Sylvan Learning vs Thinkster Math: A Comprehensive Comparison
Education is a crucial aspect of a child's development and math tutoring and enrichment programs have gaine...
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Last Updated on August 31, 2021 by Thinkster
If you’re taking the time to search for “Kumon®” or “Kumon near me” on Google, then chances are you’re eager to find math help or support for your child.
As a first step, it’s great to check reviews, program philosophies, and understand their teaching methods. After all, wouldn’t it be frustrating if you end up enrolling in a learning program that is not a match to what you have in mind for your child?
Thinkster Math’s Academic Advisors speak with many parents who are considering joining Kumon.
Parents have shared quite a bit about their experience or reasons they are considering alternative tutoring solutions, such as because of the traveling involved or the curriculum.
After our many phone calls, we’ve rounded up the top 3 reasons should stop searching for “Kumon Near Me” on Google and consider a digital math tutoring alternative like Thinkster.
“I’m looking for a program that’s close to home and easy to travel to.”
If you’re going to Google and searching “Kumon near me”, you’re hoping to find local math support for your child. This might mean that convenience is something that’s really important to you.
If that’s the case, then why not consider enrolling in an online math tutoring program?
Thinkster Math parent, Noelani P., shares more on her experiences with an online tutoring program:
“We found the Thinkster program while searching for alternatives to Kumon (the nearest center for us is over 40 minutes away and is too far)… We have direct communication with the tutor as far as which areas we feel our son needs more help on, and it is also extremely reassuring that we can share with the tutor our son’s progress and the feedback we get from his school.”
An online math program offers extreme convenience. You can access the program from home and you can receive high-quality service!
Think about Netflix’s popularity and why it is considered one of the top services for viewing movies and TV shows.
Essentially, it began with the idea of offering customers a convenience that Blockbuster struggled to provide. You can watch movies online anywhere and anytime, never have to worry about driving to a store to return a movie, and never have to worry about paying any dreaded late fees!
There are two more important features responsible for Netflix’s popularity explosion and why they are a leading digital content provider:
This combination of personalization, awesome content, convenience, and affordability make Netflix one of the favored streaming services.
And you can get these four similar features through an online math tutoring program too!
You’ll find Thinkster Math to be incredibly convenient since there is no traveling required to get an awesome and impactful learning experience for your child.
Academic Advisors first match your child to a dedicated tutor, who creates and provides a personalized learning plan for your child. Each and every student’s learning plan is unique and continuously updated. The tutor provides assignments to be completed, which give access to awesome content from our world-class curriculum.
The tutor pays attention to your child on a daily basis by grading assignments every day. When the tutor reviews your child’s Thinkster assignments, they use our patent-pending Active Replay Technology (ART) to see how your child answers questions and understand why they make mistakes.
The Thinkster tutor observes when your child is writing on the screen, erasing, or pausing to think. This observation period, along with reviewing key data such as accuracy and time-taken, allows the tutor to personalize the next set of assignments based on your child’s performance.
Your child’s math tutor keeps you informed every step of the way too!
They share reports and updates with you on your child’s performance and learning improvements. We also encourage open communication and welcome any parent requests for the learning plan.
The convenience factor that Thinkster Math provides is similar to Netflix. The quality of service is never infringed upon as students receive incredible personalization and awesome content on a daily basis.
“I’m looking for daily practice to help my child improve their math performance.”
Practice is important when it comes to developing skills. According to Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA, “‘knowing nothing to being pretty good’ actually takes about 20 hours of practice.”
Let’s say you decide to learn the saxophone. You won’t become ‘pretty’ good without putting in the time to improve your skills. This is why daily practice is so important. If you practice even just fifteen minutes a day, you might be ‘pretty good’ and ready for a simple jazz piece within three months.
Like learning a new instrument, your child should take a little time each day for math practice to work toward improving their math skills.
As you search for “Kumon near me” on Google, you should keep in mind that there really is no need to drive all the way to a learning center just to pick up material for daily practice.
This is one of the big advantages that Thinkster Math provides. You have unlimited access to assignments, which can be completed anywhere, anytime!
As you are looking into programs for daily practice, also keep in mind that the one that you choose should also be consistent and relevant to the times.
Consider the areas and topics where your child may struggle and need the most practice. For example, many kids find logical reasoning and critical thinking problems to be very challenging.
Kumon typically only focuses on computational skills, which means that their math curriculum may be limiting when it comes to providing logical reasoning and critical thinking problems.
When it comes to these two types of math problems, Thinkster Math’s curriculum can definitely help!
