When Gaea Jazlin Tondo passed the Acceleration Test from kindergarten to grade two, Mr. Joel and Mrs. Genevieve Tonido tried to find a program that will prepare Gaea for grade two since she will be tackling advanced materials. They would pass by the Kumon Center whenever they would go to work and go home, and they saw that it offered Mathematics. So, they enrolled Gaea in the summer of April 2014 so that she won’t be left behind in school, especially in math, and to prepare her for advanced study.

Even before Kumon, Gaea was already doing well in school. But after enrolling her in Kumon, Mr. and Mrs. Tonido realized that she has become even better.

“Gaea consistently makes it to the top of her batch, receives numerous academic awards, and performs well in other subjects. She is part of the MTAP and she also joins math quiz bees. There was an instance that Gaea was tapped to join a quiz bee without training. She did not know that she was going to compete. Despite the lack of preparations, she came in third. Because of her Kumon training, she was still able to perform well.”

Mr. and Mrs. Tonido see Kumon as an advantage for Gaea especially as she now finds math work at school considerably easier. Plus, with less effort needed in math, she gets to spend more time on other subjects. She has also adopted better time management skills. Although at times, Mr. and Mrs. Tonido really have to remind her to do her Kumon worksheets. But, it is understandable for a nine-year-old who is already doing high school-level materials.

“We do reverse psychology on Gaea. When she doesn’t do her worksheets right away, we tell her that it’s better to quit, which is something she doesn’t want to do. We know it is an unusual way of supporting our child; but for her, she loves doing Kumon, so quitting is not an option. She wants to finish the program, attend the Advanced Student Forum (ASF) and get her award.”

Mr. and Mrs. Tonido are great believers in the Kumon Method and how it can and will benefit Gaea in the long run.

“Kumon is a very good program for our children. It is very common for them to feel like they would want to quit because it could either be that the worksheets are already hard or they are already tired and no longer have time for them. But we, as parents, should be hands-on and support our children with their Kumon study whole-heartedly. We should involve ourselves on what is going on with them and understand the real cause of why they want to quit. Have your child understand the requirements of doing Kumon and foster a daily study habit. Be creative in sustaining motivation and inculcate in the child that quitting is not an option. Remind them of this saying, “a winner never quits and a quitter never wins.” Give them the boost through giving recognition of “little leaps” that propel them to greater heights where the best fruits can be found. These fruits could be the ASF medal and eventual completion.”

To learn more about the Kumon Programs, click here.