Skip 8th Grade?

[raganfamily]

My dd will be 14 in September. She is very motivated with her work. She is ready for High School level material.

 

Do I keep her at 8th grade and let her complete the High School work and her Jr. and Sr. year she could take college courses (dual enrollment)

 

 

OR

 

Do I have her skip 8th grade and place her at 9th?

 

 

I have another dd that will be 10th and both girls are basically on the same level, except for math. So, I plan to group their work as much as possible.

 

Pros and Cons or those that have experience? Would love input.

[swellmomma]

My dd13 turns 14 next month. We have decided to skip grade 8 with her. Mainly because where we live she can earn high school credits as a jr high student BUT they do not actually get counted until 10th grade. I don't want the ones she earned this year in 7th grade to be too outdated when she enrolls in grade 10 so we are skipping 8th, registering for 9th and she is actually doing mostly 10th. If all of that makes sense. Basically she will have a bonus year to finish high school if she needs it by starting this early, but not so much to have her graduating at the end of her 10th grade year if we had registered her in 8th this year.

[Ann.without.an.e]

My personal choice would be to keep the student at their grade level but allow them to work ahead. My middle dd is very advanced and she is working 1-2 grade levels ahead of the grade she is actually in. My plan is for her to take college level courses her junior and senior year.

[kiana]

Why not have her in 8th, but keep records as if she were in 9th -- it's usually pretty easy to go back and say 'Oh, that was 9th grade' -- this will keep your options open if she decides she wants more time at home.

[G5052]

Why not have her in 8th, but keep records as if she were in 9th -- it's usually pretty easy to go back and say 'Oh, that was 9th grade' -- this will keep your options open if she decides she wants more time at home.

 

 

This is what I'm doing. Maybe at the end, they'll graduate a year early, but maybe not. I'm packing 8th with high school level work though because they're capable.

[Gwen in VA]

I'd suggest that you keep good recors and decide later. Kids change a LOT between 8th and 12th grade!

 

If your dd decides to go for a really selective college, she may appreciate having an extra year to pack in those AP classes and SAT-2 exams. Her record will be stronger, even only counting the last four years, since the coursework will be more advanced.

 

If she hasn't figured out where she wants to head after high school, she may appreciate an extra year at home.

 

But if by her junior year she wants more independence and she has a plan to go forward, keeping her home an extra year could be hard on both of you. If she is ready to spread her wings, keeping her home because of a bookkeeping decision made several years before could be a mistake.

 

Keep your options open.

 

And most important of all, include her in any discussions. It's her life, and she needs to have a say! Regardless of what you decide, get "buy-in" from her.

[Ellie]

I have no problems with "skipping" a grade, even though I don't have a strong sense of homeschooled children being "in" "grades." :-)

 

Why wouldn't she still be able to dual-enroll at the c.c.? Surely the c.c. goes by the grade levels of the students, not by their ages?

[8filltheheart]

My dd and I have had this conversation. She has been working a couple yrs ahead since 6th grade. By state law cut-offs, she is a rising 9th grader. She, at one pt, really wanted to be a rising 10th grader. (her birthday is one of those that straddles cut-offs depending on what state we are currently living in. Here she is in the lower grade, in others we have lived in, she would be in the upper grade.) She has already earned 2 math credits, 5 foreign lang credits, and her English courses the past 2 yrs have been at a high school level. She took the ACT in June as an 8th grader and had a solid score.

 

BUT......we have decided for now for her to remain a rising 9th grader. By staying at her grade level, she has so many more opportunities to explore options and discern what she wants to do with her future. She just isn't sure. She is a very strong student across the board and she fluctuates between linguistics and STEM (though she made a comment yesterday that she thinks she has completely ruled out STEM......she has a passion for birds and ornithology has always been in the back of her mind. But yesterday she said she thinks she wants to keep on the amateur/hobby level.) But......who knows what she will really think 4 yrs from now???

 

By staying on grade level, she will have a strong transcript and be more competitive for scholarships and doors open for more options for college and more maturity in making decisions about her future.

 

If we decide later on to have her accelerate a grade, it would really not be a big deal. She would be a strong candidate for ECE (early college experience) or changing her transcript grade levels.

