A Little Leeway

Here in Mooselandia, it's coming right up on tax return time. What this means is that it's time to put together my plan for next school year. In the process, I end up reviewing our provincial standards, checking off boxes, prompting freakouts, and then wondering whether or not I'm really ready for this. Of course, much like having a child at all in the first place, you're never truly ready until it happens and you've got no choice but to go forward.



It's really hard to keep up with these kids. Granted, that in and of itself is a post. But, what I'm learning as I head into my "grade two" year's planning is that the acceleration is actually really rather helpful.  Now, granted, it's not entirely helpful to need two math textbooks for one year. Nor three logic books. But at the same time, the fact that my grade one son is working multiple grades ahead - globally - means I don't have to worry. I have some leeway.

It's not that I don't want to keep him learning, or that I think we'll just do nothing but watch Minecraft videos for a month. But, honestly, if I pick a program and it's not the right one for us? It doesn't matter. I have time to replace it. If I find that Magic School Bus science kits aren't really giving us the depth we need, I can poke around online, find some experiments that will teach what I want, and do them. I don't have to panic while I scour the internet for The Best Science Curriculum EVER, I have a little leeway. It's actually almost as much a relief as it is a challenge. He's so far ahead I wonder if I'll ever catch up, but he's also so far ahead I know he'll never be behind. I still don't think I've really even found the edges of his abilities, but that's okay. We'll get there, and when we do, he'll take off like a rocket again, and we'll be set to go. Until that day, though, at least I don't have to worry about his falling behind.