Often there are cases where it takes longer to complete homework assignments from around 4A in Kumon Japanese, because until 5A, the material is reading-only, but from 4A onwards, children start to write letters. There are many cases where a child has been making good progress with the printouts up to this point, but suddenly loses interest in doing them.
In this article, we will explain the 4A barrier in Kumon Japanese.
What kind of teaching materials are Kumon Japanese 4A?
First, let's check what the Kumon Japanese 4A teaching materials are like.
Check the image of the Kumon Japanese 4A teaching materials
Unlike previous teaching materials, the main feature of the Kumon Japanese 4A teaching materials is that 'writing' appears. In the first half, you will write a single character by following the writing order, and in the second half you will write a coherent sentence.
Whereas in the previous material, 5A, the sentences were read aloud, 4A involves writing.
Check the explanations of the Kumon formula
Next, check the explanations in the list of Kumon Japanese language materials.
Learn the basics of writing hiragana (e.g. stroke form and stroke order) and develop the ability to write with sufficient pressure. As a way of expanding vocabulary, take up nouns by genre and acquire vocabulary. The students read sentences and deepen their understanding of the content by learning to read what appears in the sentences, further improving their hiragana reading skills developed in the 8A to 5A materials, so that they can easily read sentences of about 50 characters while following the content.
The level of difficulty in reading is more like building on what has been learnt up to 5A than doing anything new. 4A can be considered the new learning in writing.
At what age are the materials studied?
The target age for 4A is 3 years. The progress of learning in early childhood is greatly influenced by the speed of development, so it is not an area to be overly concerned about, but it can be used as a guide.
Kumon Japanese up to 5A is reading, but writing starts from 4A.
At the timing when they enter 4A, the Kumon materials that used to be for reading printed words aloud together change to materials for writing hiragana.
Kumon materials are reviewed from time to time, so depending on the time, it may be 5A or 3A when they start writing letters. Anyway, it is around this time that they start practising writing hiragana.
There are several reasons why your child may hit a wall at this stage.
Reading aloud can proceed passively, but writing letters requires the child's initiative.
With reading aloud, the print can proceed even if the child is a little less focused. The parent takes the lead in reading aloud, so the child can be passive to a certain extent - if there are 10 or so printouts, they will often be finished in about 10 minutes.
Writing, however, is not finished unless the child moves his or her hands on his or her own. Concentration is also necessary for proper writing. Young children, who still have fluctuations in concentration, are confused by the daily demands for a higher level of concentration.
Many children have difficulty with writing in the same Kumon Japanese language.
Reading and writing are both the same Kumon Japanese, but for small children they require something completely different.
What is required in reading is more like studying, such as knowing the names of things and learning how to read hiragana. For a curious child, this can be a genuinely enjoyable part of learning.
With writing, on the other hand, it is the more physical part that is difficult for children. Holding the pencil correctly and drawing the lines so that they don't go out of the frame is more a matter of being able to move the body well for young children. Especially with children around the age of three, the bones in the joints of the arms are not yet attached. Because the bones are not attached, the lines are squishy no matter how hard they try.
And because they have seen the hiragana in previous teaching materials, they don't contain any new information to satisfy their curiosity. The more a child has worked hard with curiosity as the driving force, the more likely he or she is to put the brakes on.
The child is not yet used to holding a pencil
Some may not be used to holding a pencil.
There are few opportunities to hold a pencil as a child. If anything, they are much more likely to hold a crayon when drawing. However, many crayons are thick and easy to hold, and there are no situations where you need to draw a straight line exactly when drawing.
To write hiragana, you need to draw straight and curved lines precisely, and you also need to balance the whole picture. It can be difficult for children to do this with an unfamiliar pencil.
Kumon also offers Zundun, a pencil-based line-drawing exercise. Check the explanation of the benefits of Zun-Zun below, and if you feel that it is beneficial, you may want to talk to the teacher about it.
It's amazing how little ones can stay at their desks for tens of minutes.
For these reasons, children take longer to do their homework once they are in fluttering materials.
But it can be difficult for children to stay focused for long periods of time. Even after entering primary school, not many children can concentrate for 15 minutes properly; for children old enough to do 3A materials, 10 minutes is a good amount of time. As mentioned above, extra concentration is needed to write hiragana. There is no doubt that it gradually becomes more and more difficult to finish homework.
No matter how unmotivated your child seems to be, if he or she is at the desk for a long time, you should acknowledge that this is a great thing.
Taking too long is a sign that the child is demotivated.
However, if it is taking longer than 30 minutes, it is a strain on both the child and the parent.
It is easy for parents to see that their child is losing motivation, without having to measure the time. It must be unpleasant for parents to see their children working on Kumon in a state of lack of motivation.
However, it is also easy to imagine that almost no child would be able to put up with something they don't like and work hard and diligently. Parents are also under pressure to get their children to do their homework. If the children do not do their best, it is not uncommon for families to end up fighting, and in the worst case scenario, the decision to quit Kumon.
It is the parent's job to stand between Kumon and the child.
Concentration does not last. It takes time to solve the printouts. Children vary from person to person, so there are inevitably times when it is difficult for them to complete their homework. And as a matter of course, children cannot negotiate with their teachers to reduce the amount of homework they have to do.
Also, the teacher's detailed follow-up cannot be expected to be that good. In Kumon, one teacher looks after a large number of students, and the Kumon system does not allow the teacher to play such a large role.
When homework is a big burden for a child nowadays, only parents can coordinate with the teacher.
Of course, there are not many teachers who, when asked to reduce the amount of homework, will say yes. This is because Kumon wants its students to work hard and do their best every day, even if it is a little hard work.
However, parents also want their children to work hard. If the pace of their children's homework has slowed down, they will have taken steps to make sure that they manage to finish their homework. It is not desirable to push a child to the limit when there are still insurmountable barriers. It will be the parent's role to communicate with the teacher and find a good drop-off point.
Let them get over the 4A barrier and get the benefits of Kumon Japanese.
The greatest merit of Kumon Japanese is that through reading comprehension problems, students are exposed to quality problems and acquire the reading comprehension skills and education that form the foundation of life. It would be a waste to quit Kumon here.
In order to overcome the 4A wall, parents first need to be aware that there is a big wall here. Then they should not be impatient when their children hit the wall, but know that the children themselves are trying hardest to overcome this point, and if necessary, they should talk to their teachers and negotiate.
In many cases, children doing 4As will be of pre-primary age. Starting Kumon early and developing basic reading skills will give them the groundwork to develop not only Japanese, but all subjects. It may be a lot of work, but do your best to overcome this obstacle.