I am taking my 5 year old to a free intro at an Aloha school tomorrow, but it is 2 hours away.
Tomorrow isn’t a big deal, as we’ll also go to a Science museum and just make a day of it. I figure even if we decide it won’t work for us to travel that far each week, we’ll at least learn something when we go.
But, I am curious, how far you’d be willing to travel?
Also, if anyone takes their little one(s) to an Aloha school or have any further information or opinions about this particular “brand”, I’d love to hear it! As well as those who use some other type of class, if you have any opinions regarding how much it’s worth it to have a real instructor, class, peers, etc.
tough for me to say since I’m still expecting but I can’t imagine wanting to drive more than 45 minutes one way. At age 5 it’s probably not so bad since you can combine the trip with other activities. Either way, Karma for the amazing effort. I want to hear ALL about it, like a trip report.
I think your effort is amazing in saying that a 2hr drive is a lot on anyone. Counter in a busy day and a 2hr drive back home is 4hours on the road for the day so you will want to make sure that your eldest was really enjoying it to keep taking him. Also you need to factor in the cost of petrol (gas) plus the cost of the soroban classes to make sure it is really worth your while.
If I had the option, I would probably do like you and check it out for the day, maybe even get their materials (enrolling if I had to) with no plan to return for the semester. I might even talk to the instructor about coming every other week or more reasonably, once a month on a private tutoring basis just to make just I’m on the right track with at home teaching. Or I would inquire about some Skype video lessons and once a month in person lessons. Money can’t buy everything, but it can buy just about everything. Even if they say they don’t offer private lessons, I guarantee for the right price, any enrichment school would! It all depends on how much one is willing to part with. lol
When you are in LA or such 2 hours drive sounds like a great location lol Just kidding, but it is quite true. when I was doing my birth classes a while ago, our each hour drive was 3 hours, we did it weekly, we have never regretted ( even though we had to completely reschedule our day!). Our midwife was 2.5 hours away ( in a good traffic), and after I gave birth I did apprentenship with her for a year (2-3 times a week). We figure out that is the price of something that is really worth it, and often there are no other options…
Skylark, my midwife was over 2 hours away too. (which led to an interesting birth story for my second…)
So, we went today. I wish I had thought out questions to ask, because I couldn’t think of them at the time. But anyway, the presentation really wasn’t anything you couldn’t get from their YouTube videos or reading their website or some general websites about soroban (they just use the word “abacus”, but I’m using the words soroban here to distinguish it from other types).
My son gave his short (10-15 minute) one-on-one instruction “100 thumbs up”. He enjoyed it a lot. He was shown numbers 1-4 on the abacus and then got a worksheet with 30 or so addition and subtraction problems with sums up to 4. Each problem had 3 addends (like 1 + 2 - 2). He really enjoyed it and even giggled. I’ve not seen him sit and do that many problems in one sitting before. He did need to be redirected back to the work a few times, but it was never a huge deal.
They have two age groups - junior (5-7) and senior (8-12). I had assumed that once one “graduates” from the junior class they would move onto the senior class, but that isn’t how it is structured. Both groups actually learn the same thing. The juniors just go a little slower and take 6 more months to complete the entire curriculum (which, as long as everything goes smoothly, lasts approximately 2 years for seniors and 2.5 years for the juniors). There are 10 levels for juniors and 8 for seniors, each level lasts 3 months.
The juniors have 1 year to learn their multiplication tables up to 9 x 9 at home, they don’t teach that part but the students will need it when they get to multiplication.
Classes are once a week for 2 hours. And then homework. They say that they instruct in a way so that the children won’t need help from their parents to complete the homework. I actually would like to be more involved though. I think they assume the parents don’t want to be.
Ummm…I think that’s about it. I think there is a 99% chance we won’t do it, mostly because of the commute but also because I think I can do just as good of a job at home for much cheaper. Though, if I change my mind I wonder if they’d be willing to give him a placement test and let him jump in at his level (a question I should have remembered to ask!).
Oh! And also they teach double digit bottom beads only before using the 5 bead. So, problems like 12 + 22 - 11 before 2 + 3. Or, that’s how I understood it.
In looking over the sample pages of the books I ordered to use at home (http://www.mathabacus.com/), the Aloha classes would be quite more advanced. I’ll take this in mind while I’m teaching at home and probably add more drill sheets. I’ll have to see the books first, of course.
