we're using K12,I'm following the lesson plans, but DD6 will always change the direction the lesson is following so I just go with it, is that what most of you do?
Yes, we follow these little rabbit trails... well, most of the time. The bad part is that we both enjoy going down them and if I'm not careful we'll spend an hour on something that should have taken ten or fifteen minutes. I do have a (free) curriculum that I use as a skeleton, but tweak a bit here and there, and then I add to it quite a bit. We don't barrel through our school books, though he reads a lot on his own and would devour all books if allowed. We tend to go slow and wide with school. We cover a lot of areas, and he gets a lot of what he's interested in at the same time. He's really good at filling in the gaps, as are many of these children. Last year's deepest focus was marine biology. This year it is botany. He's recently started writing poetry (really good stuff, too!), so I suspect that's where we'll be focusing in the spring.
Once you find an outline and some goals that you generally feel comfortable with, you can use that to start pulling your own things together. Get what you need to in there, but feel free to move away from the structure or plan when your child's interest is piqued. As you ease into this, I think it will become easier for you and you'll see that it can work this way. Best wishes on all of that. Have fun!
