Mathnasium vs Kumon Comparison – Which is Best
Mathnasium and Kumon are two online math tutoring platforms and tutoring services that offer basic and advanced features that apply to teachers and learners. These two tutoring platforms are designed to help elementary school students and college students with their learning process by giving them access to tutors who fulfill their academic needs in math. They are a part of this massive number of online tutoring programs, and as more of them become legitimate, the consumer’s choice becomes more complex as they try to find a reliable private tutor.
In this review, we will explain why these two services reign supreme over most tutoring marketers, and we will break down the pros and cons of Mathnasium vs. Kumon. We will also be exploring which tutoring service is best suited for improving a student’s math skills and which service gives a student the most opportunity to study the curriculum from their math class.
We will break down the different features of each program that may influence the decision of which tutoring service to use and invest in. Here are some surface-level differences between the two math tutoring programs and some information on Learner as another potential option.
Quick Facts
| Mathnasium | Kumon | |
| Product Quality | A math program intensely focused on encouraging students to develop their math skills. Most parents of high school students feel that their children benefit from this tutoring program. | A rigorous and studious tutoring program that prides itself on its structure. Kumon has an intense focus on repetition, and while some students benefit from this structure, other students struggle with the experience. This inconsistency leads to parents having a broad perspective on the site and its validity as a tutoring site. |
| Academic Results | 94% of parents have reported improvement in their child’s academics. 90% of students saw improvement in their school grades after using Mathnasium. | Students’ skills were over a year ahead of the national average. Math students scored an average of 5.27 points higher on Math SATs. |
| Delivery | This website allows in-person and online meetings to explore math concepts better. | This website allows in-person and online meetings to explore math concepts better. |
| Pricing | Starts from $200-$300 per month | $100-$200 per month |
| Support | Mathnasium allows the student to have their personalized tutoring plan focused on improving their math skills to meet the expectations of their school curriculum. | Kumon focuses on worksheets and offers fewer one-on-one sessions where the student can ‘learn’ math. These assignments are graded on a time scale of 30 minutes, and most works are completed at home with the student’s self-learning skills. |
Why You Should Consider Online Tutoring
Online tutoring services have many stylistic and results-based benefits that give them different utility than traditional school settings. One of them is that for subjects with rigorous testing, such as science and math, online tutoring is the best way to understand the material and increase average test scores.
Also, depending on the institution, it isn’t easy to get individual meetings with teachers. Online tutoring offers an easily accessible method of finding time for one on one appointments with an educator who will be able to help the student comprehend the assignments and curriculum better.
Mathnasium Overview
Mathnasium is an online tutoring center that offers math assistance for children of all ages. Mathnasium’s mission is to teach math to children in a fun way and become engaged to learn in the subject. Read on for more information on Mathnasium to determine if it’s an exemplary service for you and your family.
What is Mathnasium?
Mathnasium is an online tutoring center founded in 2002 to allow children to enjoy math and improve at math without being intimidated by large classroom settings or in-person lectures. Covering the subject of Math, Mathnasium offers tutoring sessions that span from 30 minutes to 90 minutes.
Mathnasium Tutors are highly touted as being some of the most well-trained and approved tutors of Math in the entire world. Most centers suggest 2-3 tutoring sessions a week to keep the student learning at the same pace while catching up with homework and test prep.
Pros
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Bottom Line: Mathnasium is an excellent option if your child struggles with math but is okay with all other subjects and wants a cost-effective tutoring program to partake in.
How Does Mathnasium Work?
Mathnasium follows a 30-year-old methodology that includes over 5,000 pages of material given to the student. Students work directly with an instructor on material tailored to each child. Progress reports are sent home regularly. Typically, the child spends a learning session at the Mathnasium center twice a week, but it is also Mathnasium at home, which is conducted through video calls. The student is first evaluated, then prescribed a personalized and prescriptive learning program.
How Much Does Tutoring Cost?
On average, tutoring with Mathnasium costs $200-300 a month. But tutoring prices may change drastically by region and zip code. And hourly tutoring costs vary depending on the tutor’s qualifications. If the Mathnasium tutor is a college student, they may charge around $30 an hour, teachers charge about $45 an hour, and calculus tutors can charge even more.
