Beneath the Surface
Hey Reader,
Before we dive in this week, I have a quick question for you. Hit reply with your answer — it takes ten seconds and I read every single one!
When your child finishes a math lesson, which one sounds most like you?
A. I check that they got the right answers and we move on.
B. I ask them to explain it back to me or we go over wrong answers before we move on.
C. Honestly, I'm not sure what to look for — we just keep going.
There is no wrong answer here, and I promise I am not grading you. I am just curious, and your answer is actually going to shape exactly what we talk about this month. Reply with A, B, or C and then keep reading!
LIFE
April is here, and I don't know about you, but something about the turn of a new month feels like a small exhale after our extremely busy and emotional March! The flowers are coming up, the days are getting longer, and there is something genuinely hopeful about a season that specializes in things growing that you cannot quite see yet.
I have been thinking a lot about that image lately…the idea that the most important growth is often the kind that happens beneath the surface, the kind that looks like nothing from the outside but is actually doing everything. Think like roots going deeper before the bloom appears. It feels like a very April kind of idea, and it feels like a very homeschool kind of idea too.
HOMESCHOOL + MATH
Welcome to April, and welcome to what I think is going to be one of the most practically useful months of content I have ever put in your inbox!
All month long we are going to be talking about mastery: what it actually is, how to recognize it, what to do when it’s not happening, and how to build a homeschool math plan around it so that you stop second-guessing yourself and start trusting what you are seeing in your child. Before we can do any of that, though, we have to get clear on what mastery actually means, because I think most of us are working with a definition that is subtly making our homeschools harder than they need to be.
Here is the definition most of us are operating with, even if we have never said it out loud: mastery means getting the right answer consistently, which means the problems are correct, the test score is good, and we can move on to the next thing.
Here is the problem with that definition: it measures the output without examining the understanding underneath it, and those two things are not always the same.
A child can get the right answer through memorization, pattern recognition, or copying a process they do not genuinely understand, but those things don't demonstrate true mastery. They are performances, and performances eventually break down, usually right around the time the material gets more complex and the memorized process stops working and your child looks at you and says they have absolutely no idea what is happening.
Real mastery is when a child can do three things: solve the problem, explain why the process works, and apply the concept in a new context they haven't seen before. When all three are present together, the understanding is real and durable and it will hold up when the material gets harder, which is exactly what we are building toward!
Let me give you a concrete example. If your child can solve 3x + 5 = 14, that is a good sign. But if you ask them to tell you what that equation means (what story it's telling, what the x represents, why we subtract 5 from both sides instead of just one side) and they cannot answer the question, then the procedural skill is there but the conceptual understanding is not, and conceptual understanding is what makes algebra actually make sense rather than feeling like an arbitrary set of steps to memorize and hoping for the best.
This is not meant to discourage you, however. It is meant to liberate you, because once you know what you're actually looking for, you stop asking whether they finished the lesson and start asking whether they actually get it, and those are very different questions that lead to very different teaching decisions, and the second one is the question that will change everything for your child.
This month we are going to go deep on all of it together, and I genuinely cannot wait!
GRACE
I mentioned at the beginning that I have been thinking about growth that happens beneath the surface, the kind that looks like nothing from the outside but is steadily, persistently doing everything.
That is the picture in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, where Paul writes: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." (NASB)
One plants, one waters, but God causes the growth, and notice what that means: the growth is not ours to manufacture. Our job is to plant faithfully, water consistently, and then trust that the God who makes things grow is doing exactly that, even when we cannot see it yet and even when the surface looks completely unchanged from one day to the next.
In homeschooling, you plant the lesson, water it with patience and good questions, and you come back the next day and do it again, trusting that understanding is growing beneath the surface even on the days when nothing looks different from the outside. Understanding IS growing (I promise!), and one day the bloom will appear, and you will recognize it immediately because you were faithful enough to stay in the soil with them.
That is mastery, and that is the work, and it is some of the most important work there is. ❤️
So, did you reply with your A, B, or C yet? If not, scroll back up and hit reply before you close this email! I really do read every single one, and your answer genuinely helps me know how to serve you better this month. 💛
See you soon,
- Mrs. Holman
