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Have you allowed your child to 'skip' a grade or two?
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Our 12yo dd is the oldest, and only girl in the family. She is a voracious reader and, like so many ‘oldest’ children has moved quickly and with excellence through all of her schoolwork. I have ALWAYS had to hold her back from doing more work, and doing the work more quickly than I thought she ‘should’. So now, I am faced with a quandry:
We are finishing Module 5 this year as a family. I feel that she is now mature enough to handle the study of Modern times independently. As I look over the suggestions for 7th grade curriculums, however, I find that she has already read virtually all of the resources.
The next grade level of books that would be new to her is for the 9th grade! She is moving into 8th grade math this summer (but TT, so it is more like 7th) and she is at the 9th grade level in her spelling, writing, science, French, etc…
Should I skip 2 ‘grades’?? That would have her graduating at 16 (yikes!). But we live in a college town, so I could see the benefit of her starting early – while she is living at home and can be helped with some of the pressures she will face there…or doing missions work or travel, work apprenticeship, etc.
Has anyone graduated their kids early? How did it turn out for them? Should I just beef up her work but continue as though she were graduating at 18?
Thanks for any advice, and before you throw stones at me, you should know that NONE of my other (4) children look like they will have this problem ;0).
Have you asked HER?
Also, just because you move up work does not mean she ‘has’ to graduate. I had kids who finished calc at 16, but I didn’t consider them “graduated.” They even took community college classes, but I never said to them that they were skipping anything. My kids always worked ahead of their “official” grade level, but since grade levels based on age are virtually meaningless anyway, we just never fixated on it. One goes to school until about 17 or 18 and then one chooses what to do next. My kids always looked at me if someone asked them what grade they were. LOL It meant nothing to them.
I am not anywhere near having to make that decision yet, but I have thought about it. My DD7 is will start next school year doing 4th grade + work. My thought has been that when she gets to upper high school, she can take some classes as needed at the community college or online. Also, we can focus on some studies that she wants to do. I can tell her to pick a time period in history, have her find her own resources to study (with help as needed) and write a term paper on what she has learned. Do some more self guided things. Also, I would love for my kids to do some extensive job shadowing as they get closer to college so they won’t get into something and then decide that they don’t like it after all. Those years will provide more flexibility for that.
Oh, yeah. She is of course very excited about it. I think she has been feeling a little held back by doing the family work for history, geography, etc…
I agree about not labeling them on a particular ‘grade’. It is something I tried never to discuss until we started doing co-op classes and other outside activities where it was required to know their grade. I have one son who struggles with his writing skills, so sticking him in with other kids at his ‘grade level’ is always a challenge.
So just go ahead with her work (at whatever level she is at) and don’t discuss it? Good idea!!
I wouldn’t try to hold a child back. That said, there is plenty of things that can be done if you don’t want to “graduate” them early. There are things like CLEP and AP that can give them University Credit (depending on the University)….
My daughter, who will be graduating next year, could have easily graduated a year ago. However, I personally don’t graduate my children early. They just continue doing “school” at whatever level they are at until they are the “normal” graduating age. Now this daughter is not a voracious reader….but if she was….I’d just find something she hasn’t read yet. 😉
I like having my children at home as long as possible. They will have many years out in the world on their own. Plus, I have other concerns besides the academics….like character and life training and such. I find it takes until they are “age appropriate” for graduation before I have a true peace that they are ready to fly.
I say “normal” and “age appropriate” based on what is the age of those graduating in the public/private schools. So, for us it’s between 17 and 18 depending on when their birthday is.
I have a son that will be 20 in a few weeks. He has been out of our school for 3 years. We had him “skip” 6th grade. He was a voracious reader like yours and back then we were using textbooks for school When I looked at the 6th grade stuff, it was nothing new. We debated and prayed, and decided we’d do it. I had some uncertainties and thought I might have regrets, but for him it came out just right. He had 2 years at the community college while he struggled with Lyme Disease. If he hadn’t graduated young, he would be be so old when he gets done with college. He’ll be old enough going into music because of how few credits you get from so much time spent! Plus he’s on a 2 year mission for our church during which you don’t go to college. Plus he got 2 years of college experience before he went off to school across the country for a year.
However, the next down in age has always had math, writing and willingness trouble. She wasn’t as far as she should have been–really. So I had her “do” 5th grade again, I think. I mean, she hadn’t really done it the first time. So she was going to be going into 8th grade this year and she’s almost 15. It has always mortified her around the kids at church. So we started using the Peabody test last year and the results (which really don’t mean anything to me) were surprisingly high “grade level” wise. So we decided to have her in the “grade” with her age-mates. She’s a much harder worker this year starting 9th grade.
All that said, I don’t really like the idea of fiddling with the grade level we call them. It’s something I wish I would have started out not labeling because it really isn’t needed in homeschool. If you are going to do it, though, do it before high school starts. But I would really pray about it. I didn’t think it could make a difference later, but I see it did.
I honestly hope it never comes up in our homeschool again. I would never let any of them leave home early because of it though. I agree with sixtimemom that my kids need to live at home til they are adults.
I’d opt for “graduating” her at 16, whether she knows it, or not as far as curriculum is concerned and utilize credit by examination resources. She’d likely be able to graduate at 18 with both a diploma and a minimum of an Associates degree.
CLEP Prep http://ClepPrep.tripod.com/ and its egroup, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClepForHomeschool/ are the most inexpensive ways to at least research the option. College Plus is another route that provides accountability with mentors.
Apprenticeships or entrepreneurship while still at home are other fine options.
Our older children (so far) have opted for work/apprenticeship type situations during highschool and beyond. Our eldest daughter just turned 18 and is seriously considering CLEP tests.
Keep us posted on the adventure!
There are many reasons for or against. At this point I would not consider skipping my younger ds, though I think that he could easily be considered for it. He will only be 17 going at the regular rate. I find grades don’t mean much -especially using a CM approach – it’s just the year he’s enrolled in, not the level of work he’s doing. I wouldn’t sweat it too much. There is lots of time to make that decision when you get closer to the date and have a better idea of what her post high school plans are.
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