How Does Kumon Encourage Kids to Think for Themselves

For a majority of students, enjoying a particular subject is about being able to understand it completely, solve their doubts; and overcome any fear they may have developed about the subject. It has often been seen that students develop resistance towards some subjects, particularly math. And if they don’t find a way to overcome the air of fear and scepticism around the subject, the resistance might last throughout one’s adult life. This would make a lot of things in life difficult, especially getting a suitable job.

If this is happening with your child, you need to do something about it. One of the many things you can do to help your child is to enrol him/her in Kumon after school learning programmes. The learning programmes are globally available and have been found effective in encouraging self-learning among children. If you want to know more, below is a step-by-step explanation of how Kumon encourages students to think for themselves.

The learning ability test: When you enrol your child in the Kumon programme, the instructors spend time analysing his strengths and weaknesses. Your child goes through a diagnostic test which further helps the instructors get a better idea of your child's learning ability. Based on their assessment, they discuss a learning plan with you that is "just right" for your child. The personalized learning programme has three objectives: start with easier concepts to help the child build confidence, develop his study skills, and allow the child with an opportunity to learn and grow at his own pace.

Just right level of guidance: The "Just Right" level philosophy followed at Kumon allows students to become independent learners. The 'just right" level of guidance i.e. the instructors encouraging the students to use the guidance in the worksheets to solve the problems instead of being guided traditionally, is valuable in the student's journey to becoming an independent learner. The approach teaches students to trust themselves, what they have learned and use that instead of seeking reassurance from the Instructor.

The small-steps worksheet: As shared above, the objective of the "just right" level of study and guidance is to first allow children to work on their confidence and their ability to think for themselves. The small steps incremental worksheets teach children to make judgements based on their logic, curiosity, noticing hints and clues. Everything is to ensure they understand that learning something this way is more powerful and rewarding than being taught something.

Working it out on their own: A key principle of learning followed at Kumon is the philosophy of incremental learning. Using the small step worksheets, children can discover new concepts for themselves. The worksheets introduce them to new concepts sum-by-sum and page-by-page, gradually allowing them to reason out the answers for themselves. That’s all for now. If you want to learn more about Kumon or the learning programmes offered, feel free to visit the nearest Kumon learning centre or contact them through the website.