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Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Ep 13 Unlocking Every Child's Learning Potential
Sally Kader, owner of Kanata South Kumon Centre, shares how her learning centre's unique approach assesses each student individually rather than grouping by age or grade. The Japanese-based system builds academic foundations and essential life skills through consistent practice and discipline, benefiting children from age three through high school.
The Kanata South Kumon Centre enjoys:
* Multiple perfromance and recognition awards.
* Multilingual instructor with teaching/training experience in Canada and internationally.
* Instructor with 15+ years experience as a Kumon Instructor.
* Instructor with 20+ years of experience as a Kumon parent of three program completers.
* Full bilingual administration and instruction of the Kumon Math program.
* Highly trained and dedicated staff.
* Three weekdays of in class sessions to choose from (8 time slots per class).
* Spacious, bright and clean classroom.
* Ample parking and close to many surrounding amenities.
* Central location in Kanata.
• Kumon offers a flexible, student-centric method that focuses on individual learning styles and abilities
• Sally's journey began as a Kumon parent in 2002 before purchasing the centre in 2009
• The program complements school by focusing on technical aspects like calculation, grammar, and vocabulary
• Three common misconceptions: Kumon isn't just remedial, doesn't compete with school, and builds healthy discipline
• Structure and consistency are key components for success in the program
• Both struggling and gifted students benefit from Kumon's personalized approach
• The program operates year-round, not following the school calendar
• Free consultations, assessments, and meetings available before enrollment
For more information www.kumon.com/kanata-south or call 613-963-0362.
This is the Batten House Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, sean Batten.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, I'm Sean and I want to thank you for tuning in, whether you're watching or listening. Today, I'm joined by Sally Kater, who is the owner of Kumon here in the West End of Ottawa, to talk about her business and how she came to it, and it's going to be a great conversation, so let's jump in. How are you, Sally? Welcome to the show I'm good Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You guys do good work helping little ones, so why don't you? Let's get right into it, and why don't you tell us what you do?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm a Kumon instructor, which is like a center that helps kids. We start with age three and go all the way up to the end of high school. So it's a little bit of a different system than the regular school system. It doesn't go by age or by grade, it goes by the student. So it assesses the student and tries to understand their learning style and their abilities and so on, and we go from there. So it's a Japanese system and it's very flexible and student-centric.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that's awesome. What a great approach. Three years old, all the way up, that's a, that's a huge range, yeah it's a huge.
Speaker 3:It's a huge, it's a huge curriculum. So yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I love that you, you kind of get deep in the weeds to each child, because we know so well that every child learns so differently. Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and sometimes at the center we've had twins or triplets and they would be in very different stages, doing very different things in a different way, and you know like it's amazing to see how different the kids are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, that's. That's fascinating. As a father of five five, I know how different kids can be. Oh, yes, so that that is. That is very uh. That is, that is what a great approach. Um, so, for our listeners, uh, tell us about your journey. How, why did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:well, um, I started, uh, I came across Kumon in 2002 when my oldest was in kindergarten and the teacher kept saying that he won't sit. Still, he doesn't. You know like focus, he's this, he's that. And he was he still is a December baby, so he was the youngest one in the class. So I was talking to my friend about it and she said why don't you put him in Kumon? And I had no idea what that is. So she said it's a program that's going to help him, you know like focus, and you know like, and it's going to challenge him if the school is not challenging him, and so on and so forth. So I went and I found a center that was close to my house and I spoke to the instructor and I enrolled him.
Speaker 3:That was 2002, and then Kumon became like a standard in our house. My kid you know, my daughter came. She turned three, she started Kumon. The third one came, he turned three, he started Kumon. And now they're all adults, they're all successful, successful, they're all very articulate, which is not always a good thing. And then, in 2009, the instructor that my kids were learning with she wanted to retire, so she approached me because she thought I was a good fit for the center and she offered to sell me her center. And that's when I took over and that was 16 years ago.
Speaker 2:Wow, good for you. That's so great because you've got that personal approach right Exactly.
