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What grade do you say your child is in?


poiema
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I know the thread tagging feature isn't up yet... I usually tag threads on grade level decisions because there have been well over 200 of them already, and they usually cycle through all the same points.

 

Since I can't yet.... I wanted to throw in a slightly different perspective.

 

DS has been working way ahead of age-grade level consistently from the start. We called him a kindergardner at five, with every intention of continuing to follow age-grades, but not redshirting (even though if he had been in PS that would have been the expectation for a boy at that time and in that area). He made the PS cutoff but not the local private schools' cutoffs, which were much earlier, so in some circles that would already be considered a grade skip. When he was seven he wanted to participate in the science fair, which required that he be a third grader. It was clear both from his test scores and from his daily work that we could safely move him up from second to third, and we did so. He has maintained that level without any more changes ever since. I have no regrets.

 

However, it's really not something to be taken lightly, and there are several things I would consider....

 

1. I would be very hesitant to change the grade level of a very young child, just because they can progress in fits and starts. Seven was probably pushing it.. I think eight or nine would be safer.

 

2. I would generally not change a grade level "up" unless the kid is well beyond the target grade. That is, I would not take an advanced third grader and change grades so that he would be an average fourth grader. And I wouldn't change the grade of a kid who was inconsistent to the point of needing help in some areas (for instance ahead in math but well behind in reading). I would make a move only with plenty of information - if there are any little quirks that might later turn out to be LDs, I'd like to be clear on that first.

 

3. Related to #2... especially if you have a kid who enjoys academic competitions (or who may some day enjoy academic competitions....) Declarations of grade level can follow you around, and you can't pick and choose for each thing you do. For instance, you couldn't be a 9th grader for the science fair and an 8th grader for MathCounts. If MathCounts found out you could be disqualified. Don't change a grade unless and until you're ready to use that grade for everything, and consider whether bumping the kid up a grade is necessarily a good option if he is then going to be competing against the best and brightest of the target grade. (It might still be the right choice... but give it serious consideration before making a move). Some competitions have very particular rules about grade level and eligibility (the Scripps spelling bee is one of them... MathCounts is another... National Merit Scholar...) and they're not consistent. Some are based on your declaration, some are based on specific classes taken, some are based on age. Just look into it first if you think it might be a possibility.

 

4. I wouldn't bother changing a grade unless you got something out of it - access to a program, eligibility for a competition, etc. Our 2nd-grade-to-3rd-grade skip got DS two things - access to a talent search test, and eligibility for the science fair. There was no further benefit to further skips until the point where we might have considered moving him up to get to the junior division of the science fair (middle school) instead of elementary. I do think there was one year where that might have been a good idea, but one year of mediocre fit wasn't awful, and it would have put him in MathCounts earlier which could have been too much. Again, to move him from junior to senior (and out of MathCounts) a year earlier... in retrospect would have been a great idea, but again, the "fit" problems were minor and the potential benefits not particularly worth the effort.

 

This is our last year homeschooling, and DS is applying to private schools to finish out his high school education. We've been perfectly clear about the skip and why we chose to do it, and no one has questioned his placement. It helps a LOT that he has a solid record of test scores, outside class grades, competitions, and volunteering - not just in one subject area, and not just ability but also persistence and maturity. One school out of all the ones we're looking at hesitated about grade level, but not in the way you might expect. They leaned toward counting him as an even higher grade (based on credits) rather than a lower one (based on age) because they were more concerned about applicants who hold back a year to game the system and make a better application than their age peers. I hadn't expected that! But when we discussed it they could see that wasn't what we were doing at all.

 

All this to say... the flexibility of homeschooling allows us to teach every kid at his or her own level in every subject, and you should absolutely take advantage of that, BUT with respect to "official" grade level, I personally would recommend treating it as a serious almost-set-in-stone proposition. Maybe not in every single conversation with every random stranger, but certainly when you're putting it on paper (registering for an exam, competition, or program, or in any paperwork submitted to the state). It may never come up, but there are circumstances where it absolutely matters, and it's worth considering the possible ramifications of whatever choice you make.

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When people ask you that, they are asking for their age. A pet peeve of mine is homeschool parents whose kids are advanced and are always saying their child is in 4th grade though they are 8, when all the coach or Sunday school teacher or parent really wanted to know, was where to place them age-wise. Twice this caused confusion in our homeschool group.

 

I always just say the grade they would be in if they were in a BAM school.

