Every Child an Achiever: A Parent's Guide to the Kumon Method

I have had my 7 year-old child enrolled in Kumon Math and reading now for about 6 months. All I can say is that he has improved by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the school year. I know by reading some of poor reviews of the book, you would think this program is a wash. Not so! To some of the parents who have a problem with the program, I for one would like to know how much playstation time you give your kids? You see, 80% of the children in my sons program are of either Asian or Indian decent. Their parents are busy taking those kids to the library and to programs like kumon. Those parents are not allowing their kids to become victims of the modern day video game generation. Our kids are watching too much Television and video related games. They are becoming lazy and losing the drive to excel in academics. Do you know what this tells me? It tells me that it is those children whose parents are taking them to libraries to read and to Kumon to master academics, are going to become our future Scientists, Doctors, and Engineers. I will not allow my children to fall into this modern day playstation/TV trap that is taking its toll on our youth. This country is losing its competitive edge, because other countries youth is out performing our children in Math and science. That is a fact. I suggest that parents in America take a good hard look at what is going on around us and change your childs habits, in order that they may lead a successful and prosperous life during adulthood. I earned success through hard work, which is exactly what we need to teach our own children. Education and work ethic = Power. I recommend the Kumon program to any parent whose child may need some extra reinforcement in order to stay on course academically.

I have two children both in the 5th grade enrolled in Kumon they have been going for about 7 months. They are showing slow improvement in their math skills. My daughters grades have improved from C to B. My son's grades have not improved yet, but he struggles with the math more than my daughter. Neither has moved to their grade level in math yet on the practice sheets. I believe by the end of the summer they will both be at least at grade level. I am looking forward to the day they are ahead of their grade on the practice sheets. I am going to continue because I can see that it is a good supplement to their math classes at school. The nay sayers speak as if this is the only math they are exposed to in their school years. The children go to school everyday and are exposed to the "thinking math". The work sheets help them to have their math facts down so they can understand and work the math in school more easily without struggling with the basics. One thing about this program, it does take discipline and dedication from the parents. One more thing, I did try tutors and they really didn't help that much except to point out to me that my children did not know their math facts well enough and this effected their test taking,it would take them to long to answer the test questions which led sometimes to incomplete tests. I have no illusions that my children will be math majors or engineers, all I want is for them to do as well as they can in math so that it doesn't drag down their grade point average or hurt them to much on their SATs in high school. I think the timing part of the program is good for test taking skills also.

My wife and I felt that our daughter was not challenged enough in school so we enrolled her in Kumon. After just a year, we were totally blown away. Her progress exceeded all our expectations. Yes, she was already a straight A student even with very minimal effort before Kumon, but algebra in second grade? However, that is only the appetizer. Her study habits and her self confidence has shot up the roof. We don?t have to tell her to go do her homework, she does it willingly and with great ease and speed that she has a lot of time left to do other things like her being captain of the soccer team, ice skating practice and her piano lessons. And yes she gets nine hours of sleep (except Friday night, her sleepover night with friends) and a lot of T.V. and computer time in between. Neither is she the nerdy type, like I said, she literally oozes with confidence, she?s quite popular in school.All her teachers admit that she is head and shoulders above her peers that she just runs circles around them both academically and socially. I read this book to understand what was going on and everything I read I see unfold right in front my very eyes. Now, I don?t know how profitable a franchise Kumon is. It seems to me that one of the reviewers of the book had a bitter experience. I have to admit though that if the reading program is the same for non-native English speakers, it may not help very much as a way to learn the language. As far as the book and our experience with the program is concerned, I give it five stars. Every parent should at least investigate if Kumon is right for their child.

I am a Kumon instructor and I recommend the book to my families. ... One drawback of the book is that it focuses on the math program, with little discussion of the reading program.

I read the book to better understand what my child would be learning if I enrolled him in a Kumon Math and Reading program. The book explained the methodology, history and theories very thoroughly and convincingly. Since my (now 2) children have been enrolled in Kumon, I can see that what was explained in the book has magically happened. This should be a must read for parents thinking about remedial or enrichment programs for their kids. It sure convinced me.