After a certain number of master checks, the student receives enough punches on their mastery card to pick out a prize from the Mathnasium prize cabinet. This method keeps every student engaged and allows them to track their progress and see results.
Is Mathnasium Legit?
Mathnasium is a legitimate online marketplace for tutors and students alike. Many students who do not enjoy math enjoy it with the use of Mathnasium.
What Are Customers Saying About Mathnasium?
When it comes to Mathnasium, the reviews from Indeed show that the overall consensus seems to be that the students who use the site are incredibly optimistic about the experience. The employees are seen as bright, helpful tutors. Students and parents believe it’s one of the top sights in terms of assigning quality tutors to students and giving them the best opportunity to learn about math.
Overall, tutors are well-trained and friendly while capable of keeping students engaged in the learning process while they frequent the center.
Kumon Overview
Kumon is a dual math and reading program founded in Japan in the 1950s. Kumon has tutoring centers all over the country, and these tutoring centers convey Kumon’s teaching method, which has been consistent for over 60 years. This method is called the Kumon method, where the students are given just enough guidance to complete the assignments on their merit.
With the Kumon Method, students study independently from an early age and develop a high level of academic ability and the ability to learn independently, or what we at Kumon refer to as a “self-learning” ability. As a result, after children who have done Kumon grow up and enter the workforce, they can think of solutions themselves, even when faced with complex challenges. All in all, the skills that students gain through doing Kumon go a long way to helping them to achieve their goals and dreams.
What is Kumon?
Kumon is a learning system famous for drilling the basics of math and reading into children for the past sixty-plus years. Instead of using personalized learning plans, Kumon focuses on the basics and tests a student to the appropriate level while still keeping the program individualized. Once students master a specific skill set, they can move on to the next level in mathematics or reading while operating within one of the Kumon centers.
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Bottom Line: Kumon is great for students who need repetitive learning but not for anyone who needs one-on-one help and is very useful for those that need to remember specific problem-solving steps.
How Does Kumon Work?
Kumon might seem like Mathnasium on the surface. Both programs are mainly in-person teaching centers that offer some online services that aren’t as well developed as other online tutoring sites. However, the teaching methods are entirely different between the two centers.
Kumon focuses on repeating the basics of math and other subjects thousands of times until it is drilled into a student’s head, while Mathnasium attempts to optimize the student’s learning experience. Once your child takes an assessment test, they will be assigned to a slightly lower class than they tested. This ensures they have mastered all the basics of Kumon’s curriculum.
At Kumon, students work through worksheets dedicated to the current issue they are trying to master and have more individualized learning based on these assignments instead of conducting group assignments. They don’t bring in their homework or move on until they have learned that concept. Kumon also sends homework back to the child’s house for about 30 more minutes of work that evening.
How Much Does Kumon Tutoring Cost?
Kumon costs anywhere from $100-$200 per month, depending on the location and subject matter. High school students and higher levels may cost more, but the sessions are all the same length.
Kumon students attend in-person meetings twice a week for the duration of their dedicated meeting times. Most Kumon students have about 30 minutes of extra homework to complete every week. This is included in the cost. The main variant in cost for Kumon students is whether they are enrolled in tutoring for math, reading, or both.
Is Kumon Legit?
Kumon is legit, and while children aren’t as excited to go to a Kumon center as they are for Mathnasium, the results are very similar. However, the business is not Better Business Bureau accredited which does the reviews for the organization as an essential source of information.
What Are Customers Saying About Varsity Tutors?
Based on sites like sitejabber.com, Kumon has more mixed reviews than Mathnasium, with a good portion of Kumon’s students and parents saying that there wasn’t enough personal support and Kumon was a lot of work. However, many other customers emphasized that freneticism of Kumon is what produces results – by repeating a formula hundreds of times, the idea is that the student will retain information at a higher rate.
One of Kumon’s main teaching points is that the students are put into lower testing brackets than give them valuable test-taking experience. This system ensures that every student learns every concept and how to apply that concept educationally. However, it can lead to students doing work they already know or redoing work from several grades below them.
Mathnasium vs Kumon Tutors Similarities
- Both platforms offer minimal online tutoring while prioritizing in-person tutoring options for math tutoring.