 

Of course there are a very few exceptions to this. If someone is testing your child for an academic purpose such as a tutor then obviously you tell them "he's 8 but working at a 4th grade level."

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2. I would generally not change a grade level "up" unless the kid is well beyond the target grade. That is, I would not take an advanced third grader and change grades so that he would be an average fourth grader. And I wouldn't change the grade of a kid who was inconsistent to the point of needing help in some areas (for instance ahead in math but well behind in reading). I would make a move only with plenty of information - if there are any little quirks that might later turn out to be LDs, I'd like to be clear on that first.

 

3. Related to #2... especially if you have a kid who enjoys academic competitions (or who may some day enjoy academic competitions....) Declarations of grade level can follow you around, and you can't pick and choose for each thing you do. For instance, you couldn't be a 9th grader for the science fair and an 8th grader for MathCounts. If MathCounts found out you could be disqualified. Don't change a grade unless and until you're ready to use that grade for everything, and consider whether bumping the kid up a grade is necessarily a good option if he is then going to be competing against the best and brightest of the target grade. (It might still be the right choice... but give it serious consideration before making a move). Some competitions have very particular rules about grade level and eligibility (the Scripps spelling bee is one of them... MathCounts is another... National Merit Scholar...) and they're not consistent. Some are based on your declaration, some are based on specific classes taken, some are based on age. Just look into it first if you think it might be a possibility.

 

All this to say... the flexibility of homeschooling allows us to teach every kid at his or her own level in every subject, and you should absolutely take advantage of that, BUT with respect to "official" grade level, I personally would recommend treating it as a serious almost-set-in-stone proposition. Maybe not in every single conversation with every random stranger, but certainly when you're putting it on paper (registering for an exam, competition, or program, or in any paperwork submitted to the state). It may never come up, but there are circumstances where it absolutely matters, and it's worth considering the possible ramifications of whatever choice you make.

 

Thanks for sharing this perspective. I think that homeschoolers often make the mistake of underestimating the academic preparation of top schooled students. At every grade level in public school you have some kids who are performing significantly above level, and those kids very rarely get skipped a full grade. It's fairly common to have public school kindergarteners reading at a 2nd grade level, and it's not uncommon to have high school juniors taking calculus. If you have academically advanced kids who could nominally skip a grade, you really do need to keep those kids in mind as your kids' "competition" for eventual college admissions, as well as for formal competitions like spelling bees and science fairs, - not the average kid meeting grade level standards. By all means, advance your child's materials as you see fit - but I think that people who are advancing their child's grades each time they meet fairly minimal grade-level standards and are planning an early high school graduation based on acceleration alone, rather than exceptional academic ability, are making a big mistake.

 

Along those same lines, I think another thing to consider before accelerating grades is whether you're using the most rigorous materials available to you. Acceleration through an easy, stripped-down program is a hollow achievement. (This isn't directed at the OP - I haven't gone back and checked out her program. It's just general advice.) You could race your kid through Teaching Textbooks 3 and promote her to 4th grade, but if she is an advanced child, her education would probably be better served by switching her to Beast Academy or Singapore Math and really making her work through 3rd grade.

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The grade she'd be in if she were still in PS. However, DD was grade skipped when she was in PS, so for her, she's a just turned 8 3rd grader on paper, not a 2nd grader. So she has competed as the youngest in her age group for spelling bee, science fair, and math competitions since she was skipped, since that's what she's listed as, and it hasn't hurt her.

 

If I were starting over, I wouldn't bother with PS, and we wouldn't have accelerated, but if she ever has to go back to PS, I'm glad she has the acceleration, because socially and emotionally she's better off at the young end of the class instead of being one of the oldest non-redshirted kids there, and because of her birthdate, that's what she'd be.

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IRL, I always follow the grade by age rule. It works for Sunday School, the random person at the grocery store, and most importantly graduation. They will have to *work* to convince me to grade skip them when they hit high school if that is something they want. Here, on the boards, I do usually respond as if my two oldest are 4th and 2nd, even though they are 3rd and 1st. The higher grade is closer to their actual level and they have fall birthdays. It seems silly to talk about them as 3rd and 1st graders.

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IRL, I always follow the grade by age rule. It works for Sunday School, the random person at the grocery store, and most importantly graduation. They will have to *work* to convince me to grade skip them when they hit high school if that is something they want. Here, on the boards, I do usually respond as if my two oldest are 4th and 2nd, even though they are 3rd and 1st. The higher grade is closer to their actual level and they have fall birthdays. It seems silly to talk about them as 3rd and 1st graders.

