damiso1: Me I dont understand this NL spambot I cant for the life of me think of why my last post got hidden

Anyway I need the review to make an informed choice so reposting.


My egbons in this business (parenting).I need a sort of Kumon Review.Getting mixed reviews at the mo and just wanted to see if I could get a some other ones as I am just getting more confused. My daughter is 4 and I am thinking of enrolling her for Kumon (I hope this is not the word spambot is catching o) abeg NL filter or whatever its a worldwide study centre for kids .

My Sis In Law's Son attended Kumon for 3 years and she thinks it was an utter waste of money.She said the lady in her son's Kumon centre just kept recycling exercises and even when she told her that the boy needed to be challenged more there was still no improvement. Her advise was to get some Bond workbooks (we do those already for numbers, words and phonics) and continue teaching her myself. Then enrol her at KipMcGrath in Year 2 or 3 in prep for 11+.She thinks KipMcGrath is faar better even if more expensive.Another older friend echoed this same sentiments though her kids only went for a term.

A couple of other friends on the other hand gave really good reviews of Kumon.They said it helps with mental maths and cognitive reasoning. These people think that Kumon really helped their kids.And that we should give it a go.
Now am confused. So I need reviews from parents whose kids may have attended Kumon one time or the other.Thank you people.
Tgirl and RR I go vex if this one is hidden o.cos there is nothing offensive in this post

Hello Dami,

I think the most important thing to remember here is that there is no one-size-fits-all as far as kids and their education go. Even amongst siblings brought up with similar values in the same household, you'll find that they're as different as can be in terms of how they develop mentally and emotionally and this isn't exclusive to their education attainment either.

I've always found the popular adage that all finger on a person's hand aren't the same - same thing goes for your kids too - and believe me, I know what I'm talking about. I've never sent any of mine to Kumon. I've heard a lot about them too and I think their ethos regarding education (maths to be precise) is based on repetition. Now that might work for certain kids, and it might not for others.

I think the best thing to do is to keep your options as wide as possible with regards to the tutoring format you adopt and the sort of books you use in educating your little ones. Personally, I've always preferred to get a tutors come to my home to teach my kids. This way, they get the all-important 1-2-1 sessions tailor made to meet their specific needs AND the tutors use the books I feel are at the right level for my kids. So let's take maths for example. I've over the years accumulated a lot of maths text books for my kids ranging from:

~ The Nigerian Understanding Mathematics books 1 - 6 (I got that when I travelled home on hols). I love the structure of the book i.e Explanation, Examples, Practice Exercises and then Tests/Exam styled questions.

~ Bond Books (both hardback and online)

~ WHSmith Maths text books

~ Scholfied and Sims (Number reasoning, Multiplication, etc)

~ And a couple more. I even got some books on Quantitative aptitude. I'm just too lazy to go look up the titles on the bookshelf at the moment.

Now obviously, I didn't use all of these on any one child. Some of my kids were happy to jump in at the deep end, some did better going slow and steady, or starting from scratch, it all depends on your child.

Their school also offered homework clubs which I let them join for the interaction with their friends and just like CC's mentioned, children learn through play and a lot more when they don't even realise they're learning something. Argos, Bright Minds and Learning (Leapfrog?) Tree have got a host of educational toys to help with this too. You can also take a look at the BBC Children's link for more interactive learning sessions.

There are so many options out there that I could go on and on - but at the end of the day, the onus is on you to find what works best for your little angels. Having said that, your daughter sounds like she's developing fine to me.

Now relax a bit mami

Efemena_xy:

Hello Dami,

I think the most important thing to remember here is that there is no one-size-fits-all as far as kids and their education go. Even amongst siblings brought up with similar values in the same household, you'll find that they're as different as can be in terms of how they develop mentally and emotionally and this isn't exclusive to their education attainment either.

I've always found the popular adage that all finger on a person's hand aren't the same - same thing goes for your kids too - and believe me, I know what I'm talking about. I've never sent any of mine to Kumon. I've heard a lot about them too and I think their ethos regarding education (maths to be precise) is based on repetition. Now that might work for certain kids, and it might not for others.

I think the best thing to do is to keep your options as wide as possible with regards to the tutoring format you adopt and the sort of books you use in educating your little ones. Personally, I've always preferred to get a tutors come to my home to teach my kids. This way, they get the all-important 1-2-1 sessions tailor made to meet their specific needs AND the tutors use the books I feel are at the right level for my kids. So let's take maths for example. I've over the years accumulated a lot of maths text books for my kids ranging from:

~ The Nigerian Understanding Mathematics books 1 - 6 (I got that when I travelled home on hols). I love the structure of the book i.e Explanation, Examples, Practice Exercises and then Tests/Exam styled questions.

~ Bond Books (both hardback and online)

~ WHSmith Maths text books

~ Scholfied and Sims (Number reasoning, Multiplication, etc)

~ And a couple more. I even got some books on Quantitative aptitude. I'm just too lazy to go look up the titles on the bookshelf at the moment.

Now obviously, I didn't use all of these on any one child. Some of my kids were happy to jump in at the deep end, some did better going slow and steady, or starting from scratch, it all depends on your child.

Their school also offered homework clubs which I let them join for the interaction with their friends and just like CC's mentioned, children learn through play and a lot more when they don't even realise they're learning something. Argos, Bright Minds and Learning (Leapfrog?) Tree have got a host of educational toys to help with this too. You can also take a look at the BBC Children's link for more interactive learning sessions.

There are so many options out there that I could go on and on - but at the end of the day, the onus is on you to find what works best for your little angels. Having said that, your daughter sounds like she's developing fine to me.

Now relax a bit mami

Thank you Efe....Another insightful post.You and CC God bless una well well

We already use the Bond Workbooks and some other ones I was able to lay my hands on from WH Smith.As I mentioned in my response to CC I have also downloaded quite a good number of educational apps on the tablets and I can see that really really helped with word, phonics etc.She also has loads of leapfrog learning toys even the leap pad (their kiddie tablet) which her brother has helped her dunk in the toilet

Seems am tilting towards scrapping the kumon idea, my husband was not too keen anyway as he like you Efe prefers the 1 one 1 attention of home tutors though he thinks she is a bit too young for that. Bur as I kept going on and on he said ok o sebi na another extra activity for you what's my business .So yeah I think il keep doing what we are doing at the mo(one less helter skelter during the week anyway)And yes il calm down but Efe if you see those chinese kids in my daughter's class (there are quite alot of middle class chinese peeps in my area) you sef go fear .Those chinese people are slave drivers walahi, even in the Library dem fit intimidate you.But as you said all fingers are not equal.

Thank you again.