This might really be outside the box,

[littlemeadow]

but...lately I have been thinking about extending my ds' at-home education. Currently my oldest is in 8th grade and my youngest is in 5th grade. Neither one of them is "behind". I have just started wondering, "What's the rush?" "Is there a benefit to rushing through high school graduation and immediately entering college?" I feel like they would be better prepared and more able to handle any situation that they may encounter in college IF they were a little older than 17 or 18. I men, theoretically they would be more mature, right?

 

But I don't know if this is "allowed". And I don't know how doing this could effect their ability to get scholarships. Do any of you have any experience with doing something like this? Or do any of you have knowledge that could help me understand the consequences of making a decision like this.

 

Of course, in the end it will be up to my boys. If they want to "graduate" on normal schedule, I will totally support that. I just want to present delaying high school graduation as another option for them. And before I present this to them as a viable option, I need more information.

 

Can anyone help me?

 

Thanks

[creekland]

I would have hated this. I was ready to leave home when I was 18 - probably at 17.

 

I can't imagine doing it to any student on purpose. Some need it to happen due to varying things going on in their life (often medical), but those can't be helped. The vast, vast, majority of students are mentally and physically ready to move on at 18. (Moving on doesn't always mean moving out - just moving on past high school.)

 

They can always opt to stick around and go to a local college, get a job, or even take a gap year or two before deciding what they want to do, but purposely deciding they must take longer might be something they adamantly disagree with you on later in life.

 

Scholarships for college are generally offered to freshmen. It doesn't matter if the freshman goes straight to college from high school or takes a gap year. There are also a few scholarships available to transfers from community college pending which 4 year school is chosen if you later opt for these routes.

[Tenaj]

My oldest decided to take a gap year after his Senior year (well, we called it a super-senior year). He had two sports that he loved that he had not been able to participate in for a few years early in his high school career (no opportunity) that a way opened up to play on an organized team for the last two years of high school. He choose to remain in high school an extra year and played one more year. For him that was the best decision and we have no regrets. He became a leader instead of a follower that year and as he has started college this year we can see that the year of extra maturing he experienced has really helped him but that wouldn't have been the right decision for every kid.

 

My oldest dd has started college right away - she's 18 and to be honest, she struggled much at the beginning of the year, to the point that I was wishing she had taken a gap year! She's adjusted fine now and is doing very well but the first six weeks was a bit stressful. Probably normal, but stressful. I think part of the issue is that she went through a very normal adjustment to the rigors of college life but since her older brother was going through it at the same time with absolutely no issues, it made it harder on her to have a pretty normal struggle with a new routine and new expectations.

 

All that to say, you probably shouldn't decide at this point what their 17-18-19 years will look like. So many things can change and opportunities arise at that age that it's just not possible or wise to plan very specifically what life will look like for them at that point. I have a sophomore in high school now and I honestly have no idea what he'll choose to do at that point. I'm having a hard time imagining him in college because his writing skills are still a struggle for him but he's got two years to mature. My goal is to get my kids ready to graduate on a normal time schedule but if one of them chooses to do something "weird", either graduate early or later, we'll work with them at that time.

[8filltheheart]

If you google gap yr, you will probably find quite a bit of info.

 

FWIW, I have a couple of kids that would have been smothered under that approach. Our oldest should have been born in a different century b/c he was ready to be his own man at 16. :) I have 1 that will probably live w/us forever (or a very long time anyway) b/c at 20 he is very far from any resemblance of the level of maturity required for independent living.

 

What you see 13/14 is normally far removed from the young adult at 17/18. They change radically during those 4 yrs. Think in terms of the stages you have already witnessed: the difference between 2 and 6 or 8 and 12. (For most of my kids the change has been the more radical difference of the between 2 and 6......very different levels of maturity and independence.)

[littlemeadow]

Well, that might or might not work and one of the reasons why is that they seem really young NOW but you're going to see SO much growth over the next few years. If you do decide to, you can do it several ways: wait to start high school work, do high school work over 5 years and list by history, math, etc. rather than by years (some unis will not allow this, nor will NCAA), or graduate and then do a gap year. All of those have pros and cons. And what might be a good choice for one will not necessarily be a good choice for another student.

 

Thank you so much for your response, Margaret in CO. Homeschooling in the high school years and toward college entrance is something very foreign to me, so I really appreciate any information you or anyone else can give me. If you don't mind, I have a few questions stemming from your response.

