s/o At what age does homeschooling "count"?

[SKL]

Simply using materials marked grade X does not make that child a Xth grader.

 

Nobody said that.  But if your kid is ready in every way for KG and you intend for her education to be accelerated for all purposes throughout her childhood, then that's a different thing.

 

Might be a culture difference here.  In my state, for several months after the cutoff, a "ready" child can get into b&m school early without great difficulty (depending on the local policy).  It's not at all unusual for kids to be "a little young" in their grade.  We're not talking years young, but weeks/months.  If the birthday is after 12/31, then the gifted department has to evaluate the child before this will be allowed.  This idea that the cutoff date is the final word seems very arbitrary to me.  I guess I thought homeschoolers were in this so they could have some freedom and flexibility.  Of course if *you* don't want *your* child to be young in his grade, that's your prerogative.

 

[Catwoman]

I only responded when you quoted my post, misinterpreted it, and snarked about it. Not because I care what you think, but because I didn't want other readers to be influenced by your interpretation of my post.

And still you're not really ignoring me. :rolleyes:

 

This is getting quite tedious. :glare:

 

Perhaps you could actually manage to tear yourself away from my posts for long enough to actually ignore them. I'm enjoying this thread, but I'm tired of dealing with you.

 

We didn't agree on something. It's not a big deal. Let it go.

[OneStepAtATime]

Prior to 4k, MANY parents have their kids at home and work on educating them at their developmental level.  I did not consider it homeschooling in 3k, when we were at that stage,  I just thought I was being a conscientious parent.   I guess it seems to me that once a child reaches an age where most of his local peers are going to a brick and mortar school, whether that child is in 3k, 4k, kinder or 5th grade, if the child is  being educated from home,  then they are homeschooling.  Of course, others feel differently, and that's fine, too.  The only thing that seems really, seriously odd to me is saying you are homeschooling your infant or toddler.  Isn't that just being a good parent?

[Catwoman]

You know what they say about curiosity and cats...

Uh oh. I think I'm in trouble!!! :D

[Catwoman]

Oh, I forgot that part too. When someone quotes someone you have on ignore, you see those posts.

This whole ignoring thing is a lot more detailed than I'd realized.

 

I plan to continue ignoring the ignore feature. It seems much easier to just read everything.

[Crimson Wife]

I guess I thought homeschoolers were in this so they could have some freedom and flexibility.

Yes, the flexibility to use whatever grade level material is appropriate rather than being restricted to the material of the grade the child is actually in. Use K level material during the child's pre-k year, use 4th grade material during the child's 2nd grade year, use high school level material during the child's 6th grade year, etc., etc. But the number listed on the material doesn't change the grade that the child is actually IN.

[OneStepAtATime]

It seems to me that when the bulk of your local peers are in a brick and mortar school, whether that be 4k, kinder or 5th grade, and you are being educated at home, you are homeschooling.  Different areas of the country have different laws and different "expectations" whether legally supported or not, of when to put your child in school.  Where I live, most kids are in a brick and mortar school by 4k and many are in by 3k.  Parents that don't put a 3 year old in school are not thought of as odd, but parents who don't put their 4 year old in school are considered to be placing their child at an extreme disadvantage for functioning well in kinder even though mandatory attendance here is not until 1st grade.  In fact, some kids that start school in Kindergarten are asked to return to a 4k program because they are determined to be unready for kinder.  Therefore, parents here that give formal instruction to 3 year olds are just considered parents that like educating their kids young.  Parents that provide their child with more formal education at 4, but do not put them in a brick and mortar school to do it are frequently considered homeschoolers, even if the parent plans to put the child in a B&M school for kinder.  In other words, in our area the legal definition really isn't the same as the social definition.  Guess it depends which one carries more weight in your own heart and mind.

[OneStepAtATime]

Yes, the flexibility to use whatever grade level material is appropriate rather than being restricted to the material of the grade the child is actually in. Use K level material during the child's pre-k year, use 4th grade material during the child's 2nd grade year, use high school level material during the child's 6th grade year, etc., etc. But the number listed on the material doesn't change the grade that the child is actually IN.

Um,  what about if a child is in a brick and mortar school and skips a grade, or is held back a grade?  They are using material at a different grade level than their age would have suggested and are now considered as being at a different grade level officially. Homeschooling can be a little more muddied since a child might be using 6th grade level math and 4th grade level reading material but by age would have been in 5th grade for example.  Having seen a lot of different scenarios,  I don't think the definition of "grade level"  is as cut and dried as it may appear.  Not trying to be argumentative but I thought I would point out there are some gray areas here.  