Speaker 2:You've lived and breathed as a mom as a mother and you've seen the success and you obviously really embody the approach and found success. So that's really cool because you can bring that to each parent and family who come to your center, right, and say, hey, I understand where you're at, this is our approach, you know? Yeah, that is so neat. So now that you've been in the business 16 years, which is no small feat, so congratulations for being in business for so long Like that is not to be understated at all. Can you tell us about any myths or misconception that you hear about your industry?
Speaker 3:Well, there are a couple. The first one is that Kumon is a remedial program. It is not. Kumon is a program that can help any student. The only thing that would make Kumon not a successful endeavor for a student is lack of structure. So Kumon is, by definition, japanese and you know Japanese people. You know they like structure, they like routine, they like developing good habits and you know constant training and so on. So Kumon is not a remedial program. Kumon can work. We have many, many gifted kids in my center that thrive while doing Kumon. If you develop a certain routine and a certain structure around it, it can be a very successful experience and a very fulfilling one.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So it can work for any child, but you have to build some sort of a structure around it. The second misconception is that it competes with school and it does not. It complements school because, whereas school now are focused on, you know, word problems, for example, and you know they focus on learning, like reading by doing, we focus on the technical aspects of learning. So we focus on the rules of calculation, the rules of arithmetic, developing, you know, like, good mental calculation skills, developing a certain comfort and mastery of basic concepts In reading. We focus on the technical aspects of the language, like grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, building, sentence structure and so on, pencil skills, which are a big thing nowadays for kids. So we are a complement to the school, we do not compete with the school.
Speaker 3:And the third thing is that it creates pressure on the students, and I've seen it with my own kids. It requires them to develop a sense of discipline, but that's required for life, because if you grow up without the sense of discipline, without the sense of, you do chores at home. It's the same thing. This is one of the chores that kids have to do, because I see so many kids who come and they're not used to homework, they're not used to working extra, they're not used to going above and beyond and then when they get to the stage of their life where they have to do that, they don't know how to do it. So in my experience with my kids and at the center, it set my kids up for, you know, success and having good work and study habits.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's so healthy. It's so healthy for their mind right to have that. I mean kids thrive in discipline, appropriate discipline and structure.
Speaker 3:And kids, like you know, like it's just like a sport. This is a sport for your brain, you know like if you. That's a great way to put it if you don't and you don't enhance your skills and you don't learn new techniques, you're never going to be the best player or the you know, the best you know like at what you do, whether it's a sport or anything else yeah, no, that's very well said, sally.
Speaker 2:My goodness that's. I could see why you're successful in this business at your center. So so, work aside, what, what do you do for fun in your free time?
Speaker 3:I like reading novels, I like crocheting, I like cooking, I like drawing. So I do. I don't have a lot of time to do those things, but you know like I would, you know I would pick something and you know.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. I mean, you clearly like the, the calm. Calm, I want to just like focus my energy in something simple and you don't have to go somewhere to do your, your hobby, your activity, something you love, which is a huge benefit. You can just do it in your car if you need to. So, no, that's, that's great. Uh, that's really cool. So, um, so, just getting back to your journey, can you describe um a life challenge or something that you rose above that you can now say, hey, that helped me get better at what I'm doing now or become who I am now, especially as an entrepreneur?
Speaker 3:Well, I was never an entrepreneur. I surprised myself 100%. I am totally risk averse. My husband is, oh my God, yes, my husband. When we used to talk about RRSPs or whatever, I would always go for the GIC kind of thing, whereas he would go more into mutual funds. I am not a risk taker at all. My biggest challenge, I think, like I am not a risk you know taker at all my biggest challenge I think it's not really a challenge and it's not something that I rose above, but it's something that was very challenging for me and it changed me completely was motherhood.
Speaker 3:And it helps me understand the parents when they come in. Because I totally understand that when you are a parent, the minute parenthood comes through the door, rational thinking goes out the window. You cannot be objective about your child, you cannot be reasonable about your child. You want the world for your child. That's right. But you know, like, when I started to, when I became a Kumon instructor, it forced me to kind of like okay, I have to be the objective one, I have to be the realistic one, I have to be the one who empathizes and understand. But kind of like helps the parents see where this can go, because otherwise, you know, like I've had parents who come in with a student who is in grade 11 and they say that they're failing math, but they want them to do calculus in three months. I'm like, ok, it doesn't work like this, and if you can find someone that can make it happen, then please go there.
