If your child does Kumon Maths, it’s likely you enrolled them with the intention that they would improve their maths skills. The goal of the Kumon Maths Programme is to enable students to study high school mathematics with ease. In Kumon, our aim is for students to achieve this through self-learning, and our worksheets have been designed for students to reach this goal as soon as possible. But did you know that as children progress through Kumon Maths they get better at more than just maths? The Kumon Programmes are designed such that children develop other significant skills along the way. We break these down into six essential skills.

Work Skills
The foundation levels of Kumon Maths aim to develop a child’s work skills. As a child works through the learning foci (counting, reading and writing of numbers, addition and subtraction) the children develop:

• The ability to complete work with good concentration and the right amount of stamina
• Good posture and good pencil grip
• A positive work routine and the ability to read instructions

Mental Calculation, Correction and Comprehension Skills
From Level B and above, the learning foci includes vertical addition/subtraction, basic multiplication/division and two digit multiplication/division. During these levels we aim for children to continue to strengthen their work skills while developing additional skills that are essential to progress onto further levels, and to learn from the worksheets (to self-learn). These additional skills include:

• Mental calculation skills, including skills to calculate without writing workings
• Correction skills, including the ability to discover mistakes independently and the ability to do corrections quickly
• Comprehension skills, including skills to think through introductory problems

Skills to do Intermediate Steps Efficiently
The next learning focus is the calculation of fractions. Throughout the next levels, we aim for students to continue to improve the following skills:

• Skills to find factors and multiples
• Further correction skills
• Further comprehension skills, including skills to understand examples

Verification Skills
Lastly, from Level G up, the Kumon Maths focuses on the calculation of algebra. During these final levels, students develop a further skill: verification skills. Verification skills become more significant as students delve into more complex topics such as linear equations. We believe it is important that students develop the habit of using available resources in order to check the accuracy of their calculations while working with complex problems.

Summary

In total, over the course of Kumon Maths, we aim for students to develop a set of six essential skills which not only enable students to master mental calculus, but transfers to their learning outside of Kumon.

So, what skills have you noticed your child developing throughout their learning with Kumon Maths? Has their stamina increased? Are they able to read and follow the instructions? We hope your child continues to find learning rewarding as they progress throughout the Kumon Programme.