Kumon Mathematics and English comes to Florey, Canberra!

Kumon Mathematics and English is coming to Florey, Canberra, to support all children to develop strong mental calculation and reading ability.

Kumon Florey Education Centre will be led by Deborah Brake, who has a 35-year career as a consultant for the public service and not-for-profit sectors, and also as a linguist for the Royal Australian Navy.

Deborah has experienced touchpoints with Kumon throughout her entire life. Some of her school peers were Kumon students and, later in life, Deborah spent a year working with Jane Hiatt at Kumon Tuggeranong Education Centre.

“This experience [at Kumon Tuggeranong] was invaluable for me”, Deborah said. “I was able to witness firsthand children studying two or three grades above their school level or having their own little ‘ah-ha’ moment when they were able to solve problems, they previously found too difficult.”

Deborah said she wants Kumon Florey Education Centre to become a place where all students can develop a foundation for lifelong learning.

“I know Kumon works.  [Successful people] are successful because they have practised and developed their skills and knowledge”, she said. “They can problem solve. Along with development in English and mathematics, children can build their life skills with Kumon.”

“It is great to be a part of something that can deliver so much.”

Kumon Florey Education Centre opens on 1 September 2020 and is located at 3/26 Kesteven St, Florey, ACT. Classes are on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays from 3:30pm to 6:30pm.

Should you wish to learn more about Kumon Florey Education Centre, we invite you to contact Deborah on 0490 013 086 or to email admin@kumonflorey.com.au.

Kumon Standard Completion Time: the hidden benefits for your children

Have you ever been curious to know why your Kumon Instructor asks your children to write their start and finish time on their worksheets? Or what bearing these times have on the worksheets your children will be given next?

At Kumon, there is a measurement we refer to as Standard Completion Time (SCT). This is the time range in which we aim for students to complete their daily worksheet study as they progress through Kumon.

SCT provides concrete information to your Instructor about your children’s overall familiarity with the worksheet content. It is one of several key criteria Instructors use to determine whether students have the necessary skills to advance without difficulty.

When studying in centre or at home, we encourage you to guide your children to always write the start and finish time on each worksheet set.

We encourage you to keep reading this article to learn more about some of the hidden benefits of SCT for your children:

1. Your children’s work skills are seen and nurtured

Standard Completion Time provides a way for the Instructor to more fully understand your children’s work skills. If your children are able to complete a high volume of worksheets with a near perfect score in a short amount of time, we consider your children to have strong work skills. By writing their start and finish time on their worksheets, your children’s Instructor can know how quickly your children are working and can understand how comfortable your children are with the worksheets. The Instructor can determine what worksheets your children should complete next to further draw out their skills.

2. Your children experience the feeling of working with focus

We know children sometimes like to take breaks when completing worksheets. Guiding children to be aware of their completion time can help them focus and concentrate as they complete each worksheet set. If your children are focussing it is likely their pencils will constantly move as they work smoothly and quickly.

3. Your children’s learning is individualised

If your children complete their worksheets within the SCT, this indicates they are learning at the ‘just-right’ level, the area between work that is too easy and too hard.  The SCT provides your Instructor with the necessary insight to always give your children the worksheets they are ready to learn next. When setting the next worksheet set, your Instructor will consider factors such as how quickly your children are able to work through their corrections, overall study attitude, and their constantly changing ability.

Your child’s next worksheet set is always matched to their current ability, not according to their age or school grade. SCT provides your Kumon Instructor with a clear indicator of your child’s current ability.

4. Decreasing completion time indicates increased confidence

The time it takes your children to complete a worksheet will become shorter with daily practice. When students begin to study with increased speed, this indicates they are acquiring the skills necessary for study up to that level.  This also provides your children with a feeling of accomplishment. When your children have mastered these skills, they will do the worksheets with ease, and finish them in a short time while still working carefully and thoroughly.

If you have any further questions about your children’s worksheets, we welcome you to speak with your children’s Kumon Instructor – they would love to hear from you.

Toongabbie student achieves entry into James Ruse with Kumon’s support

A student from the Kumon Toongabbie Education Centre has achieved an offer into the academically selective James Ruse Agricultural High School.

Dharmik, a Year 6 student, excelled in his selective school entry test and has since been offered a seat at the James Ruse Agricultural High School, one of the most academically selective schools in New South Wales.

Dharmik holding up his Level J Achievement Test in Kumon Mathematics. Face not shown as per request of parent.

Dharmik has been a long-term student of Kumon Toongabbie and completed Kumon English last year. He is currently studying the Kumon Mathematics programme at a senior high school level and can solve complex equations.

Kalpesh, Dharmik’s father, said his son’s studies at Kumon Toongabbie played a key role in supporting Dharmik to achieve entry into James Ruse.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kumon Toongabbie. Kumon has played an integral role on Dharmik’s education journey and also to his success”, Kalpesh said.

