PrimerLMS
Mastery, not coverage
An AI tutoring system that a parent or a teacher directs.
GRADES 5–8 · MATHEMATICS, ELA, SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES
01
A student moves on when they can explain the step, not when the week ends.
THE STANDARD
Today: the calendar advances whether the student does or not
AT HOME
A boxed curriculum arrives with a schedule. It cannot tell you which lesson your child only half understood, and it never waits.
IN A CLASSROOM
Twenty-eight students, one pace. Reteaching one child costs the other twenty-seven, so the gap gets carried forward instead of closed.
SCHEDULED PACE
ACTUALLY MASTERED
W1
W2
W3
W4
W5
W6
W7
W8
Both problems are the same problem: attention does not scale, so the standard bends instead.
SECTION 01
What it is
One system, four commitments
01 · DIRECTED
The adult chooses the content, the projects and the direction — in plain conversation, not a settings screen.
02 · SPECIALIST
One tutor per subject, each holding its own standards. Add a subject, split one, or retire one at any time.
03 · MASTERY-BASED
Progress is recorded per standard with evidence. Nothing advances on time elapsed.
04 · MOSTLY OFF-SCREEN
The system plans, questions and assesses. The student reads, writes, measures and builds.
The adult keeps the judgment calls
DECISION
HOMESCHOOLING PARENT
TEACHER
What is read
Chooses the books and sources
Uses the department reading list
What gets built
Sets the term's project
Assigns one project per class
Where to slow down
Pins a topic until it is solid
Pins per student, not per class
What counts as done
Reviews the portfolio monthly
Reviews evidence per standard
Change it by saying so
No settings screen and no configuration file. The adult says what they want changed, and the plan is rebuilt around it.
WHAT THE ADULT ASKS FOR
WHAT CHANGES
“Add a Latin tutor, three sittings a week.”
A sixth specialist joins the rotation with its own standards and mastery record.
“Two builds this term instead of one.”
Project cadence doubles and the maths and writing work re-anchor to both.
“No timed tests until spring.”
Formal checks become written work; test format is still practised monthly.
“Reading responses by hand, on paper.”
That work moves off-screen and is marked from a photograph of the page.
“She is stronger than this — push her.”
Difficulty steps up on that standard. The bar for mastery does not move.
Every change is logged with the reason given, so a term can be explained after the fact.
SECTION 02
How it teaches
Specialists, as many as the year needs
FIVE BY DEFAULT · ADD, SPLIT OR RETIRE ANY OF THEM
Mathematics
Coaches the step, generates fresh problems, refuses the bare answer
English & literature
Close reading of whole books, evidence in every claim, writing revised until it holds
Science
Turns a guess into a hypothesis, a hunch into a measurement
History & civics
Primary sources, maps, and the argument a document is actually making
Practical work
Plans the build, checks the measurements, holds the tolerance
How a sitting runs
01 · STUDENT WORK
An answer, a journal entry, a measurement, a photograph of the build
↓
02 · HABIT CHECKS
Reasoning, units, evidence, grammar, vocabulary — failures go back before anything else happens
↓
03 · SUBJECT TUTOR
Judges understanding, asks the next question
03 · CONNECTIONS
Names the skill from another subject
03 · RECORD
Files the evidence against the standard
↓
04 · PLANNER
Decides what comes next: continue, switch subject, or end the sitting
RETURNED
Sloppy work goes back to step 01. The subject tutor never sees it.
Five habits, enforced everywhere
These are checked on every piece of work, in every subject. Sloppy work is returned before the subject tutor ever sees it.
Reasoning shown
“42” is not an answer. Why it is 42 is the answer.
Units always present
“The board is 6.” Six what?
Evidence cited
Which page, which measurement, which document.
Grammar holds
Writing is not a subject. It is every subject.
Words are precise
Not “the plant food thing.” Photosynthesis.
Nothing stays in its subject
The system watches for the moment a skill reappears somewhere else, and asks for it by name.
WHAT THE STUDENT IS DOING
WHAT THEY ARE ASKED
SUBJECT CREDITED
Filleting a corner in CAD
That radius is an arc. What fraction of a circle?
GEOMETRY
Scaling a recipe by 1.5
Write the fraction multiplication for each ingredient.
RATIO
“This soil is better”
That is a hypothesis. What is your control?
METHOD
A formula in a spreadsheet
Write that in mathematical notation.
ALGEBRA
PRODUCT · TUTOR THREAD
It asks before it tells
Every turn is logged in plain language. An adult can read the session back and see exactly where the student went wrong and what was said about it.
01A bare answer is sent back for reasoning
02The wrong step is questioned, never corrected
03A missing unit is caught in the same turn
Mathematics tutor
SOCRATIC
GARDEN PLOT · AREA & RATIO
TUTOR
The plot is 12 ft by 9 ft. You are planting two thirds of it. How much ground is that?
MAYA
48
TUTOR
That might be right, but I cannot mark a number on its own. Show me how you got there.
MAYA
Two thirds of 12 is 8, and two thirds of 9 is 6. So 8 × 6 = 48 ft.
CHECK THIS STEP
Two things. 48 ft is a length, not a ground area. And you shortened both sides — sketch that and tell me what fraction of the plot you have actually shaded.
Type your reasoning…
SEND
SECTION 03
How you know it worked
Three records, always running
The cadence and the formats are the adult's call: weekly or monthly, written or oral, timed or open.
CONTINUOUS
Every answer, every day
The habits are checked and the tutor judges understanding in conversation. Nothing is graded in a vacuum.
PERIODIC
Weekly checks, monthly papers
Generated fresh, in the format of the state test, scored per standard rather than as one percentage.
PORTFOLIO
The work itself
Essays, journals, drawings, photographs of what was built. Reviewed with the student, not scored.
Mastery is a claim with evidence behind it
Each standard carries its status, when it was last demonstrated, and how. Confidence decays without use, so mastery has to be re-earned.
NOT INTRODUCED
→
IN PROGRESS
→
APPROACHING
→
MASTERED
↺ DECAY CHECK
CONFIDENCE IN ONE STANDARD
RE-TEACH THRESHOLD
TAUGHT USED AGAIN USED AGAIN USED AGAIN
The work is real, so the numbers matter
One build per term by default — ask for four, or one a fortnight, or none. Every one carries standards from at least two subjects and produces written work.
TERM 1
Garden plot
Area, ratios, soil chemistry, a research journal
TERM 2
Chicken coop
Scale drawing, CAD, a budget, technical writing
TERM 3
Weather station
Statistics, graphing, sensors, a written report
TERM 4
Family cookbook
Fractions, unit conversion, food science, procedure
EVERY BUILD RUNS FOUR PHASES
TERM 1 · WEEK 5 OF 9
RESEARCH
Sources read, questions written
2 WEEKS
DESIGN
Drawings, measurements, a budget
2 WEEKS
BUILD
The work itself, checked against the drawing as it goes
4 WEEKS
DOCUMENT
A written report and the portfolio entry
1 WEEK
A coop that is out of square is a geometry lesson the student cannot argue with.
17
ACCOUNTABILITY
1:1
every curriculum item indexed to a state standard
4
tested subjects covered, with items in the state test's own formats
0
weeks of test cramming — format familiarity is built in monthly
96 STANDARDS THIS YEAR
MASTERED
APPROACHING
NOT YET TAUGHT
Where a portfolio and a test score disagree, the adult has both in front of them.
PrimerLMS
Teach the way a good tutor would, for every student who needs one.
PRIMERLMS.COM · [email protected]