Kumon - Discussion

[thankful]

Hi Shinningstar

No leh, i enrol with Kumon when my son is only 4yrs old. The instructor told me that it is fine to start young. With this trial campaign, i am thinking of enrolling my 2yrs+ daughter. It is quite good, to build up skills in the child just that it involves a lot a lot of parental support.

[foreverj]

hi shiningstar,

i also called about 3 or 4 kumon centres before cos i heard one parent enrol the dd when she was 2 yr 11 mth. unfortunately all the kumon centres near my house all say earliest age they take in is 4yrs old. could be the year they turn 4 yrs old la, meaning some can start at 3 plus. think 20mths is really too young.

anyway, wat u can do is buy those kumon workbooks (eg. cutting, pasting, folding, colouring etc) from popular and start doing with your child. at 20mths, their fine motor skills are not developed yet. so u need to start working on that first. parents r naturally the child's best and first teacher so try out these first to get the child ready to write by 4. then when u really start the kumon lessons, it wil be more value-for-money.

hope the above helps!

[shiningstar]

Hello foreverj,

Thanks for your great advice! So have you started sending your kid to Kumon yet or what do you think of the benefits it will bring to your child?

As for my son, i guess i will buy him some kumon workbooks like you suggested to start him with something first. By the way, you mentioned about fine motor skills. Can you advise me what is the ideal age to develop fine motor skills. I've tried getting my son to hold a pencil to scribble but he seems not comfortable with it and uses the pencil to poke on the paper in instead...help!!

[sunset_dae]

Fine motor skills can be developed from 6mth old.
U can try letting him to handle jumbo crayons or pencils.
Once they get the hang of writing, u can switch to using thinner ones.
My son is currently 25 mth old, i have been teaching him to write numbers since 22 mth using marker, and it works!

[foreverj]

Hello foreverj,

Thanks for your great advice! So have you started sending your kid to Kumon yet or what do you think of the benefits it will bring to your child?

As for my son, i guess i will buy him some kumon workbooks like you suggested to start him with something first. By the way, you mentioned about fine motor skills. Can you advise me what is the ideal age to develop fine motor skills. I've tried getting my son to hold a pencil to scribble but he seems not comfortable with it and uses the pencil to poke on the paper in instead...help!!

hi there, coincidentally i just saw the free kumon trial (for july) today n called them up to enquire. my dd is abt 3yr 4mth now and they said its possible. think the benefits of kumon is mainly to instil discipline and motivation to learn n practice - which is key to learning almost anything. based on experience of some parents, however not all children like worksheets so may not be suitable for all kids. since this is a free trial, i tot might as well let my dd try out. another math enrichmt i tot is worth trying is abacus since it develops n stimulates the brain. not so sure if kumon is able to achieve similar effect though.

as for fine motor skills, one kumon instructor (when i called many months back to enquire) actually was nice enough to share with me that actually for young children, should let them go to playground to play. activities like crawling thru tunnels, grabbing on poles to climb etc all help kids to gain strength in their small hands. in addition, u can let your son knead dough, use tweezers to play games etc. writng also involves hand-eye coordination, control of hand to write in the desired direction/line. so practice, practice, practice is key! a variety of activities is important but becos they r young, how to motivate them to practise can be a challenge sometimes

maybe sunset_dae can share your experience?

[sunset_dae]

Usually i will bring my son to library to arouse his interest in books. we will usually stay there for abt an hr.
Instead of flipping pages to the child, ask him to do it himself.

I will also bring him to outdoor playground e.g: GO GO BAMBINI to let him interact with other children.
Playground is an excellent place of training a child motor skills as it trains on the coordination of the eyes and hands.

U can also try giving yr child empty purse with lots of card holders and coin purse, give him cards to slot in to train his motor skills.

