Abacus reviews anyone ?

Dear Krishsudha,
Abacus mental maths is a very interesting subject. It increases the calculation speed to a great extent and the speed is amazing. Children can do 200 sums in 8 minutes.

But it is my observation that the children treat Abacus and School Maths subject as two different concepts. Unless the child can apply Abacus methods of calculation in the school, there is no real value added by learning this subject.

I am sure there are many ABACUS Centres in Chennai. If you are keen, I will check up with my child's Abacus Teacher and let you know.

Regards
USHA

 

General opinion??

Hi friends,

Have been sending my son to Kumon for the last few years and he is in advanced stage level. So, would like to take a break and put him in something different or useful to his school related math like in G & T program etc.

Is there any online or personal courses to join related to the above or any other challenging Math courses for 8 yr old boy? Experienced moms like vandhana, Radha or Kamla or any one else, pls do share yr ideas soon.

Thanks.

 

Dear Ami

Interesting that your son is in Kumon. I have been thinking for a while to send my son (5years old) to Kumon too. In waht aspect does it improve the child's ability ?Can you please help me by giving your experience.
Thanks a lot.

Cheers:wave
Vijee

 

Dear Ami,


Yes my kid was in Kumon too . Went for almost 6 years and was in the advanced level. But after sometime, it got boring for him. There are two programs that i know of that offer online classes:
1. John Hopkins University has a program for advanced placement. This by invitation only am not sure , you might want to check out their website. I think the school math grades as well the state testing maths grades are considered for this. Just google Center for talented youth , John hopkins university. You shoul dbe able to get the web site

3. Stanford University has the Educational Program for Gifted youth. Their course are pretty challenging. My son did the math program for 4th grade last summer and it was tough. But excellent. All online . The one negative is the course fees, it is pretty high around 500 bucks and then you have to finish the course by the quarter end( 3months) , otherwise you either forfeit or extend the course by paying for one more term. You can check out their website for more details:
Education Program for Gifted Youth

These are the two I know of. If i come across anymore, will let you know.

Vandhana

 

That is great, Vandhana..will go thro the site soon..

Thanks a bunch.

 

Hi Abhi,

Abt kumon, my son has started going when he was in KG and now, he is in III grade. Everything was fine though they dont have any proper method to learn foundation other than lots of worksheets & practice which makes the kids to register certain things w/w.o strong foundation.

The problem is that now, there are lots of kids are getting enrolled in our kumon and hence, the attention span has started coming down. Like, a few months back, they sent a notice saying that we parents should correct all the homeworks at home referring the answer sheets given by Kumon. A couple of days back, when my friend went to tell them to explain one particular sum which her son did not get it . Instead of explaining to the student, they were teaching her and asked her to work on that at home!!! Isnt that bad??

My son is also little advanced in kumon and before going any further, I must say that the school Math & kumon math are totally different. So, I have started feeling that if he gets strong foundation in school(though he is a bright kid at class) Math, that would be better for him to come up now and future.

But, for the starters, like 5 yr old kids, definitely, worth to put in Kumon as the schools, they take their own time to teach even the basic math.

Bye.

 

My friends daughter was enrolled for Abacus a few years back in Chennai, but as she went on to higher grades in abacus, it seemed to take a toll on her school studies and they had to stop her abacus studies. So better to think twice about it before enrolling a child into extra activities which need the same level of concentration as studies or more.

 

Re: Thanks a bunch Ami Dear!

The info is really useful.
He is in Kindergarten 2 now and I think it is high time that I put him in something useful.
Thanks so much

Regards
Vijee