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Determining Grade Level for 6yo


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My youngest son turned 6 in May. If we were following the traditional route, he would have been in PS kindergarten this year. However, based on his lack of readiness for reading, maturity level, and physical size when he turned 5 last May, I probably would have waited a year to enroll him. So I didn't fill out paperwork with the county and didn't really consider him a "kindergartner" this year, though he was enrolled in his second year of Classical Conversations' Foundations program and was present with us (me and 2 older brothers) at home when we were doing "one room schoolhouse" stuff together...well, at least until he would become disruptive and was asked to go play in the street in a different room.

 

So the obvious thing seems to be that I would enroll him with the county as a kindergarten homeschool student for Fall 2017, and he will be 6 when he starts "kindergarten" with me in the fall.

 

I'm just wondering if there is any reason NOT to do that; that is, to go ahead and enroll him as a first grader. He is learning to read now, and I plan to work with him through the summer so that his reading (I'm guessing) will be roughly average for kids that are completing kindergarten right now. But I'm also not really in a hurry, so...

 

FWIW he has two older homeschooled brothers. One is completing what we're calling 5th grade this year...turning 12 this summer so he really could have been in 6th grade, but that's a different story. He'll be entering Classical Conversations' Challenge program this fall, which kinda sorta makes him a 7th grader, thus catching his grade level up with his age if that makes sense. The other brother is 10 and finishing 4th grade this year.

 

Seems to me it should be fine to just call this new guy a kindergartner this coming year, but I could be missing some glaring implications of that...so if there are any, could someone fill me in?

 

Thanks!

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My June birthday 6 year old (so, turning 7 this month) was in public school k this year and the level felt about right for him. He will be in 1st grade this fall.

 

I say go with the grade placement that feels right to you; right now it sounds like that is kindergarten. I figure if the child is motivated and ready to push through and graduate early as a teenager they will have that option, it is harder psychologically to hold them back a grade level later.

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You can always move him more quickly through materials later on and grade skip as needed, right?  If it feels right to enroll him as a Kindergartener in the fall then I would do so.  It is MUCH harder emotionally and logistically, IMHO, to have a child repeat a grade later on than to skip forward a grade.  Give him more time to mature.  

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You can always move him more quickly through materials later on and grade skip as needed, right?  If it feels right to enroll him as a Kindergartener in the fall then I would do so.  It is MUCH harder emotionally and logistically, IMHO, to have a child repeat a grade later on than to skip forward a grade.  Give him more time to mature.  

 

That's what I would do too. You can always jump a grade later if the situation really calls for it.

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It sounds like your gut is telling you to register him as a kindergartner.    Some questions I would ask myself in your situation:   Does your state require that you declare a grade?   If so, will he then be required to do standardized testing at "grade" level?   Socially, for clubs/activities/church, does he fit better with other kindergartners or 1st graders?    Do you want him to be the oldest in his peer group or the youngest?   

 

Our experience (purely anecdotal):   Everyone I know IRL who "grade skipped" their child later regretted it in the middle & high school years when their child's peers were starting puberty, learning to drive, and leaving for college.    Everyone I know IRL who "redshirted" their child, especially boys, had no regrets.   My DS has a May birthday so he is one of (but not the absolute youngest) in his peer group, and I can definitely tell the difference in maturity between him and his peers who are a full year older but in the same grade.   

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My youngest son turned 6 in May. If we were following the traditional route, he would have been in PS kindergarten this year. However, based on his lack of readiness for reading, maturity level, and physical size when he turned 5 last May, I probably would have waited a year to enroll him. So I didn't fill out paperwork with the county and didn't really consider him a "kindergartner" this year, though he was enrolled in his second year of Classical Conversations' Foundations program and was present with us (me and 2 older brothers) at home when we were doing "one room schoolhouse" stuff together...well, at least until he would become disruptive and was asked to go play in the street in a different room.

 

So the obvious thing seems to be that I would enroll him with the county as a kindergarten homeschool student for Fall 2017, and he will be 6 when he starts "kindergarten" with me in the fall.

 

I'm just wondering if there is any reason NOT to do that; that is, to go ahead and enroll him as a first grader. He is learning to read now, and I plan to work with him through the summer so that his reading (I'm guessing) will be roughly average for kids that are completing kindergarten right now. But I'm also not really in a hurry, so...

