5 years for high school?

[mom2jjka]

My oldest has many challenges (ASD, ADHD, to name a couple) and she has had a rough year.  Her schedule has been full of doctor and therapy appointments and we have fallen behind. 

 

I have come to the realization that we are at a crossroads.  I can either issue a general diploma and graduate her on time -but then she will not have all of the classes she needs to get into a typical state college ( Algebra 2, American Govt, etc)  OR....we can take an additional year and try to fit those classes in.   But how is that going to work on transcripts?  

I'm technically not 'holding her back' a year - it just takes her a bit longer because of her learning disabilities.  

Also, she is nowhere near ready for the ACT yet either.   

 

She does want to go to college, so this is weighing heavily on my mind these days.  

I am worried on how this is all going to look to prospective colleges.    :001_unsure:

 

[OneStepAtATime]

In a very similar situation.  DD should already be in 9th grade,  She is in 8th grade technically, but is not yet at 8th grade level in Math and Science at all and not really in writing, either, although math and writing are coming along.  If we started 9th grade next year she would not be working in 9th grade level material for several subjects.  But she wants to graduate with her current peers, who are in 8th grade this year.  So how do we do this?  

 

There were several options mentioned to me.  I guess I would ask first and foremost, would your child be amenable to taking an extra year to graduate?  If so, I would do it.  In fact, if I could give DD an extra year and a half to two years, I would do it.  I think she needs the extra time.  But she doesn't want that extra time so we are kind of taking it one year at a time for the moment.  

 

If your DD is amenable to an extra year, but you are concerned about the transcript, I guess what would really matter here is your state regulations (if any) and the requirements/expectations for the colleges your child is considering attending.  These are things I had to look into and am still doing research on.  

 

One thing that was recommended to me was to take however long it takes for DD to graduate, even if it is 5 years, but write the transcript based on credits, not on years the credits were earned.  So if she still needs an additional year, sort of a gap year, to complete the remaining credits (almost certainly math and science based on the requirements for a standard diploma in my state), then we take that last year to wrap it all up, maybe even dual enrolling for some stuff while finishing the final year.  

 

Since the local homeschooling group doesn't care what criteria we set for a diploma, DD could participate in the graduation ceremony with her peers since she would technically have completed enough for the bare, bare minimum graduation requirements in our state.  She would theoretically just need a few extra credits to get to the standard diploma and could do those the next year.  On the transcript it would just show credits completed and diploma issued after the gap year.  

 

But what are the regulations where you live?  Could you do that?  Delay graduation, count whatever she completes that is High School level each year but just take extra time to get everything done and use a transcript that lists by credit completed, not years?

[PeterPan]

Give her the 5th year.  If she needs all 5 years to appear on the transcript in order to have enough credits/units to apply to a university without deficiencies for their admission standards, then include all 5 years and group by subject.  If she has enough credits that are high school level work to apply without deficiencies using grades 10-13, then bump how you mark everything.  So gr 13 becomes her final year and work backward.

[mom2jjka]

Thank you for your replies.

 

I think she will be disappointed about another year, however in the long run I really think it would serve her better to complete he classes she needs for college admission.  Our HS group does not have any graduation requirements either, but I'm not sure how I feel about graduating her if she isn't fully done with the work.  I'll have to think on that one.  Unfortunately we don't have any CC's around here that offer dual enrollment.   I do think that the technical college might be a good place to start for her though,  (and I believe our local tech just signed a credit reciprocity agreement with a couple of the state universities!)

[geodob]

Education is all about the 'long run'.

In ten years time when she looks at where she is?

Whether she took that extra year back in high school?  Will shape her future.

 

This idea of education having to fit within a timeline?

Disappears after high school.  Where any class of Uni students, will have all different ages.

 

So that you and She might rather consider what extra potential, an extra year would provide her with?

[Laura W.]

I would absolutely take the extra time, and do the transcript by subject.  As far as I know, the only people who have issues with a longer-than-4-years high school is NCAA. 

 

I have 3 dc with learning differences, and the main person I consult with for their needs has already recommended planning for 5 years of high school for them.  My oldest dd, though she doesn't have any diagnosed learning disabilities, struggles with math.  She is leaning toward a gap year which will allow her to finish her high school math.  We are living overseas, and re-entry to their home culture is a major deal for TCKs (third culture kids), so a gap year would give her time to do that as well, plus get some kind of work experience and take a few cc classes.  She told me the other day she would rather make sure she learns the math well and graduate a few months late than graduate "on time," which I thought was pretty mature of her.

 

Blessings,

 

Laura