[Junior High School Entrance Exam] How to avoid burnout after passing. What I booked before the entrance exam

One week before the entrance exam. During the time when the atmosphere at home was at its most desperate, I was looking at a certain cram school's website. It wasn't a typical university prep school, but a place where you could purely play with mathematics.

From an outsider's perspective, one might think it's too early to be looking for the next cram school before the entrance exam is even over. But I had a pressing concern.

That concern was, 'Won't the light of learning go out inside my child the moment the entrance exam is over?'

I worried that between the announcement of the results and the entrance ceremony, they might just spend their time playing around out of a sense of liberation. I feared that the 'habit of thinking' they had built up until now would be lost along with their burnout.

To prevent that, I thought it was necessary to overwrite the concept of 'study = something difficult' with 'learning = something fun' the moment the exam was over.

A slightly bold reservation to keep the 'momentum' going

Even though we hadn't even taken the exam yet, I booked a trial lesson for the weekend immediately following the announcement of the results. I wanted to introduce them to the next exciting stage while the 'brain heat' they had been using to overcome the massive mountain of the entrance exam was still warm.

I chose a place where one can enjoy mathematics from its essence. I was drawn to the depth of their openness, welcoming not only children who are good at arithmetic but also those who have a sense of aversion to it, so I had my child try a session.

Aversion to arithmetic, longing for mathematics

The first thing my child said when they came out after the trial lesson was:

'Math was fun!'

In fact, my child had a strong aversion to arithmetic. However, at the same time, they had a strong longing for the world of mathematics, to the point of watching NHK's 'Math That Doesn't Smile' repeatedly on recordings.

The pure curiosity that had been left behind somewhere in the shadow of the daily reality of 'not being able to do arithmetic' and the pressure of entrance exam practice that competes for scores seemed to finally come back to life that day.

The joy of finding 'intellectual play'

For that cram school, mathematics was not 'penance' but 'play.' While listening to the orientation for parents, it was a place that stimulated my own intellectual curiosity so much that I felt like I wanted to attend it myself!

Because it is far from our home, we couldn't start attending immediately, but being able to let my child experience that 'math is this free and fun' before the major milestone of entering junior high school was a harvest that cannot be replaced by anything else.

If you are currently feeling anxious with the entrance exam just around the corner, why not dare to book one thing that your child can be excited about after passing?

Beyond passing the exam, a more free time for learning awaits. Let's run through this last bit together, parent and child.