 

1) You said I could wait to start high school. If the student were okay with this, what do you foresee as any potential problems, if any, with schooling this way?

 

2) Also, you said that I could homeschool the high school years over a five-year period. Again, what potential problems may arise because of doing it this way? It sounds like I would need to do the transcript differently than how it is "normally" done. Would I have to do the transcript differently? I mean, would it "look bad" to have my child go through high school in five years instead of in four, especially if they were to cover more material? And just curious, do you know why some universities will not allow the transcript to list "by subjects" instead of what sounds like to be the normal "by years"?

[littlemeadow]

I would have hated this. I was ready to leave home when I was 18 - probably at 17.

 

I can't imagine doing it to any student on purpose. Some need it to happen due to varying things going on in their life (often medical), but those can't be helped. The vast, vast, majority of students are mentally and physically ready to move on at 18. (Moving on doesn't always mean moving out - just moving on past high school.)

 

They can always opt to stick around and go to a local college, get a job, or even take a gap year or two before deciding what they want to do, but purposely deciding they must take longer might be something they adamantly disagree with you on later in life.

 

Scholarships for college are generally offered to freshmen. It doesn't matter if the freshman goes straight to college from high school or takes a gap year. There are also a few scholarships available to transfers from community college pending which 4 year school is chosen if you later opt for these routes.

 

Thank you for your response, Creekland.

 

Yes, I do realize that my child/children might not want to stay in school and/or home in longer than what is "normally" required. At this time, I just want to know my options, how it could potentially work, and anh pros and cons that would come as a result of doing it this way.

 

A few days ago I read an article from a college professor who had been homeschooled. She (?) said that many new college students weren't truly ready for college. She said that her older students seemed more serious about their schooling, more directional, and more eager to learn than her younger students. Even now both of my boys seem directional, but her article just made me wonder what the benefit of going to college following the "normal"schedule would be. And, it made me wonder if there could be a benefit to waiting until the student is a little older. What pros and cons do you foresee happening as a result of taking one's time to complete the high school years?

 

I do see your point that they might be ready to go to college. Again, I wouldn't try to hold them back if they wanted to follow the "normal" schedule for going to college.

 

If they did like the idea of taking a little longer to complete high school, do you see any potential disadvantages? And do you think completing high school in five years instead of four years could hurt their chances of getting scholarships?

 

One more thing...you also said that there were a few scholarships available for students transferring from a community college. What do you mean by a few? Are there not near as many scholarships for these students as there are scholarships for students going directly from high school to a four-year university?

 

Thank you for any help and insight you can give me.

[littlemeadow]

My oldest decided to take a gap year after his Senior year (well, we called it a super-senior year). He had two sports that he loved that he had not been able to participate in for a few years early in his high school career (no opportunity) that a way opened up to play on an organized team for the last two years of high school. He choose to remain in high school an extra year and played one more year. For him that was the best decision and we have no regrets. He became a leader instead of a follower that year and as he has started college this year we can see that the year of extra maturing he experienced has really helped him but that wouldn't have been the right decision for every kid.

 

My oldest dd has started college right away - she's 18 and to be honest, she struggled much at the beginning of the year, to the point that I was wishing she had taken a gap year! She's adjusted fine now and is doing very well but the first six weeks was a bit stressful. Probably normal, but stressful. I think part of the issue is that she went through a very normal adjustment to the rigors of college life but since her older brother was going through it at the same time with absolutely no issues, it made it harder on her to have a pretty normal struggle with a new routine and new expectations.

 

All that to say, you probably shouldn't decide at this point what their 17-18-19 years will look like. So many things can change and opportunities arise at that age that it's just not possible or wise to plan very specifically what life will look like for them at that point. I have a sophomore in high school now and I honestly have no idea what he'll choose to do at that point. I'm having a hard time imagining him in college because his writing skills are still a struggle for him but he's got two years to mature. My goal is to get my kids ready to graduate on a normal time schedule but if one of them chooses to do something "weird", either graduate early or later, we'll work with them at that time.

 

Thank you so much for sharing the experience you had with both your son and daughter, JanOH. This is exactly what I am looking for...if it can even be done and the logistics of it.

 

I would really like to know more about how this worked with your son. Do you mind answering a few more questions?

 

With your son, was it a gap year, was it a five-year high school plan, or was ita four-year high school plan, dropping his initial first year of high school out of the transcript picture.

 

How did you do his transcript? Did you have to list by subject, or did you do it by years? Do you think that adding in that Super-Senior Year affected his ability to get scholarships?

