faiths13 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 ok, so my oldest two have been in ps up until a year and a half ago, then we were with a charter. now i want to leave the charter and go independent. i was going to start planning out the year, thinking of a kind of year round schedule (something like 3 months on, 1 off). I just realized that Im not sure how that works though, as far as grades go. Usually they start a school year in Aug or Sept and go til May or June. So they are in part of a one grade for the first half of a year and then part of another grade the last half of the year. so if i decided to go independent now do i keep them in the grade they are in now until next year or how does that work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_JWM Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 One option is to have them work at appropriate levels, but say they're in whatever grade they should be in. That way, you have the continuity that grade levels provide while accomodating their academic needs. Although I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "part of one grade for the first half and part for the second half" Aren't they in the same grade fom September until June? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 For example, in 2011 they were in 4th and 6thI grades the beginning of the year, then in 5th and 7tha at the end of the year. The school year doesn't follow the calendar year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 One option is to have them work at appropriate levels, but say they're in whatever grade they should be in. That way, you have the continuity that grade levels provide while accomodating their academic needs. :iagree: I find that it is so much easier in the rest of life to have my children in their age-appropriate grade levels. Church classes, scouts, etc. all are geared toward public school grade levels because that's where the majority of kids are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 It if you schedule your school year to follow the calendar year, not the ps year, when do you change grades? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 We've always schooled year-round, and my dc have never been on the 'appropriate' grade level in their work, but for the purpose of labeling (which is all grade levels are, anyway), they're generally at the grade that their age indicates (i.e., my 13 year old is in 8th grade, my 12 year old is in 7th, my just-turned 11 year old is in 5th)... we did vary starting last year with our youngest. In outside activities (Sunday School, Scouts, etc.), she does better with activities designed for slightly older children, and with older peers, so she is 'skipped' for now, as she would likely be if she were in school. It's something that we will re-evaluate from time to time, and may revise at some point in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 When do you move them from grade to grade? At the beginning of the calendar year or do you do it at the beginning of the ps year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I "promote" dc in the fall, regardless of what we're doing academically. :-) And I keep them, on paper, in the grade levels they'd be in if they were in school, according to their dates of birth and the cut-off in our state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 It if you schedule your school year to follow the calendar year, not the ps year, when do you change grades? Do you have to report grade levels to your state? In Georgia, I do not and even if I did, it wouldn't change what I tell people. All the kids in my county start school in August. Therefore, that is the month we officially change the grade level in name only. Their work load isn't affected at all. Ability won't change just because some arbitrary number goes up. My kids are all in high school and they start the next class when they finish one so they are rotating classes. They don't have a strict number of classes to finish from August to July. As long as they continue working and finish and graduate, that is what matters. But when they were younger, things weren't any different. If they were in one grade level of Language Arts in July, I didn't automatically put them in the next grade level in August. They continued until they finished their level and then went to the next one. I have no set schedule for schooling year round. I do it because of the flexibility. I might declare a week off just because we need it, not because it's marked on a calendar. Starting the first week of January, I did change my ds15's schedule to having every other Friday off to give him motivation to complete his daily work. My dd13, otoh, works only 4 days per week. She creates her own weekly schedule and she would rather do her 5 days of work in 4 days and have a 3-day weekend. It's been working well for her. My ds15 works at a slower pace then she does because has some issues that she doesn't have. They have unique needs that are being met. Having them on some type of fixed schedule would add stress to our work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Around here, the ps considers the kids to be the 'next grade' in May/June when they get their final report card from the last grade (summer programs are based on what grade they'll be in in August), so we stick to that convention and call them the next grade in June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Do you have to report grade levels to your state? In Georgia, I do not and even if I did, it wouldn't change what I tell people. All the kids in my county start school in August. Therefore, that is the month we officially change the grade level in name only. Their work load isn't affected at all. Ability won't change just because some arbitrary number goes up. My kids are all in high school and they start the next class when they finish one so they are rotating classes. They don't have a strict number of classes to finish from August to July. As long as they continue working and finish and graduate, that is what matters. But when they were younger, things weren't any different. If they were in one grade level of Language Arts in July, I didn't automatically put them in the next grade level in August. They continued until they finished their level and then went to the next one. I have no set schedule for schooling year round. I do it because of the flexibility. I might declare a week off just because we need it, not because it's marked on a calendar. Starting the first week of January, I did change my ds15's schedule to having every other Friday off to give him motivation to complete his daily work. My dd13, otoh, works only 4 days per week. She creates her own weekly schedule and she would rather do her 5 days of work in 4 days and have a 3-day weekend. It's been working well for her. My ds15 works at a slower pace then she does because has some issues that she doesn't have. They have unique needs that are being met. Having them on some type of fixed schedule would add stress to our work. we dont have to report grade levels, its more for the kids than anything. not because i work them at "grade level" but because they identify with being in a grade level - they have been in ps so long that its still important to them. also it helps them identify with other kids. they work at the level that they are at, not grade level so it doesnt bother me. just another thing to think about while trying to leave the charter behind and become indepenent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 we dont have to report grade levels, its more for the kids than anything. not because i work them at "grade level" but because they identify with being in a grade level - they have been in ps so long that its still important to them. also it helps them identify with other kids. they work at the level that they are at, not grade level so it doesnt bother me. just another thing to think about while trying to leave the charter behind and become indepenent! Then you're all good! Just keep telling grade levels like you've been doing and don't worry about being in one grade half the year and another grade the other half. Are you sure you want to try 3 months on and 1 month off? Will you likely have problems taking that much time off? I kicked around the idea of trying 5 weeks on and 1 week off. That would give us about 9 weeks off per year, and any vacation time we need on top of that. But I opted to do the every other Friday off for right now. I wanted to try that for a couple of months. I'm scared to declare a whole week off when we do not consistently school 5 days per week. We get behind a little every week and then we're either scrambling to catch up, which rarely works well, or I just move everything back a couple of days. That isn't too bad, except it seems to happen too often for it not to affect our homeschooling. Speaking of poor work habits, it's 6:30pm and ds15 still needs to work on his History essay. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Oops did I say 1 month? Lol I meant 3 weeks on, 1 week off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_JWM Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Oh, phew - i thought a month off sounded...great but NUTS! ;) We do 6 weeks on, 1 week off, and 4 days a week with Friday for co-op. In actuality, we stretch our fifth week over two weeks so that we can take it easy for two weeks and never be completely off unless we're travelling. Clear as mud yet? :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.