Speaker 2:You know, but it's a tough conversation to have, right? Yes, because it becomes emotional. Right, yes, because it's your child. Right, yeah, yes. So yeah, I could see definitely how being a mom I mean as a father it really changes your outlook Absolutely. It changes your approach, especially as you have multiple kids, because they're so different. So I didn't ask how many kids do you have?
Speaker 2:Three I have three, yeah, so I mean the variety of those three yeah. No, that what a great thing to be able to bring to you know, to a conversation that can get emotional, can get difficult for some families. No-transcript, you can make a really comfortable atmosphere for people, cause I mean our kids are awesome right Like it's they are capable of so much more than what we ask them to do.
Speaker 3:You know like, it's, it's really. You know like, and they say, oh no, they can't, it's, it's really. You know like. And they say, oh no, they can't do that. And I, and like they absolutely can do that, I have a four-year-old who's doing addition. You know like it's, it's, it is possible. You know like, you just have to let them go and see them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, show you what they can do yeah, that, that little push right, that little push um can, can just really change the trajectory of somebody. Uh right, which is? Which is powerful? It's absolutely Um so, as we're wrapping up, uh, there's so much I'd love to talk to you about. We need to do this again. I, I there's. So I feel like we're just the tip of the iceberg here at Kumon. I've learned so much about the center already, and it's very exciting to learn more, because I have five kids.
Speaker 3:So what's the one thing you wish our listeners knew about your business? Again, like it's not. It's a program that can help many, many kids. It doesn't have to be remedial. For my own kids, for example, they were so far ahead of school that they didn't have to worry about their English or their math. They had the time to focus on the other subjects and they did very well in their English and their math because they've already done it before. It wasn't boring again because the school has a different approach to those two subjects. But it was very reassuring for them when they were the ones you know like, who are very confident and they don't have to worry about understanding something.
Speaker 3:It's very flexible. It can be adjusted. We work through the year, so we're not closed for summer or you know like, or winter or anything. We don't follow the school calendar, so we're year round and you can approach us anytime. We have, like a web page that you can stop by the center. You can call us, you can email us. You know like we always try to fit people. We have a lot of appointments for parents during the week. They get filled up very quickly and you know we cannot help that. But if you. You know, like, if you really want to come in, then we'd be happy to you know, like, fit you in and find a time to meet with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's worth the conversation. So, any families who are listening or watching. How can they reach you? What's the website for?
Speaker 3:you, it's wwwkumancom. Slash Kanata dash South. Okay, and then for our listeners.
Speaker 2:just tell me your phone number 613-963-0362.
Speaker 3:And any conversation we have, any meetings, any you know, like assessments, all right, it's all free of charge. So you don't pay anything until you decide to enroll in the program. Everything we do before that is absolutely free of charge. So you don't pay anything until you decide to enroll in the program. Everything we do before that is absolutely free of charge so there's no obligation, there's no cost, there's no reason to have a conversation.
Speaker 2:So, whether you're concerned with your kid or your child, or you're not concerned with your child and want to give them that extra, call you how concerned were you and want to give them that extra you know, call you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had a parent who came in and I said you know like what? I always start by saying what brings you here, and I will never forget that mom. She told me I need my son to be humbled and I said what do you mean? And she said he's gifted and he's very cocky. I need him to be humbled. I want him to understand that he doesn't know everything and that there is someone that knows more than him and that he has a lot to learn. And I was like, wow, okay, and those gifted kids? You know they do very well.
Speaker 2:But you need to challenge them now.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Good for you. Oh, that's so cool. Well, listen, Sally, I know you're busy running a business, working in the center, I mean just going through the journey of all your parents who are in the program and who are, you know, contemplating going in. We really appreciate your time.
Speaker 3:No problem, my pleasure.
Speaker 2:And thank you for the listeners out there. Please reach out. Sally has an awesome business helping lots of kids and families in our community. Thanks again and we'll talk again. We need to Sure. Okay, all right, take care.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Batten House Podcast. To nominate a favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to battenhousepodcastca. That's.
