Kit's Kumon Challenge

Posted By SLK on Wednesday, September 22, 2010   { 2 Comment(s) }

Starting Kumon was a big adventure for Kit – of course anything that Kat does and Kit gets to copy is always an achievement. The difference of years is never really an issue with her. There's always a shortcut to everything!

It was a bit of a setback when Kit realised that her Maths sheets in Kumon involved counting big red dots instead of numbers (like Kat) when she got them for the first time a few months ago – however, the situation has now changed – she wishes those dots would come back once more! Yes, Kumon is wonderful for children at this early age and it has been a tried and tested formula in our home for Kat (she needs the repetition) but Kit is finding the new sums a bit of a challenge at the moment.

Every time I sit down with her, she will start looking outside the window instead of looking at the sheets. Exasperated, I will ask, “Kit, why are you so interested in looking at the world?” To this question, Kit will (painfully slowly), unglue her eyes from the window and look at me and say, “Because, I don’t know much about the world, that’s why mummy. I want to know more about it, that’s why I look at it.”

Me: “When you go to school, will you look outside the window even then?”

Kit: “No, I will go to school to play. Then I don’t want to see the world.”

Basically, this interaction means that the current set of Kumon operations are little bit challenging and Kit is finding ways to avoid them. Any kind of work that takes time at this age usually means either too boring or over head transmission. In her case, it is bit of both as when I really get upset, all answers come pouring out of the brain like magic and work gets done unbelievably quickly! Just like that.

Right now, it’s a wait and watch game – where she sees the world from our apartment window and I watch her till she’s done with it…this transition from dots to numbers to sums IS a challenge. Kat did it and so will Kit. All in good time I tell myself. All in good time...

Tags: kumon, school