Give the child small piece of coloured paper to cut.
Buy a pair of scissor that is strictly for cutting paper only, wont cut yr hand (available in popular )
Train the kids to tell u the colour they want before u give it to them to cut.
A gd way to introduce the concept of colours to them and training their fine motor skills as using scissor to cut paper is really a tough job for them at their age!

Using a piece of paper and punch holes in a straight line
Give yr child a cotton string and ask him to thread it across the paper.

Anymore........

[foreverj]

Usually i will bring my son to library to arouse his interest in books. we will usually stay there for abt an hr.
Instead of flipping pages to the child, ask him to do it himself.

I will also bring him to outdoor playground e.g: GO GO BAMBINI to let him interact with other children.
Playground is an excellent place of training a child motor skills as it trains on the coordination of the eyes and hands.

U can also try giving yr child empty purse with lots of card holders and coin purse, give him cards to slot in to train his motor skills.

Give the child small piece of coloured paper to cut.
Buy a pair of scissor that is strictly for cutting paper only, wont cut yr hand (available in popular )
Train the kids to tell u the colour they want before u give it to them to cut.
A gd way to introduce the concept of colours to them and training their fine motor skills as using scissor to cut paper is really a tough job for them at their age!

Using a piece of paper and punch holes in a straight line
Give yr child a cotton string and ask him to thread it across the paper.

Anymore........

great ideas u've got there! some more dun need to spend money oh but i do find it can b very frustrating to use those kind of scissors that cannot cut properly. so i actually let my dd use real scissors but is a size thats small and just nice for her fingers. also got it from popular. can also get them to tear old newspaper. teach them the correct technique to tear.

kumon also has mazes workbooks which is fantastic for teaching the kid the concept of drawing lines without knocking on the walls. can start from the easiest maze for young children. use marker is good becos easier for them to control. just put a piece of transparency over the pg then u can re-use the page again next time.

[foreverj]

oh ya, remember to use the scissors only under supervision. at her current age, my dd can cut regular shapes like squares and rectangles independently already ie. can hold and control the paper entirely on her own now without me needing to help her to hold the paper or adjust her hand. paper with unusual shapes with curves et al stil not cut perfectly yet though. stil WIP...

[shiningstar]

WOW...thank you guys!! U all r really fantastic parents...i thought i have been doing alot by getting my son to read books and recite numbers everyday but i didn't know there are still so many things to expose him to...i MUST go popular bookstore today to get all those Kumon workbooks and scissors and playdough and try those 'no need $ ideas' too

By the way, do i need to buy big pencils or crayons to encourage drawing and scrawling? Previously, i bought some triangular crayons but seems to be too small for his hands to grab....any suggestion what is the 'ideal length' i should get so that it is not too tedious to hold yet big enuf to grab?

And one last thing to Foreverj, since you are starting your child in Kumon for the trial, please share with me after the trial on the things that your dd goes through so that i can prepare mine to be ready for the next time round if there is any...


Thank you guys once again for your wonderful ideas!!!

[foreverj]

WOW...thank you guys!! U all r really fantastic parents...i thought i have been doing alot by getting my son to read books and recite numbers everyday but i didn't know there are still so many things to expose him to...i MUST go popular bookstore today to get all those Kumon workbooks and scissors and playdough and try those 'no need $ ideas' too

By the way, do i need to buy big pencils or crayons to encourage drawing and scrawling? Previously, i bought some triangular crayons but seems to be too small for his hands to grab....any suggestion what is the 'ideal length' i should get so that it is not too tedious to hold yet big enuf to grab?

And one last thing to Foreverj, since you are starting your child in Kumon for the trial, please share with me after the trial on the things that your dd goes through so that i can prepare mine to be ready for the next time round if there is any...


Thank you guys once again for your wonderful ideas!!!

u r welcomed! m gg for a diagnostic test this friday to c at what level my dd is. the actual trial classes are starting next week. the lady told me altogther 4 classes each lasting 30min to 40min since they r so young. wil let u know how it goes.