Has anyone here added a year?

[Dolphin]

I know sometimes people hold back a year. Has anyone ever added a year? 

 

Here is the situation. We are sending him to a B&M school for High School. That decision has already been made as a family and we are happy with that. I am not looking to discuss keeping him home through High School (Although I have told him that I am happy for him to change his mind and stay with me through High School :laugh: )

 

The school we are sending him to is public, but it offers advanced courses and the IB diploma. (As well as a great drama department which is a big motivating factor to ds). 

 

His reading Comprehension is already at 12th grade, no problems there. Math, we are just about caught up, but we have struggled filling in holes. I don't want to speed through and develop more holes, I would rather we had the time to go deep with Math and get him very firmly to Geometry for freshman year. (which is the minimum he has to be at for the IB diploma.)

 

Our big problem is writing. When I pulled him after 2nd grade, we just switched to doing a lot of our work out loud. We do a lot of discussion. We are slowly working through WWS and IEW. 

 

The other factor is his age, he is a young 6th grader. Sophomore year when everyone starts getting their licenses, he won't get his till summer. He will still be 17 when he graduates.

 

Looking at the next 3 years, we are thinking of 7th, 8th, IB prep, 9th....  With what we have done, he could go in and do the regular pathway fine. He could possibly do the IB diploma, but it would be a struggle the whole way. I am thinking that if we spend one more year, it would still be advanced course work, but he would have more time to develop the skill set to handle it.

 

Pros and Cons? Has anyone else done this? Is there something I am not thinking of?

[Murrayshire]

We are taking a transition year for my 8th grader next year and we are all happy about the decision!

 

Here is my thinking:

 

Do what is best suited for your child & family first....throw negative comments out the window!

 

Try to see the BIG picture.... Meaning, is taking an extra year before hs really going to hurt my child in the long run? I graduated with 19 year olds, 18 year olds, 17 year olds. They all made it just fine and went on to live successful lives!

Weigh the pros and cons..... Extra year just means: extra growing, maturity, deeper thinking, solid skills, and readiness in a more rigorous study for hs & beyond.

 

I spent many, many nights over the decision and one day all of these thoughts that I mentioned above came rushing over me. I knew then that everything was going to be okay! Sounds a little "cheesy" but there it is!

 

We are so excited about our transition year next year, and most importantly.... My dd is excited!

[OneStepAtATime]

I think your plan sounds great.  As Murrayshire said, do what works best for your child and toss out negative comments.  I had my DD repeat 4k because I knew she wasn't ready for kinder even though nearly everyone I talked to thought I was crazy.  But it really ended up being the right decision.  If your mommy gut says transition year, do it.  

 

:thumbup:

[rdj2027]

My #2 did a repeat of 8th grade and my youngest son 6th grade.  They will finish at 19 and 18 respectively.  We are all happy with the decision and would do it again.

[Dolphin]

Thanks for the comments so far. I feel in my gut that it is right, I just wanted to make sure there was not some big glaring thing that I was missing. DH is still pondering, ds thinks it is great.

[OneStepAtATime]

Life is not a race to the finish line.  Those that see it that way miss out on so much.  Enjoy that transition year.  Make the most of the extra time to help your son dig deeper, work hard, but also find the joy in learning and exploring.  High School will be here then over before you know it.  I see no advantage to rushing through 8th just to stay on an arbitrary time table that does not reflect the needs or best interest of your child.  Honestly, colleges won't really care if he graduated as a 17 year old or an 18 year old.  If that extra year gives him the chance to really get into a stronger position academically and to have more time to grow, mature, pursue more outside interests, etc. that will benefit him far more than being 17 instead of 18 at graduation. IMHO.

 

Best wishes...

[LibraryLover]

One of mine added the year after 12th grad- Gap year. DC worked, took a couple of CC classes for credits that transferred etc.  Whatever works for your child is the right thing to do.

[Kfamily]

We added a year to middle school for my older daughter. We moved overseas and are now back again. That move along with other moves just before the overseas move and getting back to the states and living with family all made her mid 7th through mid 10th grade years a mess. She also struggles in math, so I felt that she needed another year to get caught up. Truthfully, those three years were such a mess that she still isn't where she should be. Part of me really wishes that I could have her for one more year, because this year...10th...is nearly over and that leaves us with a lot of work to finish in two years. Of course, I'm most likely not going to do this. We'll push hard for now and see where we are in two years. I really don't want to hold her back anymore than that. Even if we did add yet another year, this would be done in combination with dual-enrollment classes in the latter two years.

[redsquirrel]

Is it something the school will let you do? I know here they will put a homeschool kid in at grade level, period. They might be willing to bump math up or down specifically in the high school years (that seems to be flex even for ps kids) but they won't let you red shirt a kid just because you made the decision to have a 'transition year'.

