I only had a syllabus for AP classes. It spelled out what we were going to cover to be prepared for the AP exams; I don't think grading policies were ever outlined. You turned in all your work and expected to get an end-of-course grade that was similar to the grades you got on the work. There was never any breakdown. I dropped an elective class midway through my senior year (at the semester), and the teacher tried to give me a C. I went to the teacher to complain and was told that I got what I deserved for dropping the class. I then went straight to the principal to complain that the grade was in retaliation for dropping the elective since all of my graded work during the semester had been given A's. The principal went to the teacher, and the teacher claimed that I had failed to turn in several assignments which resulted in 0's that pulled down my grade. I produced the assignments (they were right there in the classroom ungraded), and the teacher was forced to adjust my grade back up to a B. I was ticked, but I had already gotten my college acceptances, and I was fortunate that the principal was willing to intervene to that extent. There was no grade breakdown and no transparency so what could anyone do? Lesson learned: wait until grades are in to drop any classes.

If you're looking for caps & gowns, I know that the homeschooldiploma website sells them. I've also seen them in the Oriental Trading Company catalog, but I'm not sure if they sell larger sizes or only the smaller gowns for kindergarten & elementary graduations.

We're having an 8th grade "promotion" for our daughter. There won't be a cap & gown, but I'm making her a homeschool "diploma" and we're having a family party. She's planning to attend public high school, though, so this is a big transition. She isn't just graduating from 8th grade, but is also graduating from homeschooling. I'm also making her a "yearbook" of sorts - a nice photo book of all our years homeschooling from K-8. Our local middle schools all hold 8th grade "promotions". They don't wear caps & gowns, but the kids dress up, get a diploma, and they hold a formal dance (with catered dinner!) for the students. Many of the parents host big parties. It seems a little over the top for 13-14 yr olds, but I understand. Most of these kids are headed to different high schools, so they are saying goodbye after 9 years together. It's nice to recognize those transitions for kids.

This. For clarity, anyone seeing an endo for growth delays is probably dealing with a child below the 3rd percentile. In many cases, they may be dealing with a child well below the 3rd percentile. Seriously, nobody here is ragging on short. I'm guessing most of us on this thread are short, and short is awesome. In situations like this, the monitoring (and any interventions) are in the hope of making it to 4'11". Nobody's trying to take a kid who is 4'11" and turn her into a basketball player.

I do believe that is a compelling medical reason to intervene. And it is a different situation than just short stature or delayed growth. I am pretty far on the "do not intervene" spectrum, but at 4'8" with growth plates about to close and knowing growth was stunted by an illness, I would personally opt for the intervention.

That's a really big jump. As a mom in this same situation, it actually makes my blood pressure rise to think of such a quick jump. Do you generally find that your endo is on the more cautious side in terms of intervention? That would definitely influence how I viewed her advice. Our local endo's tend to be very, very cautious about recommending intervention. I have one friend who opted to do the shots to delay puberty, but her daughter has multiple disabilities. She has been happy with her choice, although it didn't result in additional growth for her daughter, but I'm not sure her experience applies to the average kid with growth delays. If it's a choice between the two treatment options, what does your endo recommend? Can she point you in the direction of research?

Is the endo recommending intervention or is she just offering you the option? Is she monitoring your daughter's growth plates? I grew 7 inches after completing puberty, and we have decided to monitor - but not intervene - with our two children who have growth delays. But I'm not sure that this is a decision you can make based on anyone else's experiences. You really need to listen to what your endo is recommending based on your daughter's medical situation. If you are feeling uncertain, then I would strongly recommend seeking a second opinion from a different endo. Personally, I would be very hesitant to delay puberty unless there was a clear and compelling medical reason to do so. It's just too big an intervention to make based on the possibility of additional growth. Primum non nocere. First, do no harm.

