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As I write about our homeschool I have included many links. I hope some of them you will find useful.
Journey of learning for all Our homeschool journey began with Sonlight curriculum. We read about Charlotte Mason, enjoyed classical education ( here and here ) and we gained a great deal from the philosophy of the Robinson curriculum.( You can read more about this journey here).
Gleaming many ideas from all these different sources we have developed a method that works well for us. At its core are 2 ideas; firstly the importance of mastery learning and secondly a self teaching/learning model.
Mastery Learning
Mastery learning is an instructional method where a student is given enough time to master a topic. Students vary in their aptitude ie the length of time it takes a person to learn. It is a method whereby students are not advanced to a subsequent learning objective until they demonstrate proficiency with the current one.
I quote Andrew Pudewa "Mastery learning is knowing that you know that you know. It is certainty. Sadly, much of our educational culture is about retaining a set of facts long enough to pass a test—and then promptly forgetting most all of it. To learn and retain for life is what true education must be; yet the potential benefits as well as the methodology of mastery learning are virtually unknown. " To illustrate I will use an example from arithmetic. A child is learning 7*9. Many curriculum will concentrate on understanding the operation of multiplication, so in this case he will know that 7*9 is 7 groups of 9. But that is not enough. A child should learn the fact as well. 7*9 are 63. He should know it so well that he can recall it without effort, recall it as if I were asking him his name. How will this happen? There will be different roads to mastery. My children have developed their own methods and I, as the wise mother will note how they do learn. One child loved the patterns in the 9 times table: the digits add up to 9 and the first digit of the answer is one less that the number of groups. They used the patterns to recall the fact 7*9 is 63, but we went beyond this. Repeating multiplication drill sheets for a long enough period of time so that the pattern was no longer needed and the fact is recalled without the support of the pattern. Another one of my children loved to add them up : 9, 18, 27,.. counting on her fingers which group of 9 as she sang/said the numbers. Another loved the abacus and his fingers. Quickly finding the answer with the physical manipulation of the beads. How did I define mastery? It is more than being able to do a 100 drill sheet in less than 5 minutes. Because it takes time even after this is achieved for the skill to be lifelong.
Regarding understanding: "Understanding more often than not follows doing rather than precedes it. If I'm going to teach you how to drive, I don't lecture you on the theory of the internal-combustion engine. I get you behind the wheel of the car and drive around the block." - John Saxon I can think of a number of examples where my understanding came after the doing. I remember particularly in physics regarding speed, distance and acceleration. I had been doing calculus for a while and working problems in physics successfully when suddenly the light went on - the rate of change of speed is the acceleration, so the rate of change in a speed /time graph will be the acceleration. So if I differentiate the graph I will have the acceleration. Suddenly calculus had more meaning to me. Jonathan had a similar experience with multiplication. He was the child that learned his multiplication fact sheets in 9 months, it was only later that he realized their application!
Self teaching/learning model Not only is this helpful for the busy Mum but it is helpful for the student. ( under construction )
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