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How old do you anticipate your children will be when they graduate? Do you think you will try to manipulate their progression so that they graduate earlier or later (akin to red-shirting) than they would if enrolled in ps? Or would you try to align your children's grades, despite their traditional ages, to better coincide with the 4yr history/science cycles?

Edited by NaturalKate
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Indy's b-day falls in the middle of summer and he had just turned 5 before he entered K (he went to private K). Starting when he did, he should graduate a few months before he turns 18. Unless there is a really compelling reason to do so, I can't see changing that. I don't see that it makes a difference if he graduates a few months before turning 18, or a few months after. Either way, he'll be 18 when he goes off to college. :svengo:

 

Oh, and Han Solo will have turned 18 about 2 months before he graduates; in 2029, by which point I will be: :willy_nilly:

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Well we live with a 9/1/xx cut off for school enrollment here. Kiddo did 1 semester of kindy for 'daycare' reasons while I was working and couldn't find a better solution. He turned 6 basically with in a month of school starting here. If I was to keep that same schedule he would be darn near 19 when he graduates and enter university around his 19th b'day.

Kiddo is already advanced to Jr/Sr high level in all subjects so now its just a matter of 'filling in the blanks' and creating a transcript. I def. see him finishing early. I don't know if he will do early enrollment or if he will take a 'gap year' and do something else.

I honestly see him having a transcript completed by age 16 or so. What he chooses to do after that is completely up to him. I am more than happy to continue to HS, I am willing to accommodate early enrollment, CC classes, career training, workforce, whatever he chooses.

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the boys turned 18 over the summer before they headed off and my dd turned 17 Oct 1st. I know many people around here don't agree that she should have gone, but she always kept up with them in school, had very good grades and SAT scores, was very mature and is doing absolutely fine in college. So I am NOT in the age camp, but in the assess each child individually camp.

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I'm assessing each child individually. My oldest was 10 weeks pre-term and is definitely suffering from "wimpy white boy" delays. All of his delays are attributable to developmentally not being ready for some things when his calendar age put him there. Lat year, we called him grade 6.5. This year, we're full out calling it grade 7 and he will graduate with his cousin who is 4 months younger who was a year "behind" him in PS. His two younger siblings will graduate the same year they would had they remained in PS.

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How old do you anticipate your children will be when they graduate? Do you think you will try to manipulate their progression so that they graduate earlier or later (akin to red-shirting) than they would if enrolled in ps? Or would you try to align your children's grades, despite their traditional ages, to better coincide with the 4yr history/science cycles?

 

18, 18, 17.

 

no red-shirting here anticipated.

 

no aligning 4 yr cycle either. Of course 2 of mine are already high school One of whom has sent in 2 college applications, with 2 more to go.

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My girls should be 17 when they start college. They will turn 18 in their 1st semester / over winter break.

 

I was 16 when I started college, so this does not concern me at this point.

 

Where I live, there are many universities close enough to commute, so if I don't trust them to live in a dorm, that's what we'll do. I am not a "better late than early" type of parent when it comes to learning.

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My oldest graduated at 16 (which was actually pushed back a year AND she had a good bit of college credit already also).

My next graduates this fall. He'll turn 18 in April.

 

I have no clue with my littles. We base grade levels on age and base work levels on abilities.

Any adjustments (adding extra years, "skipping grades") will be made around 7th or 8th grade as necessary.

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How old do you anticipate your children will be when they graduate? Do you think you will try to manipulate their progression so that they graduate earlier or later (akin to red-shirting) than they would if enrolled in ps? Or would you try to align your children's grades, despite their traditional ages, to better coincide with the 4yr history/science cycles?

 

My daughter was 12 when she finished her high school requirements and went off to an early entrance college program. She finished her B.A. at 16.

 

We didn't do anything to speed up her studies on purpose. It just kind of worked out that way.

 

My son "officially" started high school one year early, although he was farther ahead in some subjects. All of his friends are one or two years older, and it just made sense to keep him more or less on the same page with them. He hopes to finish his at-home coursework in three years, which would have him graduate from our homeschool at 16. However, I am strongly encouraging at least one year living at home after that and doing some kind of certificate program at the local community college. That would then have him applying for full-time, four-year admission when he is 17 and leaving town at the same time as his friends.

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DD - 17 when she graduated and turned 18 during first semester.

 

Ds - 18 when he graduates

 

Ds - 17 when he graduates and will turn 18 early in his second semester

 

Ds - the challenging one. He wants to go to college now at 12. His academic maturity runs well ahead of his emotional maturity. So, the current plan, since we do not have a decent commuter uni or cc nearby (what we do have is an embarassment to education and every good four year institution knows it and doesn't accept their credits) is to keep challenging him here and at 16 take a gap year and travel with him. We'll let him try uni and the dorms at 17.

