Many parents feel that their child's Kumon Japanese is not progressing well. The reasons for this are partly due to the characteristics of Kumon itself, and partly because it is easy to feel that progress is particularly slow in Japanese among the Kumon subjects. In this article, we will explain the reasons why they feel that progress in Kumon Japanese is slow.
Japanese has a larger amount of teaching materials than arithmetic and English.
The first thing that must be kept in mind is that among the Kumon subjects, Japanese has a large amount of teaching materials.
In Japanese, one alphabet is divided into I and II between the A and I materials, and 400 printouts must be completed in order to move on to the next alphabet. Usually it takes 200 prints to move on to the next, so the amount of learning is simply doubled. The speed of progress is also halved, so it is natural to feel that progress is slow.
Grade-less learning.
Not only when progress is slow, but also when the speed is slower than before, you will also feel that you are not making progress. And in Kumon, there will always come a time when the rate of progress slows down.
Kumon focuses on the basics, so when you start learning, you often start with material from a level earlier than the current school year. It also deals less with applied content and often progresses smoothly at the beginning.
However, Kumon uses a method called 'grade-free learning', in which learning proceeds according to the level of understanding, rather than the grade level. Therefore, the material progresses at a level that can be easily understood, and sooner or later your child will learn material that is more difficult than his or her level. This will naturally slow down the rate of progress.
The "lack of progress" that you feel here is a barrier that you will always feel if you are doing Kumon, and if anything, it would be better to think that the speed after you feel "lack of progress" is the original speed.
Difficulty in seeing results
Even if the speed of progress is not as fast as expected, if you feel the effects of Kumon, you will not be so concerned about the lack of progress. Even if you are stuck in the same place for a long time, you don't need to worry about the lack of progress if you can see an apparent improvement in your test scores.
However, with the Japanese language, there are few opportunities to experience such visible effects. Unlike calculation skills or English conversation, reading comprehension is not clearly quantified or competed.
Reading comprehension is similar to infrastructure in examinations, such as transport, electricity, gas and water. It is very rare for good reading comprehension to be highlighted, but when it does occur, it can have a serious impact. When problems do occur, it is very difficult to get things back to normal and the cost of improving quality is significant.
The trouble with infrastructure is that, despite its importance, it is not cost-effective for the investment. The economy probably wouldn't improve much if we could produce twice as much electricity, and few people would feel the benefit of replacing the sewage system with the latest equipment.
Similarly, the cost of Kumon Japanese is significant, but it is hard to see a clear difference in places such as scores or deviation values.
Expecting too much pre-emptive learning
Even if your child is objectively making good progress, there may be a difference between expectations and actual results because expectations are too high.
It is the psychology of many parents to have high expectations of their child's performance. If it is an entrance examination, they may be concerned about the popularity and deviation score of the school they are going to, and if it is a school test, many people may be concerned about the rankings and scores. In Kumon, people tend to be concerned about how far ahead they are compared to their actual grade.
Especially in school tests, you can actually get to know the person you are comparing yourself with, because they are in the same class. How much are they studying, which cram school are they in? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Based on this specific information, you can get some realistic idea of what you need to do to catch up, or whether you should give up trying to catch up.
However, Kumon is not a cram school where classes are held in groups, and learning progresses at the pace of the individual. There are many classes, and it is not unusual for students to attend different Kumon classes even if they attend the same school district. Because it is difficult to see a comparative figure, it is easy to set goals and hold ideals that are unrealistic when it comes to Kumon.
It is then an extreme case that becomes easier to see. There are people who have finished high school level material in the early years of primary school, and on the other hand, there are those who have had a complete disagreement with Kumon and have left the school in tatters after a dispute with the teacher and the child. Both are shocking and attention-grabbing cases, but not a pattern with a high probability of happening.
However, when these cases are too much to look forward to, expectations and reality can become totally out of proportion. As a result, it becomes a reason to feel that things are not progressing as well as expected.
It is wrong to expect progress.
Kumon, especially Japanese, is something that takes a considerable amount of time to work on. It is worth the time, but it is not easy to feel that you are making progress or that it is working.
Even if it is not Kumon, things that you work on for the long term have similar characteristics. If you look at your savings account every day to see how much money you have saved, the balance will hardly change, and if you are on a diet and get on the scales every day, you will get tired of being driven around by a 0.1 kg error.
It is not short-term motivation that helps when tackling these things. It's about making it part of your daily routine, just like brushing your teeth or eating.
Instead of rushing to make faster progress on something that is not progressing, a useful attitude is to let Kumon Japanese be something that does not progress easily.