Pacing

Another lesson learned this week.

I had been putting off my large Amazon order. The online cart had been all set for weeks, but I could not bring myself to "complete purchase". Included in my cart was the math curriculum Grayson's class is using this year. Because I have been afraid of falling behind, we have been working hard in the last three weeks to do at least an hour of math work a day. I found an online math program, IXL, that we have enjoyed thoroughly. It is a monthly subscription site, but it's detailed breakdown of concepts and reporting features have been very useful. Grayson has been working hard and carefully through new concepts.

I finally made our order and all the shiny new curriculum arrived in the mail. When I started evaluating the math text from his class for this year - it started to dawn on me that we had already covered quite a bit of the material. After doing a more thorough evaluation: Grayson has demonstrated mastery of more than half of the concepts being introduced in his class text this year. I knew he was working hard, but in 22 hours of working to complete more than half of the year?! I am still not sure what to think. Does he know it well enough? Have I been pushing him too hard? Did I miss something?

I think we'll slow down a little there and try to focus on catching his writing skills up to level. I had a picture of always catching up, never that we would move too quickly!