Not sure this is helpful to you, but my son took College French 3 with Madame S at The Potter’s School. They do award credit for it through Belhaven, I believe, if you go that route. We love Madame S!

I love seeing all the creative things people plan! We’ve already signed up for classes, so I guess we are settled— Literature, History, Theology: The Great Conversation 5 through WHA-I like knocking several credits out with one class Algebra 2 (WHA) Biology (WHA) AP French through TPS conversational Spanish locally (it’s his 5th year of Spanish-very casual) possibly Mandarin tutoring (TBD) …& the most fun of all: I’m teaching a US Government course to my son and several friends once a week at our house! all that is quite enough, especially because he’s also heavily involved in theatre and music!

I agree!!

Yeah it probably helps to have a cohort of new kids rather being the sole new kid. I am glad your son’s transition went so well! We are not in a super high-performing district (we are rural, test scores are fine but not standout, and no one seems to get worked up over them—I have been casually polling my friends with children in public schools here & teachers/admins we know). So I doubt that would be an issue at all, except to the extent that the actual test prep may not provide a clear vision of what most of the year actually looks like in reality! In other school districts in our state I’m sure the end of the year is a pressure cooker for everyone, but I’m glad we aren’t under that pressure here. In your case the late switch makes perfect sense. I don’t think I am finding that the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks for my daughter, especially the upheaval of established routines. I appreciate her enthusiasm, though!

These are good points. I *think* she’d have only one HS credit in 8th, but I’ll need to double check that. So that is a “stake” of sorts. The principal and GC have been so wonderful and helpful since we began looking at the school back in January! We (parents) are leaning in the direction of August, for the sake of the logistics & ease of assimilation, but we are still thinking things through.

This would be amazing. I wish, wish, wish we could! No partial enrollment permitted here, but it would be great.

I understand that you do not know me at all. So I will let this unfriendly comment go. This hasn't been decided, we don't operate on whims, and we are not "I am the main character" people. I've been talking to the principal, guidance counselor, and other parents to get their insights. Obviously we wish to be aware of the negatives: that's why I posted here.

Yes we’d talk to the school for sure. We have gotten great value from WHA and love the classes! School doesn’t automatically equal friends, but she has friends at the school already (as well as others through ballet), so in her case it is something of a built-in situation. *Making* friends would maybe happen; really she’s *joining* friends (girls she has know since toddlerhood!).

I think I understand what you mean here, but want to clarify-that it would be hard on the teacher(s)?

Thanks! I think she just wants to see what it’s like-an extended shadowing?!—so it may be ok (from the social/schedule perspective). Boot comes off next week so no problem there, happily!

I am eager to hear opinions/thoughts on this situation. The backstory: my daughter has been homeschooled her entire life. She's 13 and is in 7th grade. She takes two online classes through WHA (we love them!) and does the other stuff with me, although I am getting less good at homeschooling the older I get (let's just say I'm tired plus I now work part-time from home ;)). She's also a classical ballet dancer who trains 13 hours a week during non-rehearsal weeks (which is really an 18-20 hour commitment when we include the commute and some related incidentals). She's VERY social, loves her friends, and is a quiet extrovert. As of a couple of months ago she expressed an interest in "trying public school." My vision was for 9th grade. She said she was talking about for this fall--for 8th grade. I talked to a good friend who has transitioned kids into public school from homeschool--very encouraging/helpful! We toured the local middle school (it's pretty small, we know lots of teachers/staff there already, she has friends who attend the school, the principal is a family friend, my mom taught there 20+ years ago, etc etc etc--small town life 🙂) and she seemed on the fence, but intrigued enough to consider it. We did ask if she could "shadow" a student for a day, but that was not an option. So we've basically been thinking in the direction of starting 8th grade there in August, and she has spent lots of time grilling her friends who go there on all aspects of What It Is Like. I've spent lots of time trying to wrap my mind around all the changes this would bring.....every time she's discussed it with me, she has been enthusiastic, and has even said "I wish it would start sooner so I can see if I like it." I will add that I have sensed, in the past few months, an underlying restlessness. She buckle-fractured her foot on MLK Jr day, so having to wear a boot probably hasn't helped. But I have sensed that she's spinning her wheels a little bit at home, and I have found it difficult to fill whatever this need is that is lacking (social time?). She has LOTS of social time with her ballet friends, but it's insufficient. I blame myself, as I've been more distracted than ever over the previous months (work), but she insists that it has nothing to do with me, or with my work--which I usually try to do during her WHA class time or ballet (but not always--today I was off and on the laptop all day to prep for a meeting tomorrow). Tonight she brought up a new idea: why not try it *now?* Why not start this spring, and get two months under her belt, so she knows whether or not she really likes it enough to commit to 8th grade? We discussed this for a little while. There is some logic to her thinking: it's a low-stakes year, in terms of grades/etc....she'd have a full 2ish months to "learn the ropes," and it would give her some guidance as to whether she wants to continue with public school in the fall or sign up for more WHA classes. The only area of possible academic concern, from what I can tell, is math, but I trust that she can get caught up, and my friends who have transitioned their kids have said that it is definitely possible (my daughter is extremely bright at math, the problem has been more me, and also the year we struggled to do anything when my husband was going through cancer treatments!). In every other subject I have no doubt that she will be just fine. Perhaps starting mid-year would actually help with that catchup process, if there needs to be one...? Thoughts on starting in public school with only a couple of months left? Yay or nay, and why? If you've done this--please chime in! I appreciate experience! Thank you!