I didn't visit any colleges. I stepped onto campus for the first time when I arrived with suitcase in hand to move into the dorms for honors orientation. My scholarship was based on grades and SAT scores, so I never had to visit for an interview or scholarship weekend or anything like that (and I would have had no way to do so if it was required since it was an out-of-state school). I attended an urban public high school and was a first-generation college student. I think this is a class divide more than a generational divide. Visiting colleges is for the privileged kids who grow up middle class and/or have supportive parents. I had never even heard of anyone visiting or touring colleges, and I went to high school in the mid-90's. But there were only about 20 kids in my graduating class (out of 350) who went on to 4-year colleges. Most of those 20 kids lived at home and went to the local state university. There were 4 of us that went somewhere better than the local state university: 1 had parents taking out loans to pay for an out-of-state dream school, 2 were sports recruits, and I was offered an academic scholarship. I guess the sports recruits must have visited those colleges at some point, but I don't think I understood that at the time. I just thought those 5-year football scholarship came from college scouts visiting our football games or something. I didn't understand the process at all beyond what I had researched for myself, and I was completely focused on academic scholarships.

I would enroll them and then set up a reliable carpool.

Hugs. I am so sorry this is happening. "If he needs anything else, I'll bring it up to the city when I am up there. He is 40 minutes away so there is no excuse of "just popping by." Right now, I have no reason to think he will go against this." This may seem very logical to you, but he is not thinking logically right now. And what if his thought process deteriorates further in the coming days? It may be wise to go ahead and change the locks (if your lawyer gives the okay) and to secure important documents and financial papers.

Which grade school math? Singapore with Singapore CWP. Why? I like the way it introduces concepts, and I love its approach to problem solving. Any regrets? None. All of my kids have used Singapore from K-6B, and I've been very, very happy with the foundation they've gotten in math. My one super-mathy kid is also using Beast Academy on the side, but he does that for fun in his spare time because he just can't get enough math.

This. Having gone through a number of traumatic life events while raising children, it is hard. Whether they are little ones, big ones, in public school, or homeschooled, it is just hard. Do whatever you need to do to get through the coming year. If focusing on the big kids while the little ones are in school works, then that's what you should do. If you have a support community - and I'm sure you do - I would garner that support to help with driving for the coming year. Carpools are your friend.

I would say that hiking is walking in nature where there is no road. We have done easy walks around our local lake with small children, more difficult day hikes with the small children in carriers, and serious backpacking excursions. I would consider all of them "hiking". We're really lucky to have lots of lakes and beautiful hiking trails within an hour of our home, but dh is willing to drive a lot further for serious backpacking with the older kids.

We stopped combining for history and science in 5th grade. For us, it was a natural time to transition as my oldest moved into logic stage and started preparing for middle school.

This seems like a pretty important piece of information to leave out of the original post. I would give your brother-in-law the benefit of the doubt on this one. It sounds like he found a new job, gave 3 weeks notice of their move, and informed the business owner of his resignation. A text via your wife is pretty informal, but it's easy to be too informal with family. Maybe someone can give him a heads up that it's not normally done that way among the "English", even when working in the family business, so he knows for next time. I don't think announcing a move by text is a huge deal, but I guess that depends on family culture. If it is a huge, big deal for them to move away from the family, then I can see people being upset at not being told gently and in-person. But I can also imagine that if a young couple has made the decision to move away, they might not want to tell family in person in order to avoid the drama of it being a huge, big deal.

Uh, it didn't read like it was tongue-in-cheek. It read like the kind of cluelessness I've encountered in affluent folks on both coasts. I was homeless in the Silicon Valley as a kid, and folks there are happy to tell you all about how they are "poor" because they bought a modest 3-bedroom home instead of something on the hill or because they can't afford fancy vacations after paying for violin lessons. Sorry, but if you can afford to buy a home and pay for violin lessons . . . then you aren't poor. If you can afford a 2-million dollar home in Palo Alto and save enough money to pay $50k per year in tuition for an out-of-state college . . . then you aren't middle class. It's worth scrolling down to read the comments section. I was laughing so loud that my daughter came downstairs to ask what was wrong with me. Best comment ever: "I'm sorry that you didn't get to enjoy the simple pleasure of cooling off in your own pool while having to settle for the AC in your $2 million home. I'm sorry that you didn't get to grow up watching movies with surround sound and comfy movie theater chairs and had to watch them like the peasants do. I'm sorry it's more expensive for you to get wasted off your parents money in California while other people have the privilege of buying a drink at half the price from the $50,000 they worked for. I'm sorry the kids with all the $3 million dollar homes laughed at you from their 2nd floor while you and all the other $2 million dollar home kids had to play in the dirt. I'm sorry you didn't have the means of knowing other cold weather brands besides North Face back in California in case you got hit by a cold front of 60 degrees. I'm sorry that you most likely have only one BMW and no Teslas. I'm sorry that others cannot understand your enlightened stance on spending habits because they're too busy staring at a wall while wearing Versace while you're off at these musical festivals (keeping it kosher I assume) and exotic destinations opening your mind to so many experiences and ideas and, therefore, have absolutely no ignorance whatsoever. At all. No ignorance. So aware... I feel so sorry for you"