“The benefit of Dharmik starting Kumon early is he mastered the fundamentals in mathematics and English. This helped him grow quickly through his education.”

“Studying ahead of the school assisted my son to excel in the selective entry test.”

Manoji Sundaranathan, Instructor of Kumon Toongabbie, said starting Kumon at an early age, played a key role towards Dharmik’s success.

“While Dharmik received one of the highest scores for a selective entry test among the students of Kumon Toongabbie, each year we have a number of Year 6 students who achieve entry into a selective school”, Manoji said.

“A common denominator across each of these students is an early start at Kumon, such as in the case of Dharmik who started Kumon in preschool. The second key factor is commitment to the daily aspect of Kumon, which is an average of 20 minutes per subject”.

We offer a big congratulations to Dharmik for his achievements!

The Kumon Mathematics programme develops quick, precise calculation skills necessary for the study of high school mathematics and can help all students to excel academically, while Kumon English develops a high level of reading comprehension ability in students.

New edition of ‘Potential’ magazine out now!

The future is uncertain. But with the right tools, students can continue to make strong progress in their learning. We have dedicated this issue of Potential to explain how Kumon can support students to keep making progress in their learning, despite uncertain times.

We hope you enjoy our digital copy of Potential. 

Kumon Mathematics students excel in CSIRO challenge

A group of mathematics students from Kumon Westmead Education Centre have been recognised for their advanced capabilities by the CSIRO.

Kalash Maharjan, Year 2, and Neev Gupta, Year 3, achieved honour roll placements for high distinction scores in the CSIRO Bebras Australia Computational Thinking Challenge. Samay Gupta, Year 6, achieved a merit score in the challenge.

The CSIRO Bebras Australia Computational Thinking Challenge is part of an international initiative to promote computational thinking among students. In the challenge, students had to solve mathematics word problems and coding questions.

Kalash Maharjan, who achieved honour roll status in the CSIRO Bebras Australia challenge.

Kalash said he practised a lot to prepare for the challenge. This included reviewing past papers of the CSIRO Bebras Australia Computational Thinking Challenge.

“I did a lot of maths and solved a lot of problems”, Kalash said. “As I solved the problems, I felt more happy, excited and confident. Harder questions help my brain grow.”

Kalpana Dangol, Kalash’s mum, said she was very pleased to receive the news that Kalash achieved high distinction and that her son’s Kumon Mathematics study helped him in the challenge.

“As the questions he encountered in Bebras were generally harder than what he sees at school, and as what he is learning at Kumon is also harder than school, I certainly think that his Kumon helped him in the challenge,” Kalpana said.

Kalash is comfortably studying algebra and equations in Kumon, topics typically not seen until a student reaches Year 9 in school.

Swati Arora, Neev and Samay’s mum, was, “ecstatic and elated” to hear of the achievements of both her boys in the CSIRO Bebras Australia Computational Thinking Challenge. Swati also believes that Kumon helped her boys in the challenge.

“I think their way of solving equations, which they learnt in Kumon, is different, faster and better”, Swati said.

Samay said he enjoys maths because, “it keeps unwinding like a never-ending puzzle.”

“Kumon really helped me with the more complicated and mathematical questions in the CSIRO challenge”, Samay said.

Neev, meanwhile, said that being skilled at maths is more than only about being good with numbers. A strong ability to read is also needed, Neev said. Neev was also very happy to receive his results.

“I felt proud of myself for getting high marks and being on the honour roll”, Neev said. “I also felt great doing it, so I’m hoping to try again.”

Samay hopes to become a doctor when he grows up. Neev would like to become a scientist.

Diana Chang, Instructor of Kumon Westmead Education Centre, said she was very happy to hear of her students’ results.

“We have ten students entered the Bebras challenge and eight students achieved merit and above status. I am really proud of every child’s achievement”, Diana said “I hope these children will use their skills to contribute to a better future for our next generation.”

Five ways that Kumon nurtures confident learners

Research suggests that self-confidence in primary school children is an important factor in determining academic achievement, irrespective of a student’s cognitive ability, age and gender.

We place importance at Kumon on developing good study habits while maintaining your child’s motivation to learn. We avoid overexerting students and emphasise efficient and consistent study. This supports your child to develop confidence as they learn.

In the below article, we explain five ways how Kumon supports children to grow into confident learners.

1. The starting point

Your child begins Kumon with worksheets that make it relatively easy for them to attain a near perfect score, in a short amount of time. The purpose of this is to help your child to feel confident they can do the worksheets on their own. Once your child starts growing in confidence, they will become enthusiastic to continue learning and study more worksheets.

Through learning each day, your child’s concentration expands and a daily study begins to form.

