After an initial assessment, my boy was advised to start with Level A (Horizontal Addition and Subtraction). Of course, he found it easy because he's already an incoming 5th grader this school year. Since he only goes to the center twice a week, his teachers decided to give him two instead of just one take-home worksheet a day. This way, he'll be able to speed up and reach higher levels faster. Now, after a two months, he's now doing Level C (Multiplication and Division). Division is kind of his waterloo and he requested his teachers to just give him one worksheet a day.
I believe that the Kumon nethod is not for every child. It takes effort and discipline to be able to complete each take-home task. And because I'm a staunch promoter of individual learning style, I am not advising other parents to enroll their kids in Kumon not unless the kid wholeheartedly decides that it's the right learning method for him/her. There are so many ways in which a child can learn to develop his/her skills and Kumon is just one of them. The key is to find what works best for the child.
Ever since, I found Rap to be an individual learner. Answering worksheets work perfectly for him and this is the reason why I make reviewers for him before each of his trimester exams in the first place. We did not enroll him in Kumon just so he'll be good in Math and that he'll have no problems getting an it degree like his dad. He's doing Kumon because he wants to.
Rap will still continue with his Kumon worksheets even during the school year. I'm glad that his teacher agreed that he'll go to the center only once a week. He's aiming to be part of the honor roll and he told me that he'll need to be at least in Level I (Factorization, Square Roots, Quadratic Equation, Pythagorean Theorem) for that. I know my boy so well. He'll be able to do that, for sure.
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hi mommy!
ReplyDeletefirst of all, i really love and enjoy reading your blogs. my eldest is an incoming grade 5 pupil too. he started kumon (math) when he was 3y/0 but i made him stop when his school work has become overwhelming for I guess myself, since the early levels required coaching. He is an honor student just like Rap. Congratulations to Rap and of course you.:) I have just one question, how will i know if my son is an individual learner? thank you so much and more power to you mommy. :D
Hi, Judy! Thanks for reading my post. I actually meant "independent" when I wrote "individual." I believe that our individual learning styles spring from our unique personalities. Since Rap is an only child, he is used to doing things by himself. He's actually shy to socialize and interact with other people. In school, he works best with individual projects and tasks. I guess, you just have to observe your child and take note of what works best for him.
ReplyDeleteHi! Congratulations to you and your son Rap for both being so dedicated in finding out what's best for his learning and education. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to share another Math learning method which is not exactly like Kumon. For those moms and kids who aren't really fond of answering worksheets. 'Cause like you said, each child has his/her own learning style and our 4th grader will feel like she's being punished if we made her answer worksheets as in Kumon. Hehehe.
We are into the A.L.O.H.A. Math Learning Program which stands for Alternative Learning on Higher Arithmetic. With ALOHA, we learn with the abacus first and integrate higher arithmetic with it. This helps us "visualize what we're computing" - and that pretty much works for me (from the time I started ALOHA until now) and also for our 4th grader. My sister loves ALOHA, how it's being taught, and their learning environment.
ALOHA has been part of my childhood Math memories. Haha. I studied at what is now St. Anthony of Padua C-something A-something M-something (SAPCAM) in Otis, Manila.
For more information about A.L.O.H.A. Mental Arithmetic in the Philippines, visit their website at http://www.alohama.com. =)
Glad to share!
Thanks for sharing about A.L.O.H.A. I've heard good things about the method. Actually, it's one of our choices. However, I didn't find one that is near our area.
ReplyDeleteI really admire you for being a hands on Mom sis...which at times I envy kasi di pa talaga ako makaresign to be a WAHM (hayzz guilty trip ng isang working mom)....
ReplyDeleteI am planning to enroll Icko din kasi napansin ko waterloo nya ang math...
That's true Tita. One thing about A.L.O.H.A is that it has very few centers. To us, it's a real inconvenience to travel an hour from Makati to Manila for it. Haha. But nice to hear that you found what works best for your son! :D
ReplyDeleteKumon Learning Method is incredible and it is very useful like ALOHA. Thanks for sharing about A.L.O.H.A. i appreciate you for this.
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