A Kumon Review: What Are the Pros and Cons of Kumon Math?
Many parents are concerned about their children’s math learning, some because their child is falling behind and some because they want their child’s math knowledge to be stretched. The Kumon Math program, is a natural choice for many parents, as it offers a program where students of all abilities can progress at their own pace. Read this Kumon review to find out the pros and cons of this popular math program.
The Pros
1) It is more than 50 years old
The Kumon Math program is an established system which has improved the math skills millions of children worldwide.
2) Students are given daily worksheets
As well as studying at the Kumon center once or twice a week, students are given homework for each day they are not at the center. Practicing math skills daily is a sure-fire way to becoming better and more confident at math.
3) It is an individualized learning program
Students are given work based on their ability, not their age and their progress through the program is based on how quickly and accurately they complete their work.
4) It builds independent learning skills
Students are encouraged to study the examples themselves in order to work out how to tackle new work. This is an excellent skill for students to develop which will help them in their other school subjects and throughout life.
5) Excellent medium to long-term results
Most students who remain on the Kumon Math program for at least 2 years will have developed fast, accurate and confident math skills as a result of the daily practice.
6) It is cheaper than a private tutor
The Kumon Math program is about half the price of a private tutor, furthermore, all materials are provided in the monthly fee.
The Cons
1) It is more expensive than online math programs
The Kumon Math program is around 3 times the price of online math programs, many of which offer the same benefits of Kumon.
2) The instructors aren’t teachers
The franchisees are men and women with various employment and academic backgrounds who are then trained in the Kumon method. Very few are qualified math teachers.
3) Students find the work boring and repetitive
In the program, topics are repeated until the student has reached mastery. This repetition carried out and the daily practice can be difficult for children who are used to the variety of math work offered at school.
4) It doesn’t cover the whole math curriculum
The program focuses on arithmetic, number manipulation and algebra, which makes up only a third of the math curriculum. Students won’t practice (much) geometry or any statistics in the Kumon program.
5) The implementation of the program can differ from franchise to franchise
Every franchise uses the same program, but some centers will be more strict in enforcing accuracy and speed criteria and in how much they will teach a student.
6) It uses it’s own methods to teach math concepts
In general, Kumon uses traditional methods to teach arithmetic and number manipulation, whereas most schools have developed varied modern methods to present math topics.