 

I was 16 when I graduated and began college that summer, but dh waited until he was 19 to go. So, neither of us followed a traditional plan.

 

Faith

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An opportunity came up for oldest son that he would not qualify for if he graduated at 18, so through the magic of home schooling he will now graduate at 19.

 

Second son will likely graduate at 18.

 

I usually plan for them to graduate at 18ish but we will change that in either direction that meets their needs and goals.

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It's a per-child thing for me, and even though two are doing high school level work, it's still not decided here.

My oldest has a June birthday. Assuming that we have him graduate in May/June (we might decide that December or something makes sense in 2-3 years when it actually happens), he'll either be 16 or 17, almost 17 or 18 when he graduates. He's already over halfway through the high school credits needed for the more competitive colleges, but whether or not we'd send him earlier than his public school age-grade remains to be seen. He will start community college next year as a 15 year old, but where we are, dual enrollment is fairly common, so having him do that for 2-3 years won't be any reason to consider him 'graduated' unless we choose it.

 

The next one has a late July birthday, making her one of the youngest in her public school grade. She has decided on public school for high school, and could have gone this year, but with redshirting being common in this area, she didn't like the idea of being 2 years younger than some classmates, so she's waiting and doing high school classes at home that she might have to repeat (at least they'll be easier), or if she gets credit, it will free up time in her schedule for things like extra Art or FFA. On this plan, she will be 17 at high school graduation, 18 just before heading off to college that fall.

 

My younger ones aren't anywhere near knowing for sure yet. They're also winter babies, born toward the middle of the public school year. Right now, I would guess that younger ds would stick to a traditional schedule and graduate at 18, but he's capable of moving that up a year if another opportunity presents itself. He also has his eye on the possibility of our state's college high school, where he would be in a program where they can do their jr/sr year of high school and their fr/soph year of college simultaneously. Since he would be living in the dorm 5 hours away (with the other kids in the program and the extra supervision provided), it would be more or less like graduating at 16, though he wouldn't get the paper until 18.

My youngest is enrolled a year ahead in all outside programs right now -- she'd be a second grader age-wise, but does third grade classes at church, is signed up as a third grader in scouts, etc. This is the best social and academic place for her right now. But kids change as they grow, and I am well aware that the best thing for a child at 7 might not be the same at 12 or 15 or 17, so it's something that we will continue to re-evaluate and are open with her about that she might 'repeat' 5th or 8th grade at some point in outside activities or thake 5 years for high school, not because of anything she's done wrong, but just to put her back where she 'should' have been all along.

 

 

They have ALL always worked on whatever level they were ready for in each subject, which has usually been ahead of where they 'should' be, but with custom fitting curriculum, they might be 'on grade level' on one subject and 'three years ahead' in another ... I find those designations to be fairly arbitrary and only looking at a very small part of the big picture.

Edited by higginszoo
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I have a mid-November and a mid-September child. Our state's cut-off is September 1. I started ODS a year "early" and we recently decided to officially call him what grade the state would call him. So, he works a grade level ahead or more, but is called the grade level of his age peers. If he stays through grade 12, that would put him turning 19 soon after starting college. But, we reserve the right to finish "early" if it seems like a good idea.

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We graduated our dds when they were 16yo. By that time, each was a full-time student at the community college, and they had learned as much at home as they were gonna. :)

 

IMHO, "graduating" has nothing whatsoever to do with maturity. It has to do with finishing a course of study, although *I* would still graduate a child who has reached his 18th bday. I would also seriously consider graduating my child if we lived in a state with a boatload of accountability and graduating at 16 would free us from those requirements. It doesn't mean I'd send him out into the world, or even off to college; I'd just want to be finished with answering to the state. :glare:

 

My dds bdays are in May. If they had been in school, they would have been 17yo when they started their senior year, had their 18th bdays in May, and graduated in June.

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In Texas the legal age of consent is 17, so children can quit school but parents can be held responsible. Mine have all graduated before their 17th birthday, and so will the little ones if I have anything to say about it. Now they can use that last year to attend community college, volunteer, job sampling, or etc., on my dime if they wish.

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Older DS was 18.5 when he graduated from ps and started college in August. He'll be 19 in December. DIL will be 19 when she graduates next year. Younger DS will be 18 if he stays on a 4-year track. We might do a 5th year or a gap year for him if he needs it.

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We had 16, 17 to be 18 2.5 months later, and the last will be 18 and 5 months. There are two reasons the last one will be so old- one, I like to pay for only one kid in college at a time; two, her talents lie in math/science while the others were more humanities/social sciences. There is a definite advantage to not being too accelerated in engineering, particularly if she does pursue bio mechanical engineering like she has expressed some interest in- advanced classes in Bio, physics, and chemistry would be very good for her and getting her our early would preclude enough science and math and since she really likes her extra-curriculars, it is nice to let her have the max time doing them before a difficult college time.

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