Extend term-1 skills with an enrichment path chosen by interest โ depth, application, or preview.
The buffer week is yours. Pick ONE path and go deep. Path A (Puzzle depth): tackle harder equation puzzles โ literal equations (solve for any letter), absolute-value warmups, "impossible" equations with no solution. Path B (Application): build a second, more ambitious linear model โ two variables from your real life, full write-up. Path C (Preview): peek at quadratics โ what changes when xยฒ enters, why the graphs bend, and where lines stop sufficing.
Whichever path, produce something showable: a solved puzzle set, a model report, or a one-page "what I discovered about parabolas." The habit being built: mathematics as something you DO with slack time, not just assigned time.
Mastery looks like: An artifact exists, they can explain it, and they end the term curious rather than depleted.
Common stumbles: Trying all three paths shallowly; skipping the artifact because "it's just the buffer week."