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Held back a year public; skip forward now that homeschooled?
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My children were both held back for their first grade years as they were transitionong from public to private christian. The curricula that was used in private was far more advanced, so they were each kept back a year. Now that we are n homeschool, my kids are doing great at their own pace, but, are becoming self conscience of thei ages vs the “grade” they are in. In other words, they would be nineteen at their graduation, whereas their church peers will all be 17-18 years. I wondereed could they simply “graduate” at 18, if they complete all the basics? They are not the “gifted academic” sorts; that is, the self-motivated type that could do two school years in 1 semeaster etc. They are slower learners, so, we could argue that they may need taht extra year to “finish” everything. My question is, what is the definitionn of being “finished” for most? I feel led to preserve their self esteem and change their grades to their peer appropriate grade levels. However, I also feel that ever nagging worry that we might not be doing right “skipping” a whole year. Whst do yu think?
For our state, when you get to high school age, you don’t need to be at a certain level of math, you just need to complete 3 years of math. So it doesn’t matter if they don’t get to the same level of math as other kids might, just that they keep learning. To me, “finished” is acheiving their potential and learning the skills they need to be productive members of society. That will be different for each of my children. Personally I would rather they take an extra year to study and mature before feeling the need to decide what they are going to do with their lives.
Bumping this for you. I am interested in the other ladies’ advice also. My ds turned 5 in Oct., so he would have missed the public kindergarten date. But he wanted “schoolwork” like his big sister. So we began a few things with him & he tells everyone that he’s in K. So naturally, he will want to claim 1st next year even though he may not be “first grade level” in everything.
We just use whatever grade matches the children’s ages. It’s mostly a meaningless label. Children progress at different rates at different times and in various areas. My daughter, for example, is 7yo, so we say she is in grade 2. However, she can read better than most 12 year olds I know. She reads faster than I do, and I read fast. Last year, she was totally excited about numbers and patterns, and I considered her advanced in math, for a first grader. This year, she has decided that math is boring, and really hasn’t moved forward significantly. We do a lot of living math, so we explore lots of topics, but she probably doesn’t have some of the skills that other second graders would. In public school she’d be considered ‘behind’. As for the rest of the subjects, a CM program is so radically different than a public school program, that nothing can be compared year by year anyway. So what grade is she in really?
In any given class at most public schools, there will be students who are working 2 or more grades below and some working 2 or more grades above the labelled grade. They’ll have their own individualize plan, regardless of what grade you call them. Even at the high school level, students of the same age can be doing very different things. For example, high school in our province is grades 10, 11, 12. There are 4 different choices for “Grade 10 Math”. One path leads to courses that prepare you for math-based university programs. A second prepares for university programs that don’t need much math. The third and fourth levels are more basic. They are all ‘Grade 10’ math, however. At one point when I was 16 and officially in ‘Grade 11’, I was taking a grade 10 physics course, grade 11 English and Social Studies, and grade 12 calculus and biology.
You’ll have to check the requirements for your state/province as to whether you can just change the grade your children are registered as, if they are registered at all, but for social purposes, or things like registering in sports or clubs, I would just have them say they are in what ever the age appropriate grade is. You didn’t mention how old your students are, but you should be able to plan ahead to have them ‘graduate’ at the same age as everyone else. Again, you’ll have to check the requirements for graduation in your state/province and the requirements for any post secondary education plans. Lots of students take an extra year to finish up courses to get ready for post secondary courses, so it probably won’t be a big issue.
Joanne, who as a former public educator thinks grade levels are a bunch of nonsense.
I don’t know what’s best for your situation, i.e. if your kids are really feeling affected by the age difference. But both my kids have July b-days. We elected to have them be newly 6 rather than newly 5 when starting K. I’m so glad we did. It put much less pressure on me as a new homeschooler, and I’d rather have them be the oldest in their ‘class’ than the youngest. The only bit of challenge we’ve had is that some of their closer friends are the grade older in church, so we just let them go into that grade for church services. It hasn’t been a big deal at all. Recently, my 7th grader has made a couple comments about how she ‘should be an 8th grader since she’s 13.’ I tell her if she wants to work extra every day and through the summer she might be able to achieve that and she drops the subject:)
However, if your kids are younger you could likely catch them up to graduate sooner, if that’s your wish. The beauty of homeschooling…do whicheve works best for your family:) Blessings, Gina
That is our exact scenario, my son is 13 and in 7th grade, will be 14 in March. We will check our state’s requirements again, I think they are very relaxed (Mississippi). It is true, since we have switched to the CM style, it does seem “gradeless”; and it has allowed us to teach the kids together for most subjects even though they are two years apart in age. Thanks for your input, will probably just let them graduate with others their ages and catch up only if needed; based on their career interests as the years go by. Just wanted second opinions, thank you again!
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