If you were going to do a gap year...

[Meriwether]

for one of your children between either 5th and 6th and 6th and 7th, what would it look like? I have a specific situation in mind, but I'd like to hear wildly different ideas so I can consider the possibilities.

 

 

ETA: specifics now, but please feel free to say what you would do for your own children as I've gotten several good ideas that might work their way into our plans already

 

Dd9 started a full K soon after she turned 4 (no flames, please, she cried for weeks before I consented to order a program) I don't regret this. She is not gifted, but she is quick. She could decode most words before she turned five. She wasn't interested in chapter books, but she would sit for an hour or two at a time reading picture books with rather difficult words. Now? She reads hundreds of books per year. I'll assign her 100 - 200 books each year - the majority of which are 250+ pages. She'll read3-5 books/week of her own choosing. She is currently 2/3 of the way through Saxon 7/6. We have not put the time into writing that we ought, but she is a natural speller and does well with puctuation. She is probably an average writer for 5th grade. She has good content knowledge although we've spent more time and energy on history and geography than science. We are slowly going through Latin for Children B. She should be ready to start C by the beginning of next year. I've started Spanish a couple of times and we seem to get too busy to follow through with it.

 

If she continues right along, she will graduate at 16 almost 17 or just turned 17 depending on our final day of school. She could easily take a year "off" and still graduate at just turned 18. I view this extra year as a gift. When she was little, I thought she could always take a year off in her teen years to learn a trade (photography, carpentry, flower arranging for all I care). With the economy the way it is, I think I better not count on her being someone's assistant. I also am not sure how that would look on college scholarships. So, I'm trying to picture how I would put a gap year into her schedule earlier. It would have to be a meaningful, worthwhile year. I would also like for it to be fun.

 

Some things that restrict our choices are:

 

- the boys will be doing school as usual. I can't do a year of traveling and field trips for one and not take all of them along. It sounds lovely, though.

- she'll be required to keep up with a regular math program and Latin at the very least. She would have to do some writing - probably more than she has done. Everything else could be covered in an unusual way or even set aside for awhile.

- she does not have a passion that I can use as a springboard. She isn't especially interested in horses or rocks or clothes or music or anything. She is an extremely pleasant child and will work on most of the things I give her with a happy attitude. She is a little bit interested in everything but has shown no evidence of specializing in anything.

- we would have some limited access to cultural opportunities. We live in a large city for our area, but we are not in a large metropolitan area.

[briansmama]

We would probably use the time to read living books in areas that we need to catch up on to prepare for the upcoming scope and sequence.

 

I wish I could do a gap year now for my ds, though he's only going into 4th grade. We recently transitioned to CM methods and coming from a Waldorf background, we really need some time to get him up to level in world history so I can use the curriculum as outlined seamlessly for his 4th grade year.

 

[regentrude]

I have a hard time imagining what a "gap year" would even mean - you don't stop learning, and much of middle grades can be accomplished completely without formal "curriculum". I could imagine world travel, with lots of reading, museums, national parks, live concerts and theatre.... but that would not be so much different from what we do anyway. I'd make sure not to let formal math lapse for a year - but that's about it.

Can you explain a bit more how you understand the term "gap year"?

[Nscribe]

Ditto to Regentude....I am a bit confused. I had always heard the term gap year used to denote a year between the end of high school and beginning college. How would a gap year in middle school work? Would it mean holding a child back a year so that they graduate at an older age?

[Dmmetler]

I assume you simply register the child in the same grade level again-but do whatever you want to do as far as filling gaps/expanding knowledge at the same level without necessarily moving on, to give the child a little more time to grow up. I know a lot of schools around here have "transition" classes, that are basically K 1/2 or 1st 1/2 for little boys who need a little more time, but don't need a repeat, necessarily of the K or 1st curriculum, so they spend the year cementing skills, but also doing different science, different books, different world studies, and so on so that it's just plain not a straight repeat.

[SebastianCat]

I interpreted the question differently, so forgive me if I misunderstood.

 

We did what I called a "gap year" for my kids when we had finished a Sonlight Core for history/literature but weren't ready to move on to the next Core. My kids continued in LA, Math, Science, etc., doing the next level of the curricula we were using. But for history & literature, I put together a year-long study of FL state history. I considered it a "gap" because I wasn't using a formal history curriculum.....I was NOT holding my kids back a grade.

 

We had a wonderful year and learned SO much. I was amazed at how much material was out there to use, without having a formal curriculum.

