https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:29:31 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849621 Sat, 06 Oct 2018 20:39:00 +0000 Pollywog 2849621@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Myicitygirl: one thing to check out is whatworks.ed.gov. The site evalutes whether or not there is research that shows that a curriculum or program improves student outcomes. I tend not to trust programs that haven't been rigorously studied because a lot of really popular ones have no impact and some even have a negative impact. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849548 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 23:38:09 +0000 Myicitygirl 2849548@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thank you for all of the responses! It helps to hear different opinions and perspectives. </p> <p>My son can handle an extra academic session per week, especially because every Wednesday is a half day of school and I would schedule any outside class or home study for that afternoon. He enjoys math, and did well practicing in some Kumon workbooks over the summer. </p> <p>I am leaning towards working with him myself with some critical reasoning and math logic-style workbooks. But I scheduled my son for an assessment/consult with the Russian School and Mathnasium, so I can see how they approach math and also ask some questions. Will report back with my own assessment.</p> <p>Edit: @Pollywog: I definitely agree with your PhD friends in that regard. My son’s extracurriculars to this point have only been physical activities (right now he has tennis, soccer, swimming and taekwondo), and I would limit any outside math study to an hour a week.</p> <p>@Anagram: My son is 6.5. While we are fortunate to live in a good area with solid public schools, there is the inevitable rat race among parents to give their child any leg up academically. I hear stories about Russian School, outside invitation-only math or technology clubs, private tutoring... it is hard not to get caught up in it. First world problems, of course. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849527 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 18:14:41 +0000 Pollywog 2849527@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ed researcher here. My view is that they'll increase his test scores, but at the expense of something else. It's far better for most kids to play hard at the end of the day and focus on building matg skills through everyday life. I think enrichment over three summer is okay,but what I've seen from my colleagues (ivy league PhDs who study this for a living) is that none them do these programs. Their kids are at soccer, swimming, and the playground until they're much older (middle school). Oh, and they don't do workbooks. Again, it's far better to learn math through everyday activities. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849525 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 17:26:28 +0000 gestalt 2849525@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think after school math programs are a great investment. Personally, i'm not a fan of Kumon because of their methodology. I've heard better things Russian School of Math, Mathnasium and Spirit of Math, which is less worksheet focused.</p> <p>The pendulum keeps swinging between rote memorization and understanding the concepts. There are a lot of teachers who aren't well equipped at teaching/explaining math, confusing the kids and parents. I think there needs to be a balance and these after school programs fill the gaps to help ensure the kids have a solid foundation in basic math concepts. </p> <p>To answer your question, if you care more about having him grasp concepts and "why" it's done, i would think about an enrichment program instead of worksheets. Worksheets are good if you have the time to sit down and do the explanation yourself.</p> <p>@looch: Another thing to add is that if my kid is ahead in math, i don't want her twiddling her thumbs in class waiting for other kids to catch up. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849522 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 17:22:54 +0000 Chuckles 2849522@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would also be wary about more structured academics after school at that age. For first grade, if he is having trouble with the "why" of math, my suggestion (as a teacher) is to involve him in a lot of real life math at home. Talk about equivalence of fractions while you cook and let him test things out. Ask him to make a prediction about a real life math problem, do an activity to figure out the answer, and then figure out why his prediction was correct or incorrect.<br /> A few years ago there was a long program on NPR about math education in Asia and how it differs from the US. One of my biggest take aways was that in other countries the expectation is that kids will take time to grapple with challenging problems and test things out before they are given the rote explanation of how to figure out the answer. This leads to better math "thinkers" and the idea that you don't need to always get to the right answer immediately to be good at math. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849493 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:24:37 +0000 periwinklebee 2849493@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO is too young to have personal experience, but I know so many people who have sent their kids (including quite young) to Russian math, and I have heard very positive things. I was just having this conversation a couple of days ago, and for this friend it was not about turning his kid into a top mathematician or something. But rather he'd found that schools in the U.S. tend to convey the impression that math is a hard, scary thing, whereas he wanted his kid to understand that math can be fun and logical and to lay the foundation for feeling confident and not intimidated by quantitative stuff. He is foreign and was very surprised by the attitude towards math in the U.S., which he thinks is one of the underlying reason for the poor relative performance that @Anagram: mentioned... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849492 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:20:53 +0000 pachamama 2849492@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm a (high school) teacher. I have to ask, does your son really like school, learning, and math? Will he actually want to stay after school and do more sit down work? you'd probably be surprised and disappointed at how much they sit in their seats as six year olds. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849488 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:14:17 +0000 looch 2849488@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: Thanks for the book recommendation, I just ordered it. I feel exactly like you described in your post...I hope my son will be well positioned in the global economy and in order to do that, I have to look outside his school to find educational opportunities. While we don't do a formal math class, I do use Greg Tang's materials with my son on the weekends and as supplemental homework. It helps that the school supports the GT methodology and teaches them that way (it is better to know how to solve one problem deeply and by multiple methods than to solve thousands superficially and in one way).