Tutoring is a $4 billion-a-year business in the United States and some of the hottest clients can barely brush their teeth: preschoolers.
In addition to carpooling tots to preschool and itty-bitty basketball, more and more parents are paying to have their 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds professionally prepped for kindergarten.
Palm Beach County parents from Jupiter to Boca Raton have embraced the trend.
In a strip mall, next to the Gold’s Gym west of Boca Raton, the walkway swells with well-heeled moms in plastic chairs – waiting for a half-hour, sometimes more, while their children get what they hope is an educational edge at the Loggers’ Run Kumon center, one of nine Kumon centers in the county.
Kumon, an international tutoring company founded in 1958 in Japan, has created Junior Kumon for the 2- to 6-year-old set. Enrollment in the program has grown nearly 27 percent since it opened in 2003, reaching 16,773 children by February.
One Boca girl, a fourth-grader at a nearby elementary school, recounts how she came to the Loggers’ Run center in tears three years ago.
“I didn’t know how to read,” the girl said. “It was first grade and half the class did.”
The girl’s mom asked around, and brought her here. Now she’s on the honor roll.
Alyssa Cabrera was determined to avoid that with her boys, so she signed up Vincent for Kumon when he was 4, after hearing about it from another mom. Now he’s 6 and his 4-year-old brother Dominic is enrolled, too.
“I’m trying to make sure they have a head start,” Cabrera said. “It boosts his confidence.”
As Vincent and his tutor zip through flash cards and Dominic writes his numbers, their mother sits outside recounting compliments from teachers about how well Vincent does in school, how eager he is to help others who are behind and how high he’s ranked in his class.