 

I don't think my kids will not be "scholastically" ready, although I do know we are still a long ways off, so that could happen. I think I am just more concerned about their ability to handle the whole experience. We live far away from town, and although we discuss life outside of our home with them, they don't get a whole lot of experience with dealing with it. I was thinking that an extra year (or two?) might give them time to mature a little bit more and thus be better able to handle college life. Also, both of them are very self-motivated, so I could envision both of them furthering their education in their own interests during that time.

 

You said that I probably should not decide at this point what their 17-18-19 years will look like. I agree that it probably shouldn't be set in stone because as you said, "changes and opportunities arise", and as another poster pointed out, the students might not want to do this. So I wonder...is this something that can easily be adjusted to? I mean, if we start the high school years following a four-year high school plan, but then later decide to do the five-year high school plan, do you think this would be something that we would be able to easily change? Likewise, if we decided to start out following a five-year high school plan but then decided to follow the four-year high school plan, would this be easy to do?

 

The other thing I want to mention is that, as of now, my oldest son is thinking about studying physics. He also likes mechanics. My husband and I were thinking that if he took longer to finish high school, he could complete a mechanics course during this time, if he wished. Since high school students get dual credits, I was wondering if doing something like this would be possible???

 

I think that my husband and I are mostly concerned with how doing something like this could affect his ability to get scholarships to a four-year university and his ability to get into a four-year university of his choice. Any ideas?

 

Thank you again for your response. It was really helpful.

[littlemeadow]

If you google gap yr, you will probably find quite a bit of info.

 

FWIW, I have a couple of kids that would have been smothered under that approach. Our oldest should have been born in a different century b/c he was ready to be his own man at 16. :) I have 1 that will probably live w/us forever (or a very long time anyway) b/c at 20 he is very far from any resemblance of the level of maturity required for independent living.

 

What you see 13/14 is normally far removed from the young adult at 17/18. They change radically during those 4 yrs. Think in terms of the stages you have already witnessed: the difference between 2 and 6 or 8 and 12. (For most of my kids the change has been the more radical difference of the between 2 and 6......very different levels of maturity and independence.)

 

 

I thought that a gap year was when the student took a year off between high school and college??? What I am thinking about is extending the high school years.

 

Would you please explain what you mean by "I have a couple of kids that would have been smothered under that approach"? In what way do you mean? I definitely don't want to smother either of my kids.:001_smile:

 

Good point about how quickly they can change. At this point my husband and I just want to know our options. Even though we have homeschooled both of our sons from the beginning, we are starting to get into homeschooling territory that we are much more ignorant about (high school and college and all that goes along with that). We want to start thinking about how all this high school-college stuff works now so we won't be hit with too many "uh-oh" surprises later.

 

Thanks for any more information you can give me.

[Barbara H]

You've gotten a lot of good advice here. Kids really do change and grow and it is hard to predict. My suggestion would be to proceed with the four year plan and then revise as needed down the road. By completing high school requirements on time you will have more flexibility down the road. There is no risk of "running out" of stuff to do because when they are older they will have all sorts of additional options - more independent study in areas of interest, AP, CLEP, dual enrollment, work, volunteering, study abroad, starting a business, internships, writing a novel, etc. These are options that are less open to younger students. So, if they are ready, I say go ahead and start working on requirements and don't worry if you finish up before they are ready to go to college other options will be obvious at that time.

 

If high school runs five years you have a few options. 1. You could organize the transcript by subject and not worry that some courses were completed in the first year. 2. You could organize by date and list some of the 8th grade courses as "Credits completed before high school". 3. They could wrap up after the fourth year and opt for a gap year. Personally that would be my last choice just because as a homeschooler you don't need to go that route and it is a bit simpler not to. You can always graduate your child symbolically and practically but for official transcript purposes chose another date.

 

Any college courses taken after high school graduation can remove a child from entering college as a freshman - which typically comes with the best scholarship options. Courses taken while still enrolled in high school do not have this same problem.

[Barbara H]

 

My oldest almost lost her Hillsdale scholarships but in the end, they decided not to transfer her credits in until the first day of class, thus saving the day. She magically became a sophomore then.

 

We had problems with the Army not wanting dd to have as many credits as she did--they were concerned that she'd graduate in less than 4 years. She had to write a long explanation of why she'd taken what she had. She almost lost her scholarship (full-ride) because of it.

 

 

If you are comfortable with sharing, I'd appreciate hearing more about this. How many dual enrollment credits did she have? Did she have an ROTC scholarship?