 

FWIW he has two older homeschooled brothers. One is completing what we're calling 5th grade this year...turning 12 this summer so he really could have been in 6th grade, but that's a different story. He'll be entering Classical Conversations' Challenge program this fall, which kinda sorta makes him a 7th grader, thus catching his grade level up with his age if that makes sense. The other brother is 10 and finishing 4th grade this year.

 

Seems to me it should be fine to just call this new guy a kindergartner this coming year, but I could be missing some glaring implications of that...so if there are any, could someone fill me in?

 

Thanks!

 

First grade. Because "grade level" has no real meaning, I firmly believe that whenever it is necessary to label homeschooled children as an specific grade, it should be the one they would be in if they were in school. In your son's case, that would be first grade. I see no reason whatsoever to hold him back on paper.

 

I feel quite strongly about this. I know that it works for many people, but when it goes bad, it goes really bad. 

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It's easier to skip a grade than to "hold him back" later.

 

In a homeschool setting, you're right--it's easier on the child years down the road to skip rather than to hold back.  However, if there is any chance that the skipping/holding back thing might happen while the child is in a b&m school, the opposite is true.  It is *much* easier to get the powers that be to hold a child back that it is to get them to approve a skip.

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When do you have to decide?  If allowed, I'd decide just before the official school year begins (or even later if possible).  If he is pretty much on track for 1st grade, I'd register him as 1st grade.

 

I agree that psychologically it may be easier to "skip" a grade in homeschool later.  But it may be impossible to skip a grade if he ever goes to b&m.  And I know everyone says "nobody ever regretted this," but I have a hard time buying that.  A May birthday is pretty early to hold back (even for a boy) unless there is some other reason.

 

The concern about puberty isn't compelling to me, considering that there's a broad range of when kids go through it.  That said, I don't know why it would be easier to be the first vs. the last to go into puberty.

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Until recently, CA had a 12/2 cutoff for K and my 2 oldest have fall birthdays. Both started K at not-quite-5. The girl was ready to move on to 1st at not-quite-6 while the boy needed a 2nd year of K due to very limited attention span and fine motor skills.

 

I did wind up having my oldest do a 2nd year of 6th grade but then she skipped 8th and went directly to dual enrollment at the local CC at not-quite-14. In retrospect, we should've just had the 2nd year of 6th be 7th grade but at the time she was going through puberty-related "brain fog" and the grade adjustment took the pressure off of everyone.

 

I would put him as K if that is what your gut is telling you.

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Idk. I think he would be a REaALLY old kindergartener turning 7 in May.

 

I myself was old for school - I turned 6 in October. My dd turned 6 in November and even she feels

So old since many of her same grade friends don't turn her age till months later.

 

I think it would be strange for him later on to turn 19 in senior year. Would you like to be 18 in 11th grade? I turned 18 early senior year and it caused a lot of social problems for me always wanting to be friends with kids older than I was.

 

I think you can enroll him as a first grader. He doesn't sound like he's extremely behind.

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Idk. I think he would be a REaALLY old kindergartener turning 7 in May.

 

I myself was old for school - I turned 6 in October. My dd turned 6 in November and even she feels

So old since many of her same grade friends don't turn her age till months later.

 

I think it would be strange for him later on to turn 19 in senior year. Would you like to be 18 in 11th grade? I turned 18 early senior year and it caused a lot of social problems for me always wanting to be friends with kids older than I was.

 

I think you can enroll him as a first grader. He doesn't sound like he's extremely behind.

Honestly, I don't think it would be that strange.  He wouldn't be turning 18 until the very end of his Junior year and 19 at the very end of his senior year if he didn't grade skip later.  He would be 17 for most of his Junior year and 18 for most of his Senior year.  There will be kids turning 17 in the fall of his Junior year and 18 in the fall of his senior year.  He would close in age to many of his classmates.  In other words, he wouldn't be that off from others in his class with birthdays in the fall.

