Experiences with Kumon We have enrolled our 5 year old son in Kumon which is an after school math and reading enrichment program of Japanese origin. 
While he is learning lots of things (currently learning how to add i.e., 1+4=?, 2+4=? etc) I am concerned about the utility of this approach to teach math. For example, he already knows that 4+2=6 but when he sees 2+4=? he needs to again start counting to figure out the answer. I know that he is still too young to perhaps appreciate that 2+4 and 4+2 give the same answer.
But, the above example suggests that Kumon's method of teaching math may not necessarily enhance his understanding of math. He may come to view math as a bunch of rules to follow- an outcome which would be a complete disaster. So, given the above background my questions are:


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*Does anyone know of any research/studies that have examined the effectiveness of Kumon? (A cursory google search did not turn up anything)

*Have any of you been part of the Kumon program? If so, how was your experience?

A few years ago when I was in high school I worked part - time for the Kumon Learning Center as a teaching assistant. Generally my experiences with Kumon is that the learning is generally rote and done through the weekly worksheets assigned. Admittedly, some of the worksheets are quite cleverly designed, the material is not of a theoretical nature. Although personally I feel that this would not affect children too much at the younger grades, where I don't really see a better alternative to learning simple arithmetic other than simple repetition, the theoretical understanding when it comes to upper mathematics like algebra or calculus can be a little lacking (although in Kumon's defense, some of the kids get really good, simply from the sheer amount of practice they've had).
I feel that if you have the time and energy to simply sit down with your son and teach him yourself, then Kumon is not needed. In reality, most of the money you pay are for the worksheets you get. If you do not have the time and energy and you want your son to have a solid grounding in arithmetic then Kumon wouldn't hurt, although I would recommend an alternative when he gets into algebra based maths.
