Is one "better" than the other? My gut says spiral is best, particularly for math and retention, but maybe I'm wrong. Opinions?
(To clarify... I have a child who thrives on and demands a mastery approach to everything. He does well with occasional reviews if it has been months since he touched a subject or sub-subject... not just math related... but he primarily learns by digging as deeply as possible into just one topic.)
I prefer the spiral approach when it comes to math for most kids. There are some who do very well with the mastery approach but in general I think math requires constant reinforcement or else kids lose it.
I agree with this. I prefer spiral, and think it's best, but I'm getting ready to try Math Mammoth with my daughter.. it's more along the lines of mastery.
I think it depends on the child. Mastery works best for my oldest for sure. We started out with spiral and he did not like jumping around from topic to topic. For my youngest, I think he would do just as well with either approach. I think I would have done better in math had I been taught mastery. The spiral approach to my public school math didn't give me enough time to actually learn the material and just left me confused and frustrated.
The same applies to my daughter. We took the spiral approach in the early years. When math was simple, Em thrived. Once math became more complex, we switched to Mastery and she took off beautifully. Mastery isn't void of reinforcement. Each math problem requires the student to use skills they have used in the past. It is its own approach and works well for us.
We used a spiral with DS 10 when he was younger, but this year (5th grade) we switched to BJU math and he has done great. It is more mastery, but does have review built in, also. When we have an area that he needs more work on, I just print off practice pages until he gets it. Then we move on.
Even if you go for the mastery approach, you still need to go back over what has been learned previously. Math builds upon itself, so what is a topic in one grade becomes foundational knowledge in a later grade.
PERSONALLY, I prefer spiral. However, if my child IS struggling with a particular topic, I will take a week or two break from our curricula to work on just that topic until they have mastered it a bit. I do agree, though, I think it depends on the child, AND the parent.
I agree with those who say it depends on the learning style of the student. I prefer mastery with review for math and both of my kids do best with the mastery approach.
I agree it depends on the kid. I also agree with Tina that even with the mastery approach you still need to do review of "mastered" skills.
I think mastery for my son with some review along the way in math. I know that a completely spiral program is not for him, but without some review it is easy to forget those things he learned way back.
Thanks all! I think we've decided on a master approach for now and some review to supplement. Y'all are such a big help!
I'm thinking about using Math Mammoth, but my sis in law brought up a good point for the spiral side - if you're not doing it right in a spiral set-up, you'll only do 4 or 5 wrong before it's caught vs mastery you'll waste time doing 20 wrong. Food for thought.
I think there is a difference between a strict spiral program and a strict mastery program and there are some that are more in the middle (more mastery with a spiral of review if you will). When I taught in the Minneapolis public school system with 4-6 graders there was a new spiral program and it was a collective mess. Some students could hang with it, but those are the kids who would have thrived with a mastery program as well. Parents, teachers and students were all frustrated and all we received at the math inservices were supplements for the program. With my children we use MUS and really like it. There is enough review of past material that they don't lose what they have learned, but they do need to know what they are doing to move on. Which, in my mind, makes sense since math is a subject that you build on. BUT I also think that there are a lot of curricula consider to be "spiral" and yet they are spiral in the sense that they cover multiple topics, but they still move toward mastery without continuing on and on.
