[This is the second of a five part series by Patricia. She is a veteran homeschooling mother and teacher and also happens to be MY mother. I’m pleased to have her share some common sense about keeping students on track. Although she writes for homeschoolers, what she says applies in most educational contexts. Go here for the first post.]
Last time I introduced an idea I called sequential mastery. It means that students should master particular skill and knowledge sets at each level of their education. Today, let’s think about how we fail at sequential mastery and how we succeed at sequential mastery.
Two ways we fail at sequential mastery:
1) We short-circuit sequential mastery by concentrating on the process of education rather than the goals.
This is understandable because, as homeschool parents, we don’t necessarily have a clear picture of what those goals are. Because we feel uncertain, we focus on the process itself and hope for the best.
Some of us focus on our curricula, because it’s safe. We think, “If we just finish these books or programs, we’ll be successful.”
Some of us focus on activities, because they’re fun. We try to take every museum class and go on every field trip and take a day or week off for every family event, because “isn’t that why we homeschool in the first place?”
Some of us want it all! We try to shoe-horn in all the curricula and all the activities. We’re usually exhausted and burned out.
2) Because we’re not schooling with specific goals in mind, we can end up being either too anxious or too lax.
The anxious parent can miss the mark by letting the curriculum drive rather than serve learning. They ask, “Did I get all the lessons done?” when they should be asking, “Did my student master the skill?” Anxious parents tend to fill the schedule with extras that crowd out the work of mastering basic skills.
The lax parent can miss the mark by assuming that basic skills are easy to make up or grow into later if a student misses them now. They will also fill the schedule with extras that crowd out the work of mastering basic skills, just like an anxious parent.
Three ways we succeed at sequential mastery:
The key to sequential mastery is consistency, completion, and focus.
1) Consistency: A little bit often.
“A little bit” means keeping lessons short so they can be completed successfully (we’ll get back to this later in the series). “Often” means consistent repetition until a skill is thoroughly mastered.
I enjoy an article called “Study Skills: Your brain Can Learn Mathematics” which Lial series places near the beginning of many of its textbooks. The gist is that if you practice a new skill many times, changes in your brain allow signals to move faster and with less interference. Thinking can now occur more quickly and easily, and you will remember the skill for a long time. The process is like the muscle memory that develops in music or athletic practice. That’s why, for basic skills, you should do a little every day instead of putting in the same amount of time on a subject all in one large chunk.
2) Completion: Finish what you start.
Don’t agonize over curricula. Choose one and finish it. When we jump from program to program, we can leave holes that don’t get plugged. Avoid second-guessing and work with what you have. Knowing your child allows you to make adjustments when necessary to accomplish your goals.
3) Focus: Grade-appropriate basics
Focus on the basics appropriate for each level. My next two posts will consider what that focus would look like at two stages of education:
- Elementary/early middle school
- Late middle school/high school.
Tune in tomorrow to learn the elementary school basics!
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CC image courtesy of Jamie McCaffrey on Flickr.