 

You raise a number of important considerations in your post. Students who are looking at the military and NCAA sports need to be especially careful. Also, your point about math is a good one. In my home state (and in some others) students are required to take math all four years in high school even if they have completed high school level coursework in middle school.

[Tenaj]

 

 

With your son, was it a gap year, was it a five-year high school plan, or was ita four-year high school plan, dropping his initial first year of high school out of the transcript picture.

 

How did you do his transcript? Did you have to list by subject, or did you do it by years? Do you think that adding in that Super-Senior Year affected his ability to get scholarships?

 

We didn't plan ahead for this at all. He decided in February of what we thought was his Senior Year. His situation is a bit different because he had already been accepted at the college he wanted to attend, so he really just ended up delaying his admission by a year. The college didn't even blink an eye . . . just moved his date of attendance to August, 2012 rather than 2011.

 

There was some question about NCAA participation because he is very interested in sports but over the summer before the "super" year, he decided not to pursue sports at college after all which made my job much easier and gave him much flexibility for that extra year. If he had decided to go with sports, I would have had to drop his freshman year - I think - and adjust his transcript to make everything match up with their requirements. For instance, his American history credit was his freshman year, I would have had him take another American History at a higher level and counted that rather than the first one.

 

I've done both of my kids transcripts by subject rather than school year so that didn't end up being an issue. During his "super" year he took calculus, advanced physics, British Literature, statistics and a computer class. I ended up just tacking them onto his previous transcript which was acceptable to the college he was attending. I'm guessing it wasn't an issue since he had already been accepted based on the previous transcript/work-in-progress.

 

In his case, it didn't affect scholarships because my dh works at the college and we receive free tuition (very thankful for that!) He did receive some FAF monies and that wasn't affected at all.

 

 

 

You said that I probably should not decide at this point what their 17-18-19 years will look like. I agree that it probably shouldn't be set in stone because as you said, "changes and opportunities arise", and as another poster pointed out, the students might not want to do this. So I wonder...is this something that can easily be adjusted to? I mean, if we start the high school years following a four-year high school plan, but then later decide to do the five-year high school plan, do you think this would be something that we would be able to easily change? Likewise, if we decided to start out following a five-year high school plan but then decided to follow the four-year high school plan, would this be easy to do?

 

The other thing I want to mention is that, as of now, my oldest son is thinking about studying physics. He also likes mechanics. My husband and I were thinking that if he took longer to finish high school, he could complete a mechanics course during this time, if he wished. Since high school students get dual credits, I was wondering if doing something like this would be possible???

 

I would think this is a great idea . . . there are so many possibilities and different directions this could go. My son originally planned to do a short-term missions trips during part of the year - that didn't happen because he ended up getting a full-time job starting in May at the college he attends. This was a great blessing that he probably wouldn't have been confident enough to do if he hadn't had that extra year of experience.

 

I think that my husband and I are mostly concerned with how doing something like this could affect his ability to get scholarships to a four-year university and his ability to get into a four-year university of his choice. Any ideas?

 

Our situation was different than the norm so I'm not able to help much with this.

 

Thank you again for your response. It was really helpful.

 

I'm glad to share our experience. We were very reluctant to let our son go with this path at first but now we can see that it was God's plan and we're very happy that it worked out.

[Tenaj]

 

 

 

Another no-no for the five year plan (that may not matter to you at all) is eligibility for high school sports. CHSAA (our governing body) only allows 4 years of play. Of course, if the student is in non-school hockey (for example) that may not involve you. USAA swimming doesn't care about anything but age, but high school swimming won't let you do it. You may be saying, "So what?" :D But it caught a hser here. I warned her mom but to no avail. The student was NOT happy...

 

 

Yes, my son who did this was playing for a smallish private school who didn't play in the state league . . . only in a private school league which didn't have the same eligibility rules. He played his jr, sr. and super sr. year because their rules said that as long as you were less than 19 years of age by the first day of school you were eligible to play. He qualified so that's why he was able to keep participating that last year . . . for most schools this probably wouldn't work.

[littlemeadow]

Thank you, JanOH, for sharing with me. It is great to know that this is a possibility for us if our homeschooling journey takes us in this direction. I am glad things worked out so well for your son.

[Barbara H]

 

The hard part about all this planning is that kids don't always know what they're going to do and where they want to go. Make plans for the most selective colleges that your student is looking at, and head towards those.

