Another Moment of Freaking.

Every Thursday, I take part in the NAGC chat (Twitter chat at 9 Eastern, 8 Central, #nagc ).  This week was "Back to School Hopes."  We got onto the topic of the Common Core Standards in the US, which 45 states have adopted, with leniency in how they are implemented. These are the standards I use as a basis for the scope and sequence for Rowena's Browncoat Academy.  Obviously, as these are common to the US, this does not apply to us here in Ontario.  I base my school thus on the very simple concept that I was trained as a teacher.  I graduated with a BS in Elementary Education in the state of Illinois, so using their standards was familiar to me.  I went with it.  Not long ago, I learned that the standards in Canada are very different.  Generally speaking, whatever grade a child is in at their American school, they will likely be studying the same things in Canadian schools... anywhere between 12 and 18 months later.  I've known this for a while now, as I was looking into Canadian curricular and educational standards months ago.  But chatting tonight brought it to the fore, and left me assembling the pieces in all my utterly dumbfounded glory.  I have been basing Monkey's educational plans on the theory that, according to the standards I have, he is firmly (currently) sitting between a 1st and 2nd grade level.  This depends on the topic - he is very good at social studies, reading, and science, but he is learning an entirely new math system, so that's slower than it could be.  When I put it together, this puts him anywhere between 2nd grade and 4th grade in Canadian schools.  This is just boggling to me.  Granted, this changes nothing.  I have no "shout it from the rooftops" plans, I have no intent to suddenly enroll him in college at age 6, nothing changes. But sometimes, ones mind is so thoroughly blown that you have to express it somewhere.  And really, where better than the homeschool blog dedicated to the adventures of educating a gifted Monkey?