Anyone with a rising 8th grader who is going to school for grade 9?

[Canadianmumof5]

This is the final year of homeschooling for DS13. He will finish up 8th grade and then off to the local Catholic high school. It is good. It is fine. He will be totally fine.

 

I have mixed feelings. Sigh. We started homeschooling him in 4th grade so he has been in B&M school before - he has always missed being around his friends & he knows the work at school is far easier than what he does at home.

 

Homeschooling has been great for him - but the plan has always been for him to head to high school. Part of me is kinda hoping that once he gets there, he will change his mind and want to be back home LOL. Not likely with this kid.

 

DH wants to make sure we get some travel in this coming school year since it is the last time he will have the flexibility to just take off during the school year. Hopefully we can do that.

 

Anyone else have an 8th grade DS or DD who is doing their last year at home? Are you doing anything differently since it is their last year? Anything special? How are YOU feeling about it? What about your DD/DS - are they excited?

[Ali in OR]

I'm a year ahead of you--my 14 yo just finished her last year at home and will head off to public high school. That has been our plan for some time now. She took a couple of classes in the public middle school--band and science--so she has some idea of what it will be like. I think she's excited about it. Because she was taking a couple of classes, we couldn't really travel whenever we wanted, etc. But we did things like go out to Panera on the first morning of public school (before her 3rd and 4th period classes began), or go out for lunch after her classes, etc. My youngest will now begin to take band and science at the middle school, so for the first time ever as a mom, I will have a couple hours a day to myself. That part I'm looking forward to. But it will be weird to not have my 14 yo at home. It's a good thing; we want her to branch out into the world a bit, but it will still take some getting used to.

 

Enjoy your year.

[Penguin]

Maybe. Our 9th grade plans remain uncertain. I didn't start homeschooling until 6th grade, and I have really enjoyed it. I hold out hope that we will homeschool for 9th, but that might be the end point.

 

I see-saw between making this year as close to high school as practical and savoring the fact that it is not a high school year.

[Crimson Wife]

Oldest DD wants to apply to an early entrance college program so this could possibly be her last year of homeschooling.

 

If she wants to be eligible for the program, she will really need to get her backside in gear, especially in math. The program expects students to start with College Algebra and DD is only halfway through Algebra 1. So she would have 1 year to finish up Algebra 1 and complete Algebra 2. She has the brains to do it but it is unclear whether she is willing to put in the effort required.

 

Frankly, I am tired of butting heads with her and am bumping up against the limits of what I can teach her academically. So if she gets herself eligible for and accepted to the early entrance program, I probably will send her.

[Crimson Wife]

Maybe I feel less conflicted about it because we have HSed from the beginning. I also would like to start PT grad school and it would be much easier just HSing 1 student rather than 2. My little one will not be HSed, and DS is a much more compliant student at this stage than his sister.

[Catherine]

Me-me-me. This is my last child. My oldest is a rising college junior, middle a rising high school senior. Both of them have struggled somewhat in school. He had been very motivated to go to school, for social reasons, but this past spring, unexpectedly, I had to enroll him in school (local PS, regarded as a very good K-8 school) for about 6 weeks, and he didn't like it nearly so well as he thought he would. For me, it was reassuring because he actually did quite well, much better than I had anticipated (he has some mild LDs but they tracked him into the fastest group), so it was a good surprise for me, but not such a good one for him.

 

I am hopeful that this year will go well, and I am bending over backwards to make it as social and fun as I can. I would much rather he NOT go to school. But we will be looking at high schools in the fall and talking about it as we go along. Wish me luck!

[LibraryLover]

Dc had to do Math, English , and World Language placement tests. Check to see if you need to do any of those, and make sure dd can test into honors ( or AP if your school allows APs in 9thgrade) if that is your goal, and test out of whatever world language 1, or skip Alegebra 1etc

[Moxie]

We are looking at our options. There is a charter high school here that looks good (on paper) and we'll investigate it more after school starts. Then, there is the lottery to get in. Ugg.

 

DS is shy and a little awkward. What is everyone doing to prepare their child for school outside of home?? I know we need to work on note taking, I want to beef up math, maybe more typing??

[madteaparty]

Following bc DS will go to high school if he manages to score sufficiently on the entrance exam for a couple we'd be interested in. I would love to spend some extended time (a summer) overseas between now and then but I am still working part time...

[AimeeM]

I'm not sure whether we're grade 7 or grade 8 here. She would technically be in grade 8, but she has a late birthday, and lost an entire year, academically, last year at the hot-mess-private school. We'll see at the end of this school year.

