Do you know what your child is doing in school?

A new study has been done that shows...ready for this?....children should be expected to master math concepts! Isn't that a shock? If you have looked at the math that comes home from most public schools you'll know that mastery is a *new* idea. When I was in school, mastery was the norm. First you learned addition, then subtraction, then multiplication...and so on. Now, every year through elementary school a child is given a little bit of many math concepts. They never work to the point of mastery in any one concept. The general consensus among the experts for the last several years was that this was the best way to teach math. In some ways it makes sense. The regular reviewing helps to keep things fresh in mind. However, for kids of average intelligence, this can be extremely tedious. For kids who are above average, with high rates of acquisition and retention, it can be torture. I am hoping this study will be used to improve the curriculum offered in schools. It will be funny to see how quickly spiraling curriculum will be labeled as horrible for kids. Many in the gifted ed community have been saying that for years, but until the *educational experts* declare something law, it's not true.