Aligned to Common Core State Standards and based on Singapore math too, Thinkster focuses on helping students develop strong conceptual thinking skills. In fact, word problems and logical reasoning skills are introduced in the first-grade curriculum!
Focusing on developing conceptual skills, such as by using Singapore math methods, is known to improve math skills a significant amount in a short amount of time.
The combination of accessible daily practice assignments and a curriculum that supports developing thinking skills can have your child set for success!
Thinkster Math parent Gemma S. shares more on the improvements her kids have made with Thinkster:
“I am a huge fan of Thinkster having used it for several years. The topics are covered thoroughly, ensuring that my children really understand the concepts and have ample opportunities to practice. If your child is particularly interested in a certain area of maths, or if you want your child to focus on one topic for a while to support them with their maths at school, then their tutor will accommodate that.
Both my children were recently moved into higher ability maths groups at school due to their regular (daily) practice on Thinkster. The app has improved not only their understanding of maths, but also their general confidence in tackling and solving new problems.”
Combining convenience, customization, and a world-class curriculum with unlimited access to practice assignments can have your child making incredible learning improvements in less than three months!
“My friend’s son does Kumon.”
One thing that Thinkster Math Academic Advisors hear quite often is that a parent is considering Kumon for their child because their own friend has their child enrolled in it.
There are certain situations where you value and take recommendations from your friends, such as new restaurants in town to try or what movie to see at the theatre on Friday night.
There are other times, though, when you shouldn’t be so quick to make a decision based on what your friend says or purchases.
If your friend tells you they just purchased a Hyundai Sonata, there’s a strong chance you’re not going to jump up and go out to purchase the same car. You might be curious about their choice, but that doesn’t mean you’ll immediately make the same purchase. You will likely research and test-drive the car, understand the different features, and then determine if the car is really a fit for your family’s needs.
Choosing a math learning program for your child is just like this.
All kids are different, which means your child may not respond the same way to a math program as their friends and peers. This is why it’s important to consider your child’s learning style, needs, and academic goals carefully before joining a program.
Instead of jumping up and enrolling in Kumon, be sure to do initial research. There are many different learning programs available and alternative options, like Thinkster Math, may be a better fit for your child.
Thinkster Math is able to address different learning needs and goals through the customized approach that a dedicated tutor takes with your child. The learning plan and daily assignments provided are modified and monitored by the tutor daily. This allows the tutor to ensure that the learning plan provides optimal performance and learning improvements in areas that your child needs help with.
Another bonus is that these learning improvements are easily and readily available at your fingertips!
Thinkster Math provides parents with a Parent Insights App. You can view key data points, such as accuracy and time-taken on assignments, view upcoming assignments, and review completed work, comments, and feedback from the tutor.
You can also always view your child’s Dynamic Progress Matrix. The matrix displays the topics and concepts within a grade level. Anytime your child completes an assessment or unit test, you will see visual updates and progression with a color-coded system to represent their proficiency.
All of this information is available to you always! You can access the Parent Insights App right from your cell phone and always stay in-the-know of your child’s progress and learning improvements.
As Thinkster Parent, Steven G. shares:
“Thinkster has some things we did not find in other K-6 programs, the inclusion of word problems as part of the curriculum, a review system in which confidence is built by periodically returning to an area of study to refresh and reaffirm mastery rather than drilling to boredom, a progress dashboard that facilitates a much better conversation between parent and child about progress and goals.
The level of visibility into our daughter’s progress via the weekly updates has made it significantly easier to stay on top of her progress as well as provide performance metrics we can discuss with her without emotion or drama.”
And many parents really love Thinkster Math! Along with many reviews, Thinkster also earned the National Parenting Seal of Approval in 2015.
Thinkster Math has garnered the attention of many companies and news sources – such as Apple, Forbes, The New York Times, Scholastic and many more!
Ready to read more about why Thinkster is a compelling alternative to Kumon? You can check out our blog here.
Conclusion
If you’re going to Google to search “Kumon near me”, then chances are you are doing so for one of the following reasons:
But searching online for Kumon may not lead you to what you’re really looking for for your child.
If you want a math learning program that is convenient, highly personalized and provides amazing content that develops strong thinking skills, then you should consider Thinkster Math!
Remember, it’s important to take your time to explore learning program options for your child. Math programs have different teaching styles and philosophies, so you want to ensure the program you are joining is the best match for your child.
Before getting locked into a contract with a program like Kumon, take the time to try Thinkster Math! While you’re at it, let your friend that’s in Kumon know to give us and our 7-day free trial a try too!
Why are you looking for a math learning program for your child?
Note: Kumon® is a registered trademark of Kumon North America, Inc. Thinkster Math is in no way affiliated to the same.
