diff --git a/docs/.vitepress/config.mts b/docs/.vitepress/config.mts
index d790bbd..98aa1ae 100644
--- a/docs/.vitepress/config.mts
+++ b/docs/.vitepress/config.mts
@@ -53,6 +53,13 @@ export default defineConfig({
             { text: 'Java Basics', link: '/curriculum/getting-started/java-basics' },
           ],
         },
+        {
+          text: 'Java Track (optional depth)',
+          items: [
+            { text: 'Object-Oriented Programming', link: '/curriculum/getting-started/oop-concepts' },
+            { text: 'Intermediate Java', link: '/curriculum/getting-started/intermediate-java' },
+          ],
+        },
         {
           text: 'Challenges',
           items: [
diff --git a/docs/curriculum/index.md b/docs/curriculum/index.md
index dcb4f0c..27a7a71 100644
--- a/docs/curriculum/index.md
+++ b/docs/curriculum/index.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Welcome to the XBot programming curriculum. You will go from writing your first Java code to making a robot drive itself.
 
-**No programming experience?** Start here. The curriculum assumes you know nothing about programming and teaches you everything step by step.
+**No programming experience?** Start here. The curriculum assumes you know nothing about programming and teaches you everything step by step. [Java Basics](getting-started/java-basics) covers the minimum you need to begin, and the [Java track](#java-track) below goes deeper when you want it.
 
 Work through the steps in order. Each challenge builds on the one before it.
 
@@ -27,6 +27,17 @@ Background you will be pointed at from the challenges, and can come back to any
 | [Git Introduction](getting-started/git-introduction) | What source control is, and the terms you will see |
 | [Clone with GitHub Desktop](getting-started/clone-with-github-desktop) | Getting a copy of a repository onto your computer |
 
+## Java track
+
+[Java Basics](getting-started/java-basics) is deliberately short -- just enough to start driving a robot. These two pages go further, and you can work through them alongside the challenges rather than before them.
+
+| Page | What It Covers |
+|------|----------------|
+| [Object-Oriented Programming](getting-started/oop-concepts) | Encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction |
+| [Intermediate Java](getting-started/intermediate-java) | Generics, lambdas, Optional, collections, streams, enums |
+
+Of the two, get comfortable with **classes and objects** before the [Auto-stopping Collector](challenges/auto-stopping-collector) challenge -- that is the first time you write a class from scratch rather than filling in a method.
+
 ## Challenges
 
 Hands-on exercises in the [XbotEdu](https://github.com/Team488/XbotEdu) practice project. Each one has unit tests, so you can check your own work without a physical robot.