Kumon of Farragut gears up for open house
Kumiko Franklin, center, Kumon of Farragut center owner/instructor, joins instructors Colene Wood, left, and Charlie Pugh at Kumon of Farragut, which has moved from Alcoa to 7276 N. Campbell Station Road, Farragut.
Kumon of Farragut is gearing up for an open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 24, at its 7276 N. Campbell Station Road location.
Kumon of Farragut serves children ages 4 to college-level students, providing supplemental math and reading instruction with eight instructors. The program currently has 140 students enrolled.
It also offers kokugo, a Japanese reading class as a supplement to the program.
The center’s goal is for students “to reach their grade level as soon as they can when they have fallen behind,” said Kumiko Franklin, Kumon owner/instructor. “And, we want them to move ahead of the grade levels.
“The Kumon goal itself is we want to finish many of the levels before high school starts so [the students] can enjoy high school, and also to teach them responsibilities and what their goals will be,” she said. “We work together.”
Franklin holds a master’s degree in linguistics, taught Japanese at Maryville College for 23 years and was principal for 10 years at East Tennessee Japanese School, which was established with Denso Manufacturing in Maryville.
She has operated the educational supplemental program as Kumon Alcoa-Foothills for the past 15 years in Alcoa, but recently decided to move her business to Farragut.
“Over the course of the years, I’ve noticed that I have maybe 75 percent [of my students] from Knox [County], and they asked me to come to Knox [County],” Kumiko said.
She chose Farragut because of the schools and parents.
“A lot of residents [here] are more keen to education,” she said.
The Franklins also were looking for a more centralized site for all Kumon students, and North Campbell Station’s proximity to the Interstate fit the bill, said Kelly Franklin, Kumiko’s husband and part-time instructor.
“We have students from Athens, Morristown, Chattanooga,” said Kelly Franklin, a retired reading and writing teacher who still substitutes in Maryville City Schools.
Kumon of Farragut is a branch of Kumon International, which is “the largest after-school supplemental instruction program in the world,” Kelly Franklin said.
The company was named after its founder, Toru Kumon, on whose curriculum the company’s instruction is based, he said.
Kumon established the Kumon Method. “It’s like a top down for what the student needs to finish in high school is this in elementary school,” Kumiko Franklin said. “It’s all laid out to finish at the high school level.”
“The students are learning study habits, as well as math and reading, because they’re charged with doing a set of worksheets each day,” Kelly Franklin said.
The center is open from 3 to 7 p.m., Monday and Thursday.
To learn more about Kumon of Farragut, visit its website at www.kumon.com or call 865-984-3131.
