Kumon Vs Enopi
11 Comments// Posted in Personal by rhodilee on 07.04.09.
I always felt uneasy everytime I have to sit in a Math class when I was in high school and in college. Mathematics is a haunting beast that tortures me– and this is the reason why I encouraged my husband Jenkins that we enroll Kulay to Kumon. I don’t want my son to be afraid of Math, I want him to love and excel in numbers. Unfortunately, less than a month after we first brought Kulay to the Kumon Learning Center, we have to call it quits.
The Kumon Method
The Kumon is an individualized learning where children get to learn at their own pace. It also stresses on the importance of learning by repetition (Please visit the Kumon website to learn more about the Kumon method). When Jenkins and I attended the parents’ orientation and hearing and reading about Kumon success stories, we were optimistic that the Kumon learning method will make learning math fun and much easier for our son who seemed to show hints of hating the subject. Kulay was optimistic with his first sets of kumon math worksheets but after working on worksheets and doing almost the same thing for about an hour everyday, Kulay started to hate his worksheet time. He says it’s just the same thing and he does it over and over every time. After three weeks, we decided to drop Kulay from Kumon.
Ineffective?
The kumon method may have been effective to other kids but definitely it is not for our son. We wanted our son to love math so we enrolled him to Kumon but it made him hate math more because of the repetitive work sheets. A child can never truly excel in a subject that he hates so we decided to stop giving Kulay those sheets that seem to make learning math unenjoyable.
I’m not sure if Kulay is getting any “input” whenever he goes to the Kumon learning center twice a week since we can’t see him once he’s with his teacher but if the Kumon is primarily just about kumon math worksheets (and I believe it is), I better search for better, printable math worksheets online or buy math workbooks and personally do something and assist my son in his journey to learning Mathematics. That would be a lot of savings when compared to the fees and expenses I will have to spend monthly on Kumon (1,800 pesos a month plus fare).
Enopi
I learned about Enopi three weeks ago while I was doing an online research on why my son is not responding well to Kumon. Some parents have recommended Enopi which happens to be the Korean counterpart of Kumon. Unlike Kumon, however, Enopi includes Critical Thinking Math lessons which, as I understand it, is the application of mathematical theories a child learns from basic math. So far, I have not read a single negative review about Enopi on the web yet. Since Kulay has not tried Enopi however we cannot say for sure if Enopi is really better than Kumon but again, if this is all about work sheets again, I better look for math learning materials and teach my child myself. Afterall, I know how to to do simple and elementary math operations and problem solving.
Lesson Learned
When we enrolled Kulay to Kumon, we thought the program is the magical solution that will help us raise a mathematically inclined child. It has not. The money we spent on enrolling Kulay to Kumon however at least compensated for a lesson I have learned: that I as a parent is the best teacher for my young child. I know my child best and I am the best person to identify the learning needs of my child. This isnt easy and I am not really sure if I can do it but if I can’t help Kulay with his individualized learning, then nobody else can. I might seek the help of others when I can no longer handle the mathematical lessons of my child but with shapes, counting and basic addition? Kulay deserves the best tutor in the world for these lessons: me.
Update
Kulay loves dinosaurs so we started to use this interest to teach him Math. I bought Dino Fun activity pack and another dinosuar activity/wipe out book (all printed by Priddy Books) and so far Kulay enjoys doing the math activities. He even insists that we do some of the activities before we go to sleep 
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y dont u try MSA..it’s teaches math n i’ve heard alot of positive comments re its method.it has a branch in katipunan n elsewhere
goodluck
Thanks Ces but I’m based in Davao City. I checked the MSA website and they do not have a branch here.
My family has had a lot of success with Sylvan. They test their students first to determine the need, set goals and timelines and get results.They also built self confidence in our kids!
I would give Kumon a try again when your child is older. We had the same experience starting at Kindergarten. Tried again in 2nd grade and it worked out great. Kumon should not take an 1 hour a day. 15 – 20 mins a day at the most. I can see why he hated it. My kids are now in 5th and 3rd grade and kumon is 2nd nature to them. We go to the Kumon centers 2x a month only but do the packets every day at home or in school. I check it for correctness everyday. I have a copy of their answersheet so it’s very quick.
how much does it cost if i enroll my kid??
hi, i have the same feelings with you. my son has been with Kumon for a year now & it seems no improvement, it even got worse. I already had my high blood pressure because of too many mistakes in the worksheets. Luckily my company is paying 75%of the tuition fee, otherwise I will not enroll my son.Now my dilemma is how can he learn to love Kumon..I will try that Enopi..
why don’t you guys also try NumberWorks its a math tutorial specialist, they use computers so the kids have lots of fun doing the math activities…i.m a SPED teacher so i encounter a lot of kids that find reading and math really challenging anyways they are relatively the same price…they started in alabang saw an ad that they are also in greenhills and katipunan
hope this helps
My son was a student of Enopi for 2 years and it really gave the advantage in some lessons, sometimes review of his class lessons. We stopped because the center nearest to us closed and my son got accepted to the enrichment program in school. I haven’t tried Kumon so I can’t say much about it but Enopi was really helpful to my son. The worksheets are very colorful and there are cartooons that kids love.
My child is with Enopi.. I attended the orientation of Kumon and enopi and searched what other parents say about these methods on the net..I decided on Enopi because it has both Basic math and critical thinking math, the materials are colorful(higher chance of sustaining a child’s interest) and no short cuts on how to solve problems, it also complements his lessons in school ..my little one used to be so stressed with math, but now- enjoys it and even asks for additional math work. But again.. you know your kids better… what worked for us may not work for you…
Hi! I am have been an E.nopi instructor for almost 3 years now. While we may be using worksheets, just like other supplemental learning programs, you can be rest assured that we do interact with our students and we take time to explain new concepts to them as our student teacher ratio is 1 teacher to 5 students (maximum). Furthermore, the E.nopi homework will not and is not designed to interfere with the child’s other activities like studying, playing etc. We give very minimal homework, just enough to enable the child to practice their skills at home, on a daily basis -Sundays excluded. The objective of the program is to enable the student to work independently, but we will not deprive them of explanations. As we always say,”It’s fun learning!” Hope you could visit one of our centers to get a free parent orientation. Thanks.
my daughter had the same experience as with kulay.she had hated doing her assignments over and over again and telling me her brain explodes everytime she sees those worksheets.after a yr. i already dropped her from kumon, though she learned a bit from there.