Keeping momentum

Q: Why should I be aiming to have my child study ahead of their school level? Isn't it enough to have them catch up with school and maintain that level?
 

A: Toru Kumon originally designed the worksheets to bring his son to calculus level as soon as possible.

Looking back to this original aim, it was a very ambitious target considering the fact that Takeshi was only in elementary school at the time! However, Kumon thought about what was best for his son and came to the conclusion that the best he could give him was not only skills that would help him in school now, but that would assist him throughout his whole education and also when he left school. The key skill he would need would be the ability to self-learn.

Toru Kumon sat down and made a study plan for Takeshi. This study plan covered all the topics that Takeshi would need to reach calculus and his target date for this goal. Toru considered the amount of time that he thought Takeshi could study at home on a daily basis and the type of work he would be doing at school. He thought about giving work that was of a similar standard to Takeshi's school work but came to realise that this wouldn't actually benefit him so much in the long run. So, with this study projection in mind, he set about writing worksheets that would allow Takeshi to reach a self-learning level as soon as possible.

More than 50 years later, this ideal of having a child reach a point where they are self-learning as soon as possible is still the core aim for Kumon Instructors and staff throughout the world. This self-learning skill is the aim of the Kumon programmes and this is why Instructors always try and encourage parents and students to stay on past their school level.

The 'school level' is a concept: for any student, this is the point from which the topics that they are learning in Kumon are new concepts to them. For example, it could be a Year One student who is facing column subtraction for the first time. This topic would be above his school level because it has not yet been introduced in school. This means that if a child who is in this position could understand the example and then successfully answer the questions, then this is self-learning.

Instructors aim for all students to develop the ability to self-learn so that they can face new challenges and overcome them. The more practice a student gets to try new work, the more confident and sure of their own learning ability they become, and this is a skill that is learnt for life. The further a student progresses beyond their school level (and this can be gauged by looking at the student's progress through the Advanced Student Roll and the gradual improvement from Bronze through to Gold ASR) the more they are learning for themselves and improving their study skills, things that will help every student in the future – not only in school but beyond school too.
 

If a child were to catch up to school level and then just maintain that level, would they actually learn anything by themselves?

The Kumon programmes give children the opportunity to improve and learn at their own pace, so that they can understand the work and be happy that they have practised enough. This will ensure that when they repeat the work later in their education, they will be able to cope and will be that bit more confident than they were.

Being on a level higher than their school level also develops their independence and self-motivation through progress at their own rate; ownership of learning is something that can be developed in all students.