What grade do you use when notifying?

[Runningmom80]

Do you use the grade your child is in in most subjects, or the grade his age states?

 

 

I only ask because I'm going to start k this year, but it's looking like we will be using lots of first grade materials. DS is a nov birthday, so he misses the cut off for k this year, he is supposed to start fall 2012.

 

 

I don't need to notify until next year, so should I say k next year, or first? I have year to figure this out, just wondering what everyone else does!

[Embassy]

I don't have to report to anyone, but my kids are in their grades according to their ages. The level of work they do varies.

[kiana]

If you call him first grade next year, he either has to stay at least a grade ahead, or possibly repeat a grade later if he starts to struggle.

 

If you call him an accelerated K next year, and you decide later (like, high school level) that he should have been called first then, you can always skip 8th grade or something like that. But it's much easier to skip up later than hold back later, as long as you've been teaching him at his level all along.

[Crimson Wife]

Go with the age, whatever the level material you're using. If your state has a cut-off for K but not 1st (most states have them for both), then you can certainly enroll him in 1st next year.

 

One thing you could do is call this year K4 and next year K5.

[Runningmom80]

If you call him first grade next year, he either has to stay at least a grade ahead, or possibly repeat a grade later if he starts to struggle.

 

If you call him an accelerated K next year, and you decide later (like, high school level) that he should have been called first then, you can always skip 8th grade or something like that. But it's much easier to skip up later than hold back later, as long as you've been teaching him at his level all along.

 

 

 

That makes sense! Thank you. :)

[KAR120C]

I only ask because I'm going to start k this year, but it's looking like we will be using lots of first grade materials. DS is a nov birthday, so he misses the cut off for k this year, he is supposed to start fall 2012.

For a year (or even two) ahead, especially at the K-through-2nd-or-3rd grades, I would stick with age-grade. In fact I would stick with age-grade for almost any situation unless there's something you need to change for.

 

Generally speaking, reporting a higher grade than age would indicate does not open many doors. People's first assumption is that you're just a proud (and/or misinformed) parent. If you get into academic competitions, a higher grade level can have a significant downside... because you're up against the brightest kids who are also older than you.

 

All that said, we did skip DS one grade. But we waited until a) there was a tangible benefit to doing so, b) he was farther enough ahead of the higher grade that I didn't have any particular concern that he wouldn't keep it up, and c) we were prepared to stick with it for everything -- not one grade for math competitions and another for spelling bees, for instance.

[Gailmegan]

My middle son has a September birthday. If he were to go to public school he would have just finished 1st grade, since they have an age requirement for both K and 1st (which he misses by a few days). But I wasn't going to make him wait a year since he was more than ready, so I went ahead and registered him as a Ker when he was technically too young and did the same for 1st and 2nd. The DOE never said anything to me about it. My thought is that if we should ever send him somewhere to school it would hopefully help us in showing that he has done the work and shouldn't be held back simply because of his age. I'm sure they would still require testing, but I would hope it would be an easier transition than if we put what the state level should be and then have to try to get him to skip a grade.

[Runningmom80]

My middle son has a September birthday. If he were to go to public school he would have just finished 1st grade, since they have an age requirement for both K and 1st (which he misses by a few days). But I wasn't going to make him wait a year since he was more than ready, so I went ahead and registered him as a Ker when he was technically too young and did the same for 1st and 2nd. The DOE never said anything to me about it. My thought is that if we should ever send him somewhere to school it would hopefully help us in showing that he has done the work and shouldn't be held back simply because of his age. I'm sure they would still require testing, but I would hope it would be an easier transition than if we put what the state level should be and then have to try to get him to skip a grade.

 

 

That was my initial thinking. He was accepted for early K this year, so if we weren't HS, he would be a year ahead as far as the state is concerned. It doesn't matter as far as homeschooling goes, but if we were to ever enter the PS system, will it be more of a fight to get him placed properly? :confused:

 

ETA: It's going to be an uphill battle no matter what, isn't it? :)

[Staceyshoe]

I agree with going with the grade level according to age (unless you are radically accelerating his education). This will keep him competing against same-age peers if he ever enters competitive science fairs or math competitions also.

 

If he enters the public school system later, you would want to look at their policies regarding gifted education, subject acceleration, and whole grade acceleration. Any of these options probably requires testing, which the school system would provide for free. Ds started in pub school, and I found that the school system was very negative about accommodating his learning needs until they had test scores in hand, so the testing can really change the perspective of the school system about making accommodations. HTH!

[kiana]

That was my initial thinking. He was accepted for early K this year, so if we weren't HS, he would be a year ahead as far as the state is concerned. It doesn't matter as far as homeschooling goes, but if we were to ever enter the PS system, will it be more of a fight to get him placed properly? :confused:

 

ETA: It's going to be an uphill battle no matter what, isn't it? :)

 

I had completed K and first grade in a private school. I have an early fall birthday and was accelerated a year so I entered K when I was almost 4. When we moved, it was the fall and I was almost six. The cutoff was different in the new state. Despite the fact that they had records showing I had already completed both K and first grade, they were very insistent that I should enroll in K. After an arduous battle, including presenting achievement test scoring at the middle-school level and an IQ test, they reluctantly allowed me to ... repeat first instead of repeating K.

 

The school probably isn't going to place him properly no matter what you do, unless you have achievement test scores in hand, which you can get later. Not that I'm still ticked off by that or anything. :P

[Runningmom80]

I had completed K and first grade in a private school. I have an early fall birthday and was accelerated a year so I entered K when I was almost 4. When we moved, it was the fall and I was almost six. The cutoff was different in the new state. Despite the fact that they had records showing I had already completed both K and first grade, they were very insistent that I should enroll in K. After an arduous battle, including presenting achievement test scoring at the middle-school level and an IQ test, they reluctantly allowed me to ... repeat first instead of repeating K.

 

The school probably isn't going to place him properly no matter what you do, unless you have achievement test scores in hand, which you can get later. Not that I'm still ticked off by that or anything. :P

 

:D I would be too!

[Dmmetler]

DD is a November birthday in a state with an October 1 cutoff, and is registered 1 year ahead of where her chronological age would place her. However, that's because she was grade skipped into K early, and I really don't want to lose that acceleration (which, in our district/state is very, very rare) should she have to go back to school-she's much happier as the youngest than as one of the oldest.

 

Our cover school has suggested accelerating further on paper, since DD is globally a couple of years over that, because it would make college dual enrollment much more possible (in my area, most university programs require 11th grade standing to dually enroll because that's when the state will start paying for it), and simply listing a "social grade" for things like scouts or sports. I haven't done so mostly because college seems a long way away, so I figure we have time to accelerate later if we need to do so-and I'm not sure the state money will be there when DD gets to college level coursework anyway.

[Elizabeth in WA]

I'd go with age. I had to unskip one who was grade skipped in public school because he has become serious about a sport where being the extra year younger would put him in the wrong age category for NCAA recruiting during his junior year. His sport is very important to him. Fortunately, it was easy to unskip since we currently live in a state in which we report ages and not grades. It's easier to skip later, I think, than unskip if you have to report grades. The question of what I'll do with him that extra year sometimes worries me, but EPGY college math remains an option and there are endless content areas to study even without paying Stanford online high school prices.