What criteria do you consider in deciding whether your child is ready for high school

[TravelingChris]

I want to start a discussion as to what level work a child should be doing before high school. My ideas so far are:

 

1. Done with pre-algebra and either starting algebra or have finished it.

2. Ability to read most things thrown at them. Be able to read and comprehend textbooks written at high school or higher level.

3. Be able to write a well written paragraph and able to write a paper, though may not be as well written.

4. Type

 

 

What else do you require? I know many of us do think of these things since some decide their child is not ready for high school and others graduate early. If you use any other criteria than age, please join this discussion.

[mooooom]

being able to manage their time reasonably, work independently, being able to keep track of assignments in calendar type method, and turn assignments in on time w/o reminders would be something to strive for.

[G5052]

Being able to research using multiple sources and teach yourself to some extent is also important.

 

I'm struggling with this though because my oldest is doing high school level work in some subjects and but not others, but that's where they still need us I guess!

[KAR120C]

If you use any other criteria than age, please join this discussion.

I agree with what's already been listed, although because DS is young I tend to set the bar a little higher I think. (That is, there's no reason to call a younger kid high school level unless they're really solidly absolutely there, where a kid who is high school age I think could slide on a couple things -- as much as I say I'm using criteria other than age, the age does come into it that way...)

 

And I definitely agree about time management and organization. The school room is full of science fair project right now, but even in the apparent disorder he has everything his lab notebook and can put his hands on all his references. (Can he find his math notebook though? Eventually... It's supposed to be in his file crate, but that's gotten shoved under the table to make room for jars of pond water and grow lights...)

 

I think along with general organization and time management I'd aim for project management too. That is, being able to take a huge project or goal and break it into manageable pieces, and then create a reasonable schedule for accomplishing it. For us it's the annual science fair project and preparing for competitive math exams. In the case of the science fair there are a lot of different parts that all have to go in the right order - research before project design, project design before data collection. And in preparing for the math exams it's just a ton of available practice material that he can take advantage of -- he'll never get to it all, so he has to decide how much time to devote to it and what work would be most beneficial. And I think the trickiest part of either is how to carve out enough time from the schedule without neglecting his other subjects. It really does mean evenings and weekends, and not complaining about that. And it really does mean keeping track of his math notebook through the science fair project mess.

 

I don't expect perfection. I do think, though, that especially for a younger kid a lot of what you're looking for is maturity. It can get to be a messy designation, if you're working at a high school level for material but for instance not meeting deadlines and not keeping up the pace... For me that wouldn't really be "high school level" but then again it's also clearly not elementary school or middle school level either. I imagine there are kids of a wide range of ages (including those that would be high schoolers by age), who can do the work but can't keep up with organization and pace... and I think that's probably a lot of the concern about getting a kid to college too early.

[EKS]

Things I considered:

 

Is he using high school or college level texts and other forms of input? Is he able to understand them without major input from me?

 

Is he able to produce high school level work in a timely manner without major input from me?

 

Is he working across the board at a high school level?

 

Does he have standardized test scores that confirm his ability to handle high school work. In my son's case, an out of level ITBS was helpful.

 

I also looked at the Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual to see if he met their criteria.

 

As it stands now, halfway through the year, he will only be getting high school credit for math, science, geography, and possibly Latin. The work he's doing for English is high school level, and I've been keeping track of his grades, but since he still has another four years to go (because in his case advancing to high school does not equate with early graduation), the English for this year will likely drop off the transcript.

[Carol in Cal.]

Some public speaking and presentation capability, as well as facility with the use of standard word processing and presentation software are needed.

[Ruth in Canada]

Fortunately her brain clicked in at almost 16 and I can now comfortably imagine her heading off to university. I think this is a reasonable goal by the end of high school. In our house, it would not have been a reasonable pre-high school goal.

[TravelingChris]

Well my youngest has the maturity for next year, has the math and science, reads well, and is so gungho about getting up to speed that she was bothering me this afternoon to produce punctuation sentences for her. She has already worked on a science fair project completely on her own and researching on her own two years ago. The one thing she was reluctant to do was write because of her perfectionism. But now she is writing every day because she has decided she has to get better and just do it. I am telling her she needs to learn to type (her sister did the keyboarding course at FLVS and went from hint and peck typing to 50 wpm and I would like her to do the same course but am letting her choose whether to do that or Mavis Beacon). She has done public speaking and is comfortable with that. She is also a very practical child with great common sense and understands complex things easily and thoroughly. I originally thought that I should keep the girls (3.25 years apart) 4 years apart because it would be easier for college financing and for doing the WTm rotation. But older isn't doing that in high school and younger will be concentrating more on science anyway. I think going through the 4 year cycle 2 1/2 times will be sufficient. And in terms of college financing, we will have almost all to all of number 2's college paid and whatever we have left to pay will help us diminish how much we pay for 3rd's first year. We will be changing states or countries at least once and most likely twice during number three's high school years so we can always slow it back down again, if needed.

[Ellie]

My criteria: dc's 14th birthday. I wasn't aware that there should be more.

[TravelingChris]

I never considered age to be that important. My youngest started high school at 12 and graduated soon after turning sixteen. My middle has done high school at regular times (though young in many circles today) because she started right around the time she was 14 but she had medical issues and so we couldn't accelerate her. She will turn 18 within a few days of starting college and she will graduate at 17.75. Now I will have my youngest graduate at 17.5. I don't think that is a big difference between the two girls graduation dates. If number three ends up having medical issues that slow her down, so be it and we will slow down. I don't like the trend of delaying adulthood. If you look back through history, many people were working in their fields of endeavor much earlier than 22.

[Jenileigh]

I'm with Ellie- if I wait for everything else that has been stated my daughter would NEVER get to highschool.

[TravelingChris]

I understand going on with high school if your children are not fully capable of everything the previous posters said but they are at the age of high school. After all, I still think children who have difficulties with school need to finish it, even if in a different format. One size doesn't fit all. But since many of us don;t stick to age/grade levels, I was trying to elicit ideas about what those people considered the hallmarks of starting high school. Thanks for all the responses.

[Cynful]

Not to highjack, but I have a related question. Would you consider a child as a high schooler if they were there by age, but not abilities? I ask because my up and coming high schooler is just no way going to be able to do high school level work once he turns 14 (which is just over a year from now for him). This is due to his learning issues and dyslexia. So I've been wondering, just when do I consider him in high school?

 

Thanks,

[KAR120C]

Not to highjack, but I have a related question. Would you consider a child as a high schooler if they were there by age, but not abilities? I ask because my up and coming high schooler is just no way going to be able to do high school level work once he turns 14 (which is just over a year from now for him). This is due to his learning issues and dyslexia. So I've been wondering, just when do I consider him in high school?

Since no one else has jumped in yet I'll give it a shot... I think you'd have to consider what your long term plans are, and what difference it would make to wait. If you held off a year (or two?) would he be in a significantly different place, ability-wise? or does it make more sense to go ahead with high school now, knowing that his version of high school is going to be adapted to his abilities and might never look like someone else's?

 

I think we all have areas we adapt for our kids - by ability or by interest or by opportunities. But when we go significantly outside the age/grade routine, in either direction... that is, holding a kid back or skipping them forward a grade... I think it has to be for a fairly extreme situation that requires a timely response. Either because you have a kid who can not wait (and is likely to end up at college early too), or because you have a kid who really does need to wait. I wouldn't move grades around just because he's not perfectly lined up with all his age peers, but there are times when age is trumped by the other factors.