Age Appropriate or Brain Appropriate?

Okay, I admit it. I have no background in education beyond working for a private school corporation (as a secretary, not a teacher). I'm feeling my way through this business of educating my child.

One of the main obstacles to homeschooling on your own is determining the appropriate course material for your child. I suppose if you're working from preschool onward, it would be easier. And if you're planning on buying a curriculum from one of the many places that offer those, it would help. But if you're like me, and trying to do this on your own after pulling your child out of public school, it can be a daunting task.

With my daughter, I try and find materials just beyond her current mastery. This sometimes means she struggles a bit, but it seems to be working for us. If I run her into too much trouble, we scrap the material and find something a bit easier. For instance, right now she's working with a high school chemistry textbook, and it's companion workbook. The text book seems to hit her right where I want it to--just above her current level so she stretches a bit--but the workbook is so far past that, I can see she's quickly drowning. So we're scrapping that book until later years.

I work at making her lessons brain-appropriate. If I tried to make them age-appropriate, she'd be whipping through the lessons, and not really learning much of anything. However, that's one individual child. Each child learns at a different pace. So, age-appropriate may work for you.

In the end, you need to evaluate your child's needs and abilities. Check out some of the materials available. Pick up a book and have your child try to do some of the exercises. If they breeze through, up the ante and give them something harder. If they struggle, fall back a step and try again. Don't get discouraged if your child is a little behind--especially if they were previously in public school. I had to start my 6th grader out in 5th grade Math lessons just to get her caught up. And don't let your child get discouraged if you've given them something harder than they're ready for. It's not a value judgement on your child's ability. It's just an evaluation so you can better teach them.

And when they finally manage to get ahead of the curve (and trust me, if they've been public schooled, they will get ahead of the curve), you can celebrate their achievement. There's nothing quite like seeing your child reading out of a college level textbook and understanding the material.

Except for the look on her face when she realizes she's reading college-level material and understanding it.