Kumon: More than Academics

By Mrs. Jane Najarilla

When Teacher Arlene (center assistant) called me up to ask me to talk to you today, she didn’t have a hard time for 2 reasons: I really wanted to do this…it’s just that I was not able to muster enough strength to volunteer…. Second, I feel that I am on a personal crusade to let other people know how KUMON has changed the lives of my three precious daughters.

Our partnership with KUMON started when my eldest daughter, Vashti, was in Grade 3…where she got 79 in her Math. Upon seeing her grade, I cried…I cried a lot, not because I am a grade-conscious mom, but because of the realization that I am not being a good teacher to my daughter. Together with my husband, we continued helping her with her Math work but it was not successful, often times, our sessions together would end up with fights, sarcastic comments and a scalded ego.

Since I teach in a university, we have Math teacher friends. Two of them agreed to be Vashti’s tutors with Math…But I know how busy they could be, plus the fact that they wouldn’t accept payments, made the situation very uncomfortable for all of us...Then one day…one of my students gave me a brochure of KUMON. His name is Melvin Perez. I still don’t know up to now whether he was aware of my problems with my daughter, or if he was just trying to help his mom who happens to be Teacher Marilou in promoting the center, but he invited me to attend the Parent Orientation. I shared the brochure with my husband and both of us attended a Wednesday Orientation. That same day, a commitment to help a child between me, my husband and KUMON started.

The fulfillment of that commitment was not without trials. At first, it was very painful seeing your elementary level daughter doing basic addition, as in 1-digit to 1-digit addition. But she managed to move on; she managed in fact to be in Level H (Linear Equations, Functions & Graphs). Her 2 other sisters, Oani and Ada also enrolled in KUMON. We enrolled them early so as to avoid any problems when they reach Grade 3 Math where multiplication would be a very good issue. And since they started young, they were able to be silver medalists the first time we attended the same rites we have now.

But then again, challenges continued to test us. A family problem (brought about by the meningo scare that hit Baguio) affected our finances…And together with that we had to let go of KUMON with a very heavy heart. From then on, our daughters would always ask us when they were going back to the center. They would have comments such as, “Kung hindi siguro kami nag-stop, gold medalists na kami.”…and a lot more.

Then Ate enrolled in high school, again with challenges in her Math subjects, and once again, I couldn’t help her…She was able to enroll once again, and after a month, her sisters followed. And today, they are once more in the list of our awardees.

It is not only in academics that KUMON helped my daughters. They are now more persevering, patient and dedicated. They help around the house, assist in the preparation of food/snacks we have to sell the following day, and they even help in marketing by bringing goods to sell to their classmates….to make ends meet so as not to stop going to KUMON again. They are also more determined to finish the program and are more focused in what they want to achieve later on in their lives.

Name of Children: VASHTI , CINA LEOANI and DEINA IWADA NAJARILLA
Name of Parent: JANE NAJARILLA
Center: BAGUIO CENTER (Philippines)