Of course, for homeschoolers with HG+ kids, those "legal" proficiency requirements are pretty useless. I mean, the requirements for math and reading for 1st grade were--to DS7 and to me with my skewed-high view--almost pointless.
So maybe I should just expect DS7 to be proficient at a higher grade level, right?
Well, does a 6yo (with a working memory that's not all that spectacular) really have to know his times tables as fast as an ND 10yo? I voted no this year, even though his other math skills were around the 9-10yo level. When he's 10, he will be required to be as speedy with his math recall as a 10yo. (And I suspect he'll get there well before then on his own.)
I guess what I'm saying is that some things you go with grade-level proficiency and some with age-level, I think. This is, to me, one of the great beauties of homeschooling. To some extent, we parents get to decide what constitues proficiency, within certain limits.
But that flexible definition does make determining proficiency more complicated. In fact, at a homeschooling meeting for parents of HG+ kids that I recently attended, there was a rather interesting discussion about how we know if we're doing enough. Some were really worried that they were allowing their kids to underachieve.
I confess, when it comes to proficiencies, I tend to go with the "what's required for his age" level, and then we look for fun things that will challenge him and nurture his love of learning. I totally understand the fear that this approach would be encouraging DS7 to underachieve. I dabble in the fear myself from time to time.
But it's hard for me to think that we're not doing enough when he's covering multiple years' worth of material in only a few months and loving it! I mean, if he's happy, he's learning, he's progressing, and he's making more than a year's worth of progress in a year's worth of time, I feel like we're doing just fine.
To me, if there's no joy in the work, then DS7's proficiency at something doesn't really matter. At 10 or 12 or so, I suspect I'll get more worried about filling in gaps. But he's 7! He's 3+ years ahead in pretty much all subjects! How many gaps could there be, really!?! Ya' know?