 

My daughter, by age, should be in 8th grade.  She is not.  As her educator, as well as her parent, I consider her to be in 7th grade, and so does our state, because she is using a lot of 7th grade material, not 8th.  She is gifted and dyslexic.  She was in a B&M school for 4k and we ended up repeating the 4k material.  Having her repeat 4k material bought her the time she needed to function with higher material when we came to it.

 

I have a friend who homeschooled her son until 4th grade, when she had to put him in a brick and mortar school.  He was so advanced, they moved him up to 5th grade and put him in the Gifted and Talented advanced classes.  She began homeschooling again the following year using a different curriculum from what they had used before PS.  When she took the tests to determine where in the curriculum he needed to be, he tested at a 7th grade level.  For various reasons, she chose to go ahead and use the 6th grade level material.  What grade is he in?  By age he should be in 5th.  By what the state and the currently used curriculum say, he should be in 6th.  By the assessment he should be in 7th.  Personally, I would consider him a 6th grader, not a 5th grader.

 

Thankfully, as homeschoolers, we can construct an educational plan that (hopefully) is far more flexible and supportive of our kids' strengths and weaknesses than PS can give them.  Not sure the "grade" designation matters all that much until high school, anyway, when you are homeschooling, and then only if you plan to go on to college.  Not all do.

[Crimson Wife]

Um,  what about if a child is in a brick and mortar school and skips a grade, or is held back a grade?  They are using material at a different grade level than their age would have suggested and are now considered as being at a different grade level officially.

Grade skipping and retention in B&M schools is a reflection of the "one size fits all" mentality there. If the B&M schools were willing to use the materials appropriate for a given child regardless of what grade he/she is enrolled in like homeschoolers do, there would be no need for a grade skip or retention. They'd simply have some 5th graders using 4th grade level materials, some 5th, and others 6th.

[OneStepAtATime]

I am not certain why a "grade" designation is terribly important, to be honest, unless I am planning on putting my child back in a B&M school.  The B&M one-size-fits all mentality is a poor one, I agree, but arbitrarily assigning a grade designation based on age, not level a child is actually functioning at, may not be very representative either.  To be honest, with homeschooling, the grade designations have seemed kind of silly to me.  Our co-op jokes about how many of our kids kind of look blank when asked what "grade" they are in, since many are not using materials that would be considered "at grade level" and may use many different "grade level" materials depending on the subject. Maybe, as homeschoolers, we don't need the restriction of a grade level anyway?  After all, that designation is based on the structure created in PS.   Why be restricted by that?  

 

One of the math programs I use (Math on the Level) doesn't even have grade designations.  It shows all the material and concepts that a child needs to understand before they start tackling Algebra, Geometry, etc.  Traditionally, these materials would be considered pre-k thru about 8th grade math.  They don't go strictly by what the B&M schools designate important though.  They include lots of life-skills math as well.  You have a checklist of concepts and a way to schedule reviews and you own the material for all of the lessons until you hit Algebra.  As your child develops their understanding of math, you interweave more depth in already learned concepts as you also introduce new ones.   Your child is not restricted by a grade level label.   They move as fast or as slow as is necessary with each concept so as to understand and master each math concept individually and as part of the larger picture. I love that approach.  

[SKL]

You appear to feel very strongly about this. Do you have your own cut-offs that determine when a child should be in X grade....?

 

:iagree: Crimson, I am curious as to why you think that age is *the* determiner of grade level?  It seems to me that the whole point of grade levels is to reflect academic level.  In B&M age may be more relevant because of logistics, social issues, etc., but even then there is some room for individual differences.

 

Do you also believe that a homeschooled child who is 9 but cannot read, spell, or subtract *has* to be a fourth-grader?  And, are homeschoolers allowed to "redshirt"?  Or does that only work in one direction?

 

[MommaOfalotta]

I always get a kick out of it when a mom says she has been homeschooling for 10 years... and her oldest child is 10 years old. :rolleyes:

 

I guess some people just like to pad their resumes a bit... ;)

 

Thats crazy. If that were the case, then every parent in the world could call themselves homeschoolers. :confused1: Parents of kids in PS could be homeschoolers..

 

When we are asked how long we have homeschooled, I say we started when dd was 5(almost 6-this was her K year) but I always add, "But this is our first "official" year." Dd is 6 going on 7 and in first grade. We had to notify this year, and will be either doing assessment or testing at the end. Opting out of PS makes you an "official homeschooler" in my opinion.

 

ETA: Opting out OR pulling your dc out of PS.