 

 

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm glad it is working out for her. This passage I've quoted is excellent advice. It is important to keep options open when we can. The majority of students change their major after they start college. It is really important that students get GOOD advising on campus - even at some schools where you'd assume students will get great advising they don't.

[creekland]

 

A few days ago I read an article from a college professor who had been homeschooled. She (?) said that many new college students weren't truly ready for college. She said that her older students seemed more serious about their schooling, more directional, and more eager to learn than her younger students. Even now both of my boys seem directional, but her article just made me wonder what the benefit of going to college following the "normal"schedule would be. And, it made me wonder if there could be a benefit to waiting until the student is a little older. What pros and cons do you foresee happening as a result of taking one's time to complete the high school years?

 

There certainly can be pros to having older students in college IF they need more time to mature. That just hasn't happened in our family. My guys have been ready to go at 18 - chomping at the bit to go - and have thrived. If I had purposely set them on a 5 year plan they'd have been annoyed. Back in the day I'd have been annoyed too.

 

I think it is a far better course of action to start on a 4 year plan, then adjust as needed later in the 4 years if you feel another year would benefit your students.

 

If they did like the idea of taking a little longer to complete high school, do you see any potential disadvantages? And do you think completing high school in five years instead of four years could hurt their chances of getting scholarships?

 

I think all of these would depend upon reasons for the delay. If they're taking advantage of opportunities available to them (extra travel, extra fields of interest, etc) I don't think any college would hold it against them and it could even prove to be an advantage. If it's a case of merely taking less each year and spreading it out, top colleges might take that as a sign the student can handle the rigors of college.

 

One more thing...you also said that there were a few scholarships available for students transferring from a community college. What do you mean by a few? Are there not near as many scholarships for these students as there are scholarships for students going directly from high school to a four-year university?

 

The VAST majority of scholarships out there go to entering freshman. Some schools give no transfer scholarships at all. Others give out a few. However, the entering freshman could take a gap year between high school and college and still be qualified for freshman scholarships. They often do NOT qualify if they start at a community college first.

[garddwr]

but...lately I have been thinking about extending my ds' at-home education. Currently my oldest is in 8th grade and my youngest is in 5th grade. Neither one of them is "behind". I have just started wondering, "What's the rush?" "Is there a benefit to rushing through high school graduation and immediately entering college?" I feel like they would be better prepared and more able to handle any situation that they may encounter in college IF they were a little older than 17 or 18. I men, theoretically they would be more mature, right?

 

But I don't know if this is "allowed". And I don't know how doing this could effect their ability to get scholarships. Do any of you have any experience with doing something like this? Or do any of you have knowledge that could help me understand the consequences of making a decision like this.

 

Of course, in the end it will be up to my boys. If they want to "graduate" on normal schedule, I will totally support that. I just want to present delaying high school graduation as another option for them. And before I present this to them as a viable option, I need more information.

 

Can anyone help me?

 

Thanks

 

I'll tell you the approach I am taking with my 9 year old dd, who has a fall birthday just after the local school cut-off. In the local school system she would be an older 3rd grader, in our last location (with a different cut-off) she would have been a young fourth grader. I'm officially calling her 3rd, but in my mind I have her classified as 3rd/4th with the thought that we will wait and see how things progress as she gets older and whether it seems better to have an extra year at home or push forward to college. Grade doesn't really matter until high school, at which point there are a few things to consider:

 

1st, colleges will want to see 4 years worth of high school level work--most would likely look askance at either more or less than that on a transcript. If the best course has not become clear by the time dd would be officially an 8th grader, I may have the option of having her do high school level work that year so it could potentially be counted as her Freshman year, while still considering her officially an 8th grader. Of course I'd need to have 5 years of high school level work up my sleeve in that case, because if she doesn't go early we won't be counting that 8th grade year on her high school transcript. If she does go one year early we will just re-designate that 8th grade year as 9th grade on the transcript. Academically, I expect her to be able to handle high school work at that point.

 

2nd, if you have a child with a chance at the National Merit Scholarship, they can only take a qualifying PSAT in the 11th grade--and they can't take it as a qualifying (not practice) test more than once (if anyone knows differently let me know). I do expect dd to have a chance at this, so by the time she is officially 10th grade according to her current placement we will want to have made a decision about whether that will be her actual 10th or 11th grade year--at least to the extent that we consider NM a significant factor; it certainly wouldn't override any more serious considerations. All plans are always subject to change... Still, I would like to have things figured out by then! At that point though I expect dd herself to have a major say in any decision making.