She does want to go to the local Catholic high school. It will depend entirely upon her progress this year. I will be sad to see her go, but homeschooling long term has never been best for her - it isn't her personality.

[LibraryLover]

Socially, every 9th grader is pretty much in the same boat, merging with kids from other schools. We had our child meet a few other 9th graders beforehand. They made a plan to walk into school together, and designated an area to meet at lunch . (Everyone has the same meal break, as it's an open campus). That helped tremendously. Kids are often afraid of having nobody familiar to sit with at lunch in the beginning.

 

If you want her in honors classes, I would ask about placement tests. Perhaps find an experienced teacher to tutor a bit, if you think that is necessary. Get organized with 3 ring binders and pockets ( not a trapper keeper). I counseled my kids to never never fold papers and stuff them into a backpack. Put everything from the instructors in the binders, and put it in the pocket for that subject. Better: a portable 3 whole punch is your friend. If a teacher has 'office' hours, visit. If they hold study groups attend at least a few. Sit up front in class unless there is assigned seating. Take at least one class for fun and/or in a subject you love.

 

Typing has not been an issue, and WWE & WWS took care of note- taking, research writing etc. as did TTC vids.

[merry gardens]

Maybe. So far we've only homeschooled to 8th grade then sent them to private high school. We've done that for three. This time, my twins are in 8th grade and I' m doing something very different--I'm trying out homeschooling high school with my 13 yo daughter. We'll see how it goes. The plan had been homeschool through 8th grade, but I've wondered about homeschooling high school for so long that we decided to give it a shot while it doesn't really count.

[Penguin]

Maybe. So far we've only homeschooled to 8th grade then sent them to private high school. We've done that for three. This time, my twins are in 8th grade and I' m doing something very different--I'm trying out homeschooling high school with my 13 yo daughter. We'll see how it goes. The plan had been homeschool through 8th grade, but I've wondered about homeschooling high school for so long that we decided to give it a shot while it doesn't really count.

 

I would love to know more about this :)  Are you using all high school level materials and keeping high-school-worthy records?  Or did you mean something else? 

[Crimson Wife]

DD is mostly using high school or even college level materials by now (math she is only in Singapore 8 but many kids still take Algebra 1 in 9th). I have been adapting the output requirements to make them "honors" middle school courses but if she wants to apply for the early entrance program she will need to step it up in terms of output. She *CAN* do it but it remains TBD if she *WILL*.

[merry gardens]

I would love to know more about this :) Are you using all high school level materials and keeping high-school-worthy records? Or did you mean something else?

This time around with my daughter we're doing high school level courses, recording keeping with an accredited homeschool, basically everything we'd do if we were truly homeschooling for high school. Her twin brother (who has dyslexia) will try some but not all of it.

 

In the past we've done some courses in eighth grade math and science that could count as high school. One child took a couple of on-line high school courses in 8th grade. Preparing for high school writing has been a big focus in our past eighth grade too. They can test into higher math for high school, but we never transferred any credits. I'm doing that type of thing again with my son, but not his twin sister.

 

This time, my dd will be doing 9th grade completely in all subjects for what could (or could not) be her 8th grade school year. If she goes to private Catholic school next year, we may transfer her in as a 10th grader. Or might start her there as a freshman next year with her twin brother. I spoke to the school this week and they're okay with that. They also told me she could still enroll with them to start 9th grade there this fall, but that's not what I want to do.

 

I wanted to try homeschooling high school.She's as bright as some of the people I knew who skipped grades when I was growing up, so I believe she can handle high school work. I'm not sure that I can handle teaching high school--and more than anything teaching high school is what I want to try next year. If we don't homeschool for highschool? I'll have three in private high school. $$$.

 

If my daughter does well and we decide to send them all to high school anyway, we may chose to put her in 10th just to save a year of tuition. I was kind of freaking out on the cost of all her books, and then I got the bill for her older brother's tuition.

[Walking-Iris]

I'm on the fence about this topic.The plan was to homeschool through 8th and then high school. I'm not entirely satisfied with the state of our local high school. We only have one option (rural small town). But I also feel that high school is the time teens need to be around peers and to challenge themselves socially. There's not a lot of other avenues in my area to accomplish that end goal. My oldest ds has Asperger's however, and he's extremely shy and quiet and a bit of a late bloomer in various respects. 

 

So naturally I worry about him in a high school environment. Whatever I choose to do, I am spending these next three years preparing like ps high school is still the goal. I'm also pretty certain that my ds will pursue a fine arts college, so...I have that in mind as well. 

