Abacus AMA Learning Center

My son just finished the 10-​level curriculum last week and I couldn’t be more proud! He started the program during the summer before first grade and now he is finishing up fourth grade (with breaks for holidays and vacations). It was a long journey but very worthwhile.
The class meets weekly for 2 hours and the homework takes about 10 – 15 minutes every day. When he first started, he complained about having to go to class on Saturdays and have to do «extra-​homework» daily. But the program is quite effective and he started doing multiplication problems after just a few months while kids were still counting Teddy bears and colored balloons in his regular school. This program helped him to build solid foundation on math facts and confidence in working on math problems early on.
We had our ups and downs here. The abacus math problems get quite hard after the first few levels. For a time my son almost gave up but thanks to the center and the teachers, especially Miss Summer, who took the time to help my son to figure out his missed steps and to correct his mistakes, my son overcame his issues and continued with program with renewed interest.
It does involve significant commitment and after the first four or five levels, the problems get quite complex, with very long computations sometimes more than 10 digits. At one point I thought this was more than what was practical and I was not sure about the utility for continuing to higher levels (maybe unless he gets stuck on a space station without a calculator and need to manually recalibrate some machine requiring precise mathematical computation…) But by then, my son asked to continue and wanted to complete the program. I think he recognized how the program had helped him to build his math skills, ability to focus and helped him to do well in school. While the higher level problems may be too complex to be practical, they are great brain workouts to keep his math skills sharp.
Last week when I walked in to pick him up after class, the teachers all looked at me smiling and asking him to tell mom the good news. It was his last class (my bad; didn’t even realize that) and he had passed the test for the final level but he did not want to tell me that he was done. It turns out as part of the program, students who have finished all levels are invited to return for review at any time. My son didn’t want to tell me that he graduated so I would keep bringing him here for class! Wow! I told him I would be happy to take him here for as long as he wanted to come.
He went back for the first time this week as a graduate. He worked on some problems and helped Miss Summer with some of the little kids. He was thrilled to be a little assistant teacher. Miss Summer also gave him a refresher on the earlier stuff that he had forgotten. I think there is no better way to find out if you truly understand something until you have to explain it to others.
And did I mention that graduates get to go back for free?! My son said he was not the first graduate who went back regularly for review. Thanks AMA for challenging my kid and give him the opportunity to continue better himself!
I considered the money and time very well spent!

While it’s great for kids to get an edge in math and going through this program, a HUGE commitment of practicing, memorization of formulas, plus time and money. As my little one is nearing to completion, I couldn’t be more proud as one of the very few to survive & made it near to advance class, almost reach to the end goal. The only problem is, as it gets more advance, if your child is not disciplined, routine to do his/​her homeworks on their own, really tough as parent can’t help! now, my question is how much of this will my child retain for the rest of his/​her life? I worry without the center, going weekly, will my child retain to use this in daily life. The plus is perhaps it did help the left brain to be more in tune to other subjects like science, chemistry etc. Having any enrichment class is great, but this is a commitment! I think with Kumon, you have the traditional learning, with this, it gets over their head with formulas, didn’t get that «click» in their mind, then you feel you waste money. I think in the beginning I was thrilled, the kid doing great in math, but now & there are time, gets more confuse rather than help, switching between the traditional way of learning to this way. I am not sure that this will help further in mastering math. After all word problems are what you want them to master, not just crunching out quick numbers only. It’s your call! I am proud that she’s gone almost toward the end of the program and that she did retain quick math thinking, lightning speed but having said all that, this is NOT for all kids, you really have to evaluate your own child ability so you won’t waste your money and time. As talking about the center itself, the teachers are so supportive, some teachers are better than others, but all are very nice and accommodating, trying hard to encouraging and explaining to the kids, reward system if the kids get their points. What I love about the place, I do feel safe to drop my kid here, the place is clean, clean restroom, lots of games to keep them entertain during breaks and you do have that «all in family» feeling. Good luck to your decision!

this place is wonderful. i was actually a student here and i was actually the first class to be enrolled. however i dropped out in level 2 or 3, due to a busy schedule. i really regret it now. when i took the classes, i always thought, ‘this is pointless, when will i ever use these techniques?!’ however, now i can truly say how it has greatly benefited me. i am now in a higher math level in school and i owe a great deal of that to AMA. the teachers and staffs are also great and very kind (: i remember i would have to come early sometimes and they would always talk to me, play with me, or help me with homework. i definitely recommend these classes! taking these classes also make me proud because i’ll be doing math on my ‘invisible’ abacus and everyone thinks its the coolest thing ever and it’s also nice to tell someone that you won first place in one of the competitions at this school. take these classes– you WON’T regret it. (: i still keep in contact with one of the teachers. :)

Very effective way for kids to solve math equation without the help of a calculator. It’s all about mental math.