Did Charlotte Mason advocate the common notion of “mastery before moving on?” Liz, Emily, and Nicole discuss this popular idea and, based on Miss Mason’s principles, the cases when moving on with or without mastery of a subject are beneficial for the student.
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“Besides, though this physical culture of the brain may be only the groundwork of education, the method of it indicates what should be the method of all education; that is, orderly, regulated progress under the guidance of Law.” (1/37-38)
“Almost as bad is the way the child’s intellectual life may be wrecked at its outset by a round of dreary, dawdling lessons in which definite progress is the last thing made or expected, and which, so far from educating in any true sense, stultify his wits in a way he never gets over.” (1/16)
“But the subject of our relations with each other as human beings is inexhaustible, and I can do no more than indicate a point here and there, and state again my conviction that a system of education should have for its aim, not the mastery of certain ‘subjects,’ but the establishment of these relations in as many directions as circumstances will allow.” (3/88)
Waiting on the Word, Malcolm Guite
Let’s Play Math, Denise Gaskins
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This episode was extremely encouraging to me. My brain works in a rambling and spiraling way so the circuitous was beautifully understood by me! Faith that yes, it will ALL come together just as Charlotte Mason knew it would. Thank you dear friends.
Sandy,
I am glad you could follow our rambles. I am a major side tracker–if there is such a word! I do know this, whenever you wonder what to do next, go forward.
Liz
Just this week my son was working on division; he clearly got the concept of repeated subtraction, so we had moved on to simple division problems. We had a rough day–he only completed 3 problems during math time, and I was frustrated, wondering if we should have stayed with repeated subtraction for longer or if he was struggling because he doesn’t know all of his times tables thoroughly. That afternoon I listened to this episode and was encouraged that we were on the right track–I just needed to remember to trust the process.
The next day we were in the middle of math when I suddenly realized that he was completing his division problems at an amazing rate (nothing like what we experienced the day before); I’m ashamed to say that I actually suspected him of somehow cheating at first because the difference was so remarkable. I was dumbfounded and asked him, “How are you solving these so quickly?!? What is the difference between yesterday and today?” He just grinned at me and said, “Multiplication!” ? He made the connection between multiplication and division despite the fact that he doesn’t know all of his times tables, bearing out just what you all discussed in this episode. Humbling and awe-inspiring, and definitely one of my best homeschooling moments so far!
Thanks for all you share ?
Wendy,
Thank you, thank you for sharing this story. It literally brought me to tears. Allowing your son to see his inadequacy obviously gave him the idea that those multiplication tables are worth learning. His own discovery is so valuable in his math journey. I am sure he will one day thank you for being so faithful in giving him this education. God bless you in keeping up the good progress.
Liz
Thank you, Liz!
Thank you for the encouragement. My year 1 student was having trouble with the concept of pennies, nickels and dimes. No matter how many times we went over it, it just didn’t stick. So, I decided to step back and repeat previous lessons to eventually go back to that one. He was getting a little frustrated with math because we kept going over the same material. After listening to this episode I decided to move us along without mastery of the coins, and he’s doing just fine. I will try to remember this for the future. I’m glad to report he is excited about math again.
Elyse,
I so resonate with this comment! I could tell you so many stories like this with my own children, particularly in math. I hope it is a helpful concept to keep coming back to and that your son continues to enjoy the delightful realm of mathematics!
Emily