 

IOW, if his peers would be 10th graders but you want him to enter as a 9th grader the school puts him with his peers. It isn't your decision to make if you are entering them in their system.

 

But it might be totally different in your district. You might want to ask other homeschoolers how the transition to ps went. Do they seem to just put them all in at grade level or test first and go by that or do what the parent suggests.

[Ali in OR]

With a summer birthday, I'm guessing that if you wait an extra year he will probably be the same age as many of his male classmates since so many  people now redshirt their summer birthday kids, particularly boys. I don't see a downside unless he already has a group that he considers to be his classmates and wants to stay with them. If he is up for the extra year, go for it!

[foxbridgeacademy]

I understand the dilemma. Mine is also struggling with writing (due to reading disability).  We have considered adding an extra year and DS is against it.  Since we will be HSing through High School we don't have to make any decisions yet.  If we were planning on B&M for H.S. then I'd have to insist on adding that year.  He would be more prepared and struggle less.  I also firmly believe there is a huge advantage to being  older then all your classmates (first to drive=the one in charge of where they go and for how long).  

[Dolphin]

Is it something the school will let you do? I know here they will put a homeschool kid in at grade level, period. They might be willing to bump math up or down specifically in the high school years (that seems to be flex even for ps kids) but they won't let you red shirt a kid just because you made the decision to have a 'transition year'.

 

 

 

 

Good point. I have written to the High School Counselor that he would have and I am going to meet with her and hopefully the head of IB in June after the seniors graduate. She thinks she will have a quiet week during regular finals.  I know a lot of people red shirt for sports, I will see what they think about doing it for academics.

With a summer birthday, I'm guessing that if you wait an extra year he will probably be the same age as many of his male classmates since so many  people now redshirt their summer birthday kids, particularly boys. I don't see a downside unless he already has a group that he considers to be his classmates and wants to stay with them. If he is up for the extra year, go for it!

 

Luckily with homeschool his friends are already both younger and older than him and in a variety of different school districts. So he should be ok there.

 

Thank you all for the feed back. Remembering that this is a marathon is good. There is enough of adult life as it is, having an extra year of being a kid can be a really good thing. My son is all for it, he wants to go to High School, but he is not in a rush to leave homeschool. He really does not like the idea that he is going to have to raise his hand and ask to go the the bathroom, or that he won't be able to walk into the kitchen to get a snack whenever he can. I could be wrong, but I am assuming that the kids in the advanced classes probably will be a little more serious, and the teachers might trust them a little more.

[bluedarling]

My eldest wasn't ready for hs (due to writing and math), and we had him repeat 8th.  I don't regret that decision.  I do regret that I didn't do the same with his brother (who was fine academically, but struggles with maturity.)   Socially it has been fine, too, but my child isn't attending a b&m hs.

[redsquirrel]

If you know for a fact that the school turns a blind eye to 'red shirting' in middle school for sports (not academic failure or acceleration) then it might not be an issue. IMO, you don't want to get yourself in a position where it looks like you held him back for academic weakness when dealing with the IB people. But, again, that depends on your district. The competition here is freakin' cutthroat for things like that and the littlest thing will bump you. My district doesn't support red shirting and hardly allows kids to accelerate beyond their year or be held back.  They will work with a kid individually but keep him in his grade.

 

The only chance you have to do it is right at the beginning of school. Kindy is not mandatory and you don't have to enroll a child until the august after she turns 6. And then you get to pick if you want the child enrolled in kindy or first grade. So you could hold a child back and enroll her at 6 and put her in kindergarten.  Then she would be a year older than her kindergarten peers, the majority of which are 5 and some will be 4. I could do the same with homeschooling. I had to let the school know I was homeschooling when my kids were 6 and I had to declare a grade, either first or kindergarten. I homeschooled kindergarten (as much as you can, lol) and declared them to be first graders at 6. 

 

Good luck getting a straight answer out of the school, lol. I am currently in talks with them to enroll my kid in high school next year and I can't get a straight answer out of anyone about anything. Either no one knows the answers to my questions or when I do get an answer everyone contradicts everyone else. Very frustrating.

[RootAnn]

DH & I have had this discussion with dd#1. We have her in a grade that is one higher than she would be in PS because she started homeschooling K younger than our state age cut-off. 

 

The longer she stays home, the more I think we'll use that extra year for dual-enrollment (which is age-restricted if you can do it at all in our rural area) and her to have a part time job or volunteer doing something she is passionate about. Not sure how we'll swing the transcripts, but we'll figure that out when we get to it. 

[llifeon18wheels]

If the school says yes and your son agrees to it, I'd do it. Think of the increased confidence he'll have and maturity in class conversations. Better opportunity to shine in his work then struggle in parts.