math u see mastery question

[Guest cityfarmer01]

For those of you using math u see, how do you define mastery? My ds understands the concept of plus 2, can work out plus 8's and 9's, but doesn't have those memorized. It takes him awhile to get the 8's and 9's because he talks himself through ("8 takes 2 away from 6..... there's... 4 left, so that's 10 plus 4.... 14). Even with some of the 2's, he has to say to himself, "7 plus 1 is 8, so 7 plus 2 is.... um... 9". He gets bored working on the same lesson for an extended period, though, and doesn't seem to improve with practice once he's bored with the lesson, so we have moved on to doubles (which he has memorized more easily). Since he has the doubles memorized, should I move on to doubles plus one or get the 2's, 8's, and 9's memorized first before moving on?

[Mandy in TN]

I used MUS Alpha, but for mastery we now use Kumon. I like the outside accountability of Kumon. I agree with the Kumon concept of mastery- not only should the child be able to complete the problems correctly but there should also be immediacy.

If the child is having to figure out the answer, then mastery has not been achieved. As I explained to my 15yo yesterday, if you are sitting and staring at the math problem instead of writing, then you are having to figure out what to do and therefore we need to work on that type of problem more.

OTOH, if he is not improving by camping out on a particular lesson, then I would review that concept while continuing to move forward. You can either use the MUS worksheet generator to add a few of those problems daily or use flashcards (with flashcards if he doesn’t know the answer immediately just say the answer and keep going).

JMHO-

Mandy

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used Math-It for a little while in order to try to memorize/increase speed at math facts, but quickly found it way too tedious. Jump Start computer games were funner.

 

I never required ds to memorize math facts. I think that they come with day after day after day use. Ds is not the fastest at his math facts, but he knows them. I would move on, personally.

 

FWIW, I have a degree in math.

[Emmy]

We just keep moving and we incorporate drill in other ways. Alpha is a yawn because it's pretty much a year learning math facts - we go through it pretty quickly. Other drill options we use are: drill sheets I make with math worksheet factory, math blaster (computer game), leapster math games, rolling/tossing a ball back and forth while we drill, and board games.