Name: ICHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-05T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-07T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Bourbonnais, IL

Tagged: age, grade levels, uk year

This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 2 months ago by Tristan.

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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February 16, 2013 at 10:24 am
Joanne Downing
Participant
Hi can someone tell me what age each of your ‘grades’ are as they don’t seem to be the same over here in england as our ‘years’. Here we say Nursery, Reception, year1, year 2 etc etc but i can’t get them to match up with your grades – My oldest boy is 11 (will be twelve in sept) and my middle boy is 9 (will be ten in may) my youngest is has just turned 3. If someone could tell me what grades they would be in theoritically, I will have a better idea as to where to place them on your curriculums. Thanks!
Jo
February 16, 2013 at 11:37 am
Tristan
Participant
In Charlotte Mason’s general guidelines school begins at age 6, so that would be grade 1. In the US grades begin each fall and a child whose birthday is close to the beginning of school (September) can begin early or wait a year. So if my 5 year old had a September birthday to turn 6 this fall he could go ahead and start grade 1 at just barely not yet 6, or he could wait a whole year and begin grade 1 at 6 but nearly 7. Of course homeschooling is much more flexible!
So based on that your oldest would be in 6th or 7th grade this fall. Your middle boy would be in 5th this fall. Your 3 year old would be considered a preschooler.
Also, in the US many schools, I would say most, have Kindergarten so that 5 years olds can begin school. In most states Kindergarten is NOT required, though nearly every parent who is using the public school sends their children to Kindergarten (which would not be what Charlotte Mason would have us do). Prechool is offered in most places in the US for 3 and 4 year olds, but is not required. Again, many parents who are not planning to homeschool will send their children to preschool as well.
Simply Charlotte Mason does have a free Early Years guide on their website to give you great ideas of thiings to do and books to read with children who are under 6 if you want ideas for your youngest.
February 16, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Joanne Downing
Participant
Lovely, thankyou.
February 16, 2013 at 3:47 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Just wanted to mention that k is not required in all Canadian provinces…
Here (my province) grades are determined by age on dec 31st. School isn’t mandatory until age 7. A student that is 6 by dec 31st is in grade 1.
February 16, 2013 at 5:19 pm
4myboys
Participant
In Nova Scotia children now have to be 5 by Dec. 31st to start Primary (kindergarten), but up until 3 years ago the cut off was October 1st. My older son was therefore nearly 6 when he started at PS because his birthday is in November. I was fine with him waiting the extra year. Our younger son was barely 5 when he started because his birthday is in the summer and he was more than ready academically.
I think your nursery would correspond with our preschool, reception would be kindergarten, and then year 1 and so forth would corresponding with grades 1 and so forth here. The question I have is at what point would your years start to correspond to our jr high and high school. (in our province jr high is 7-9, and high school is 10-12, so students usually graduate at around 18.)
February 20, 2013 at 10:56 pm
Joanne Downing
Participant
Here in the uk a child must start school in the academic year he has his 5th birthday (the academic year starts in sept) so most children are 4 or 41/2 when they start in sept and at some point before the following sept will have had their 5th birthday so our yr groups go like this:
Nursery from 3 but not compulsory
reception: will be 5 during the school year
yr1: will be 6 during school year
yr2: ” 7 “”””
yr3: ” 8 “”””
Yr4: ” 9 “””
yr5 : ” 10″””
yr 6: ” 11″”””
These all comprise what we call ‘primary school. Then they go up to ‘secondary education’ or secondary school
yr 7: ” 12 “”
yr 8 : 13
yr 9: 14
yr 10: 15 this year andthe next (yr 11) are for their exams GCSE’s
yr 11: 16
at this point the child has taken his gcse’s and can either leave school or stay on for 2 more years to do higher education normally ‘A’ (advanced) levels. which they then use to get into university.
yr 12 (lower sixth form): 17 yrs old
yr 13 (upper sixth form) 18 years old

I don’t know how your higher education works or when they ‘leave’ school. Here as you can see, they can leave at 16 years old or stay on for another 2 years and leave when they are 18 ( although i believe they are in the process of reforming this so that they have to stay till they are 17…..)
How does this line up with american grades?

February 20, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Tristan
Participant
In the US public schools are mandatory through 12th grade (what you call yr 12). You can graduate early if you take extra classes to meet graduation requirements (a certain number of english, math, science, and other courses). You can also attend university while still in high school (grades 9-12, though 11-12 is more common) if you participate in a specific program PSEO, though I don’t remember all the details for this.
Homeschoolers can do things a bit different, though each state sets mandatory age attendence requirements. For example in Ohio where I live we must actively homeschool ages 6-18, while in another state the age may be 7-17. However we could have our child spend that 17-18 year old age in college classes if we wanted to pay for them and they were ready.