Anyone know anything about Kumon?

My two have friends who do it and are keen to join in.... but I don't know if it's any good? They are really excited about it lol.

I used to know someone ( a couple of years ago) whose children did it. She swore by it and her children certainly seemed advanced for their age from an "educational" perspective. The kids seemed to be enjoying it too. In fact they went travelling around Aus for 6 months and that was the kid's main source of homework and educational material for that time period.

My only concern was that it seemed to be quite a bit of additional work for the children to do on top of normal homework and other sporting or extracurricular activities. And truthfully I dont know whether thats what I would want for my kids.:dunno:

To me kumon has good and bad points...it all depends on the child as to whether it is the 'right' fit for them. It is based on worksheets and not a lot of hands on tactile learning which works for some kids and not others. It is also based on independent learning so not a lot of interaction with the other kids....each kid will basically be working on their own worksheet at whatever level they are up to with a supervisor helping out. So if you have children who are happy to work for periods of time on their own and are visual learners then they will probably love it and do well...but if you have a child who is a kinesthetic learner they are probably not going to do so well....

And if you can get your hands on mums answer book you can get your sheets done super quick, and kick back and read a mag. :redface: I found it really good for the basics. I did it junior high, and I started right back at kindergarten maths. At that point, for me, it was sensational to regrasp the basics. It was only once I got to a point ahead of where I was in class that I "cheated" and I stopped soon after.

I was worried about the extra curricular activities when I would prefer home play or playdates, but on the other hand, my daughter likes to do things on her own anyway and not really into sports and team things just yet, and I think it will help her confidence if she's doing really well in maths. She is already, but I guess its the side of me that I had issues with in school, and I think if you can nail it, then it makes a huge difference. But if it seems like its too much, I will just stop.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!