Kumon Workbooks

On a blog I found recently, they posted about a Kumon workbook on having children practice cutting. I had never heard of these books before so of course I went to check them out on Amazon. With Nathan quickly approaching his third birthday I knew I wanted to start helping him learn to read and write (obviously starting with the very basics!). He already recognizes most of the letters (uppercase and lowercase) and can count to 10, but it's not something we have spent much time practicing. While I wanted to integrate some learning time into our schedule, I was not willing to do a bunch of preparation time for it, especially considering my lack of creativity and the arrival of baby #3 in the not-too-distant future. I decided to take the plunge and order Nathan a couple of the Kumon workbooks to try. Having just finished my BEd coursework, I know how 'out of fashion' worksheets are in the current teaching literature, but I think for skills that require lots of practice they have their place. Plus since we are working one-on-one, the pace will be appropriate and he should be challenged.

The book we have started with is called "My First Book of Tracing." It is apparently the first book in a whole pyramid of workbooks. The little subtitle at the bottom of the cover says "mastering basic pencil skills builds a firm foundation for writing letters and numbers." Prior to starting this book Nathan liked to colour but had no interest in staying inside lines or anything.

My first day with this book I had a dilemma. I can not figure out if Nathan is going to be right- or left-handed. I have observed him eating, colouring, and doing lots of other things, and he seems to randomly choose a hand each time. In my heart I thought he might be left-handed, so we tried with his left hand the first day. We decided to do one sheet (both sides, so two pages) per day. We spent a few minutes learning how to hold the pencil properly and then he drew the first few lines. Most of the exercises in the book have the child draw a line from one picture to the matching picture elsewhere on the page. The path they are to follow is usually white with the surrounding area coloured. Nathan did about as well as I had expected. His lines were quite wiggly and I had to keep reminding him of how to hold the pencil. The funny thing was how much he loved it! He wanted to do the whole book! I took that as a good sign but said we would put the book away and do the next page tomorrow.

The next day, after a chat with Mom, I decided to try his right hand. Since I haven't been able to figure out his handedness, I figured we might as well pick the right hand and if he is really left-handed he will switch back before long. His lines were much less wiggly with his right hand and again he loved doing it.

Since then we've done about 15 pages and the lines he is drawing have gotten progressively more difficult (from horizontal / vertical -> diagonal -> curved -> zig zag) and the paths he is drawing within have become narrower. His pencil control has really improved although it is still far from perfect. The best part is how much he enjoys it! There is never a day that goes by that he doesn't ask to do the next page once he finishes the one for the day.

A sheet only takes us about 5 minutes, so it is only a small part of our learning time for the day, but I am so happy with the results and his reaction to it. Hopefully these books (and the other things we are teaching him) will help prepare him for success in his academic life. I loved school as a kid, and I think a lot of it came from being well-prepared before I ever entered kindergarten.