[MotherOfBoys]

If you are using mostly first grade curriculum, your a first grader no matter what age you are. I tried telling my son "tell everyone your in K this year cuz that is where you'll be if you were in public school". He was so confused. I said forget it. Your in First and in Jan you'll be in Second (at 5 yrs old!) If he did the work to be there then he deserves to say he's there. Why would I shame him into saying a 6 yr old doing first is somehow different from my 5yr old doing first? we are doing the exact same work!

 

And it doesn't matter what you feel isn't necessary to be taught in K. If I wanted to be told what to teach and when I'd have an umbrella school. It's my choice, my decision if my kids are ready or not. I'll deal with the consequences or lack there of.

 

One reason I hs is because ps not rigorous enough.

[RootAnn]

At least one other parent in this thread has homeschooled her 4.5yo as an early K entrant and then moved on to 1st grade the next year.  That parent is a traditional homeschooler (unlike me) and I'm saying it would be reasonable to treat her as such from grade K, regardless of whether the child was registered.  There may be many others in the same situation.

 

I don't know that SKL was referring to me here, but this DOES fit my oldest (except she was more like 4.8 when she started homeschool K with me). She would have made the cut-off in a few states, but not most of them & definitely not mine. (Interestingly, my state now has one of the earliest cut-offs in the nation.) I didn't have to file paperwork for her until she was in (my) 2nd grade. For almost all intents & purposes, she lists her grade as the higher one - especially for social purposes where her P.S. grade-not-age-peers are almost all a year older than she is. 

 

I do still retain the right to "hold" onto her an extra year before sending her to college. There's some debate in my head on whether giving her that extra year of instruction is "fair" to the other "average" kids who have to compete against her for scholarships.  ;)  She's not accelerated. She's not gifted. She's not advanced. I've just been teaching her for that extra year she wouldn't have gotten if she would have had to wait to enter PS as a 5.8 year old. 

 

My #3 child started homeschooling K when she turned 5. She's my promote-in-January child. So, she's half-way through her 2nd grade year even though her PS-age peers just started 2nd grade and her best friend (4 months older) just started 3rd. If she would have been my oldest, I would count my HSing her when she started K (even though it wasn't in August/Sept of a certain year), not the next fall when she would have been allowed to enter PS K.

 

I've encouraged parents to homeschool their just-missed-the-cutoff kids for K & put them into 1st the next year. Our local school won't accept them for K if they miss the date cut-off even by one day, but in most cases, will accept them for 1st if you homeschool them for K and fill out some paperwork. (Weird stuff.) None of them do this because it is easier just to keep them in preschool/day care. But, they like to complain about the (new, earlier) cutoff rule anyway.  :001_cool:

[8filltheheart]

If you are using mostly first grade curriculum, your a first grader no matter what age you are. I tried telling my son "tell everyone your in K this year cuz that is where you'll be if you were in public school". He was so confused. I said forget it. Your in First and in Jan you'll be in Second (at 5 yrs old!) If he did the work to be there then he deserves to say he's there. Why would I shame him into saying a 6 yr old doing first is somehow different from my 5yr old doing first? we are doing the exact same work!

 

And it doesn't matter what you feel isn't necessary to be taught in K. If I wanted to be told what to teach and when I'd have an umbrella school. It's my choice, my decision if my kids are ready or not. I'll deal with the consequences or lack there of.

 

One reason I hs is because ps not rigorous enough.

Just want to point out that the issue is really not that clear cut for everyone. My 12th grader was doing pre-cal in 9th grade. He is currently taking 300 level physics and 200 level math classes at the local university. He has well over 40 high school credit hrs and could have graduated a long time ago if we had simply called him grade according to work level. My current 9th grader would be a jr. Ummm, no way at 14.

 

We don't believe in graduating early and there are distinct advantages to filling out college applications with high academic achievements. So, while some people might, not everyone does believe that grade level work defines grade level.

[boscopup]

If you are using mostly first grade curriculum, your a first grader no matter what age you are. I tried telling my son "tell everyone your in K this year cuz that is where you'll be if you were in public school". He was so confused. I said forget it. Your in First and in Jan you'll be in Second (at 5 yrs old!) If he did the work to be there then he deserves to say he's there. Why would I shame him into saying a 6 yr old doing first is somehow different from my 5yr old doing first? we are doing the exact same work!

 

And it doesn't matter what you feel isn't necessary to be taught in K. If I wanted to be told what to teach and when I'd have an umbrella school. It's my choice, my decision if my kids are ready or not. I'll deal with the consequences or lack there of.

 

One reason I hs is because ps not rigorous enough.