 

Overall, I there is a question about which year to place a child in I like the approach of "officially" using the lower year, but thinking of the higher year in actual schooling---if you decide to move a child up a grade later so they can graduate earlier, the academic standard is already in place and the child will be happy to be able to skip a grade level.

Edited October 15, 2012 by thegardener

[Tenaj]

Overall, I there is a question about which year to place a child in I like the approach of "officially" using the lower year, but thinking of the higher year in actual schooling---if you decide to move a child up a grade later so they can graduate earlier, the academic standard is already in place and the child will be happy to be able to skip a grade level.

 

:iagree: This doesn't apply to my olders but it is the approach I am taking with my younger kids. My youngest five children all have either late summer or early fall birthdays. I have two boys that have late summer (August Birthdays). I started them in "K" in the year they turned five but there is no way I would have sent them to a brick and mortar school that year so I always classify them in the grade they would actually be in - regardless of the fact they are working above that level here. Though my 8yo is doing a lot of fourth and fifth grade work I'm sticking to my story that he's in third grade!

[Mama Geek]

but...lately I have been thinking about extending my ds' at-home education. Currently my oldest is in 8th grade and my youngest is in 5th grade. Neither one of them is "behind". I have just started wondering, "What's the rush?" "Is there a benefit to rushing through high school graduation and immediately entering college?" I feel like they would be better prepared and more able to handle any situation that they may encounter in college IF they were a little older than 17 or 18. I men, theoretically they would be more mature, right?

 

But I don't know if this is "allowed". And I don't know how doing this could effect their ability to get scholarships. Do any of you have any experience with doing something like this? Or do any of you have knowledge that could help me understand the consequences of making a decision like this.

 

Of course, in the end it will be up to my boys. If they want to "graduate" on normal schedule, I will totally support that. I just want to present delaying high school graduation as another option for them. And before I present this to them as a viable option, I need more information.

 

Can anyone help me?

 

Thanks

 

There was one thing that I thought of after reading your post that I didn't see anyone say anything about. Realizing I was in college 15 years ago, the people that were far and above ready to be there were those that had spent time in the workforce and had come to decide that they were going to get an education with a real end goal in mind. There were lots of people just out of high school who did fine and a some did really well, but all of the people that were there after having worked did really well. This was my experience in an engineering major. There are lots of pros and cons to going to college after having worked.

[littlemeadow]

There was one thing that I thought of after reading your post that I didn't see anyone say anything about. Realizing I was in college 15 years ago, the people that were far and above ready to be there were those that had spent time in the workforce and had come to decide that they were going to get an education with a real end goal in mind. There were lots of people just out of high school who did fine and a some did really well, but all of the people that were there after having worked did really well. This was my experience in an engineering major. There are lots of pros and cons to going to college after having worked.

 

Thank you for this. I know I can't set in stone anything about HIS future. It is his, after all. I guess I just don't want him to have to rush towards college IF he is not ready. And from some of the posts in this thread and from other sources I have read, it sounds like some older students are more focused and directional, but that younger students can be that as well.

 

It is great to know that we at least have the option of extending the high school years if he so desires.

 

Thanks to all of you.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

On the military side--we are dealing with this this weekend. Army dd has to jigger her schedule around because even with changing her major today, she's still going to graduate a semester early. She can't. So...she'll have to hold off on a requirement or two so as not to do that. WY transferred in 27 credits, if I remember correctly. I just spent an hour on the phone with her about it. She'll have time to take some random stuff--perhaps more ag and some more military stuff. And she needs to take Spanish though it's not required. If she ends up in police work OR ag, she's going to need survival Spanish. She'll magically become a sophomore when classes end this semester.

 

 

 

FWIW, a friend of mine had a similar problem with too many credits 20+ years ago. He had a few AP credits and tended to overload each semester. He was hoping to start work on his masters but the military wouldn't allow it. He ended up with a double major instead.

[Lyn]

In the school systems today it is quite common for parents to hold children back a year. Especially if your child has a b-day after Sept. 1. So having a child start college as a 19 yo would not look the least bit unusual to a college admittance officer.

 

You could begin high school classes whenever you felt they were up to the academic challenge and just note on your transcript for those classes as "taken in 7th grade" or "taken in 8th grade" as long as it is a high school level class it is correct to place it on the transcript.

 

We did not do a growth year for my ds who is now a college freshman, but he actually did begin high school classes in 7th grade and it was not an issue with the colleges.