What is considered "mastery" of a subject?

[gala5v22]

I'm glancing through WTM section on math and it (as well as other posts on here) talks about going a certain program if the child "isn't ready to progress." For example, do Saxon 8/7 as opposed to Algebra 1/2.

 

So how do you know if the child has mastered something? DD has a test average in math of 82%. Her lowest test score was a 70 and her highest was a 100. I know if we were in public school she'd advance right on to the next level... same with homeschool?

[specialmama]

I like what Steve Demme says about his mastery based program MUS: you know it's mastered when the child can teach it to you or your spouse.

[LUV2EDU]

I like what Steve Demme says about his mastery based program MUS: you know it's mastered when the child can teach it to you or your spouse.

 

:iagree::iagree:

[gala5v22]

Then we may never progress :001_unsure: This is an issue with all of her grades.

 

Because I'm holding her back and having her do 5th again next year (in name) I'm trying to figure out whether to move on with curriculum or have her slow down and repeat. My only concern in repeating is that she did actually pass these classes, just not with A's. I definitely don't want her to be bored...

 

Grammar and Math are the two I'm looking at. B average overall, but some tests with low to mid-C's. Anyone else have ideas?

[specialmama]

Honestly, I wouldn't hold her back. Those are not bad grades. She may simply have "test anxiety" and not perform well with tests. Is mastery important to you? I mean, a lot of stuff is covered in elementary grades, and true to a classical education, they should not master it all... you are simply building a foundation for which to build upon later. As long as the material has been studied, move on. Just my two cents.

 

By the way, I'm not saying that nothing should be mastered LOL, certainly basic mathematical operations ought to be known, but really, I wouldn't fret about the rest.

[Whereneverever]

Could you have her do a placement test- like the one Singapore has to see how much of it was test anxiety and how much she really understands?

[Laura R (FL)]

Sometimes I think it is a reflection of the curriculum. I had similar issues when my girls used Saxon math. I'm not saying Saxon is not a good program, but their tests have 20 problems that weight 5 points each in a all-or-nothing fashion. I began to grade math like a math teacher...partial credit. I looked at the work and had the child sit with me. I looked at why they missed an answer. Did they forget to carry a negative sign, make a simple addition error, or misunderstand a concept? The first two are careless mistakes, but the last one is a mastery issue.

 

Saxon will review again in the next book and also has extra review pages in the back. I'm not a fan of repeating curriculum. If I felt my child needed to repeat something, I would try a different approach. If she doesn't get fractions, maybe just a concept book on fractions from the teacher store. Same with grammar...maybe a different approach if the first isn't a good fit.

[Melissa B]

I think if you want to take a mastery approach, it really needs to be done from lesson to lesson or at most unit to unit. It would be very disheartening to a student to find out an entire book or year must be repeated. We work to mastery on several subjects and that means a B or C on a chapter or unit test won't be accepted. Corrections must be made until the paper is correct and then the chapter must be reviewed until I feel the student has a solid understanding or until a test is at the acceptable level. The student cannot move forward in the book/subject until that time. For us, mastery also means reviewing things already studied on a regular basis so as not to just keep pushing forward and forgetting what was learned before.

[Lori in MS]

I use MUS and Analytical grammar. If my 6th grader does not score 90% or above on the tests he does not go on to the next lesson. He reviews the material and retakes the test. But this is much easier to do on a lesson by lesson basis.

[Shelly in VA]

This is the approach we use. If a test results in less than 90%, I consider the material not mastered. Sometimes there is just a concept in the chapter that needs extra practice problems and I may have the kids rework the same problems they've already done. Usually, I pull out a key-to book, another text, or I search online for review problems of the type we need. The kids rework until they can achieve 90% on the test.

 

On daily assignments, up until middle school, I check individual assignments and let the kids have a chance to rework those that I've circled; they aren't 'wrong' unless they can't get them right the second time around. That immediate feedback seems to help (well, my ds at least; dd and math is another story! :rolleyes:), and it eliminates a lot of the computation errors and honest oversights that could easily turn a 90% paper into a 75-80%.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Shelly

[gala5v22]

Thanks everyone... I went ahead and gave her the TT Pre-algebra pretest and it said she was ready to move forward. Even though we're done for the year, I'm going to take the tests from Saxon 8/7 and give them to her for "practice" and to give me a better indicator of how well she really knows this stuff.

[TechWife]

Then we may never progress :001_unsure: This is an issue with all of her grades.

 

Because I'm holding her back and having her do 5th again next year (in name) I'm trying to figure out whether to move on with curriculum or have her slow down and repeat. My only concern in repeating is that she did actually pass these classes, just not with A's. I definitely don't want her to be bored...

 

Grammar and Math are the two I'm looking at. B average overall, but some tests with low to mid-C's. Anyone else have ideas?

 

The math is what would concern me the most. Math is a subject in which future learning depends upon mastery of earlier topics. If math isn't mastered as the student goes along, then there will be a time at which the student can progress no further. This could become an issue in the high school years which in turn could end up limiting college and career options. As far as math is concerned, there is no "later." It is the one subject where weak areas and gap areas should be addressed as soon as they are known.

 

Thankfully in homeschooling we have the ability to slow down and revisit areas that are weaker than others. Personally, I would not consider an 82 in math to be mastery of math. Can you consider having her change to a different math curriculum next year? That would address your concern of boredom and perhaps would give her a different perspective, possibly making her able to better understand the material.

 

As for the grammar, it is very unlike math. There is a very finite body of knowledge there and the "experts" differ on how early this body of knowledge should be mastered. Have you looked at Analytical Grammar? It does a great job of addressing/reviewing the needed grammar, cutting out a lot of busy work that is intrinsic to many programs. Perhaps that would be an encouragement to her?