You may have heard about Mastery Learning, but what is it? How is mastery defined? Mastery learning simply is the process of learning any given material to an A level. A student does not move on to subsequent material until he has fully grasped what has come before.

Mastery learning just makes sense unless one is in a classroom setting where the teacher does not have the time and the resources to ensure that each child understands a lesson totally and completely before moving on to the next lesson.

It does not take an advanced learning theorist to see that if a child moves on in, say, subtraction before he totally understands how to borrow, he is going to have a rough time of it. In fact, chances are good that if he does not have time to completely understand the borrowing concept, he is likely to do poorly on the next concept that is introduced because each concept builds upon the previous one. Before long an I-can't-do-math attitude develops which can shadow a child throughout life. I know because I was that child.

Mastery ensures that children build success upon success. Mastery, however, is totally dependent upon readiness especially  in a child's early years. Just because a first grader's math book says it is time to learn how to tell time doesn't mean that the child will have the ability at that exact moment to learn this abstract concept. In a classroom, the teacher teaches time when the book says to teach time, not when she determines the students are ready to tackle time.

What happens if the young child doesn't yet possess the ability to grasp the concept? He or she fails. The teacher moves on. The student carries that sense of failure with him as the class approaches the next element in the math curriculum.

I have had children who were not ready to study time when our math curriculum said it was time for time. Instead of wearing myself and my student out by going over it day after day, trying to think of new ways to approach the concept that the student simply is not mentally ready to dissect, I merely skipped the unit on time and went on to the next thing in the book. After a couple months, I would come back to the time unit and check for readiness. Eventually, the child was ready and easily grasped the material. (All my kids can now tell time, incidentally.)

We do our young children a disservice when we plow through the curriculum and allow the curriculum to tell us what the child should be ready for and when. It is so important not to let the material dictate readiness. A child is ready when he is ready and not a day before. So with young children, mastery of a concept may not be possible at this very moment. Giving children the gift of time to mentally grow and mature is one of the major advantages of homeschooling.

Is teaching to mastery cheating?
If a student misses more than ten percent of a lesson, he or she needs to go back and study what was missed and be re-checked for mastery at that point. This means that at times a student is given more than one chance to take a test. Is that fair? In public school, students only get one chance at a score, so why are homeschooled students given credit for relearning? Isn't that cheating?

Uh, no. It is not our fault that the public schools do what they do. They actually allow students to miss 30%, 40%, 50% (or more) of the material and then just roll on to the next level.  "You didn't understand it? So sorry, so sad, but we have to move on." The teacher lacks the time to help the individual student reach a complete level of understanding before advancing. Just because it is done this way in a public school doesn't mean we have to do this in the homeschool!

It makes absolutely no educational sense to say,"Well Joey, I see that you missed eight questions in your chemistry lesson today. That is a C (which supposedly means average,) so as long as you are not getting a failing grade, let's move on."

What a crazy thing to do! Move on when the student obviously is missing a good portion of the lesson? The homeschooled student doesn't have to be satisfied with only understanding 70% or 80% of the lesson! He can take the time to back up and reexamine what wasn't understood the first time through, doing more study until he does understand it all.

Should he still be given a grade that reflects his knowledge the first time through, or should he be given a grade which is a true reflection of his knowledge now? I say that a child has to earn the grade, but if it takes a couple times through the material to master it, so be it.

What is the goal of education? Grades are not the ultimate goal, although they are a reflection of effort. Certainly we want our children to understand what they are doing whether it is a lesson in math, reading, science, or anything else. The goal is not an A; however, an A will be the outcome of mastery learning every single time.

When my student redoes the math problems he missed on a test, I make sure that he knows why the problems were missed, and then once the problems are corrected, I either retest or I give him half-credit for the corrected work. I am rewarding the student for the knowledge he now has, for the effort that has been shown.

If he continues to miss more than ten percent of his work the next day, then there is a problem that needs to be addressed. If the issue is sloppiness, then the child does not get the chance to increase his score. He takes a hit in his grade and the work is redone. But if the issue is lack of understanding, then once the student goes back to re-learn the material and shows that now the understanding is there, the grade reflects that outcome.

Accepting less than A-level work from our children sends them the message that either 1) the material isn't important enough to be learned, 2) it isn't important to do your best, and 3) excellence isn't worth the trouble. 

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. By setting a standard of mastery in the homeschool, we are teaching our children to learn thoroughly for the sake of learning, not for the sake of a grade. It should bother them to *not* understand something. They should not shrug their shoulders and just move on.

We have to fight against "a C is okay" mentality. The only way to do that is to insist that everything done in the student's school work be done to a high standard of actual understanding. Encourage relearning, and reward work well done.

The end result of mastery learning is an adult who searches for understanding and wisdom and does not give up easily. A yes-I-can attitude shadows him throughout life. That is precisely what I want for my children.

Well, here we are in the beginning of 2010. Congratulations on cruising to this point in your homeschooling year. You have shown a lot of heart thus far. Wait just a minute. Do I see a flicker of something there behind your eyes?

Perhaps this is your first year and things are not turning out exactly as you thought they would. Perhaps you have experienced a rough start this time around. Perhaps you had been doing very well keeping up with your schedule, but now you find that you are gasping for breath much like an Olympic athlete nearing the completion of her race. Even if we are right on track and things are running smoothly in our homes, it is normal to need a pick-me-up now and then, to break our routine sometimes.

How can you alter your homeschool routine without totally throwing off your household's groove? Here are just a few suggestions to mix it up enough to stimulate newness in thought and attitude. Use as needed.
 
1. Work in a totally different room today. If your children normally work at the kitchen table, allow them to sprawl on the floor of the family room for a change. Give them a choice of where they would like to work if they are required to be at a certain spot normally.
 
2. Start the day off by doing a different subject than is usually tackled first. Do physical education first instead of at the end of the school day. Who says you have to do your Bible curriculum first? Move it to right after lunch in place of something else.
 
3. Do only science OR history this week instead of both. Allow time to delve more deeply into just one of these subjects, and then next week tackle the other one more in-depth. I like to see my students do only one of these subjects per semester, and then they do the other subject the second part of the year. But if you normally do both, take a little breather.
 
4. Take a day off of school when your children least expect it. Do absolutely nothing that you *have* to do. Be spontaneous and adventurous if you like or just cuddle up by the fireplace with good books and read for fun. Let the dust fall where it may.

5. Speaking of books, take a trip to the library and call it a field trip. After the field trip is over, hang out at home and read with your children, meaning let them see you reading for fun and enjoyment! Enjoy the rest of the day with just books.
 
What is really important to you today? Most likely it is a feeling of peace that all is well, that all is going as it should. I love those kinds of days, but when we do get a curve ball of a day, we can rest assured that this is normal. If we have an arsenal of tools to help us through such periods of time, coping is much easier.
 
Remember, it is normal to need a break. One of the best things you can do for your family is to take time out and do something that recharges your batteries. Why not take a few moments today just to reflect on what you could do to get a slice of time to yourself? While you are at it, take the pulse of your homeschool. If the pulse is rapid and erratic, slow it down maybe with something pulled from the list above. If the pulse is shallow and barely there, prescribe a change. Even just a little change can go a long way towards reviving flagging spirits: yours, your children's, or both.

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