We like all Kumon books except the language artsWe homeschool, so we use both Kumon and Sylvan books predominantly, because we have found them to be fun and engaging, for the most part. We prefer Sylvan, because with visual learners, their color pages and pictures make it “fun” to do workbooks. Kumon does a great way of explaining concepts, in large print, and in sequential order. The best way to use these books is to start early and go in order by subject. Most subjects have two books, such as Simple Multiplication and Multiplication, kind of like Multiplication 1 and Multiplication 2. If you are unsure about what order to use the books, Kumon provides a “map” on the back of every book to show the order they recommend. You can also see the age range recommended in the upper corner, which is great for homeschoolers who do not necessarily follow grade levels, and it also encourages parents and children to work within their age range but also move ahead or it serves as a guide to tell you what is a normal SOL (standard of learning) for that age range, so you can plan on what you need to work on with your child.Within each subject matter, you will have some review, anywhere from the first 5-10 pages or they will review a previous concept before starting a new one, ie. before you multiply 2×4, they will remind you to “try this” 2 2 2 2 and show you that it is the same thing. When you go to book 2, you will get a hefty review of the previous book, but most of the pages in each workbook are unique and not repetitive. The repetition can be helpful.As my daughter ages, she finds some of the Kumon books to be too repetitive and monotonous in that one she masters a concept, she wants to try it in different ways. Many of the upper level Kumon books will just provide dozens of review pages with the same equations over and over again. My daughter will often ask me, why do I have to do 9×7 if I just did 7×9 on the page before and 9×7 again two pages ago. Although I tell her that it is so these become second-nature in her head, I agree with her – boring. So, we are basically at the end of Kumon anyway, with division, and have preferred Sylvan (and a few others) for her new math.The language arts was not something we used after the first few books. I’m not a fan of books that provide different shape/size boxes to write single letters in. I find it confusing for children rather than teaching them to write an entire word (versus one letter in each box). It does not encourage seeing words as a group of letters or sight words, but I understand that Kumon is encouraging writing/penmanship here, but it wasn’t for us.For telling time, even once your child has moved beyond the age level, time and money can still be difficult. These books are great for review before a SOL test or to spot check concepts. Even after my daughter has become bored with a workbook because she has the concept down, I’ll keep the leftover pages around for spot “timed testing” – a necessary evil.Amazon has many of the Kumon books with a “look inside” option. You can also look at these at Barnes and Noble, but buy on Amazon, it’s cheaper and most have free shipping.
