Do you follow tradition school grade levels?

[5KidzRUs]

Do you emulate the PS system grade levels? or do you design your grade levels to fit your children? This is something that some of my friends and I will never agree on.

I feel that the school year should be designed by me - whether it be 6 months or 12. The subject level is also something that varies depending on my child.

When my middle two were 16 and 17 I "graduated" them and put them in college. They did great and both graduated at 18 and 20 years old with high GPA's - Magna Cum Laude.

A couple of my friends feel I cheated - that I should have made them (like their children) wait and finish the texts and graduate high school the right way. One friend said I did it in the gray area - not black and white.

I guess I just have never felt like emulating the public school system or even dealing with the ever tricky and sometimes worthless minefield of CLEPing out and dual credit.

Even homeschool hours is subjective - I think every waking hour is being HSed in some subject or other lol! They need to be exposed to classics and cultures and texts and arts and sports etc - But isn't when they are ready for college up to the homeschool parent? I know adults who are not ready for college and I also know some young teens that have excelled in college.

It isn't black and white - is it? Although, i might not get a lot of agreement on a classical ed forum :lol:

Edited June 19, 2011 by 5KidzRUs

[Mandy in TN]

I live in TN where my kids must be registered somewhere (school board, umbrella school, etc), so I don't have the freedom to just march through the years and move them on when I feel they are ready. How wonderful that you had that freedom to choose and that your choices worked well for your family.:D

 

HTH-

Mandy

[6packofun]

If you live in a place where you're not accountable to anyone and the colleges you choose accept whatever you have on your transcripts,etc. then of course it's a lot LESS black and white. LOL Our objective isn't to get our kids out of "high school" as quickly as possible (or college, for that matter) so I think it depends on the requirements that are there for you combined with your goals for each individual child. It's important what we DO just as much as what we choose NOT to do.

 

We don't keep close track of what traditional schools are doing at all, much less grade by grade, but we also test our kids as part of our state's requirements (we could do a portfolio, but that's a pain in my butt). Our kids DO homeschool until they are the age of a typical graduating senior--and one son might even go longer. I dunno. I'm more concerned with them accomplishing certain skills rather than a general set of knowledge or finishing specific texts.

 

However, as homeschoolers we've gotten into the whole rigor discussion here many times and that counts in the equation, too. If you feel you haven't short-changed your kids then I'm not sure it matters if a few people think you have. If more than a few think that, well... LOL! Kidding. I try to stay out of other people's homeschools. :D

[joannqn]

Legally, my kids are public school kids accelerated a year ahead of age level. Even though they are legally public school kids, I still choose their curricula and do all of the teaching, most of which is above grade level. If I wanted to graduate them early, I'd probably need to pull them out of the school (ie. become an independent homeschooler) and then graduate them. Either way, I intend to provide them a homeschool transcript to supplement their official transcript since our situation is not typical.

[Ellie]

Yes and no.

 

When it is necessary to specify a grade level, I use the one that my dc would be in if they were in school, according to their birthdates and the cut-off in my state (in California, it's 6 by December 2; that is, a child would enter first grade the year he was 6 by that date. Kindergarten is not mandatory, but a 5yo would begin kindergarten in September of the year he turned 5, IYKWIM). The child's maturity has nothing to do with it. I do this for Sunday school classes, sports, youth groups like scouts or whatnot. And I "promote" dc every year in the fall. I don't skip grades on paper, or hold dc back on paper. Ever.

 

When choosing instructional materials, I go with whatever the dc are capable of doing, regardless of grade level. And I graduate dc when they have learned as much at home as they are going to, regardless of how many years we've been hsing or what "grade level" they'd be in if they were in school.

[OrdinaryTime]

I think one of the benefits of hsing is being able to move at our child's individual learning pace. If a teen is ready for college, academically and emotionally, I see no reason to slow them down. I started college at 16 and had a very positive experience both during college as well as entering the workforce early.

 

That being said, I currently tell my children their grade level, based solely on their age and not on the level of work they do, to help them fit in with other children and just in case they would need to attend a traditional school at some point.

[Tap]

We schedule per each child's needs and wants.

 

DS16 likes to be challenged and likes a fast pace. He doesn't want creativity in school, 'just the facts ma'am'.

DD12 likes to be challenged but likes a bit more repetition and likes to be able to doodle and draw along the way.

[sewingmama]

I have to get permission every year to homeschool and have to write up a grade appropriate curriculum. It is not common in Australia for kids to ever be advanced a year or skip a grade even if they are gifted - so my kids are labelled as being in the grade they would be in in PS according to their age.

 

That being said - my DD is doing work that is advanced for her grade - I have to keep an eye on the PS curriculum an align my schooling with it so I know what is required. However I don't think HS and Uni's are set up here to accept student's early. I have heard it being done but only with special permission.

 

I see nothing wrong with advancing your kids early if they are ready for it however I'm pretty sure my kids will be stuck advancing through the correct grades and having to complete them all even if they were way past it - they would just be told to take "extension classes" or something.

[LittleIzumi]

We do NOT follow public school grade levels. My kids are all over the map ability-wise. The Sponge is doing anywhere from K-3 or possibly beyond in various subjects.