[Melissa B]

We decided to go with dual enrollment and are pleased with that decision. The major pro is that dual enrollment in FL is free. :tongue_smilie: If that weren't the case, we may have gone a different route. A potential con is that college grades become part of the student's permanent record.

[Rebel Yell]

I have no problems with "skipping" a grade, even though I don't have a strong sense of homeschooled children being "in" "grades." :-)

 

Why wouldn't she still be able to dual-enroll at the c.c.? Surely the c.c. goes by the grade levels of the students, not by their ages?

 

 

That varies by location and even indicidual community colleges. Ours says a student must be 16... which BabyBaby won't be until half way through her 11th grade year. if she wanted/needed to take a class at CC sooner, I could get special permission, but otherwise, our CC has open enrollment for ANYONE age 16+, regardless of "grade level", high schoool graduation or not, and also does not require SAt scores- although they may be used in lieu of placement tests for English and Math courses.

[HS Mom in NC]

The community college my 15 ad 17 year olds will attend in the fall doesn't care about grade levels at all. Or a high school diploma. Everyone takes the same placement test in Reading, Math, and Writing-that's how they decide on placement even if they've graduated from a regular high school. Kids have to be at least 13 and students under the age of 16 have to have permission from the instructor and a consultation with the guidance counselor after the placement test. It's not a problem at ours because they have lots of minor students. It's not dual enrollment. It's just community college.

[raganfamily]

I greatly appreciate all the comments. I will probable keep her at 8th grade (according to the Intent to Homeschool paperwork), but allow her to work on her High School credits. I like the idea of her attending community college to get her basics before she graduates high school.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the input.

[Hunter]

I decided high school and college by social maturity, not academic maturity. I kept my "gifted" at age level, and skipped my "normal" kid. :lol:

 

My oldest skipped the 8th grade and signed up with the American School GENERAL diploma option. He graduated AS at 16 and started at the junior college as a freshman, with federal grants and worked to pay the rest of his tuition. He was a very socially precocious teen and NEEDED to be allowed to interact with adults as a peer.

 

The younger, despite being 5+ years ahead in math and reading, needed to stay home and be a child.

[goldberry]

We skipped 8th with DD and I regret it now. I don't think the maturity level is there. She's had a hard time. I also now feel a bit "rushed", since we are on a high school schedule trying to get everything in, it would have been nice to have another year for exploration and flexibility.

 

Each kid is different though.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

My dd will be 14 in September. She is very motivated with her work. She is ready for High School level material.

 

Do I keep her at 8th grade and let her complete the High School work and her Jr. and Sr. year she could take college courses (dual enrollment)

 

 

OR

 

Do I have her skip 8th grade and place her at 9th?

 

 

I have another dd that will be 10th and both girls are basically on the same level, except for math. So, I plan to group their work as much as possible.

 

Pros and Cons or those that have experience? Would love input.

Third option is that you keep her in her rising grade, but doing challenging work. Subjects like algebra and foreign language have standard progressions and could be noted as high school level courses completed in 8th grade. Other subjects like English and history could be done to a deeper, more challenging level, allowing her to work through more demanding work while still in high school. Should you decide in a couple years that you want to reassign grades and graduate her early, you could then count next year as 9th instead of 8th. But you wouldn't be painted into a corner should the full spread of high school subjects prove to be a bigger bit than you expected.

[katilac]

I consider 14 in September a standard age for 9th grade, so I wouldn't have a problem with it. To me, it would not be skipping a grade or starting high school early.

[Julie of KY]

I'd think long and hard about skipping a grade. I would probably just continue calling each year the next grade, but keep good records now so that in a few year you may decide that high school was 8th-11th (and just bump everything up a grade at that time). I've had friends who have done just that. They decided that they wanted to graduate a year early so they just called the last four years high school - works if already doing high school level work.

[snowbeltmom]

We skipped 8th with DD and I regret it now. I don't think the maturity level is there. She's had a hard time. I also now feel a bit "rushed", since we are on a high school schedule trying to get everything in, it would have been nice to have another year for exploration and flexibility.

:grouphug:

 

Nothing is set in stone. The grade skip can be reversed if you and your dd have had a change of heart. The College Board will even update the student's testing records with the revised grade level.