My Dear Little Sister
My little sister, Cathe, turns a year older today. And she has grown a lot. It seemed only yesterday that we were afraid she wouldn’t learn how to talk, or if she wouldn’t be able to fend for herself as needed. But she grown into a wonderful and smart young adult.
It was only fitting, and fortunate, that yesterday our own sexy mother was asked to give a speech during Kumon Achiever’s Day. Cathe, my sister, was one of the top students who were already at a very high level in Mathematics. I am quoting our mom’s speech below as it comprehensively explains our challenges and pride with having her. And so that we may share with everyone how proud we are of her.
Happy Birthday, Cathe. 
Good morning to everyone, to all proud parents present here, guests,family members and Kumon family, good morning.
Two weeks ago, when Cathe informed me that I will be gracing this important occasion to share our challenges as parents, I was surprised and my initial reaction was “why me?”. Then teacher Cheryl called on that same day to confirm and frankly speaking as any parents would feel, I am so honored, flattered and here I am sharing this momentous occasion with all of you.
Let me reminisce a bit… It was February 2005 when we decided to inquire on what is in store for our daughter Catherine or Cathe as we fondly call her, if we will enroll her at Kumon.
I have been hearing and reading about Kumon Method of Learning for so many years back then, but am really not convinced yet on its benefits. At the back of my mind, I have these questions:
- Can our daughter cope with the schedule doing Kumon lessons and attending regular school as 6th grader then.
- Will she be able to enjoy what she will be doing and what if she backs out after.
- Will she really improve her math skill, develop confidence and self esteem
Actually, it was our family friend who encouraged me to try Kumon. It so happened that during that time , the center is offering trial sessions for free so we did avail. After the free sessions, we asked Cathe if she is really interested to continue or pursue as this means she has to give up part of her leisure time if not most of it. Finally, on February 25, 2005 we enrolled her to take Kumon Math and the rest is history.
Admittedly, Cathe’s transformation is enormous such that her self confidence has developed quantum leap. In her school, her classmates used to ask her dad “may boses ba iyan?” as they can hardly hear her voice and she never recites in her classes. Now she actively discusses with her classmates their lessons, raises her hand to recite and suddenly everyone in her class started to befriend her.
She developed discipline in her study habits such that her academic standing has improved a lot. While she is in pilot section and on top 20 of her class, she never received an award before . Now she is consistently getting perfect scores in her math quizzes and exams and even improved her performance in other subjects too. This academic year, she was able to be in top ten and was recognized in her class as Best in Math and two other subjects.
Now, we can see her as a happy child, enjoying every new lessons in kumon and excelling in her high school subjects. In fact, she is even willing mentoring her cousins and classmates on their math lessons.
As parents, we just remind her to do her worksheets everyday and give equal priority to her Kumon. She has started to check her own work several months back with our reminder to be honest in her self checking to really gauge her performance and as it is now it proved all of these worked.
At this point, allow me to conclude my talk by sharing with you the personal challenges of Catherine as she progresses in her Kumon way of life and to quote her:
- I have started to become confident about my skills and independent in my studies.
- I’m able to understand lessons that Iíve never come to imagine that I could.
- Sometimes, if there is a new lesson, I will find it difficult at first but if I try to understand the lesson, I will be able to answer it properly though there will be mistakes at the first try.
- No matter how difficult the lesson is, I will try to never give up until I fully understand it.
- And finally I have a clear goal in completing KUMON.
So this is our girl and we (her dad and ate) are very proud of her. Congratulations dear.
Thank you very much and again good morning.