2. A clear path for progress

The Kumon programme is structured in a series of levels that become incrementally more challenging as your child progresses. This structure allows your child to have a clear idea of how far their learning has advanced. It also makes it easy to set learning goals and to determine a plan to achieve them. The Kumon Method prioritises the development of skills in reading, writing and calculation. These form the foundation for most learning at school. Kumon’s structure also provides an efficient learning method through which your children can enjoy learning.

3. Careful monitoring of workload

As your child gains confidence in their learning, they will begin to show enthusiasm towards study. If we suddenly start to give your children a lot of work in order to accommodate their enthusiasm, this could quickly demotivate them. At Kumon we understand it is important to monitor your child’s workload, to ensure they are able to learn without overexertion. Your Kumon Instructor will assess and adjust your children’s study plan on a regular basis.

4. Practice and daily study

Your child can repeat worksheets when needed, to decrease the number of errors, reduce their completion time, review an earlier topic, or consolidate something new before they move on. The right amount of practise and a daily study habit lay the foundation for smooth progress.

5. Learning at the ‘just-right’ level

All children have varying levels of academic ability. If children study the same content simply because they are of the same age, some lose confidence because the material is too difficult while others become bored because it is too easy.

Study projections, progress updates and observations from a child’s Kumon Instructor ensure that the ‘just-right’ level of study is maintained for each individual student. Kumon ensures that children always study worksheets at their ‘just-right’ level – the spot between study material that is too easy and too difficult.

By maintaining each child’s study at their ‘just-right’ level, children feel confidence as they overcome challenges in their learning.

These are just five ways that Kumon’s learning method supports your child to develop confidence as they learn. In this way, our programmes set children up for a positive and confident journey in their future learning.

Self-learning: an invaluable ability for children

If your children enjoy learning on their own, it means that they have confidence in their skills and are able to take on new challenges. In Kumon, we identify this as self-learning.

Self-learning is seen as the ability to take in information, process it, retain and understand it without the presence of a teacher.

Kumon develops self-learning through allowing students to study ahead of school grade level when ready. As students advance ahead of school grade level in the Kumon worksheets, they learn for themselves what they are yet to be taught at school. They study the example, draw on previous learning and give it a try. They try, and try again, until they finally get it. Sometimes with a hint from the Instructor.

Self-learning has many benefits for students. In the below article, are five benefits of self-learning that may be of interest for readers:

1. Children develop better memory retention

Kumon believes that children who learn concepts on their own can better remember and retain knowledge. Based on our decades of experience in supporting children’s learning, when children are encouraged to retrace their steps by correcting mistakes or to evaluate how problems were solved, it is highly likely they will retain, in their long-term memory, the specific steps towards solving a problem.

2. Children take responsibility for their own learning

When children learn something on their own, they gain a sense of ownership for their work. They come to understand the link between the effort that they put in, and what they are able to achieve. Through this process, they develop a sense of responsibility towards their learning.

3. Children begin to develop a strong work ethic

As children develop a sense of ownership for their learning, they take responsibility for important tasks such as double-checking their work and correcting errors. They also come to appreciate the importance of developing a daily study habit. They come to know their limitations, and when it is necessary to ask for help. As children consolidate these skills, a solid work ethic evolves.

4. Children grow more confident as they self-learn

As children grow more confident by overcoming challenges, they will feel ready to tackle further challenges. Children who self-learn are less inclined to give up at the first hurdle. They try and try again until they get the answer right.

5. Children start to go beyond their comfort zone.

As self-learning ability develops, children will develop a mindset that no problem is too difficult to attempt. They will not be afraid to learn new things. Furthermore, they may exhibit an interest in taking on new experiences and challenges – things they are yet to encounter. With this mindset, their opportunities will widen.

These are only five benefits of self-learning for children. There are many further benefits. Equipped with the skill of self-learning, children can pursue their own potential at school … and in life.

Sandhya feels ready for a rapidly changing future

Sandhya Das Thuraisingham, a future student at the University of Oxford and former Kumon student, says studying Kumon Maths from a young age played an essential role in helping her to be ready for an unpredictable future.

Sandhya has been accepted into Oxford to study an undergraduate degree in philosophy, politics and economics. She hopes to travel to the United Kingdom to pursue her studies in September this year, should conditions allow for the relaxation of international travel restrictions.

Despite global uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandhya remains cautiously optimistic. Sandhya asserts she is well prepared and that her former Kumon Maths studies played a key role in building her readiness for her future.

“I began Kumon while I was in kindergarten and continued to study the programme until around 2016, when I was in Year 9,” Sandhya says.

“The little bit of study required each day by Kumon helped me to develop discipline, independence, confidence and resilience. I was also encouraged in Kumon to continually set goals and to push my limits.”

Sandhya says Kumon instilled a mindset where she always strives for her best. This mindset gave her the confidence to apply for admission into her chosen degree at Oxford, she says. Kumon also helped her to develop the needed life skills to attain her goals.

