4 or 5 year high school? Need pros and cons of each

[A.J. at J.A.]

Hi all!

 

I have an eighth grader and we are planning for his high school to begin next school year. It was brought to my attention by his cross country coach that some homeschoolers do a 5 year high school program for various reasons. However, I'm trying to make an informed decision so I don't have regrets later on.

 

Here are the "pros" of 5 year:

• He can run at junior high level an extra year (that is a big one for my son) :coolgleamA:
  
• He can possibly get an apprenticeship, part-time job, take extra college classes
  
• More time to pursue classes of personal interest
  
• More time to mature before heading off to college
  

"cons"

• Will he get too many college credits (and how many is too many) which would exclude him from entering as a freshmen and getting certain scholarships?
  
• Are we wasting valuable time?
  
• ??
  

I would greatly appreciate any input, as I feel this is an important decision and don't want to screw it up! :cursing:

 

Blessings,

Angela

[Gwen in VA]

I'd talk to your son long and hard about this. He may have strong feelings -- the idea of an extra year at home may fill him with delight or dread. The idea of being held back behind his classmates may make him feel like a lower -- or may make him feel overjoyed that he has an extra year to really learn the material he is currently struggling with. But please involve him in the decision.

 

We held our 8th grader back so he did an extra 8th grade year before high school. That meant that he entered college at age 19, which has actually been no big deal. The academic pluses for him were huge. However, there are some social and family issues with holding kids back --

 

1) People (mostly kids) assumed that he was not quite with the program since he was "old" for his grade. He has heard more than a few snide comments about this.

2) Most of his friends graduated a year before he would have normally graduated, and having friends outside of your grade is not uncommon. However, since we held him back a year, he was TWO years behind his friends..... They went off to college and he was years away from that.

3) He moved to exclusively dual-enrollment classes by his senior year. At least for my son, age 19 was WAY too old for him to be sitting around the kitchen table learning from mommy.

 

We would make the same decision again, but it was a surprisingly challenging road.

 

If later in high school he wats to graduate "early", can he, or are there regulations in the sports world that would prevent that? If possible, I would keep that as an option.

 

Note -- dual credit classes may or may not transfer. Don't assume they will transfer. Also, many scholarships are only for freshmen.

 

Keep reading on these boards -- this topic comes up fairly frequently.

[Murphy101]

One, I'd just play it by ear at this early stage. Either he is ready for the next level of a subject or he isn't, so just work where he is and let the rest unfold as you get to it. And there is a world a difference between what the kid/parents think they should do at graduation when they are in middle school vs when they are actually driving and getting ready to graduate.

 

Two, I don't see any negatives or positives over either choice. They are simply different paths to the same goal.

 

Three, I don't think of it as a 4 or 5 year choice. We have certain criteria that we consider to be required for graduation. When they meet those criteria, they will graduate. Be it at 16 or 19.

 

For my oldest, an additional year opened many doors for him that otherwise would have passed him by or been very hard to reopen if we had insisted on graduation at a certain age/time. It has allowed time for maturity and other non academics to grow in the security of home. He is very happy with it and is glad he was home schooled so it was an option.

 

For my next up, we will be making that decision with him this summer.

 

As always, ymmv.

[Murphy101]

Also forgot to note..

He won't have too many credits. He will have 4 years of credits regardless on his transcript. What you put on it is up to you. You don't have to put everything on it. I didn't/don't and it's not been an issue so far. Make sure your 4 of 4 is covered and everything else can either be added, left off, placed in electives, absorbed into another subject or listed as extracurricular/personal interests.

[A.J. at J.A.]

Will definitely keep him involved in the decision making process. Right now he says he wants to do a 5 year so he can run junior high again in the fall and beat all the other kids! :lol:

 

It wouldn't really affect what we do next year as we are just doing the next level or the next logical step in each area. Would still consider him a freshman - just thinking more like a super-senior year or something like that - so it wouldn't appear as a demotion or not keeping him with his friends.

 

Thank you for all the input - it is greatly appreciated. I will also do a search on the boards to see where it has been discussed previously.

 

Blessings,

Angela

[A.J. at J.A.]

Also forgot to note..

He won't have too many credits. He will have 4 years of credits regardless on his transcript. What you put on it is up to you. You don't have to put everything on it. I didn't/don't and it's not been an issue so far. Make sure your 4 of 4 is covered and everything else can either be added, left off, placed in electives, absorbed into another subject or listed as extracurricular/personal interests.

 

 

I was referring to too much college credit, not high school. But I appreciate what you are saying! :)

[Murphy101]

 

I was referring to too much college credit, not high school. But I appreciate what you are saying! :)

 

IMO, the only way you have "too much college credit" is if you have credits that won't transfer towards the degree. Even if the kid gets an associates degree, it's not "too much credit" if it applies to their bachelors.If the goal is to get a bachelors or more in their field of chioce, then that's how I define "too much credit".

 

I know some, if not many, disagree with me and that's fine by me. :)

 

All I know is every college course my kids have taken so far has been a huge savings over waiting until after graduation. I suppose they might, hit the 24 credit mark that changes them from a freshmen scholarship worthy to only transfer student scholarship worthy, but so far, for the college they are interested in, the difference in scholarships did not make up for how tremendously much we are saving by taking those courses prior to graduation.

 

In fact, when I spoke to the state college advisor, he noted the same thing. If they were living on campus out of state? It might be a bigger difference at some universities. But to go in state here and live at home? I'm saving more this way than waiting and proplonging their college time later.

 

This may be even more true for my current teens than the next crop of kids because many higher ed schools are cutting dual/concurrent enrollment waivers and heaven knows classes are not cheaper than they were 3 years ago. Personally, I'm not banking on universities in four years having plenty of scholarships and such for my kids. I'm going to go with getting what we can afford for them now because I have no expectation that the costs will be easier or there will be scholarships for those who need it in four years.

 

Again. YMMV and I make no claims at all that everyone should do things the way we are. Just saying what is working for us so far.