Hi Everyone,
I am thinking about enrolling my son to either UCMAS or Kumon. Have any of you tried either one?
What do you think is better for your kids?
Thanks!!
Elle 
Personally no but i know a number of families using kumon ( for both english and math) and looked into it myself ( too expensive and time committal for my family). The families using it are all happy. Their kids are definitely learning.
The two programs are very different. Kumon is not an abacus program it is a memorization by timed worksheets program, at least for the first few years. If you kiddo doenst love math worksheets don’t sign up for Kumon. If they don’t have a competitive spirit ( to beat the clock) then don’t sign up either. It is quite self motivated though, they encourage children to be responsible for completing their own work. At least two trips to the class are required each week here plus daily practice, I think about 20 mins a day but it would be less at the beginning.
UCMAS I know very little about except that it is a abacus program that has a right brain focus. I am ever curious though?
Mandabplus3 - Thanks very much for your comments.
My son is not into worksheet!! :wub: I don’t know much about UCMAS either. I know they are teaching abacus and there is an enrollment assessment too. The child has to meet their criteria before you could enroll your child to their program. I called UCMAS center and they told me that the children would have to be in the class for 2 hours!!
I don’t know if my little one would last that long…lol
Hmm that’s tricky then. Well I googled kumon and got a copy of a few sample worksheets maybe you could try them out? I havnt got a link and it did take me a while to find them. Sorry.
I would ask if you could check out a class before signing up. 2 hours goes quick if it’s full of fun and manipulatives! You never know. Otherwise use another program ( rightstart/jonesgenius) for a year and then re think it.
Kumon is all timed daily red dot worksheet drills in the beginning. The kids learn valuable skills of course but I am much more intrigued by abacus. We are attempting to teach ourselves at home (not sure how far we’ll get) but I’d probably take a stab at abacus class and work with the instructor to build stamina until he was able to sit through the whole class even if it took a year to reach that point. If you’re paying your full class fee, what does it matter? You’re the customer, you’re hiring THEM! lol If it really wasn’t going to work out, you would probably know right away and then you could try something else and revisit it later. Do either of them offer a trial class?
My 4 year old daughter is enrolled in Junior Kumon Math. I enrolled her at about the time she turned 3 - she was able to recognize numbers up to 100, read a picture book, and hold a pencil. The instructor at the center felt she was ready to start after giving her a diagnostic test.
In the program, she started practicing writing her numbers. By 3 1/2, she was able to write her numbers, and do + 1 addition. Now just having turned 4, she’s able to do + 3 addition, silently and quickly. Her number writing is solid, and as a side benefit, she is able to write her letters, upper and lower-case, pretty well. (Her coordination improved dramatically after she turned 4).
Do I think the investment is worth it? Only time will tell. It isn’t the easiest process for child that young and for the parent. She didn’t always want to do the math worksheets, and I put in all the time doing the actual teaching (I used floor mat and desk tape number lines and powerpoint flashcards to teach addition). The instructor observes her progress once a week (we only attend once a week even though we could go twice), administers the homework, then gives the test to see if she is ready to go to the next level. And knowing that we’ve made the financial investment keeps us on track, because I make the Kumon homework a priority before all the other early learning things we do, and on some days, the only thing we do.
I’m definitely interested in some of the other other math programs out there, Kumon seems to focus on math facts at this point in time. I don’t believe there is an UCMAS center near us, but there is an Aloha mind math center not too far away from us which teaches abacus as well. I might introduce the abacus to her at the age of 6, not sure. Also, E.nopi looks interesting, because it has a critical thinking portion in math. Anyway, I’ve decided to start working with math manipulatives at home with her so that her math knowledge isn’t so one-dimensional (see Mathtacular), and she actually finds them fun to do.
Thanks for the comments!
TeachingMyToddlers - both offer trial classes. My son can go to Kumon but is not ready for UCMAS. I am thinking to give them a call and schedule a trial class or a visit.
Mandaplus3 - I think there some Kumon workbooks available on Amazon. I am not sure. Will have to do some searches.
eschlem - Thanks!! The writing benefits sound great. If it would help my son write better, I will definitely invest in the courses. He does write at school but hesitate to write at home.
I havnt checked but the kumon workbooks on Amazon for a while they were for use before kids get to the kumon classes. Eg they should really be past those or you could save your first few $$$ by doing those first. They were an indication but not the same as the worksheets used in class.
One point…if you learn math maths by rote with Kuman isn’t that counter productive for Anzan on abacus? I don’t think the two are complimentary courses, it may be a pick one and stick with it thing.
Mandaplus3…I also have rightstart set you know…lol
I don’t know. I am confused and overwhlemed. :wub:
Oh you have rightstart? Well why are you looking elsewhere! Right start is awesome just do that for the next few years and she will be well ahead! Rightstart has the abacus, as well as covering all the often neglected areas of math that are actually just as useful in real life! plus kids think it’s heaps of fun! I you think it doesn’t have enough number problems in it then print more worksheets out to practice on the abacus. Online free and easy to find.