Earlier this year one of our children participated in a regional academic competition. Dh was chatting with one of our neighbors (affluent neighborhood in an affluent suburb), and dh mentioned the competition. Neighbor dad says, "My kid qualified for that same competition back in middle school." He then proceeds to tell dh how horrible the competition was. He said his kid was "one of the only white kids there", that all the other kids had studied and prepared for the competition (insert scandalized tone), and that some parents were treating the academic competition as if it were sports. He said that their child never participated again. The implication was that the (primarily Asian & Indian) students there had cheated by studying, and he wouldn't want his child exposed to that intimidating environment. When dh came home and told me this story, I asked whether he had told neighbor dad that our child was preparing and studying. Dh said that he didn't feel like he could, because neighbor dad made it sound like students who studied were cheating (dh is very non-confrontational like that). I just laughed, because neighbor dad and his wife have always paid for their kids (who are now older teens) to have one-on-one sports coaching so that they could make the high school Varsity teams. I thought it was funny that neighbor dad thinks extra practice and coaching are okay and expected for sports, but that studying and prepping for academic competitions is cheating. And this is an affluent, college-educated couple whose kids have gone on to decent colleges. I have always regarded them as a family that greatly valued academics, but the attitude that intelligence is fixed and that studying is cheating can run really deep in American culture.

My dh grew up in ACT country. He signed up for the PSAT, because his counselor told him he was supposed to take it. He qualified as a NMSF with no prep, but never went on to take the SAT. All the schools he was applying to required the ACT, and he didn't realize that there were scholarships available for NMF even at ACT schools. Plus, his dad told him that he was better off working and saving the money than skipping a Sat morning's wages for a test that didn't count for the colleges he was applying to. Of course he trusted his dad. Dh wound up attending a university that offers full-tuition scholarships to NMF. He did not get one of those scholarships. He didn't even realize he missed out until I found his PSAT scores in a box of old school things when we were moving as newlyweds and explained it to him. He had no idea. So if you're wondering who those kids are who qualify as a NMSF, but go no further . . . dh was one of them. He had great PSAT scores and a 4.0 gpa, but never took the SAT. Never mind prepping for the SAT; many kids don't even know that these kinds of scholarships exist or realize that those opportunities could apply to them. There is a huge knowledge gap for so many kids.

I have gradually increased the workload and expectations between 4th & 8th grade. I have also gradually given them more independence and more say in what they study and how they study it. Things that were good: -ramping up the time spent homeschooling in 4th & 5th grade -gradually adding in more challenging work (formal grammar, outlining, logic, Latin) -making them daily checklists (starting in 4th) so they could work more independently -switching them to keeping their own planners (starting in 7th) so that they could take even more responsibility -taking an online class starting in 7th so that they could learn to keep track of deadlines and be accountable to someone else -letting them have a lot more say in what electives to study & what topics were covered -giving them plenty of time for play, exercise, & sleep while they were still growing and developing Things I regret: -trying to do everything all at once (you don't have to cover everything right in 5th or 6th grade - there are a lot years until hs grad) -trying to master everything all at once (there is lots of time to master things like essay writing, lab reports, & proper citations before hs grad) -waiting so long to give them a say in the content we studied (it really is okay to pursue history & science topics of interest) -making our days so long that it started to push out good extracurricular activities like instrumental music, creative writing, free reading, etc (I've found that 4-5 hrs is the sweet spot for my middle schoolers - anything more leads to burn-out) Most of all, I have really enjoyed having middle schoolers. It's fun to talk about current events over the morning paper at the breakfast table. It's fun to watch Jane Austen movies with a middle school girl who has just fallen in love with the books. It's fun to go to Shakespeare plays and watch Shakespeare movies with kids who have read the plays and are excited to be there. It's fun to dissect animals and do real lab experiments. It's fun to discuss history and literature with kids who are old enough to really delve into them. Middle school kids are fun!