- Both platforms are tutoring centers that offer repetitive assignments.
- Both platforms are cheaper than other one-on-one tutoring intensive online tutoring programs.
Mathnasium Tutors and Kumon Tutors are both tutors that offer minimal online tutoring and supply students with tutoring centers that they can attend. All for the sake of improving their understanding of math-based subjects cost-effectively.
Mathnasium vs Kumon Tutor Differences
- Mathnasium offers multiple one-on-one sessions for students to take in their tutoring centers, while Kumon acts more on group facilitation.
- Mathnasium has a more extensive hiring process which contributes to students not being as optimistic about the experience of working with Kumon tutors.
- Mathnasium Tutors will allow their students to bring in tests and assignments from their classes while Kumon tutors.
Mathnasium has a better reputation for its methods because they employ more one-on-one tutoring sessions than Kumon. The tutoring experience is also more tailored to each student’s individual needs in math, while Kumon has a strict regimen that their tutors follow.
Mathnasium vs Kumon: Which is Better?
When deciding between Mathnasium and Kumon, the decision depends mainly on what your child needs to best put them in a position to learn. Some younger students need structure, regiment, and repetition to know all the material available to them. Other students work better with the possibility of rewards and visible progress. Specifically for college students, Mathnasium’s methodology is better.
If your child needs help with both math and reading, Kumon is the better option for the two. It’s the only one that offers both at the exact location. Kumon is also slightly less expensive and has a more flexible schedule. However, it sends extra homework to the student and isn’t as flexible regarding how the curriculum is taught.
For a more personalized approach to learning math, Mathnasium is the better choice. The student will have a more personalized relationship with the tutors at the center and receive a stronger foundation of math basics while sharing their math homework with those tutors at their own pace. They might learn math through repetition and memorization at Kumon, but Mathnasium helps them to take control of their knowledge and apply it.
Why We Recommend Learner Instead
We recommend Learner instead for most students because Learner allows for a fully customized learning plan from the start while also giving the students or the parents of the students some influence on who it is that will be tutoring the student. So, while the other two programs give students massive restrictions either in their choice of a tutor or the flexibility of their tutoring plan, Leaner provides the student with the ability to control both.
A common theme amongst many of the reviews for Learner is that there is a surplus of examples where tutors helped their students learn by adjusting their teaching methods. Whether it’s by infusing more positivity into their tutoring, allowing the student to solve the problem independently, simplifying the learning process, etc., like the other two platforms, Leaner employs many world-class tutors who are pedagogy experts and are comfortable customizing their lesson plans to suit the student’s own pace and deliver in the student’s preferred learning style.
Beyond the subject matter, Learner tutors help define trajectories after the passing grade so that the students understand how to improve even further after the studying sessions are complete. Learner is a more flexible tutoring platform that gives the options of how they want their tutoring experience to go back to the students, earning them #1 spot as the best online math tutors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some common frequently asked questions about online tutoring to help you decide if it’s what your child needs.
How much does tutoring cost?
The cost of tutoring changes depending on which program the student uses. If the tutor determines a set amount, then that cost typically varies between $25-$60 an hour. However, that price can go up and down for any tutoring program. Some programs are more lenient and cost anywhere from $100-300 a month, depending on how many sessions the students attend.
How much should I pay my tutor?
You should only pay your tutor if your experience with the session was valuable and contributed to your learning. Many tutoring programs have policies stating that if the tutoring session isn’t beneficial or doesn’t appear to benefit you, you should be able to acquire a refund.
Is a tutor worth it for your child?
The tutor is worth it for your child if they need help advancing their grades. Tutors are some of the most surefire ways to increase a student’s grade in any subject. Tutors help teach students math but also help them comprehend the material in a manner fit for test taking.
How can I find a tutor online?
For tutor programs where you get to control who your tutor is, you can sign up for Wyzant for free or the Learner service. If you wish for a tutor to be assigned to your students out of a bunch of qualified candidates, then Varsity Tutors is the site for you.
Is online tutoring better?
Online tutoring is more available, cost-effective, and gives some interesting technological tools to the student. The ability to record lectures and have video lectures sent to the student is a significant benefit that most in-person tutoring doesn’t have.
