<p>A brief word about Kumon and its pros and cons: We all know instinctively what 3+4 equals, we don’t have to use fingers to count, etc. What Kumon does is implants many, many more ‘automatic answers’ in the brain so that there is a strong foundation of basic mathematics. The only way a normally intelligent kid can do that is through repetition, and that is the premise of Kumon, one work sheet a day, maybe 15-20 minutes. </p>
<p>Where it has made a difference with both my kids is they don’t make basic, stupid math errors when working on complex problems. One son, a chem. eng. major, sometimes has test questions where the answer is two pages worth of equations. One simple math error can throw an entire question into disarray. The other kid (not a science or math major) just aced the hardest econ class at his U. largely because of his level of comfort with equations and math in general.</p>
<p>The elementary school my kids went to had maybe 30 minutes of math a day if they were lucky, and to get good and quick at math, I thought they needed more. </p>
<p>As far as cons, as someone said above, story problems, not so much with Kumon, but the basic calculating foundation helps with those too.</p>