Saturday, July 18, 2009

2009 SUMMER BREAK

We will be closed in the last week of July and August 2009 as follows;

24th - 31st July, re-open on Tuesday 4th August
24th Aug - 1st Sep, re-open on Friday 4th September

Note the Kanata North Kumon Centre normally closes the last week of July and August, 2 weeks in the winter for the Christmas break and one week for the March break. During this period all the children are given the homework as normal. Upon returning from the holiday breaks the reading student will normally start with either the end of their level test or the reading book tracker on the first day. The math students complete a review worksheet before moving on.

This gives us enough time to ensure that the holiday homework has been completed, corrected and understood.

THE KUMON "THINKING FACE"






















Every now and then I come across the question from either one of my students or a prospective Kumon family, "What does the Kumon face portray?" or "Is this a sad face?", and I am quite happy to awnser that it isn't a sad face at all but actually represents a thinking face.

THE “THINKING FACE”

The "THINKING FACE" as contained in the Kumon logo was developed to represent not only the children who, thinking deeply as they study and gain the necessary life skills and academic ability at our centre, but also the instructor who guides the children in their study. Just like the children, these instructors are also continually learning, growing and developing day by day. The "THINKING FACE" represents the face of everyone involved in Kumon.

The most pertinent question in Kumon is, "How can I help each child progress?" Everyone involved in Kumon takes education very seriously, seeks to learn from the children. The "THINKING FACE" represents the child thinking as he or she studies. It also represents the adults who think how they can implement improvements that will benefit each child. This includes the instructors, the staff members, and of course, the parents! The development of each individual child is always the goal of Kumon and those involved with Kumon in any way. Learning from the children and with the children, is what makes Kumon so effective.

The blue colour appearing in the logo represents honesty, intelligence, and integrity, as well as the colour of the sky. The sky of course, is universal to everyone in the world, and therefore represents the universality of the Kumon method. In addition, the "sky blue" used also represents Kumon's hope that the world will achieve unity, that the future of all children will grow on a grand scale and that all people all over the world will think deeply about education.

At our Kumon Award ceremony early this year (Jan 2009), some of the younger children were painting their own medals and many choose to paint the Kumon face ........................enjoy the many faces of Kumon as the children at the Kanata North Kumon Centre see it!






Monday, July 13, 2009

IS MY CALLING EDUCATION OR ADMINISTRATION?

I realised quite some time ago that I was spending too much time on tuition collection, following up on late fees and handling NSF cheques. Since then my research has been on to find an alternative system that will not only free up my time but as a business ensure my processses are efficient, streamlined and cost-effective for my customers.

When education is my calling do I really want to spend all that extra time on administration?
I really wish to free up my time to focus on providing a quality educational experience for my students.

Currently I am manually processing every payment and this can be very time consuming. We have come up with an alternative that will allow us to provide a great customer service and continue to build up a long term relationship while running a fair and profitable business.
We are in the process of setting up a system where we can offer all types of hassle free payment options to my Kumon families. This is also in line with our going-green plan to reduce the number of cheques that parents have to issue to us yearly not to mention how many books they need to order and thus incur extra expenses per cheque leaf. As banks continue to increase their charges and rates, cost per cheque leaf and charges for payments returned continue to grow.

This process will enable us to collect payments via Visa, Mastercard or Debit. The exact details are still being worked out. It will probably come into effect from September for new enrollments and from January 2010 for existing Kumon families. Once we are ready to move with this system a letter will go to all families to inform them of the change and the process involved for them to switch over.

So do be on the lookout for change is in the air!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

2009 KANATA KUMON AWARD CEREMONY
















KANATA NORTH KUMON CENTRE AWARD CEREMONY JANUARY 2009

The theme this year was "Paint your own medal". Program completers painted their own trophy. What fun everyone had! Even more astonishing was the self-motivating quotes that the children painted by themselves without any prompting.

"I can do It!", "Kumon rocks", "I rock"
"I can read" .......that I must say touched me the most, can you imagine how powerful the child who had been struggling to put these strange characters together must have felt when now suddenly he can comprehend them?
"I rock the world" "I will keep on working hard" "I will complete my work........eventually"..........now that doesn't make me very happy! But he did eventually realise that putting off to tomorrow what needs to be done today only creates a pile of unfinished Kumon worksheets and an unhappy instructor.
"The best of me" "I did it!"...........one of my favourites. once the children realise that the reviews, persistence and daily completion really helps them to move faster, there nothing stopping them. Then just watch them go!
"Level F is hard"................that was funny, it certainly helped me plan his reviews better though had he discussed it earlier with me he might have changed his mind and painted "Algebra is so much fun!!"

OUR ANNUAL CALENDER OF ACTIVITIES

KANATA NORTH KUMON MATH & READING CENTRE
ANNUAL CALENDER:
This is our suggested annual activity calender; however it is subject to change, postponement or cancellation of any activity at any time without notice.


JANUARY - (1) Kumon Award Ceremony – “Every child an Achiever”
FEBRUARY - Parent calls
MARCH - March Break, one week closed
APRL - (5) Paint an Easter egg and donate to the Children’s make a wish foundation
MAY - (2) Parent Calls
JUNE - Parent Calls
JULY - (3) Ice-cream voucher, closed last week summer break
AUGUST - Ice-cream voucher, closed last week summer break
SEPTEMBER (4) Family movie/Educational documentary
OCTOBER - Parent Calls
NOVEMBER - Halloween Treats
DECEMBER - (5) Paint a Christmas tree decoration and donate to the foundation. Closed two weeks winter break.

1) Every year in January we hold our Annual Awards Ceremony where every Kumon child is honoured for their hard work and achievements through the year. Program completers are acknowledged as are milestone achieved. Scholarships are handed out to the reading completers.
2) During parent call months, the Instructor calls up families to check if all is going well, make suggestions or just reconfirm that the student is on track with their goals to become a program completer.
3) Normally in the 3rd week of July and August every Kumon student receives a free icecream voucher to use at the icecream parlour which is at the corner of Teron and Calian.
4) A family movie or documentary is chosen as a treat for the Kumon families. This can be shown either at the hall in the church or in a cinema hired for the occasion.
5) Kanata North Kumon supports the “Make a wish foundation” This foundation grants the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions. Make-A-Wish makes a huge difference in the kid’s lives. When there isn’t a cure, there is still something positive in their lives to look forward to. By Introducing our Kumon children to be part of this we feel we have a total win-win situation. They have a fun painting activity in the seasons of giving and sharing during Easter and Christmas. The proceeds go to the foundation to help make some child’s dream come true! Every time we will request a different child/family to participate in the handing over of the cheque to the foundation.


OUR VISION STATEMENT

KANATA NORTH KUMON CENTRE
VISION STATEMENT

To equip every child with crucial life skills and


K nowledge using a

U nique & proven

M ethod that builds focus, confidence and discipline, enabling

O utstanding performance, while

N urturing the whole person.


ABOUT KUMON

ABOUT KUMON


Kumon offers math and reading instruction year-round - even throughout the summer. Founded in Japan in 1958, the learning method uses a systematic approach that helps children develop a solid command of math and reading skills. Through daily practice and mastery of materials, students increase confidence, improve concentration and develop better study skills. Worldwide, there are 4 million students studying at more than 26,000 Kumon Centers in 43 countries. For more information: 1-800-ABC-MATH or your local centre in Kanata, Ottawa or visit www.kumon.com.