 

This makes sense for me. And I like the idea of having them "work" for that grade skip when they are older. It puts an emphasis on hard work and not just ability. Thanks!

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I agree that when it comes to activities the person asking is probably referring to age. However, I still say the whole grade thing is vague. When some of you say things like "grade skip" what exactly does that mean in a homeschooling situation? I think this question only really pertains to homeschooling. If your child is in school and is assigned to a grade then what is there to think about when asked?

 

Hopefully I'm making sense.

 

 

I'm not completely sure I understand your question....

 

So, the cut-off here is Sep.1. By that standard my oldest was a first grader who turned 7 shortly after the start of the school year. She is now a 3rd grader. When she gets to 8th grade, I am open to calling that year 9th grade, thus "skipping" 8th. Because we home school, that is a decision I can put off for several years. This is helpful in case we slow down at some point, have a family tragedy, emotionally she is not ready for college, etc.

 

But, if for some reason she has to go to ps, I would try very hard to convince them to grade skip her. They would look at her birthdate and immediately call her a 3rd grader. That would be a horrible fit for her and I would want her to be bumped up a grade. Public schools grade skip kids when necessary.

 

This is mostly a homeschool issue though. You just never hear phrases like, "my 5yo second grader" :tongue_smilie: outside the home school community.

 

Woo hoo! I found the smilies. :party: :D

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I agree that when it comes to activities the person asking is probably referring to age. However, I still say the whole grade thing is vague. When some of you say things like "grade skip" what exactly does that mean in a homeschooling situation? I think this question only really pertains to homeschooling. If your child is in school and is assigned to a grade then what is there to think about when asked?

 

Hopefully I'm making sense.

For us, the grade is just working back from DS's expected date of graduation. Right now, I'm planning to graduate DS in the spring of 2019, so that puts him in "6th grade" this year. We haven't grade skipped, but we're considering it. DS will already be working on high school level work either way, but a grade skip for us would mean starting his high school transcript and dual enrolling at the public high school a year earlier. The only thing holding us back right now is sports. :glare:

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From what I've seen, PS parents focus on "my 3rd grader is reading at a 5th grade level" or "My third grader is doing 4th grade math", especially if a school uses iXL or Accelerated Reader or any other program that's adapted to the child's skill level. Unless the child is actually grade skipped by the school, they can't make the claim that their child is in a higher grade-and grade acceleration is usually done only when the child is years ahead across the board and when it's to the school's benefit (I'm pretty convinced my DD was grade skipped in large part because the grade she was skipped into needed an assured "will pass the test" student more than the one she left-I think she went from a grade with mostly on or above level kids to one where a good percentage were behind-which is one reason we pulled her to homeschool). And in sports teams, if anything I've seen coaches drop grade level at all in favor of age cutoff-because otherwise you have the 10 yr old who started K at 6 1/2 on a "2nd/3rd grade" soccer team.

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I always considered grade to be what they were doing in school. So if I asked a kid what grade they were in, I would know that they were doing X,Y, and Z. Does that make sense?

 

As far as activities, I consider age/size/maturity of the kid and convenience for me. In fact, because mine are so close in age (and size and maturity) I usually just try to keep them together. So for example, at church my 4 yo and 6 yo go in the kinder class together, even though neither of them should be in that class. They play sports together too, because the younger is much more athletic than my non-sporty 6 yo.

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I sorta follow the PS cut offs. I say sorta because I have not done so with my DD. She is about to turn 8yo. On paper with the school district (we have to report our intent to homeschool and declare a grade) she is the grade she is in due to the cut off...2nd grade. In most social situations (and the one she declares) is that she is in 3rd. We did this because we were having difficulty with parents getting upset when comparing their own child's ability to mine (why do they do that?). They didnt believe she was as young as she was and felt I was trying to make her show off. It was just easier to say she was a year older and suddenly it was magic...they were happy. Of course, she isnt doing 3rd grade work in many subjects or is about done with 3rd grade work in others...she is ahead, but it works for us. While I (and many other homeschoolers) can comprehend without getting panties in a twist that each kids learns on their own path and it is nothing to get mad or to brag about, many cannot.

 

Now my DS is in Kindy this year and would be so by the school cut off. It fits for him and I have had no need to say he is in first.

 

My next son will probably be like my DD.

