A journey of a thousand. miles may begin with a single step, but completing it means putting together many of them.

That's the approach to the Kumon method of teaching math and reading, which is enriching the lives of students across the metro area from Varsha Desai's Kumon Math and Reading Center.

Desai a former mathematics instructor at Tulsa Community College, opened her center, located at 8228 E 61st St. Suite 117 (on the southeastcorner of 61st and Memorial), more than 3 years ago.

She's been watching her students' skills improve ever since. "It's like a ladder," Desai said of the Kumon method. "You stay on one step until you master it - not just get it. Only then can you move to the next step."

The Kumon method, which emphasizes short (15-20 minutes) assignments done every day along with twice-a-week sessions with an instructor, was developed abot 50 years ago by Toru Kumon, a Japanese math teacher.

Kumon developed a series of worksheets for his son, who was struggling in math, that eventually enabled his son to progress to calculus by the time he was in seventh grade, Desai said.

"It's that idea of doing something a little every day, consistently, 15 minutes of good focused concentration and progressing only when you're ready that makes a huge difference in a child's learning," she said.

Others in the neighborhood noticed the younger Kumon's sucess and began clamoring for similar help for their children, and today, those worksheets have grown into a teaching used worldwide in many subjects.

"The overall goal is to develop the child's self-learning skills," said Desai. "Working on the math and reading skills gives then a solid foundation in the two core areasof school. Hopefully it makes high school easy for them, they do well on the standardized testing and go onto college. That's our ultimate goal."

Not all students who come to Desai's center are struggling with math and reading, she said. Many of them come from families simply looking for additional activities to enrich their child's education.

"Actually, about 50 percent of our math kids are enrichment kids," Desai said. "They don't have any trouble in school. Some of them do come for remedial help, but the remedial kids often times catch up to grade level, get into their schools' honor rolls, and at that time they become enrichment kids."

A student begins the Kumon experience by taking a short test to determine where they are on the educational ladder, Desai explained. Then once their starting point is determined, the instructor puts together personalized lesson plans for them.

"We start at a low, comfortable, easy starting point, so they're going to feel success from day one, which helps to build that self-confidence and self-esteem," Desai said.

"Once we have that we are going to progress, but in very small incremental steps."

It doesn't take long for most students to take an active role in their progress - which Desai says is invaluable in their education.

"A student becomes very pro-active in his own education after a period of time - especially our middle-schoolers and high schoolers," Desai said.

"They really know what they're doing, they're very strongly involved and when they're involved in that way, they're more likey to do their work. This is what they chose to do. It makes a difference in their learning"

Children as young as 3 can benefit from the Junior Kumon program, said Desai.

"Even if they go to school, they're just going half a day and they have time where they can come in here for half an hour. They are really progressing on learning to read even before they get to kindergarten. They're learning the skills which are essential for them to do anything in math."

Desai's Kumon instruction runs about $25 a week, which she said is "really affordable."

Most students stay in the program about two years, she said. "I really enjoy seeing the difference in the kids," she added. "Last year we had a child who couldn't read and the school was going to put him back. In just three months' time, he turned around and didn't have to be put back. These little things which really bring successin the child is what I enjoy the most about what I do."