Piano&ViolinMom Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Have you heard about "Gap year" while in high school? We do hear about some Kids' having Gap Year after getting college admission but starting college 1 year later. I am curious if having Gap Year while in high school make any sense to someone, or if you have heard about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I think a gap year makes plenty of sense in several situations. It allows the child to have a non-schoolish year (or less schoolish year) while pursuing something important (travel, volunteer work, interning, sport, etc). I personally wouldn't hesitate doing it under the right circumstances. I would NOT have a gap year end up being "laze around the house." Though I think there are benefits to that, I would not allow it instead of school, work, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piano&ViolinMom Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Thank you very much, Pamela!!! Have you heard about someone's taking a gap year while in high school yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 My daughter had a "focus year" of sorts. She was very young so we decided to wait one more year before college (even as classified still as a high schooler). This gave her time to do volunteer work and follow interests....and just mature for an additional year. We have considered having ds do something similar after 10th grade. It's a little early to tell though. I am more worried it would end up with more lazing around than I'm comfy with but a lot can change in him in the next 2 years to make it a possibility. We'll see. Unfortunately, here, it seems that all of high school is a gap. Very few homeschoolers in my area actually homeschool <sigh> So I don't have experience past our own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veronica in VA Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I think this would benefit my oldest ds. However, the problem is health insurance and our insurance won't cover him unless he is attending college full time. Has anyone else successfully dealt with that? Veronica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piano&ViolinMom Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 My daughter had a "focus year" of sorts. She was very young so we decided to wait one more year before college (even as classified still as a high schooler). Thank you Pamela !!! So your dd had a gap year right after her 11th grade? Or 12th? How did you manage her transcript along with a gap year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piano&ViolinMom Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Thank you Veronica !!! You brought some concern regarding Gap year. Is really true that kids will be left out with no health insurance while in their gap year? What about gap year while in high school, say in 11th grade. Do you know if high school students will face same problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin's Mom Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Why must you graduate them for the gap year? Let them do volunteer work or intership somewhere along with continue a reading program for their last year of highschool. Then graduate them the year they would be going on to college. Also if they were doing some distance learning classes and working on taking clep test for basic college classes over this gap year wouldn't that count as school? Just questions to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veronica in VA Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 DS went to public school (my biggest mistake) so he will be graduating this year (I hope!). Our insurance requires that he go to an approved college or graduate school full-time to be eligible for insurance. I have to prove this, too. Veronica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 DS went to public school (my biggest mistake) so he will be graduating this year (I hope!). Our insurance requires that he go to an approved college or graduate school full-time to be eligible for insurance. I have to prove this, too. Veronica Not if he is under 19 though, right? And insurance policies for a healthy 18yo male are pretty cheap - I wouldn't solely let that determine what they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veronica in VA Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Not if he is under 19 though, right? And insurance policies for a healthy 18yo male are pretty cheap - I wouldn't solely let that determine what they do. Unfortunately, he turns 19 later this year. I will look around and see what medical plan options there are. I did just find out about Americorp. It pays for health insurance and at the end you can get a stipend or some college money. It does require a committment of a year. It looks interesting. Veronica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piano&ViolinMom Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Why must you graduate them for the gap year? Let them do volunteer work or intership somewhere along with continue a reading program for their last year of highschool. Then graduate them the year they would be going on to college.Also if they were doing some distance learning classes and working on taking clep test for basic college classes over this gap year wouldn't that count as school? Just questions to ask. Thank you Erin's Mom! No, not graduating kids for the gap year. I brought this question that whether it's possible for kids to have a gap year, say right after their 10th grade. Then they have an internship or anything out of home for a year as a gap year, return to 11th grade then. Is it possible? Have you done that? Or have you heard of similar experiences? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piano&ViolinMom Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Our insurance requires that he go to an approved college or graduate school full-time to be eligible for insurance. Thank you Veronica ! I did not realize such health insurance matter was involoved in this way. I am learning more and more. Is this issue only to do with kids after their high school graduation, or even before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The other Kimberly Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Most kids that I know take a gap year. It is not necessarily a non academic year, but it eases the schedule for kids who are involved in debate, speech, extensive volunteerism, etc... and allows them to not be rushed. In addition, it is good to be able to take time in the late Jr. year and early Sr. year for pursuing scholarships and college applications. Scholarship apps are time consuming and are difficult if the child also has a heavy academic load. In addition, it allows kids to grow up a little more before they head off to college. Boys seem to need this more, and somewhat depends on when their birthday is. I now kids who have taken a gap year to travel with Communicator's for Christ as Interns, take a whole semester for career exploration, and many other activities. All worth it! I don't know a single person who regrets the extra year. One caveat however, is that if you graduate and then take a gap year, you jeopardize numerous scholarships. I am not sure why, but I know 2 students who learned this the hard way. I assume it puts you in the category of a returning student. Since we homeschool, it is easy tomjust not graduate them until after the gap. Whatever they plan to do with the extra time should be formulated as course work for the transcript. Just my two cents. Kimberly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piano&ViolinMom Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 Most kids that I know take a gap year.........it is good to be able to take time in the late Jr. year and early Sr. year for pursuing scholarships and college applications.........I know kids who have taken a gap year to travel with Communicator's for Christ as Interns, take a whole semester for career exploration, and many other activities. All worth it! I don't know a single person who regrets the extra year......... if you graduate and then take a gap year, you jeopardize numerous scholarships. ........ I assume it puts you in the category of a returning student. Since we homeschool, it is easy tomjust not graduate them until after the gap. Whatever they plan to do with the extra time should be formulated as course work for the transcript........ Kimberly Thank you very much, Kimberly !!! You offered lots of stuff here. How do you handle the gap year in high school Transcript? Having the gap year means having 5 years in high school? Or do you mean 3 years actual academic work, plus, 1 year as a gap year? What do you mean, "returning student" and losing scholarships? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The other Kimberly Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 You don't necessarly have to have a chronological transcript with dates. Perfectly acceptable is a topic specific transcript. To see what I mean you can go to the HSLDA site at http://www.hslda.org and scroll to transcripts section. You can click on transcript by subject and download a pdf sample transcript. You do put in the dates attended, but you just go ahead and include all 5 years. You are allowed to count high school level coursework taken in 7th or 8 th grade toward graduation, so colleges don't even care about those dates. I am not authoritative enough to really explain the whole reason why a year after college puts you at a disadvantage for scholarships. I have been told that info from a couple of kids who made that mistake. They were very capable kids who did actually end up getting scholarships anyway, but they found it difficult and were disqualified from several scholarship opportunities because of it. One great young man I know actually had to limit the colleges he could select because of the financial picture. He had to go where they would offer him the scholarship money. It's really simple to avoid that. Just delay actual graduation until after the gap year. Kimberly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 My middle ds will have a 5-year high school transcript. I did look at the transcripts on the HSLDA website. It would be the same as having a child take 5 years to finish high school in public school except do it intentionally instead of accidently. I mean theoretically a child in public school would fail English and then not be able to attend summer school or have mono and miss a semester or something. To intentionally have 5 years in high school, skip a year of English. Instead spend a year doing journalism or literature or something else that will not count for a year of English on a transcript. HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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