 

So if I've just totally misunderstood the intent of what the OP was looking for in a "gap year," you can now return to your previous programming... :)

[Farrar]

It makes sense to me. You've covered all the material but the kids aren't ready for all that "middle school" entails - algebra, research papers, etc. etc. It doesn't mean you'd stop learning, just that you wouldn't push onto new skill material. At least, that's how I would think of it.

 

I would think travel would be one option.

 

Another could be something like focusing on one or two big projects and letting that be all encompassing.

[Meriwether]

I don't want to be more specific yet! But I can see that I wasn't very clear. Let's say you could easily add a year to a child's school years and still have them graduate at an average age. You looked at the kid and thought, "Real life will come soon enough. Maybe we could take a break from our regularly schelduled programming and do something...different for a year." What would you do?

[Meriwether]

I interpreted the question differently, so forgive me if I misunderstood.

 

We did what I called a "gap year" for my kids when we had finished a Sonlight Core for history/literature but weren't ready to move on to the next Core. My kids continued in LA, Math, Science, etc., doing the next level of the curricula we were using. But for history & literature, I put together a year-long study of FL state history. I considered it a "gap" because I wasn't using a formal history curriculum.....I was NOT holding my kids back a grade.

 

We had a wonderful year and learned SO much. I was amazed at how much material was out there to use, without having a formal curriculum.

 

So if I've just totally misunderstood the intent of what the OP was looking for in a "gap year," you can now return to your previous programming... :)

 

Did your history and literature look very different that year or did you style it after Sonlight?

[Rosie_0801]

I'd put a tent in the back of the car, then download the religious books from Librivox and listen to them in between WWOOFing spots.

[Nscribe]

I don't want to be more specific yet! But I can see that I wasn't very clear. Let's say you could easily add a year to a child's school years and still have them graduate at an average age. You looked at the kid and thought, "Real life will come soon enough. Maybe we could take a break from our regularly schelduled programming and do something...different for a year." What would you do?

 

I would travel and we are seriously considering a fifth year of high school to do so as a family. However, I would not abandon math completely. It is just so hard to return to math. I would not necessarily do a formal math program or follow next in the sequence of whatever, but I would have math exploration continue that called upon Dd to practice elements previously learned.

[GoVanGogh]

I don't want to be more specific yet! But I can see that I wasn't very clear. Let's say you could easily add a year to a child's school years and still have them graduate at an average age. You looked at the kid and thought, "Real life will come soon enough. Maybe we could take a break from our regularly schelduled programming and do something...different for a year." What would you do?

 

I have been toying with the same thoughts.

First, I would travel as much as possible and hit every 'field trip' imaginable. If I couldn't travel far and wide, I would still take in every museum in my tri-county area.

Second, I would study geography deeply - incorporate science and history into a year-long geography study.

Third, I would really focus on the fine arts, as much as the child appreciated - art festivals, music festivals, ballets, concerts, etc.

Fourth, Life Skills 101!

 

I would keep up with math and, if studying, Latin. If I was traveling, though, I would study another language like French. I also would have child work on writing through letters, blog or journals.

 

We started K early 6.5 years ago and are ahead of the game in many subjects. We are taking six months off our regular schedule to work on issues related to a newly dx medical condition. We are doing a lot of therapy so can't travel. I am still trying to figure out how best to use this time.

 

Thanks for starting this post, as it was good for me to think this through more. Anxious to hear what others would do.

[melmichigan]

We did one. DD traveled across country, took a cruise to Alaska, and visited some of the National Parks. DD did AoPS online classes, studied her own interest in science (evolution, animal science), and read a lot of history because this DD loves it. We did more science labs and any experiments she wanted. I used the time to work on skills that I thought were important, more writing with WWS, time management, etc,.

 

DD had been in PS, she started K when she was four, she also has some spectrum issues that lead us to believe that there is no rush. She will graduate "on time" instead of a year or two early like she would have in PS.

[jljohn]

Thru-hike the Appalachian Trail!

[SFM]

Travel and read with mathematics to keep skills up.

[Farrar]

I was thinking... if we couldn't travel, then I think maybe we'd together pick projects. Some thoughts...

 

* do Nanowrimo together

* do the Future City Competition or the We Can Change the World Compeition or something like that which requires a big project

* do art trading cards

* do a big local science fair

* participate in an historical re-enactment

* build something big - furniture or a dog house or something

* learn a skill that isn't usually included in the curriculum - cooking, programming, sewing, etc.