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Honestly, I don't think it would be that strange.  He wouldn't be turning 18 until the very end of his Junior year and 19 at the very end of his senior year if he didn't grade skip later.  He would be 17 for most of his Junior year and 18 for most of his Senior year.  There will be kids turning 17 in the fall of his Junior year and 18 in the fall of his senior year.  He would close in age to many of his classmates.  In other words, he wouldn't be that off from others in his class with birthdays in the fall.

 

 

It also depends on what the OP's cut-off date is, and if they might move to another part of the country at some point. Here many kids start K when they're still 4, since the cut-off date in NYS is sometime in December and redshirting is not that common (ours is Dec 1st, but NYC is Dec 31st, iirc). So here, he'd be 1.5 years older than some of the kids. 

Edited by luuknam
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It also depends on what the OP's cut-off date is, and if they might move to another part of the country at some point. Here many kids start K when they're still 4, since the cut-off date in NYS is sometime in December and redshirting is not that common (ours is Dec 1st, but NYC is Dec 31st, iirc). So here, he'd be 1.5 years older than some of the kids. 

True.  

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Go with what you feel your DS will best thrive with. The academics are not a problem, because with homeschooling, we all use what level of material is needed for each subject regardless of age or "grade". And as previous posters have said, and you are finding with your own middle child, it's much much easier on an older student to skip ahead later on as the student is ready, rather than to have to "hold back". (JMO: As far as skipping if you end up in a traditional school setting -- DS would be taking placement tests to begin with, so he would be placed at his academic level, regardless of age, so skipping/holding back upon entering the school system is less likely to be a problem if doing so after having homeschooled a few years.)

 

FWIW, addressing Calming Tea's concern about being 7yo starting 1st grade, or 19yo in 12th grade, is not much of a problem these days, at least in many areas. Public and private schools in our area have been encouraging families for the past 20 years to delay 1st grade esp. for boys to give them more time to mature and develop and be ready for formal academics. So a LOT of older 1st graders, or 18 year old seniors turning 19 in the spring or right after graduation here. And age is even less of a "deal" when you're homeschooling -- students work at their academic level and no one seems to notice/care about your age.

 

OP -- not that our personal experience will match your son and situation, but just sharing that delaying can be the very thing that allows your student to thrive.

 

We delayed 1st grade for your DS#1 due to being very delayed in physical and emotional growth (academically he was bright). We actually were requested by the private school kindergarten to bump him back to pre-school because, while he could do the academics, he was so NOT ready for kindergarten. So profoundly glad we did that -- the emotional/physical delay just never caught up for him, and by not trying to push him to be the grade level of the local public school age cut-offs, it gave him a chance to bloom in his own unique timing, and allowed him to develop leadership skills in high school that he would never have had if he'd always been just trying to hang on to the end of the grade treadmill, feet flying off into the air.  :eek:  :crying: .

 

He graduated homeschool high school 3 weeks after turning 19, and it was absolutely never a problem. Honestly, it never even occurred to him. If, at any time in middle school or high school we had seen signs that he was ready to accelerate we definitely would have worked to do that, and that also would not have been a problem.

 

BEST of luck in deciding what's best for this DS! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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Idk. I think he would be a REaALLY old kindergartener turning 7 in May.

 

I myself was old for school - I turned 6 in October. My dd turned 6 in November and even she feels

So old since many of her same grade friends don't turn her age till months later.

 

I think it would be strange for him later on to turn 19 in senior year. Would you like to be 18 in 11th grade? I turned 18 early senior year and it caused a lot of social problems for me always wanting to be friends with kids older than I was.

 

I think you can enroll him as a first grader. He doesn't sound like he's extremely behind.

 

I don't think its that big a deal.  My son would be among the oldest in his class - the cut off date is Dec 31 and his birthday is January - and I kept him behind a year anyway.  He just was not ready.

 

I don't think it is a big deal if some kids are older in hs or post-secondary, really.  I was a year older, and I was at university with quite a few kids who started a year late for one reason or another - some like me had failed a year.  Others had a gap year.  It really wasn't any kind of issue.

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Idk. I think he would be a REaALLY old kindergartener turning 7 in May.

 

 

It must depend on the area. My friend's son has a May birthday and he has always been the youngest in his class. They just moved 2 hours away and he is STILL the youngest in his class.

 

In our area K is very academic and most send younger kids, esp boys, to Young 5s first and start K at a solid 6.

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