</p> <p>@annem1990: We are our own worst problem. We have an inertia problem in our schools. As an example, the summer vacation issue. When you look at it, sure, it's only 2 or 3 months of the year, how much learning can you actually lose? But when you look at it over the course of a child's learning career, those 3 months become years of lost learning and retention. I am not going to let my son fall behind because we don't want to change.</p> <p>Sorry OP, to answer your question, I am in the "yay" group if you can manage it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849486 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:03:29 +0000 annem1990 2849486@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: So interesting!! I’d love to read that book. </p> <p>However, by worrying about where we are in terms of tests compared to other countries, does that really do our kids any good? I’m totally guilty of it too, but can we really complain about the amount of testing/rigor our kids endure and then also complain our tests scores aren’t up to par? Tests scores don’t give the whole picture. Do they test for happiness or well-rounded kids? No. We can’t have our cake and eat it too :wink: </p> <p>I teach ESL online in China and I’ve learned all about the school system both through research and first-hand. These kids go to school like 11 hours a day, have tons of homework and take tons of lessons (like mine!) on top of that. When I have a class on the weekend and I ask what they did today, most of the time they say homework or reading. I ask “Did you play? See friends? Watch a movie?” Usually the answer is no. Sure, China tests better than the U.S., but is that the life we really want for our kids? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849471 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 13:31:44 +0000 Anagram 2849471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Myicitygirl: how old is your kiddo? </p> <p>My feeling on this has recently switched. Warning: Long answer ahead. </p> <p>I was never put in this type of extra math program myself, and all the second hand information I had was negative--there have been threads here on HB in the past that were mostly negative. Too many worksheets, too much repetition, boring, etc. So I was always against them.</p> <p>Then this summer, I read this book: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Smartest-Kids-World-They-That/dp/145165443X" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Smartest-Kids-World-They-That/dp/145165443X</a></p> <p>I read it for work, for a team I'm on at the middle school where I teach and serve as a media specialist. But I think it has impacted my parenting plans even more than my teaching.</p> <p>Anyway, to sum up the book. The U.S. doesn't measure up to other industrialized nations in terms of education on global tests. Some of this is explained in the vast disparity between states that score very well--Massachusetts is always tops in the U.S. and scores very well overall compared to other countries, on par with Finland and Singapore and ahead of most other countries--and the low performing states (think Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, etc), where their performance results are on part with countries like Nicaragua and Libya. I wish I could say I was kidding.</p> <p>I live in NJ, so at first I was feeling "relieved", like...oh hey, so the U.S. kind of sucks overall but my particular state does really well compared to other countries, so we're good.</p> <p>But here was one interesting stat that stood out to me. Although our top states score very well in the verbal and even science portions of global tests, their rank drops quite a bit when it comes to Math. The author even had stats that show that kids from some of the most competitive private schools in the nation are not scoring as high in Math as say, the typical public school student in Singapore or Finland or China or Japan.</p> <p>Why is that?</p> <p>Well, the issue has many roots, from the socioeconomic to the societal. But book posits that for Math, there's only one reason why the students in the US that have been afforded every single opportunity would be getting these scores--and it just came down to the fact that the U.S. has less rigorous math standards, and kids will only meet the standard that is set for them. </p> <p>As a parent, I want to effect change where I can, but it also seems like as a society, Americans don't really want a lot of change in this area. People have complained endlessly about common core math and Singapore math and basically every other math program that has been introduced. </p> <p>So, as a parent, I immediately panicked that even if my child continues to do well at her public school in math as she grows up, she isn't actually doing well on a global scale.</p> <p>And the only thing I can control is....maybe enrolling her in some kind of extra math program--Kumon or Alphaminds or Mathnasium. My older sister put both of her kids in Kumon and they've both always been very strong in math, even in a state that isn't *so great* in education (Georgia). My niece is a senior and made a 1540 on her SATs. Now...my sister is a type A kind of person and she's passed that onto her kids. So I can't say that's from Kumon, but I think it's part of the puzzle. Similarly, my SIL (husband's sister) enrolled her kids in Canada into Kumon, and they always know math concepts the year before they learn it at public school. And Canada scores well above the U.S. in math too, but it's still been helpful.</p> <p>SO, TL;DR</p> <p>At worst, you spend some money and find out it's not for you or your kid.</p> <p>At best, you can give your kiddo an extra boost in an area where he may not get it in public school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849458 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 13:02:44 +0000 annem1990 2849458@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Former 1st grade teacher here!<br /> Extra enrichment is not a bad thing, but you need to be realistic for your kid. Most kids his age can barely handle the 6+ hours they’re at school. Their little brains are just exhausted and they need time to just be kids. Some kids can handle doing more curriculum after school, but many cannot. If your kid is super motivated and really enjoys it then I’d say go for it! But IMO, most kids at that point of the day just can’t enjoy school anymore. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/after-school-math-programs-yay-or-nay#post-2849451 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 12:37:17 +0000 Myicitygirl 2849451@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on after school math enrichment programs like Russian School of Math or Mathnasium? The big thing now seems to be teaching kids the fundamentals of logic and reasoning. </p> <p>Especially to any elementary school teachers in the hive - is it worth it? Or is it better to get some workbooks and help my 1st grader on my own? He is pretty good at computation but doesn’t seem to grasp/can’t articulate the “why” behind the answer. </p>