 

All that to say, in general it is easier to follow the school cut off date...but sometimes it is not :bored: .

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I mean some stuff it doesn't matter. Like the drama class I mentioned with the grade 2 - 7 age range. That's huge and the teacher really does accommodate that range. Which I love! That suits us as homeschoolers. But I've signed my son up for science classes at museums that claimed to be X grade level that felt more like a grade level several years lower. So it was a waste of time and money.

 

This is another reason we bumped DD up. It seems around here that the grade level is very particular. So unless I want her to be in something way too easy, I need to say she is in 3rd grade. If you say your child is a 2nd grader but should be in the 3rd grade level class/activity based on ability...no can do, but if you say she is a 3rd grader it is fine. As nobody knows that on paper with the district she is actually a 2nd grader, we can do this easily. We just say she was an early entry into K.

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Oh and don't get me started on sports and grade level. Shouldn't physical ability be based on a physical ability test? Is it really fair that a 10 year old who is the size of an average 8 year old play on the 10 year old team simply because he is ten?

 

It is easier to play the kids up then down to avoid a coach stacking a team. DS has played up because of his size and ability. He was the youngest by well over a year but by no means the smallest.

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Interesting! My daughter turned 5 in October, just after the cut-off date, so I'm calling her "preschool". She's learning to read and doing the first book of Miquon math, and I'm using the luxury of the extra year to add a subject each month and gradually extend her attention span.

 

I'm doing it this way, though academically she could be called kindergarten, because I want to be able to skip her later if it seems good for her, rather than hold her back later if she slows down. I also want her on the old (and, hopefully, mature) side for her church classes, especially when she rolls into the youth group.

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I hate telling you it doesn't make sense. But it doesn't make sense to me. LOL What XYZ things would they be doing at each grade level? I think that will depend on who you ask, when you ask, etc.

 

I mean some stuff it doesn't matter. Like the drama class I mentioned with the grade 2 - 7 age range. That's huge and the teacher really does accommodate that range. Which I love! That suits us as homeschoolers. But I've signed my son up for science classes at museums that claimed to be X grade level that felt more like a grade level several years lower. So it was a waste of time and money.

 

Let me answer this first by saying I must still have my teacher goggles on. I earned my teaching credential for elementary before I had my DC and then decided I would rather stay home with them. So when I think grade, I think standards (oh the horrors!! :scared: ). I know that grade level can mean very different things depending on the district. And I can also see that it varies by publishers as well (singapore vs TT, for example). But for the most part, a X-grader should be able to do certain things, or at least be working toward those things. A 3rd grader should be close to reading independently, not still learning to blend CVC words. With that in mind, a child is not magically in 3rd grade because they are independent readers.

 

Alright, where is the white flag waving smiley? I am definitely not trying to argue my case. I don't know what my case is. I just asked because I wanted to know what I am suppose to do.

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I just wonder what it means to be grade skipped as a homeschooler. If my son is using books with 6th grade written on them, does this make him a 6th grader? I don't think so. I don't see it that way. It's one book that covers topics that it calls 6th grade. I've used other books with similar topics with a different grade written on it. So what makes something a specific grade level?

In our case it meant he was competing at that grade level, in everything. When he was in sixth grade he was in the "junior" division (6-8th grades) for science fair, he was in his first year of MathCounts (6th-8th), and entered the state history competition against sixth graders. When we registered for the National Mythology Exam, AMC 8, Mathnasium Triathlon, etc. he was registered as a sixth grader. And when we normed tests (annual requirement in that state) they were normed for 6th graders.

 

For outside things (museum classes, etc.) I generally didn't bother with them unless age AND grade matched. Otherwise it probably wasn't going to be a good fit. Other than that, I got away with not mentioning it a lot in random conversation.

 

As far as the books he was using, they were all high school level by then.... but he wasn't ready to compete as a high schooler. That would have ruled him out of the Scripps Spelling Bee (just based on taking high school courses without regard to what you call the grade), but it was fine for competing against the brightest middle schoolers in our area, who at least in magnet schools had some of those opportunities too...

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Oh and don't get me started on sports and grade level. Shouldn't physical ability be based on a physical ability test? Is it really fair that a 10 year old who is the size of an average 8 year old play on the 10 year old team simply because he is ten?

