As a homeschooling family, we don’t have first-hand experience with Common Core curriculum. All I know is what I see online or hear from friends, which is usually in the form of memes and rants on Facebook. I’ve read legitimate articles from trustworthy sites about Common Core, from both opponents and proponents, but I have no personal experience with it.
My goal regarding education is the achievement of mastery. Children must master certain skills before they move forward. Period. This is what I focus on with my boys.
That being said, I’m not totally convinced Common Core promotes mastery. I’m starting to think it promotes distraction. Young children are being bogged down with excessive processes. Some children have a mind for it, while others don’t. We have an education system designed to be a “one size fits all,” but there really is no such thing. In my household, I have two students who could not be more different. I cannot imagine developing one education program to fit every child in America. God bless people for trying.
This morning, during my regular news peruse, I found this: Second Grader’s Revenge on Common Core Math
I burst into laughter because this is totally what Jackson would do. He’s a little whiz and does a large chunk of math by “talking in his brain.” He’s already finished his second grade math curriculum and I’m pulling from a third grade workbook to keep him busy until the year closes. Am I to assume that doing math in your head (correctly) is not an accepted skill?
What are your thoughts on Common Core?