Avoiding summer brain drain

Hi Everyone


We will be here in HK for the whole summer. Last year my boys didn't do one scrap of school work. I decided to give them a break. Unfortunately they forgot nearly everything they learned. This summer in addition to various sports that they will be doing I want to enrol them in Sylvan or Kumon to revise what they did throughout the year. Can anyone give me advice on what they do with their kids (to avoid brain drain) over the summer? Also has anyone put their children at either of these schools. I'm not really sure what the difference is between the two. My boys are at an ESF school ages 10 and 8.

Many thanks

I dont know about Sylvan but as my daughter goes to Kumon for its Maths and Mandarin, I can tell you something about it. Kumon is extremely boring for some kids but might be ok for some. Its principle is "drills and drills and drills". All they do is to give you exercise sheets. Your kids go there once a week to do some classwork in the centre and at the sametime bring home with them 6 day homework. There will be instructors in the centre to help and explain to your kids if they have problems. But they are just kumon instructors and not qualified teachers or whatsoever. They can be very experienced tutors. I dont mean to downgrade them but just telling you the facts. If your children are 8 and 10 already and are at ESF, I really doubt if they will like Kumon. Or it wl be a constant battle to ask them to do their homework at home.

Hi, I am a qualified teacher at a Learning Centre in Wanchai. Many students came for the summer programme and we gave them appropriate lessons that geared them up for the next grade. Most of our teaching materials are from Singapore, and we also tailor the programme according to the needs of the students. The students are now taking a break but they will return before term starts.


We do give the student worksheets but the aim is to guide them with questions that will help to clarify their concepts. The lessons usually consist of an introduction to concepts, recaps from last lessons, group discussions, interactive sessions and practices. Also, we build rapport with the students and we believe in modeling good values.


I believe there are good centres around in Hong Kong and I do think that the good ones will be able to meet the learning needs of your children.

I work at Sylvan so i can tell you first hand of the experience. We have a specialised course designed for your kids. Basically it involves them being assessed at one of our centres, then based on the assessment we look at the children's deficiencies and provide our own testing structures in order to help them through the coursework. It is generally for kids who are behind in school (sometimes involving kids with learning disabilities) or for kids who want to get ahead of the class.

Hi Everyone

Thanks for your replies. We visited Kumon and Sylvan and decided on Sylvan in the end. The boys were tested thouroughly (4 hours worth) and then we saw what they had missed throughout the year. It is amazing - a couple of really important things - anyway they focus on bringing them up to speed and just generally get them writing again. They are actually really enjoying it and I think I will keep it up once a week when school goes back.

Thanks again