 

 

Yeah see this is what I don't like. I always have to feel like a total snob because I have to try to explain my kid's ability without sounding elitist. DD has always had advanced physical skills and I had to go thrpugh a couple gyms before someone didn't roll their eyes at me to evaluate her. And yeah now she is a few levels up from where they wanted to start her. And DS is the size of a 10-12 year old. I'm serious. He CANNOT be grouped with other 8 year olds. It just wouldn't be fair. He is almost 5 feet tall and near 100 pounds.

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I'm not arguing with any ounce of vigor here. LOL I kind of get what you mean, but that's still so wide open. I mean you are saying a 3rd grader should be reading close to independently, but what about a kid who was close to independent at age 3? Where do you put that kid? It's so confusing.

 

My questioning is more rhetorical. I'm not looking for an exact answer because I know there isn't one.

 

I suppose I get why kids who are X age are put together. It makes things easier and less messy. But you have to admit that's pretty far from perfect.

 

 

 

Reading level is definitely not the same as grade level. IMHO, the child would need to be at level in all academic areas in order to consider a grade adjustment. My oldest started reading at 2. By 4 1/2 he was reading at 3rd grade, but he was by no means a 3rd grader. I never even considered what grade he was in until it was time to enroll him in K and realized that PS was just not going to work well for us.

 

I don't know how to break quotes up into segments yet so...

" I suppose I get why kids who are X age are put together. It makes things easier and less messy. But you have to admit that's pretty far from perfect." :iagree:

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I always considered grade to be what they were doing in school. So if I asked a kid what grade they were in, I would know that they were doing X,Y, and Z.

 

In our state, all (PS) 4th(?) graders have to study state history. One of the familes in our homeschool group went for a tour of the state capitol for the first time when the oldest was of the age to be 4th grade. The tour guide asked for the grade levels for the kids. Upon receiving the information that the oldest was 4th grade (but not the information that the family homeschooled), she continually mentioned all sorts of things in reference to "what you are studying this year in school." The oldest was very paranoid by the end of the tour because they were very definitely not studying our state history (Sonlight family!).

 

Tour guides at our state capitol building are extremely familiar with what that one particular grade level is studying in Social Studies. It causes some .... interesting ... moments when the older-than-fourth-grade kids don't know the Common Information they're supposed to when on the tour. :gnorsi:

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The grades they are in are always the grades they would be in public or private school, regardless of level they are working at, unless I truly intended to have them a grade behind or ahead of that all the way through, like if a child were close to the cut-off and it was fairly clear she was academically there.

 

I mean, so what if a kid is 5 and reading well and has finished first grade math. That really doesn't make a 5 year old a second-grader, and I'm sure there are children in K in school that are also ahead like that, and those moms don't answer the question with "well, she's in K, but she reads Little Women in her spare time and is way ahead in math." I think most of us would find that a little obnoxious. No one really wants to know that; they just want to know about how old she is and what grade she would be in at school.

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I've recently had people aske me what grade one of my kids was in. I assumed they were interested in age, so I answered with age, and the person asked again about the grade. At that point I just told her that we homeschool.

 

My kids have had various grade designations over the year, so choosing one always makes me feel a little uneasy.

 

My oldest has a spring birthday, so made the Sept. cutoff for the first grade easily in the town we lived in then. We were considering putting him in schol that year. I contacted the local elementary school and I was told that we could choose to put him in either K or 1st grade that year b/c it was very popular for boys in that town to be started in formal school a year later than the age cutoff. (We thought 2nd grade would have been a better choice. LOL!) Five years later we did put him in school, in another town, and they grade-skipped him. He's homeschooling now, and doing high school level work (with some AP/college level stuff) but according to those previous experiences we could call him either a 9th grader, an 8th grader, or a 7th grader. Ha! (I'll just say he's 13, thanks.)

 

Then we moved to a town with a Dec. cutoff, which didn't affect my oldest, but did affect my two with fall/winter birthdays. So, in my other town, I *would* have called my 6 year old a first grader, but he soon turns 7 and makes the cutoff here, so he'd be put in the second grade if he were in school. Like his older brother he is advanced in many ways,but fine motor skills are a weak area and he doesn't write comfortably enough to handle typical second grade writing well. When people ask about grade level I just say he's 6, going on 7. And if they press me? "We homeschool, and he has unusual strengths and weaknesses, so I can't choose just one grade level."

 

My 10 year old likes to identify as a 5th grader b/c her same-aged best friends all identify as 5th graders. She uses mostly ungraded curriculum and is slightly advanced in some academic areas, but not noticeably so. "Fifth grader" works just fine for her.