Does reading Shakespeare plays together count? In that case, our last read aloud for the oldest 2 has been Romeo & Juliet at about 12 yrs old. If it has to be me reading aloud a novel, then the last book for both of them was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry at about 10 yrs old. Once they hit middle school, they just weren't interested in listening to books anymore; reading aloud is just too slow for them. They seem to have happy, fuzzy memories of those years, though, because they always talk fondly about the books we read together. For the younger kids,we just finished reading aloud Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and now we're starting The Hobbit.

Are you looking for historical fiction? I would suggest: Mary, Bloody Mary by Elizabeth Meyer & Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Elizabeth Meyer If you're looking for history, my oldest also read the biography The Children of Henry the VIII by Alison Weir at around that age (maybe 12-13-ish). It covers Lady Jane Grey in addition to delving into the relationships between Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth. It's very readable for a middle schooler with a high interest in the topic, but you might want to check for content. There's nothing I would consider overly mature for a middle schooler, but Elizabeth's relationship with Thomas Seymour is discussed as well as Mary's menstrual history and false pregnancies.

Kohl's carries tons of Bermuda-length shorts and capri-length shorts. They even have them in the Juniors section if you are shopping for a tween. I would just take mil's short-shorts back and exchange them for something longer.

The way our school district likes to handle inclusion (for students who don't need a self-enclosed classroom) is to enroll students with IEP's in an "Academic Support" class as their elective. The Academic Support class is staffed by special ed teachers who can provide additional one-on-one instruction. My understanding (from friends whose kids have IEP's) is that the IEP often states that the student must be enrolled in Academic Support. At the middle school level, this means that the student must take Academic Support as their one elective and miss out on any opportunities to take band, choir, etc. At the high school level, we have 4x4 block scheduling, and I have friends whose kids' IEP's required them to enroll in Academic Support for both semesters taking up 2 out of their 8 classes for the year. Therefore, by default, they cannot sign up for any electives. As an example, a friend's son was required to take slow-track Alg in addition to AS. His freshman schedule was: Fall: World Hist, Alg 1A, Earth Sci, Academic Support Spring: Engl 1, Alg 1B, Health, Academic Support All of those were required classes, so no electives. I can imagine school personnel here (even school principals) emphatically stating, "Kids with IEP's aren't allowed to take electives", but what they would really mean is, "Kids with IEP's requiring them to enroll in Academic Support will not have room in their schedule for electives." The nuance matters here, because if the first were actually the case, then they would be in violation of the law. I would go to the district and ask to see the policy in writing.

My oldest 3 are closely spaced: an 18 month gap & a 2 yr gap. I kept them combined until 5th grade for literature, history, and science. At that point my oldest just needed so much more challenge, so I split her off on her own. The following year, I split the next oldest off on his own. I've continued to combine just the littler kids, so dc3 is now combined with the 2 younger than her rather than the 2 older than her. I found that combining for history & science cycles worked well for elementary (where I was reading aloud and organizing lots of field trips and activities), but there was just a point where combining was no longer necessary or ideal. By 5th or 6th, my kids prefer to read literature on their own and are simply ready to work independently and with more challenging materials.

I've encountered this frequently as well. Maybe it's my area of the country or the circles I run in, but redshirting is not common here. Here it's still a status symbol to have a child who is young for their grade whether due to a late-summer birthday, early kindergarten entry, or grade-skipping. Those who have opted to redshirt often express regrets once their child hits 17, 18, 19. It's tough to be stuck in high school at that age. And it's tough to parent a child (legal adult) who is still stuck in high school and frustrated over the situation. The parents I've known who have been happy long-term about redshirting seem to have kids who struggle academically and genuinely benefited from extra time to master academics. The parents with the most regrets seem to be those who redshirted due to physical size or maturity despite their child being academically capable. A lot can change between 6 & 16 when it comes to size and maturity. And I've seen it be a negative thing for kids to be the oldest and most mature when puberty hits - particularly for girls. I'm not sure why so many people are enamored of the idea that it's always beneficial to be the biggest and most mature. But I think this board tends strongly toward redshirting - much more than I've encountered in real life. For OP, I would suggest meeting with the school before making any decisions. They can give you an idea of where your child will fit in academically and socially. If it's possible, you should also chat up some parents with kids at the school. They can often give you an idea of whether redshirting is happening and how teachers at the school will feel about a boy with a summer birthday. Here it would be no big deal, but it may be different in your area.