Problem solved! One does not need to spend more money if one has a product at home that will do the trick 
Don’t mean to confuse you Mae_Jakob_Ka! Never tried RightStart, doesn’t it use a different abacus than the soroban? Not sure if that makes a difference.
It’s true, learning math facts by rote may be counter-productive to learning anzan by abacus. I guess I’m willing to take that risk. All I’m really interested in is that she be exposed to the abacus, not necessarily master it. Also, Aloha math starts at age 5.
I also have a two year old, and when I feel ready to start teaching her, I’d probably try the Jones Genius program and later think about enrolling her in Kumon, again not sure. I used Kumon with my first because I didn’t really know how to progress further in teaching her math, needed structure and direction. Like I said, I did most of the teaching while going through it, so I feel more confident in teaching my second. I’d used the workbooks before going to the center, the Tracing workbooks and number workbooks (with sheet protectors and dry erase markers). That’s a good introduction, but admittedly there was/is a great deal of repetition in the use of the worksheets at the center, particularly because she is young.
It is a time commitment and there is cost to consider. If you are still interested, you might wait until a later time to decide whether you want to jump in.
In the meantime, it’s true, you could download worksheets for free from the internet that generate number writing and math drills.
I tried to use RightStart with my son six months ago but he was not interested in it. I think I will try it again. Maybe he was too young when I first introduced him to RightStart.
Like eschlem, I am trying to see which Math program is best for my son. He completed LM and Shichida. When he’s done with these two programs , I don’t know what to do next. 
My daughter attended Kumon for a while. We liked it at the beginning. It helped her in math calculation skills. But over time, the benefit is no longer that visible and we feel more pressure on its monthly bills. Then DD’s teacher sent us to beestar for free online math programs, and we have been using it. There are all real life word problems, challenging stuff to help kids thinking. DD loves it. Plus, I also don’t have to drive her to kumon, saving my time and $$…
Lisa
So my daughter is now 4 1/2 now. A couple of months ago she was accelerated out of the Junior Kumon into regular Kumon, and is now doing plus 6 addition. She is breezing through it to the amazement of the center instructor. This is because I finally tried the Jones Geniuses Matrix Math system, which I actually intended for my 2 year old. The Matrix Math system is great, can’t say enough good things about it. We always start our math sessions with the Matrix Math subtraction worksheets, and I think it really helps with her addition. We modified the dot placement slightly though because she was very insistent on placing the dots a certain way, so we compromised and settled on a dot placement that made sense to both us.
I had tried using number lines to teach addition previously, the floor mat and the desk tape version, but those only helped doing up to plus 3 addition.
Not sure if she is ready for it, but just purchased the Jones Geniuses Math 3 Facts Master for when we are ready to start multiplication, which will be at least a couple of months from now.
eschlem - I never try Jones Geniuses Math. I would love to try it! I have used Right Start but my son is not into the “math game”. He does not want anything to do with it.
I am using Mashmallow Math right now and he is pretty happy with it.
Thank you for re-opening this thread. I have been pondering over some of these questions lately.
eschlem, Since I don’t have a Kumon centre in my country, I would like to know how best to replicate their methods at home. Is it possible to attain mastery by just using their Kumon books or do I need to use more worksheets. If so, have you come across any worksheet generating site or online facts site which is similar to Kumon method?
arvi,
You can use the Kumon books to get an idea of what the worksheets would look like:
http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Addition-Kumon-Math-Workbooks/dp/1933241497
http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Addition-Kumon-Math-Workbooks/dp/1933241519
But these are very abbreviated versions of what you would actually receive in the center. There is alot of repetition of worksheets when actually taking the course. You could laminate the workbook sheets to reuse for practice using dry erase markers, or put them in sheet protectors. But pencil use is ideal.
Here is a site I found that would allow you to generate worksheets:
http://themathworksheetsite.com/
Jones Geniuses has their own worksheets that you can print out as well.
I hope this helps!
I agree with using Beestar. I teach an afterschool enrichment program and I needed to get my students up to par on their math tests. The tutoring center had Kumon worksheets but my students started complaining about how it was exactly the same worksheet they worked on last week (I didn’t even notice until I took a closer look). I was told about a website called Beestar by another one of the teachers and I tried it out. The students enjoyed the worksheets and I was also able to continuously check their status on the website. Each of my students were gaining more confidence in their math skills and other subjects that I felt they needed extra work on. One of my students also got 100% one of their math test two weeks ago. I was super proud of what Beestar has helped both my students and I accomplish in helping them get the confidence to strive to work harder.
The Kumon method stresses 100% accuracy (and part of the business plan is quick grading), so if your kid misses any problems on a worksheet, they will get the exact same worksheet again and again until they get it all right.
If you subscribe to the Doman method, then Kumon definitely wouldn’t be for you, and personally I’m not really for that type of thing. I think there is a reason there are so many pages for Kumon sucks. If you want that type of center environment and math worksheets, consider Mathnasium.