 

Thank goodness I don't have to worry about a "grade level" for my 2 year old!

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We also go by the grade they would be in if enrolled in school, mainly because both my dc are involved in sports and we've had to declare a grade since they started playing in community sports around K-age.

 

I know that some dc who are working ahead may not be as physically ready to join the 3rd graders on a team if they are 7 and the size of a first or second grader.

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Most people are just making polite conversation so I answer with the grade my kids would be in if they were in public school. My kids are all very tall, so they seem older than they are. If the conversation goes on and people ask about homeschooling, I give more specifics about their schoolwork and the levels. This is rarely the case.

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My son missed the cut off for kindergarten by less than a month. PS teachers who met him and got to know him agreed he should be in K, not preK; but the school district was unwilling to even evaluate him. We started K when he was preK age according to the PS. He has been ahead by a year or more in reading amd math all along. So we do call him 2nd grade this year. He does 2nd-4th grade level work and all of his friends are in second grade. It allows him to be in more challenging activities and do some fun field trips for 2nd and up.

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Thanks for sharing this perspective. I think that homeschoolers often make the mistake of underestimating the academic preparation of top schooled students. At every grade level in public school you have some kids who are performing significantly above level, and those kids very rarely get skipped a full grade. It's fairly common to have public school kindergarteners reading at a 2nd grade level, and it's not uncommon to have high school juniors taking calculus. If you have academically advanced kids who could nominally skip a grade, you really do need to keep those kids in mind as your kids' "competition" for eventual college admissions, as well as for formal competitions like spelling bees and science fairs, - not the average kid meeting grade level standards. By all means, advance your child's materials as you see fit - but I think that people who are advancing their child's grades each time they meet fairly minimal grade-level standards and are planning an early high school graduation based on acceleration alone, rather than exceptional academic ability, are making a big mistake.

 

Along those same lines, I think another thing to consider before accelerating grades is whether you're using the most rigorous materials available to you. Acceleration through an easy, stripped-down program is a hollow achievement. (This isn't directed at the OP - I haven't gone back and checked out her program. It's just general advice.) You could race your kid through Teaching Textbooks 3 and promote her to 4th grade, but if she is an advanced child, her education would probably be better served by switching her to Beast Academy or Singapore Math and really making her work through 3rd grade.

 

If someone was asking for my advice, I'd tell them to assign the kid a grade based on school cut-off dates. That hasn't worked so well for my family, though. Dd9 started K as a relatively young 4yo. I wasn't intending to start her then. She begged and cried for weeks. She has completed a full K-4th grade program and is working on 5th grade now. I didn't grade skip her so much as we just started early and did one thing after another. I've tried for years to get her to call herself a grade lower than she was, but she hates that. Frankly, she's earned 5th grade designation even though she'd be on the young side of 4th grade in ps. I have her officially registered as a 4th grader because of the bolded, but I'm going to refer to her as 5th grader outside of school. She is tall for her age and has always seemed old for her age. There is no point, with her, of calling her a fourth grader. As she gets older, we'll decided what to do with her extra year.

 

Ds8 is different. He would be in 3rd grade in ps (and is at home, too), but if I had sent him to public school I'd have put him in a year later. He has an August birthday and just barely makes the cutoff. He is academically capable of 3rd grade, but he would have been much better off socially as one of the oldest in his class. And he would have gone from holding his own academically to doing very well with an extra year to mature.

 

Ds6 is in 1st grade. It is a good fit for him. He would have missed the school cutoff, though. He would be in K if he was in ps. I'll register him by his age when the time comes just like I did with Dd9, but I will always refer to him by the grade he is actually in. I won't go through that whole internal debate again like I did with Dd. He was so close to the cutoff date that I just don't think it matters at all.

 

So, I think going with the ps age is a good benchmark, but I, personally, only use it for official purposes. And I wish Ds8 was officially a 2nd grader for social and sporting activites, so I'm not even all that happy to use ps cutoffs officially.

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So, I think going with the ps age is a good benchmark, but I, personally, only use it for official purposes.

My little missed the Kindergarten cutoff by a matter of days. And seeing from others that the cutoff varies by state is really annoying. So he could "officially" be called a Kindergartner if we lived somewhere else? That seems silly to me. Oh well. He is still a Kindergartner in my eyes, but for anyone who asks he is a preschooler. Or better yet, a junior kindergartner! Isn't that the new thing?

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