Dictionary.com describes mastery as “command or grasp, as of a subject” or having “expert skill or knowledge”. Tiger Woods, for example, is a master of golf. In traditional schooling, children rarely get to master any one subject before moving on to the next. In homeschooling, there is no reason to NOT master a subject.
A child has to master the alphabet before he or she can learn phonics sounds. They must then master phonics before they can sound out a word. Finally they must master deciphering words before they can read a sentence… let alone, a paragraph. The same goes for math. Mastery of addition precedes subtraction, which precedes, multiplication, and division. For the most part, the first two years of traditional schooling is an example of mastery at its best. Unfortunately, it stops there.
When homeschooling, mastery can continue well past the point of elementary reading and math. Here are some examples of mastery in homeschooling in action:
Science: A child can learn about animals in the order of the food chain. Once they know everything they need to learn about the biology of a worm, they can move up to the bird that eats the worm. Likewise in biology, they could start with the skeleton, and once they master all the bones of the body, they can move to the nervous system, and then the muscles, etc. On the other hand, they can start with the properties of the skin, and work their way inward.
Geography: once a child has learned continents to a level of mastery, they can then learn countries, then states, then cities.
Foreign language: Mastery of Latin will make learning other Latin languages easy. A child can also use their mastered knowledge of Latin to improve their English vocabulary.
While this may sound like a lot of work, it really is not. Mastery is just a different approach to learning in contrast to the repetitive bits and pieces approach used in schools today (with the hopes that one of the times a child is exposed to a bit of information, it might actually stick). Mastery is just a chronological approach to learning. Master the first subject, and then build on it. A child does not forget how to add or to say the alphabet, because further learning is based upon it. Likewise, a child will not forget the countries after moving on to states and provinces, as it is still important in the next step.
(This essay is an exercise in vocabulary. I encourage you to pick a new word each day and have your children to write an essay. Choose the number of required words according to grade level, age, or ability. ) For more words of the day see: syncretism, autodidact, extreme and mediocrity and more.