* make a movie

 

I would feel uncomfortable leaving math behind. We could do a monthly book club or something and I'd feel fine about reading and language arts. But math, that would be harder for me to let go, even just for a year.

[NotSoObvious]

TRaVEL!!!

 

We are going to try to do this in a few years with our girls, who are very young for their grade. We'll probably only be able to afford an extended summer or six months, but we'll go as long and as far as we can afford.

[Nan in Mass]

If the whole family could take the year off, I would move us all someplace else and intensively study the language so that we came back relatively fluent in it. If the whole family couldn't go, I would put off the gap year until the child was old enough to go alone and then send him or her off to live in a different culture and learn a different language, preferably while helping someone at the same time and learning some other skills, like construction or something. If for some reason going away wasn't a possibility, I would continue to do math and I would take the year and have us all work on learning another language at home, signing us all up for Saturday school and whatever other programs I could find and trying to create as much of an immersion situation as possible. You can make a lot of progress in a language in one year if you devote yourself to it full time.

 

Nan

[Meriwether]

Thanks for the replies! Travel seems to be a recurrent theme. I'd love to do that. Time would be more of an issue than money. Dh can't leave his job for extented periods of time. I'd also have two other children who would be doing school as usual. I do have long range plans starting, I guess, the summer of 2014. :huh: I hadn't realized it was that close. I'm going to give the kids a chunk of money and a geographical region and let them plan a 1-2 week vacation. I will have 1 or 2 required activities (When we go to the SW, we will have to see the Grand Canyon). I will leave enough cash in reserve to have p&b sandwiches if they run out of food money, but other than that I'm going to let them plan mode of transportation, destinations, food, etc.

[Chrysalis Academy]

My dd and I are talking about doing a gap year between "8th grade" and starting hs, because she is young (started K at 4) and we both like the idea of her not going away to college till she's 18. Of course, right now she's 10, so everything could change!! But it is something we've talked about. Long-term travel wouldn't be an option, life would be going on for all of us, but it would give us some extra space to explore interests before the "it counts" feeling of high school begins. Some of the ideas I've thought about:

 

-doing a significant science fair project

-doing Bridge Math, some of the AoPS books like Counting & Prob, Number Theory, or focusing on statistics. Or just cementing Algebra 1 (maybe doing a second/more advanced program if it isn't solid)

-doing the Big History project

-doing a Science Literacy course, which would include big picture ideas of science a la Hazen & Trefil, as well as statistics, critical thinking, etc.

-working through a "must read" reading list of nonfiction books that cross topics & disciplines.

 

I would envision the year spent doing math, reading, and writing - but taking a break from other skill subjects, so no formal lit, grammar, vocab, etc. No formal history, just the chance to read about areas of interest.

 

Geez, it sounds lovely. Maybe that's what we should be doing all the time?? ;)

[momto2Cs]

I would envision the year spent doing math, reading, and writing - but taking a break from other skill subjects, so no formal lit, grammar, vocab, etc. No formal history, just the chance to read about areas of interest.

 

Geez, it sounds lovely. Maybe that's what we should be doing all the time?? ;)

 

It does sound lovely! I keep thinking that is what we should be doing all the time! :tongue_smilie:

[Nan in Mass]

So if you aren't going to travel, I have a piece of advice based on the times we've done something looser rather than something tighter. I found that I had to protect the time vigorously. I had to have regular school hours and a list of things that counted for school and things that did not count for school and things had to be run by me first. Mine have done lots of this sort of thing, often mixed in with something more school-y like math and Latin. It worked very well, and they did some amazing things but only if I helped them to protect the time. They often worked more than the time we'd set aside, if they were involved with something, but they couldn't work less. Whatever it was could be a more hands-on project but it had to have some reading and/or some writing involved with it, also, otherwise it counted as a hobby and not as a school project. You could put on a play or try to make a walking lego robot or interview relatives and research family history or write a novel or try to figure out what different crow caws mean or make an accurate map of a local pond, including depths and animal life and vegataion, you could learn to use a telescope and explore the heavens, you could make a movie, you could learn a musical instrument, or learn to draw, or play chess, or... I just know that I needed to protect the time set aside to do each activity or else everyone wound up disappointed that they weren't making any progress. It seems really paradoxical. There was a ton of freedom inside the protective framework I set up. One child just got canvas bags of books from the non-fiction section of the library every week and read them for two hours every afternoon. Talk about learning!

 

Have fun!

