Hi If you were given one math program to enroll your kid which one of the following would you choose and why? Let’s assume cost is same for all programs for this purpose. Please explain the reason in comments. 1)Kumon 2)Singapore Math 3)Russian school of Math. Teaching by myself is not an option here, so no discussion on that please #math #education
Kumon as it is a cool type of Pokémon
Don't be nervous and accept the inevitable risk that come with you not being part of your child's formative stage of their life. None of them will make significant difference
I am aware of Kumon and Singapore Math. We preferred Kumon and my kid is doing Kumon for past 2 years.. I am not aware of Russian math.. Would like to add some details for kumon.. If you are looking for Kumon then find out right kumon center where good teachers available, some kumon centers are crap..
Depends on what your kid needs. Kumon is a great supplement to a school program, let's move faster, reenforces skills, makes sure old material is repeated occasionally. Sets routine, enforces daily work. As downside, it relies on work at home. Teachers/TAs don't spend much time with the students. But ones the schedule is set kids work on their own, parents just verify the work daily (don't even have to do it now, kiddo does it too :) If you have a gifted kid who is bored at school math class and you live on Seattle Eastside, try Prime Factor Math Circle. They base curriculum on Russian math curriculum for gifted kids. Not familiar with the others.
They should just scrap math from schools. I was okay at it but found most things there to be useless. I also realized that the practical utility of most of the math they taught us at school was low to none during my college education and in real life. But to answer your question - Kumon is good. Just pick a good center.
From your comment on “practical utility” it’s clear that have totally missed out the central point in learning abstract mathematics or classical music for that matter. Before you make such thoughts public you should pause and think why the device you are typing on exist in first place?
I actually had a role to play in the creation of some of these early devices. So gtfo. The math curriculum in many countries could use an overhaul.
In addition to these try to look at https://artofproblemsolving.com I can personally vouch for it
This. This is the way. I competed in math competitions and all and focused heavily in math in college (Ivy League). Nothing beats AoPS in the world for elementary/middle/high school math. Then for Calculus you can go Spivak or Courant (Apostol is too dry at this age) and decide from there. Anyone who is good at math will tell you AoPS really helps develop the creative side of the brain over mindless repetitive computations.
I’ve only looked at the 2 contest math books they’re most well known for and loved them. What else would you recommend?
Mathcounts and AoPS
If you find a good Kumon instructor that pushes your kid, I’d recommend Kumon. I was enrolled in Singapore, and made it to the material just before precalculus in 4th grade. However, when my family immigrated to America, I was less encouraged by the instructors, and wasn’t as engaged.
There are a few contest books and tutors(PhDs from Ivy Leagues) I can suggest who go beyond standard curriculum but you need to provide more context here. How old is the kid? How advanced is he/she? Would you like an accelerated program? Or if the kid is just starting out then formal math teaching may be less effective than working on math-based puzzles and games..
The kid is in Kindergarten now. Just started out but i want to pick a program where we can stick with it for sometime to prepare for middle/high school level without surprises when we get there and not change course in between with too many methods of teaching.
Well, at this stage I’d say unless your kid is a math prodigy there’s no need for outside tutoring. If you can, encourage child’s curiosity, play math based games which would improve reasoning.
Poll?