IQ Abacus Math & Language School

My 10 year old is starting her 2^nd class at IQ Abacus Tempe. We are finding it to be an excellent way to reinforce math concepts and already can see how it has helped her progress at the Honors Charter school she attends. Ms Chiou is excellent at assessing individual Math understanding quickly and in helping her students progress and build confidence.

IQ Abacus offers many courses designed to supplement and enhance your student’s education. Our experience is with the entry-​level abacus class. This class consists of 9 – 12 students between 5 – 7 years old. These are first time abacus users with varying degrees of exposure to mathematics. Students quickly begin addition, subtraction and basic multiplication. I believe IQ Abacus is an incredibly well designed program for young students.
Here are a few things for perspective families. If you are not proficient with an abacus it is very beneficial to come to class with your child for the first few weeks until your child is comfortable with the basics. Homework goes home with the students every week. It is not excessive. But it is helpful to sit in class so you can help your student with their homework.
Parents should be prepared to practice at home with your kids a few times a week at least. These classes eventually lead to mental math. The children are already beginning to use basic mental math but the repetition only helps.
The students are rewarded with a point system. The points are assigned to the students who answer questions. If the student answers incorrectly, Ms. Chiou helps the students work through the problem. At first I disliked the system because students would just raise their hands to get points without first listening to the question. But as class has gone on the students have settled down.
I have read some of the reviews on other sites. Most of the reviews are positive. However, I did stumble upon one that was negative. The highlighted points of this negative review were the waitlist, a perceived focus on Asian students and the staff’s poor English skills. These are my experiences in regards to those concerns.
There was a waitlist. I was initially annoyed when I contacted the instructors to try to get my son enrolled. I felt I was put off for approximately two months. However, when the owner explained to me that their start dates are set up to ensure students all begin at the beginning of the program it did make sense. Throwing a student into a class mid way through would be basically impossible no matter how smart your child is. The curriculum builds upon the lessons from each previous week so if you could imagine putting your child into algebra 2 without algebra 1 it would be like that but for elementary school students.
I disagree with the statement that the instructors focus only on Asian students. I feel silly having to write this but I am of European decent aka white. My son started IQ Abacus as a 5 year old. He is working on focusing, sitting quietly and taking directions. (This is nothing different from any other 5 year olds) Ms. Chiou has been patient with him. She will let him know when his behavior is inappropriate for her class but she never puts him down. She encourages him as well as pushes him to excel. This is not unique to my son. She goes from student to student to make sure each student is completing the lesson accurately. If the whole class seems to be having issues with a subject she takes the time to go over it again.
I do believe that Ms. Chiou is reluctant to call on students who have habitually disrupted the class. My son would initially raise his hand to ask her questions that did not pertain to the lesson. She would have to explain to him that he needed to focus on abacus. We are working on it. The attention span of a 5 year old varies greatly from a 7 year old. However, every child is given an opportunity to participate. The curriculum is actually fun enough to engage even the younger less mathematically experienced students. And Ms. Chiou is actually funny. The students get excited and laugh when she demonstrates on her abacus at the head of the class. Quite honestly I NEVER found math exciting or fun so this is a breath of fresh air.
The comment about Language was really just silly. Both the instructors speak English very well. Their diction is clear and their vocabulary is expansive enough to explain topics in many ways depending on how your child learns.
So far I believe IQ Abacus is a great foundation for students. I do not think this is a school exclusively for the tiger moms out there. I certainly am not one. As I am typing this, my son is watching Super Mario on YouTube. This is really a supplemental class that helps students understand math principles in a fun way. I will update as we have more experience with the school.