 

 

[Penguin]

merry gardens, thanks for the additional info.  It was helpful!

 

I guess that we are dipping our 8th grade toes into high school.  He will have an online Latin 1 class and Algebra 1.  His Danish work is also high school level work.

 

We want to have a bit of fun with science this year,  and leave room to use some science time for programming. 

[Tidbits of Learning]

Well, I am in this boat but it wasn't planned at all.  My dd14 just up and asked to tour the local school Friday.  So called school and it was freshman orientation day.  Our tour guide was the girl's soccer captain and dd14 is all about soccer.  So she ran into the old goalie of her team and she is on the soccer team and well met soccer coach and everything...Ran into a friend and wanted to stay at the school.  So I left and started getting paperwork together for her to go back.  Turned in paperwork, met with the guidance counselor (brought dd's IOWA scores from this year).  No placement tests were needed and they placed her in all AP courses off of her Iowa tests.  Spent today getting uniforms and general school stuff and Thursday she goes for high school.  It was fast and quick and decision had to be made quick to get her into classes she wanted.  Oh and she has already went to their back to school dance which was Friday night.  

She is so ready for this and I am still reeling but really feel it is going to be the right move for her. :)

[Tiramisu]

DD14 finished up 8th this year and is going to Catholic high school. It was her choice because she decided she does best with an outside schedule. I also thought she really needed a better opportunity to meet friends with similar interests since she hasn't really clicked with anyone among our local hs kids. The school has great offerings and she can go free because dh teacher there, so we are fortunate.

 

There were some conscious decisions I made going into 8th grade knowing it might be her last year at home.

 

• I focused on what I thought she would need and what I thought she would like.
• I also seriously cut back on the academic areas I wasn't focusing on while she did vision therapy for a few months because I thought of the therapy as an important long-term investment in her academic future.
• I decided I didn't want to fight and I wanted to do what I could to make it a year of nice memories rather than memories of me being on her case all the time.

 

Because she wants a future in a science field, math and science were our focus and an area where we did not compromise. It paid off and she placed into geometry. She did every problem in each chapter that she completed but did not finish the book, but at this point I'm burned out and don't care. 

 

I was more relaxed with literature/LA and history--subjects she doesn't really enjoy--and while we still worked on those at home, I let her take lighter classes of her choosing in those areas at coop. Easing up on the lit also let her find more authors she liked for pleasure reading, and I'm happy about that. 

 

She continues to do Latin over the summer because she's trying to get up to speed to jump into the second year of the program that's used at the school which has very different progression from what she was using...And then there's cello. The cellist in the high school's orchestra graduated and dd was asked if she would consider playing cello, so she started playing cello. It's become the summer of cello.

 

Anyway, that's our story. I hope it works for her. She dealt with a lot of hypersensitivities as a child and that is my biggest concern, that all the noise and activity will be exhausting for her.

[merry gardens]

Tiramisu's post reminded me that with my older children, another thing we did to prepare for going to high school is formally study Logic in 8th grade. We can't oversee everything other teachers may put into their brains, but if we teach them to think logically our children stand a far better chance of successfully sorting through the rubble.

[Canadianmumof5]

Thanks for sharing everyone.

 

@Tiramisu - I LOVE those 3 points you made about how you approached her 8th grade year. I am so torn between making sure he is super well prepared (which will probably translate into a lot of pressure for both of us but will help him in high school) and just enjoying him and letting him enjoy all of us. I need to figure out how to balance those.

 

We will have to get all of us to check in once school routines are settled & see how we are all doing.

[Matryoshka]

My older two went to public high school after 8th.  Now one of them is coming home again for 11th!  I'm still panicking a little...

 

My youngest is in 8th this year.  I'm not sure what she'll be doing for high school.  I'd still like her to take a placement test for math, just in case we want to send her.  it's going to depend a lot on how this year goes.  I've got her in two courses (history and physics) where she'll have to read texts and take notes.  She has been resistant to this, but it's a skill I really think she needs and so it'll be a focus next year.  The texts are fairly straightforward and not too dense, so I'm hoping it will be doable.  She says she doesn't want to go to high school, so it may also be a test year for how I can handle teaching high school (although most of older dd's classes are outsourced, and if younger dd stays home, it will probably be the same for her).

 

For my older two, and now for my younger, 8th grade was also a time to focus on writing.  They had a Write Guide tutor and that meant they were writing every other day (they shared) and getting constant feedback.  That really helped their writing, and kept me out of the loop.