this works for their learning style. It’s simply practice practice practice. Sure, Kumon does somewhat structure the math problems in a way to “train your brain” to recall, but it is certainly not common core, and at the end of the day it is very simply put “more math problems; more better”. If that is not your child’s learning style, I would consider alternatives. For example, I heard Russian School of Math (RSM) focuses more on problem solving. I also heard they do some limited Socratic method teaching which would not work for my reserved girls.
Alternate Options. As there are a lot of variety in after-school programs that help students improve their math (and sometimes reading), so I would definitely recommend browsing all options. Kumon, RSM, and Mathnasium are all local options we have (though not available in all cities).
Overall expectation. What do I think I’m getting out of it? It’s a more-than-convenient drop off for my parents to have some quiet time or for me to catch up on emails, while the girls get extra practice in math. I do believe they’re both about 6-9 months ahead of the standard school grade level, and I like the confidence it instills in them to be slightly ahead of the class. To me, that’s also value.
How long will you continue doing Kumon?
I originally planned to quit after division, but I think we’ll see how higher grade level math goes (Geometry, Algebra and Calculus). Again, I’d weigh if it’s extra practice they need or a tutor. If the kids started to really despise it and fight me on going, I would certainly stop and try something else. I’m looking into RSM for problem solving as an alternative, but at this time, I don’t have a plan to stop for at least for 2 more years.
Referral Offer: Use my code (KS-alicesigh) when you enroll for $80 off the registration. Submit your referral code through the eEnrollment Form provided by the Kumon Instructor at your local participating Kumon.
Leave a comment below if there’s a question I forgot to answer. What type of educational extra curricular do you enroll your children in?
We did Kumon for a bit, but found a great college student to tutor & my kids really thrive with the 1:1 time. We stopped at the beginning of the school year to allow for more music & sports practices. My kids are 10 & 12 now and I feel like they may be aging out of Kumon... thoughts?