The curriculum was mapped out, my daily schedule was humming along nicely, household chores were getting done regularly, and I was feeling confident in my homeschool mom skills. Then, the testing happened. I received a dose of surprise reality. The information that I thought my child was absorbing, was completely forgotten. That is what the assessment made me believe, anyway.
Knowledge retention and progression are key indicators that I can use as waypoints in homeschooling. They are not meant to be anchors to my child’s success, though. In my homeschool mom journey, I have realized that I cannot hold so tightly to our planned schedule, or grade level, that I lose sight of my child’s retention of information as the goal. When I see a learning gap, on an assessment showing that my child needs to stay right where they are, I know it is time to slow down. Slowing down learning speed will surprise you though!
Academic Growth After Slowing Down Learning Speed
The first time I had to slow down and teach my child the same information all over again, it was scary. Deep down it felt like I failed. My child did not retain the information at a pace I thought they could. This is not the end of the world. It just means it is time to slow down and dive deeper into the material. We changed our curriculum and went back to basics.
I share the journey, the lessons and the amazing results – seriously amazing – in my newest feature over on the HSLSA blog. Slowing down learning speed actually can lead to growth! And, we are talking big leaps.
Go read it. Even if you are not homeschooling, the information is critical for knowing when to advocate for your child’s learning growth and how to do it.
<<Read the full article at HSLDA here.>>
To read the rest of my articles featured on the HSLDA blog, you can view the HSLDA archives here. For more tips on what to do if your child is struggling in school, I have you covered.
Making the right choices for our children’s education can be stressful. Slowing down learning speed can be a solution to achieve growth.
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