It’s helpful to see how they’ve structured things. In some ways, it makes sense to skip over the 5 bead and just do addition and subtraction with the lower beads first; it would give confidence, and it would allow the child to understand how it works. I wonder if Tom teaches in a similar progression
Yes, I was thinking the same thing re: building confidence. The instructor said after about 3 lessons (weeks), all the kids are hooked. I was also thinking about the benefits of an extended lesson once per week with daily shorter practice. It might be useful to really get the new concept, which might take longer. Then, daily practice to keep the new skill (at least for this age - 5+, I’ll likely start my daughter younger and do something completely different! :rolleyes: ). I’ll definitely experiment with schedules and order of lessons once our Soroban show up in the mail. I’m impatiently waiting.
Those Soroban classes better be REALLY good because in place of those 16 hours a month of JUST driving, I could do research, read books on soroban, practice the soroban, AND teach what I know to my child, and still have several hours to spare. I think if you started going there and learned the basics, you wouldn’t keep going. I don’t think I would.
hmm been watching this thread. Not planning to teach abacus but just interested. thinking through it all I decided Yes I would drive to the class each week. Provided firstly it was highway driving and not stuck in traffic driving and secondly the DVD player ( or at least CD Player!) in the car worked so I could spend the time teaching my kid something else rather than a dead 4 hours a week. I would probably skip a few classes here and there, ( call in sick and get homework )but I know me well enought to know I would need the class structure to keep at it and my kids would love it. In saying that Australia is a BIG country and two hours is not that far here. Oh plus 2 hours from here either puts us at Nanas or the beach! Cant go wrong!
I just wanted to say, if the Soroban teacher and class is a HIGH quality class, the effort will completely be worth every penny and second you invest. I’m not trying to be rude to DannyandAmy, but I don’t think they’re fully considering the advantage a very good teacher and learning enviromnt provided by a Soroban class would provide.
That being said, from your description of their program, I would be a bit wary. I get the impression that program is not designed by a teacher who’s really gone through all of the development that Soroban offers, but I could be wrong.
Well, to be perfectly honest I’m very biased to what a “good” Soroban program would be. I’ve basically grew up learning Soroban starting at the age of 4, so I see it as more than “just” a way to do math. I know for me it’s taught me a lot of lessons about my personal strengths and weaknesses even outside of math. I’ve made life long friends. It continues to teach me as I’ve switched from being just a student to being a teacher as well.
And those weren’t lessons that I learned in 2.5 years.
It’s been 2.5 decades and I still feel like I don’t know enough.
Even looking at schools across the US and in Japan, and even outside of Soroban the very best programs teach a lot more than just what it says it does.
I’m sorry if that sounded a bit too philosophical or beyond what you might be looking to get from Soroban. I believe that if you’re trying to reach your full potential, the inner game becomes critical no matter what you’re trying to to accomplish. And if you’ve been through the full process of learning through something like Soroban, it’ll transfer into other portions of your life.
In terms of common mistakes I’ve listed the top in order of the most counter productive:
rote memorizing math facts/learning incorrectly (1+1 is 2 instead of “figuring it out” using a Soroban)
Giving up when their child hits a wall in their education (usually happens in the 3rd year)
using a cheap Soroban (I see parents using $1 Sorobans, I move them onto better sorobans as quickly as i can)
Moving onto new topics too early/not testing their kids using objective measures
Expecting linear growth (this is only a problem if parents give up when they don’t “see” constant growth, kids usually get used to having sporadic growth)
That’s why I said those classes better be REALLY good I don’t disagree with you, Tom; sorry I wasn’t very clear. But sometimes if you translate the time you put into sacrificing to attend a class, one’ll find that it increases the price of the class itself, and if it is only a class of mediocre quality, it’s not that great an invenstment in your time and money.
But for a REALLY GOOD program, like what you describe and from what it sounds what you’re doing, oh it would definitely be worth the travel time and money! Sometimes I wish there were more of you, all spread out in all areas of the world teaching soroban. :happy:
Do you have a list of schools you’ve observed? Where can we find schools like what you described? I would love to know which schools you would recommend and not recommend. Maybe if that’s hard for you (I’m an educator myself so I know how it can be tough endorsing specific schools if you know how it should be done ), maybe you could tells what aspects of specific schools you like? I’m thinking maybe that’ll make it easier for some us to find good soroban schools in our area.
Yes, I do find it difficult to recommend schools.
But I think if I had to choose, I would really try to look at the long term students that have stayed with the class. Do they have students who stay for years? if not why not?
Do the senior students display at least some of the characteristics you would want your child to in the future?
I think it’s relatively easy to look good on a brochure or in a 30 minute sales pitch. While developing a student over the years means they see and are influenced by the teacher and the class.
I wouldn’t necessary use only this as a benchmark for a class, but I think it’s a good barometer that a lot parents might not initially consider.
Even if they