As a quick update, we have started this "early visit" process and it has been very helpful. I think that choosing schools that are very different (large public research u/state flagship/small private LAC in small town/big city) to visit has been excellent for helping us start to think through what would work well for us/him and what's "out there". (Not to mention it's just a lot of fun to check out the different cultures on college campuses.) My son is a sophomore this year and this has really helped him formulate his thoughts on colleges and start to catch a vision for what lies ahead. It has been 100% the right thing to do and a good investment of our time!

I'll DM you!

Thanks, everyone! He decided to just go ahead with WHA Bio b/c he could not resist having Janelle Fleming for one more class (he had her for physics; we LOVE her). He also went ahead with WHA Algebra 2 (again, due to the teacher....) It'll be a full load next year, but he's not doing Greek due to scheduling conflicts, so I think it'll be fairly manageable. There is no doubt that she is a far better teacher of biology than I am!! 😉 The heavier junior year will complete all the credits I think he needs (and then some) and that way senior year can be 100% interest-led, so hopefully it'll all work out well.

Thanks so much!! I was well on the way to just spreading it over two years with all this good advice but he’s wanting to take it next year with his favorite WHA science teacher (& it’s true, we love her)….so we may just do that. I’m just concerned that his workload will be huge for junior year. 3-4 languages plus all the “check the box” stuff like math and science and literature….I’m rather torn. He’s ambitious, which I appreciate, but also works slowly.

We love the As You Like It with Helen Mirren—excellent! I had to find a super wholesome 😅version of Midsummer for a class—used the Rice Univ performance on YouTube. It’s set outdoors, sticks to the script, and is perfectly G-rated.

Yeah-that is hard. And sometimes the more “unlikely” candidates are the best fit for the position. 💕 The saturation is a real issue. I absolutely lucked out in many ways, but I’d sort of discourage either of my kids from law school unless I knew they were going into it with completely open eyes as to the realities of post-school practice and the competition.

My son is in 10th grade and we’re strategizing next year. By the end of this year he’ll have two lab sciences under his belt (physics & chemistry). Part of me would like to call this “good enough” (particularly because other elements of his transcript may balance out the lighter science component), but he and I both think he’d *like* bio, but he would struggle to have enough time to include it next year as a full-year course. So I’m thinking of just spreading it out, eliminating the lab component—or keeping it very very low-key, and self-pacing it. (As opposed to using an online class, which is what we’ve done previously.) He’s a languages guy and next year will be AP French, advanced conversational Spanish, Mandarin, and probably Greek. He’ll also be taking a combined lit/history/theology course (2.5 credits) with heavy, dense reading. We will probably self-pace through Algebra 2 (as opposed to using WHA, alas! We have loved them for math!) So these classes equal about 6-7 credits already (I haven’t decided how I’ll count the Spanish). He is also involved in other good stuff & we want him to have that other stuff/a real life, *and* he’s not a super-efficient worker (that award goes to his sister), so I’m trying to avoid Overwhelm. I guess I am wondering: how much would 2 lab sciences truly handicap him in admissions when he has a pretty strong-ish transcript in other areas? (I know most schools recommend a minimum of 3-4, but others say 2….) and/or would you just self-pace bio here and allow it to take as long as it takes—maybe 1.5-2 years instead of one? FWIW, he’s got some good general knowledge of bio already because we worked through some of Miller-Levine in 8th grade—he’s got a better basic understanding than many adults, from the practical perspective. So this is really a check-the-box-for-college-admissions situation for us.

YES YES YES YES. I will never, ever go back. We travel a fair amount, and have taken several multi-city trips, etc. as well, and....lifesavers. Ours are color-coordinated (each family member has their own color). I really don't think the brand matters as much as the concept; the ones we have are part mesh which I like. We bought an older version of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0796RWT4T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Following! There's a (small, we think) chance that my DD may transition to school. She's got a built-in group of sweet friends already there, so socially I think she'll be in business, but there are plenty of other challenges to this type of transition.....anyhow, we'll see, but I'm appreciating the collective wisdom here.

Thank you all so much! I have reached out to 5 Star and am investigating the other options as well. I appreciate your help.

Excellent! Thank you. My son has learned a lot of characters already, and would like that aspect of the tutoring.

I’d love to know if anyone has a strong, tried-and-true recommendation for (Mandarin) Chinese. My son has been auto-didacting 🙃 Chinese for a few years and has decided to get a couple formal years under his belt before college. He’d prefer a native speaker teacher for obvious reasons. Any suggestions are welcome! thanks!

The “rolling into a Roth” is a new solution, from my understanding, to the “what to do with unused 529 money” and since it’s not relevant to our situation I’ve not looked into it at all, but if you’ve got a 529 you want to roll over, I’d talk to a financial advisor. I don’t know how they handle a lump sum in a 529. For a Roth, yes, annual contribution is limited to earned income. So you’re running up against that limitation, it seems. ETA: check the link from Schwab above. I just glanced at it—has all the answers. It’s a $35k max rollover amount, $6500 max per year, and is also limited to the rule about earned income. 🙂 So there you have it!

Yep! Rolling it into a Roth would be my preference but I believe it’s a Roth for the child, which will give them a great start. We’re starting Roths while our kids are in high school for them because we like it as a retirement vehicle. Of course, that wasn’t an option years ago when we first encountered 529s and I just didn’t like the idea of being locked into it for education, so we didn’t pursue that. The Roth option is a big improvement. (But I’d still only do that if my own retirement were totally set up/funded.)