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Success  Stories

Introduction

Our students, ranging from preschool through 12th grade, develop the skills that help them build upon each concept they learn. With individualized learning plans, motivation and practice, our center prepares students to become avid learners, encouraging success throughout their entire academic experience and beyond.


Testimonial

Josie’s Story

Josie


Josie is 10-years-old, studying three years above her grade level in the Kumon Program. In fact, she’s studying the same math material that her mom, who is an eighth grade teacher, teaches her students. Imagine that, a 10-year-old transforming equations, working with linear functions and simplifying monomials and polynomials. She’s well on her way to advanced algebraic expressions and she isn’t even in middle school yet.


One of the things that Josie likes most about Kumon is the fact that she’s studying above her grade level.


“Kumon gives me confidence because I know how strong of a student it has made me,” says Josie. “I know that I can do and learn anything if I do the work and practice daily. Kumon has taught me about the importance of focusing and to not be afraid of challenges, but to enjoy them and work through them because I know I can overcome anything.”


Josie embodies everything that Toru Kumon had in mind when he founded the Kumon Method. He felt that students would experience the true benefits of the Kumon Method if they acquired the study habits necessary for self-learning and advanced study.


Discover more inspiring success stories on the Kumon Blog !


Rithil ~ 2nd Grader Reading Program Completer

Rithil

I started Kumon before entering kindergarten. At first, I didn’t know how to approach the worksheets as covid happened right after i started.

However, Mrs. Anita and the other staff members guided me every step of the way and provided support whenever I faced challenges. Their encouragement gave me the confidence to tackle each level, and I learned the importance of trying first and becoming more aware of the work I was doing.

I began to realize how much Kumon was helping me in school. Understanding my teacher's lessons, especially in English, became easier. Kumon encouraged me to read a lot of books, which improved my focus on small details and made me a better reader.

As I progressed, Mrs. Anita introduced me to a new challenge—reading a book every week and sharing my opinions about it. I loved this challenge and eagerly looked forward to picking new books from the Kumon library. I read 99% of Kumon Recommended Reading List.

By the time I entered second grade, Mrs. Anita told me I was close to completing all the levels in the reading program within two or three months. I felt both excited and nervous—nervous because I knew the final levels were filled with literature and poetry, which seemed challenging.

In January 2022, I successfully completed the Kumon reading program. Words cannot fully express my gratitude to Mrs. Anita and all the teachers who supported me throughout my journey. Without their care, attention, and encouragement, I wouldn’t have achieved this milestone.

Thank you, Mrs. Anita, and all the teachers at Kumon, for everything!


Lakshay S. ~ Math Program Completer (6th Grd.)

Lakshay

Hello everybody, my name is Lakshay. I’m a senior at the Middlesex County Academy for Allied Health and Biomedical Sciences. It’s a small, selective magnet high school for students in Middlesex County who want to go into medicine. I’ll be going to college this fall, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Of course I’m really excited about this next step, but for the past couple of months I’ve found myself reflecting a lot on my childhood experiences and how they’ve made me the person I am today. And when I think about these things, one of the first things that always comes to mind is Kumon.

I first joined the Sayreville Kumon when I was 8 years old. I was a typical little kid: I loved to get dirty (although my mom hated it), I liked to read, and I was really loud. One day my parents told me to get in the car. We drove to the center where before I knew it, I had a paper and a pencil in front of me. There were some weird symbols on the paper that I didn’t know, so I just wrote down random numbers and handed the paper to Mrs. Anita, just like I did in school. I remember that I was so proud of myself. I didn’t realize that I had no idea what the symbols meant. About half an hour later, we left the little center, and I had a blue-and-black folder in my hand. When I looked inside, there were some packets of paper. In the top left hand corner there was a letter, G. The problems looked easy enough. I didn’t know it then, but that was the start of 3 years of hard work.

Now, I look back and I realize how much Kumon had an impact on my life. Kumon taught me the values of discipline, time management, and hard work. I completed level X in Kumon 6 years ago, in 6th grade. Looking back, I can barely begin to describe the impact that Kumon has had on my life. While many of my other classmates put off their homework or projects until the night before it was due, I never had any issues with finishing my work ahead of time. This has helped me gain a lot more time for studying, time that I was able to manage effectively - again, thanks to Kumon - to earn excellent grades. Because of the critical thinking skills I gained while doing college-level math at Kumon, I can analyze poems in English and speeches in Social Studies without any issues. The math itself that I learned has been invaluable in my math and science classes. I can easily manipulate formulas and calculate large sums in my head because I had so much practice at Kumon.

You might be looking at your work and wondering what the symbols mean or what the question is even asking you. You might feel discouraged or dumb because of that. Let me tell you something: everyone feels that way at some point in their life. Usually, they feel that way at least once or twice a week. I’m really glad that I felt that way while I was doing Kumon work by myself at home. Doing Kumon work at home helped me prepare for school, because I learned many of the same concepts in school. It feels really good when you understand school work right away because you’ve already seen the material - I’m sure many of the students sitting here in the audience will agree.

I’ll end this by saying this: Sticking with Kumon is hard. It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do in your life. Sometimes, it’s going to stink when you can’t play outside in perfect weather because you have to do your Kumon homework, or when you can’t play video games because you forgot to do your packet yesterday. But the benefits of sticking with Kumon are enormous. The skills I learned, and that you’ll learn, as you take the Kumon program to its completion will help you throughout your entire life. Thank you.