“Kumon showed me the value of persistence and repetition from a young age”, Sandhya says. “I think the Kumon worksheets are actually structured to encourage this development.”

“The worksheets allow you to gradually build up enough knowledge before you move onto the set of problems”, she continues. “The examples in the worksheets also give you enough information to self-learn; they give you the tools to work out the problems on your own.”

Self-learning also doesn’t mean being left unsupported when progressing through Kumon. Sandhya says that while her Kumon Instructor always encouraged her to try to complete the problems in the worksheet by herself first, says she was always offered help if and when support was needed.

“Kumon students are used to being able to tackle, new and unfamiliar problems”, Sandhya says. “They are also used to seeking help when needed after having a go first.”

Kumon is a home-based, pencil and paper programme students can study every day on their own. For more information on Kumon’s home-based programmes, please contact your nearest Kumon centre. Operations will vary from centre-to-centre during this period.

Sandhya received her admission to Oxford with support from Crimson Education, a holistic US and UK university application support service co-founded seven years ago by former Kumon student and Harvard graduate, Jamie Beaton. Crimson Education offers programs for students aged 11-18 years old. To learn about their extension classes and support, visit crimsoneducation.org

Nick continues to learn through any situation

In December 2019, Nick, a Year 4 student from Melbourne, departed on a family holiday to China. Nick’s family trip was originally for two months. But as the COVID-19 crisis escalated, Nick and his family found themselves unable to return to Australia.

These obstacles haven’t stopped Nick from keeping up with his study of Kumon Maths and English. Nick is keeping up with his daily study while in China. He continues to make progress.

“Kumon has helped me a lot, such as doing fractions in maths and learning English words and sentences”, Nick says. “For me, it is important to keep learning and to maintain my study habit.”

Originally, Nick and his family arranged with his Kumon Instructor to bring two months of worksheets with them to China. After completing all these worksheets, Nick asked his auntie in Melbourne to get additional worksheets from Nick’s Kumon Instructor, and send them to him.

“Nick is independent, strong and self-disciplined”, says Nick’s dad. “He is strict with himself, keen to progress and doesn’t like to fall behind. This is all due to the good study habit built up in his previous study.”

Nick’s dad also says that a supportive learning environment at home is conducive for his son’s progress.

“Nick has a quiet study environment at home; we are always there for him”, explains Nick’s dad. “We communicate with his Kumon Instructor proactively and prepare all resources for Nick. Whenever Nick encounters difficulties we are there to help.”

At the time of writing, Nick is three years ahead of his school grade level in Kumon Maths and two years ahead in Kumon English. He is a long-term Kumon student, having been enrolled for two years already. At the early stages of his Kumon study, he received greater hands-on support from his Kumon Instructor to build his independent and self-learning ability.

But as Nick progressed through the worksheets, he became more independent and consistent in his study, though he still participates in regular video sessions with his Kumon Instructor.

“My assistants and I always make ourselves available via Zoom and WhatsApp to support Nick and his family”, says Gloria, his Kumon Instructor.

“This has supported Nick to keep learning and to continue to make progress.”

Kumon is a home-based, pencil and paper programme students can study, at home, every day on their own. For more information on Kumon’s home-based programmes, please contact your nearest Kumon centre. Operations will vary from centre-to-centre during this period.

Certainty that learning will continue at home

With most children in Victoria now learning at home, Melbourne dad Kym is confident that his boys’ learning will continue to go smoothly with the support of Kumon Maths and English.

Kym – whose sons Levi, aged 8, and Jett, aged 6, study Kumon Maths and English – says continuing to study Kumon at home provides him with reassurance that both of his boys will continue to learn.

“The structure and support provided by Kumon’s home-based programme to drive our children’s education is invaluable”, Kym says.

“There’s a lot of unknowns going on at the moment, but there’s certainty and consistency with Kumon.”

Kumon is a partnership between student, parent and Instructor, which continues during extended periods at home. The Instructor creates an individualised study plan for each student, and sends home the worksheets they are ready to learn next on their own.

Students study their worksheets, daily. Parents encourage their children to complete their worksheets to the best of their ability. Parents then mark and grade the completed worksheets.

Kumon Maths develops calculation ability. Kumon English builds reading comprehension. Both are pencil-and-paper based programmes where students take out their worksheets, pick up a pencil, read, think, write, and use an eraser to correct their errors.

Usually, students would receive support from their Kumon Instructor, in-person, at the Kumon Centre. Now, students and families receive regular communication via phone, email, SMS or video messaging.

“Our Kumon Instructor has been really consistent with her communication”, Kym says. “For example, we receive regular text message updates about the boys’ learning. That’s really helpful.”

For more information on Kumon’s home-based programmes, please contact your nearest Kumon centre. Operations will vary from centre-to-centre during this period.