Christmas WS's!
What parent hasn’t heard of Kumon by now?
For those of you that simply don’t know, Kumon is now the world’s largest after-school reading and math enrichment program. The principal method used by Kumon is repetition and the concept that ‘little and often’ goes a long way to committing learned math and reading elements to long-term memory. That’s certainly a concept that K5 Learning agrees with.
Children generally attend sessions at a local Kumon centre twice per week in reading, math or both and provided with home-study materials that are usually timed. So let’s say your child is working on her math facts, she’ll be given a worksheet of addition and asked to complete the sheet completely correct within a certain time limit. Once completely correct, the child moves onto the next worksheet; if incorrect, he will have to complete it again – until he gets it right.
Kumon has a long track record of success. Their belief is that kids can be motivated to learn more as they gain a sense of accomplishment. An ambitious goal that has worked for countless kids – some of whose testimonials can be watched and read on the Kumon web site.
I was curious to find out how Kumon started and their website provides a timeline of Kumon’s history. Kumon dates back to the 1950s. Toru Kumon, a teacher and father of two sons, developed an instructional routine to help his oldest son do better in school. His method was so successful that his son could perform calculus by the sixth grade.
At K5 Learning, we fundamentally agree with Kumon’s assertions that building the basic foundation skills necessary (such as instant recollection of math facts or spelling) is crucial for later, more advanced learning. We also believe that ‘little and often’ is the best approach for early learning and, as such, K5 Learning can easily complement Kumon – giving children an new medium to work with that is interactive and multimedia - a medium that takes advantage of both the auditory and visual channels of working memory.
