Kumon students are encouraged to develop their ability to self-learn, to think, to work out the answers for themselves.
Through this approach, their learning will be memorable, the achievement feels powerful and the sense of pride is motivational. That doesn’t mean that children don’t need supervision when completing their Kumon study at home. Here are our top tips for supervising studying at home:
• Try to create a good learning environment for your child to study in, with a suitable seat and table for their height.
• Try to be in the same room as them while they are working. It will indicate to them that “I’m interested in what you are doing”.
• Nurture a positive approach to their study.
• Encourage them to read the instructions and use the examples on the page. The worksheets are designed to teach the child, by building on the knowledge and practice from earlier sheets.
• If necessary, help them to read the worksheet instructions and examples, but try not to do any of the work for them. Working things out for ourselves, based on what we already know is fundamental to learning.
• If it’s helpful to them, have them describe to you what they correctly completed on an earlier worksheet, to help them to focus again.
• If you are nearby and supervising, you will have more opportunity to mark their worksheets for them so that they can make any corrections quickly, while it is still fresh in their mind.
At Kumon, we focus on the positives and look to be rewarding every page with a big, red circle and ‘100%’. We indicate any corrections to be made with small circles on the question. Mike can show you how to mark your child’s work and our booklet A Guide for Parents will provide you with more in-depth guidance.
We encourage students to have a go! Therefore, we must recognise the value of learning from our mistakes. We don’t see corrections that need to be made as errors, but the chance to pause and think deeply. It is ultimately most important that the child gets to experience the sense of learning and the satisfaction of achieving 100%.
So, where possible, we would encourage you to be in the same room, ideally marking their work for them quickly so that they can then set to work to make the necessary corrections while their brain is still engaged in the task.
Speak to Mike about how you can use positive language that focuses on the good work they achieved, while you encourage your child to focus their attention once again and make any corrections that are needed.
Here are some examples;
“I like the way that you have written so clearly and neatly in the boxes here, but don’t forget you need to remember to be clear in all the answers on the page too, so that we can read your answers”
“It looks as if you have understood everything up until question 6. Perhaps you got distracted and lost your concentration? Look again and see if you can work out how to fix it.”
Please ensure you follow the date order of the work and not to randomly take work – it is set in a specific order to give the maximum benefit.
Get into a routine of doing the work at the same time each day – Kumon time! The maths is best done in the morning and if doing English as well, this is best done just after school - to give the best chance to take time to read and understand the text.
It will be easy and quick at the start of the Kumon journey. This is to get into a good study habit, build confidence as should get 100% and fills any gaps in learning.
Write the start time on the top of the first page and do the sheets in one go (without help) and when all the sheets are complete write the finish time on the front sheet. This gives me the duration of the work for that day.
Complete all of the sheets in one sitting and try to do all in one go without stopping. This builds concentration and resilience. We are aiming for A levels where exams can be 3 hours!
Once all of the work is completed write the finishing time on the front sheet and calculate the total time spent.
Please mark the work – using the answer books for speed – and for each error simply circle the question number in maths or mark as -1 in English.
Write the total errors at the top of the first page.
The student should then correct the errors (again without help at this stage) until 100% correct. The key thing with Kumon is that it is not a problem when there are errors. The learning comes when the corrections are done. Please done rub out the answer straightaway - attempt to work through your answer to find where the error is. This develops one of the most difficult skills - that of checking your own work, and is key when it comes to exam practice and accuracy. Naturally you learn a lot more by doing this.
The work is then finished for the day.
At the end of each week please complete the Feedback Results Form – I use the results to set the following work to ensure the student progresses at a rate suitable.
There are achievement tests at the end of each level and picture of each page can be uploaded here Achievement Tests Upload. I will mark and feedback the results.
Currently, every 3 weeks, I will sort new work which is to be collected and this routine will continue until further notice.
Currently, every 3 weeks, I will sort new work (based on the results that you upload - accuracy and time) which is to be collected and this routine will continue until further notice.