 

ETA: I would call it her normal grade level if I had to for reporting, but I don't use that level of curricula.

Edited June 20, 2011 by LittleIzumi

[Mrs Mungo]

Yes and no.

 

When it is necessary to specify a grade level, I use the one that my dc would be in if they were in school, according to their birthdates and the cut-off in my state (in California, it's 6 by December 2; that is, a child would enter first grade the year he was 6 by that date. Kindergarten is not mandatory, but a 5yo would begin kindergarten in September of the year he turned 5, IYKWIM). The child's maturity has nothing to do with it. I do this for Sunday school classes, sports, youth groups like scouts or whatnot. And I "promote" dc every year in the fall. I don't skip grades on paper, or hold dc back on paper. Ever.

 

When choosing instructional materials, I go with whatever the dc are capable of doing, regardless of grade level. And I graduate dc when they have learned as much at home as they are going to, regardless of how many years we've been hsing or what "grade level" they'd be in if they were in school.

 

:iagree: Same here.

 

I don't plan on graduating my kids early. Because we're military I expect to send them back "home" for college. I don't want them to have to transfer *or* leave kids scattered all over the country. I'd rather keep them with me as long as I can. :(

[5KidzRUs]

:iagree:

:iagree: Same here.

 

I don't plan on graduating my kids early. Because we're military I expect to send them back "home" for college. I don't want them to have to transfer *or* leave kids scattered all over the country. I'd rather keep them with me as long as I can. :(

 

I am with you there. We are too and we have two college children living with us now.

[Tarreymere]

I went to public school as a kid and they paid for me to attend a few college classes at a local university when I was sixteen and seventeen. One girl in my class actually got permission from the public school and the same university to have her freshman year in college count as her senior year in high school. Things aren't always black and white for ps students either.

[Night Elf]

I do not think the way you did it is wrong in any way. I disagree with your friends who say what you did is cheating. I think that is a preposterous idea borne of jealousy, actually.

 

That being said, although I did not emulate traditional school before my kids were high schoolers, we are doing high school just like it's done in traditional schools. We just feel incapable of following a homeschool high school route in our state. The whole process is quite intimidating. Even talking to other high school families didn't help me. It only made me feel stupid because I just don't understand how to to do it.

[happypamama]

I assigned my children their grade levels based on what grade they'd be in if they were in public school. It has nothing to do with what level of work they do, because I decide that based on what I think they need, but since I had to pick something for my older child (per the state's requirements), it just seemed easiest to go with the public school levels. It also gives them something to say if people ask about school; they were able to say, "I'm in third grade/kindergarten," and leave it at that if they don't want to discuss being homeschooled.

 

Whether they'll graduate early or not does not apply right now. If I feel that they are ready to graduate early, great. If that means skipping a grade number somewhere along the line, that is okay too.

[LaxMom]

I went to public school as a kid and they paid for me to attend a few college classes at a local university when I was sixteen and seventeen. One girl in my class actually got permission from the public school and the same university to have her freshman year in college count as her senior year in high school. Things aren't always black and white for ps students either.

 

That's what my eldest daughter did (in PS); half of her junior year classes were at the local CC, she didn't go to high school at all her senior year.

 

I will have no problem graduating my kids whenever they're ready to move on to college. That seems less arbitrary than the class check off system employed by the public schools, IMO.

[gardening momma]

Do you emulate the PS system grade levels? or do you design your grade levels to fit your children? This is something that some of my friends and I will never agree on.

I feel that the school year should be designed by me - whether it be 6 months or 12. The subject level is also something that varies depending on my child.

When my middle two were 16 and 17 I "graduated" them and put them in college. They did great and both graduated at 18 and 20 years old with high GPA's - Magna Cum Laude.

A couple of my friends feel I cheated - that I should have made them (like their children) wait and finish the texts and graduate high school the right way. One friend said I did it in the gray area - not black and white.

I guess I just have never felt like emulating the public school system or even dealing with the ever tricky and sometimes worthless minefield of CLEPing out and dual credit.

Even homeschool hours is subjective - I think every waking hour is being HSed in some subject or other lol! They need to be exposed to classics and cultures and texts and arts and sports etc - But isn't when they are ready for college up to the homeschool parent? I know adults who are not ready for college and I also know some young teens that have excelled in college.

It isn't black and white - is it? Although, i might not get a lot of agreement on a classical ed forum :lol:

I agree with all of that, but up until the age of 16 or 17, they will go with one grade per 12 month year. If I think they are done with high school by 16 or 17, they can go to college. I'm pretty sure we can do that here, and not just dual enrollment. According to the law in Ohio, mandatory schooling lasts through the age of 17, but if they're in college, that's still schooling, so I don't see a problem with it.

[Pretty in Pink]

I have no idea what my local public schools are teaching, so in that sense I guess we do not follow a traditional scope and sequence. I do designate grade levels, when needed, based upon their ages and the grades that they would be in at PS, had they been enrolled in kindy at the age of 5. DS12 just finished 7th grade, DS8 is going into 3rd, and DS5 is starting kindy this fall, regardless of the grade levels that they work at in various subjects.

 

I'm not trying to graduate anyone early.