Nan

[elegantlion]

I would also recommend whatever you choose to do, don't let up on writing and math. Those are two skill subjects that really need to be kept up to date. Writing doesn't have to be a formal full program, but making sure to stay on top of quality words, strong sentences, and good paragraphs.

[Meriwether]

 

Fourth, Life Skills 101!

 

Dd does like to cook the basic things she knows how to do. Maybe math, Latin, and writing for 2 hours in the morning, free reading time until the boys are done, and then household stuff with me. Bonus if she learned to cook well and enjoy it. I do not enjoy cooking.

 

We did one. DD traveled across country, took a cruise to Alaska, and visited some of the National Parks.

 

How old was she and who did she travel with if she wasn't old enough to go alone?

 

I was thinking... if we couldn't travel, then I think maybe we'd together pick projects. Some thoughts...

 

* do Nanowrimo together

* do the Future City Competition or the We Can Change the World Compeition or something like that which requires a big project

* do art trading cards

* do a big local science fair

* participate in an historical re-enactment

* build something big - furniture or a dog house or something

* learn a skill that isn't usually included in the curriculum - cooking, programming, sewing, etc.

* make a movie

 

I would feel uncomfortable leaving math behind. We could do a monthly book club or something and I'd feel fine about reading and language arts. But math, that would be harder for me to let go, even just for a year.

 

All very good ideas that I want to explore.

 

 

Geez, it sounds lovely. Maybe that's what we should be doing all the time?? ;)

I do wonder if a gap year will influence my schooling in general.

[UrbanSue]

I don't think a gap year would bother any colleges? Is that your concern with doing it later? Maybe check over on the high school board but that seems like the better idea. Give her a gap year when she's older and more independent and can maybe take the time to explore areas that have become passions--or could become passions. I think if some thought is put into it, you could easily design a really great year that would set her apart as a college applicant.

[myfunnybunch]

We would like to have a gap year next year or the year after. My boys will be either 7th/5th/3rd or 8th/6th/4th.

 

I would like to NOT sign up for any extracurriculars, pack up the math and language arts books and Spanish CDs, and use the extracurricular budget money to drive all over the state. For example, we'd visit the Fossil Beds and Lava Beds, follow Lewis and Clark and the Oregon trail, spend time at the science and history museums, do a beach unit study at the beach, etc.

 

Cat

[Dana]

 

I do wonder if a gap year will influence my schooling in general.

 

 

We're planning on doing something like this next year. My son is a late August birthday with school cutoff of Sept. 1. He's able to keep up academically with grade level with no trouble. But I don't like the idea of him going off to college at 17 and turning 18 at college - especially when he's also going to be dealing with severe food allergies.

 

Our plan is to declare him as 5th grade again next year but basically have it be an unschooling year. He'll have to follow state law for number of days and topics covered, but he can pick what he studies. Right now he's saying he wants to learn about knights and medieval times, so sounds neat to me :) I'm curious if he'll find interests and run with them or if he'll want more structure. If it works well, we may be able to go more unschool-y / interest-led for a couple more years. I'm very much a box-checker, so I think doing the repeat year will enable me to lighten up more.

 

I don't like the gap year between high school and college for us, because I don't see travel as an easy option for him. Different classes & programs I've been looking at have age/grade restrictions that really make 5th grade a good one to repeat. I'm not sure it's the right decision, but we'll give it a shot. If he really wants out of the house early, we can always let him skip a grade later & accelerate through high school, but I think this is the best decision for us.

 

Hope your gap year goes well :)

[ccolopy]

We're planning to do a year along those lines for DS, but for almost the opposite reason. He's on the old end for his grade and fairly advanced, so we always considered the possibility of graduating him a year early. We've decided not do, and instead he'll have a more relaxed and self-directed 8th grade. My tentative plan is to continue with math (maybe something outside the typical sequence?) and writing (will WWS 3 be out? hmm), but to let him choose the rest. I'm sure he'll want to continue with his foreign languages, and he definitely has enough academic interests to keep him going for the year. He's already taking advantage of Coursera, so I think OpenCourseWare will play a big role. Travel will be limited, but we'll hopefully be able to take a few short trips.

[Candid]

I did this with my oldest. It worked pretty well for us because we switched from Sonlight to Tapestry of Grace at the time. So he did the Eastern Hemisphere program one year and then move to D level Tapestry Year 1 the next. His math program continued, his science switched, and I add Easy Grammar to our language arts mix.

 

I usually think of as his having done fifth grade twice. It worked well.