 

None of my kids have been confused. They all work above grade level. They all know they are working above grade level. Even my 4 year old knows he's in preschool, even though he functions at a late K to early first grade level (late K in math, first grade in reading/writing). It's not that hard a concept.

 

I have no intention of graduating my kids early at this point in time, so while my 4th grader is doing Prealgebra and reads at a high level, he is not a 7th grader. He knows he works ahead of the typical 4th grader. No confusion. We work at the child's level and don't worry about the number on the book. When someone asks him what grade he's in, he says 4th grade. There is no need to tell people what level he's working at. If he's doing college courses in high school, his college application will look that much better. Whereas if he had a typical high school transcript at age 14, he wouldn't look that impressive to colleges. Plus he's not heading off into the world at 14. :tongue_smilie:

[Ellie]

Yes, the flexibility to use whatever grade level material is appropriate rather than being restricted to the material of the grade the child is actually in. Use K level material during the child's pre-k year, use 4th grade material during the child's 2nd grade year, use high school level material during the child's 6th grade year, etc., etc. But the number listed on the material doesn't change the grade that the child is actually IN.

 

ITA, although I'm not sure that homeschooled children are actually *in* grades. :-)

 

After many years of owning/administering an umbrella school (PSP, for California folks, lol), and many, many discussions IRL and on the Internet, I have a strong opinion about this: When it is necessary to describe a homeschooled child by a grade level (as in which Sunday school class he should be in), or when enrolling a homeschooled child in school--yes, even this--the grade level should be the one the child would be in according to his date of birth and the cut-off date in his state (and that includes "enrolling" a 6yo in first grade, not kindergarten). However, as Crimson Wife says, that has nothing to do with the child's instructional level.

 

One of my favorite books, Understood Betsy, has a chapter where third-grade Betsy is so confused, because on her first day of school in the little one-room school house, she is put into first grade arithmetic and seventh grade reading. Her teacher points out that she isn't actually a grade at all, but that it would be pointless to keep her in third grade reading when she clearly can read much better than that, or to make her stay with third grade arithmetic when she clearly needs help. Homeschoolers are like that. They can happily accept a grade-level label while being in different levels in all of their instructional materials.

[SKL]

I would agree that the grade level doesn't matter to a homeschooler, if the homeschooler is sure the child will be homeschooled until college.

 

I'm impressed with any of you who could be sure of that when your kids were 4.

 

For those who view it as quite possible that their child will enter B&M school sometime in the future, I think grade level does matter, because grade level is going to determine the level of curriculum for the most part.  I wouldn't advocate for extreme acceleration, but there's nothing radical about being on the younger side instead of the older side in a group of similarly-aged kids.

 

As far as group homeschool activities go, when age matters, why not just make those activities available based on age instead of grade level?

 

 

[Crimson Wife]

You appear to feel very strongly about this. Do you have your own cut-offs that determine when a child should be in X grade, or do you go by what the local jurisdiction says? What if a child moves from one place to a different place, with a different cut-off? Does the grade then change? What if a child moves to a different country, but you still continue homeschooling with materials from your original country? Is the child then in the original grade (according to the system you are following), or in the grade they would be in in the new country?

 

I am trying to figure out why you feel so strongly about this, and what your standards are. You realize that the grade a child is in is not set in stone in brick and mortar schools, but also that school systems across the world vary widely. As an example, school starts at four where I grew up, and at seven where we live now. We are enrolled in an umbrella school in the US. My kids are five and seven. What grade are they "in", according to you?

I feel strongly about the issue for a couple of reasons.

 

The main one is how the B&M schools refuse to place the student in a class by where he/she is in the curriculum but instead segregate by age. If a student is ready for what we call "4th grade math" (long division, fractions, decimals, etc.) then it shouldn't matter whether the child is 6, 9, or 12. A student who is 6 is in his/her 2nd year of school (so 1st grade) but that doesn't automatically mean he/she should be doing 1st grade level math.

 

The other reason has to do with my feelings towards parents who treat their kids' academic achievements as status symbols akin to a designer purse or luxury SUV. The ones who won't shut up about how little 4 y.o. Muffie is reading on a 2nd grade level. In a HS setting, they typically go further and claim that little 4 y.o. Muffie *IS* a 2nd grader. No, she's not. She's a pre-k student who is advanced in reading (I'd insert the eye-rolling smiley here if my browser could do formatting).

[SKL]

The other reason has to do with my feelings towards parents who treat their kids' academic achievements as status symbols akin to a designer purse or luxury SUV. The ones who won't shut up about how little 4 y.o. Muffie is reading on a 2nd grade level. In a HS setting, they typically go further and claim that little 4 y.o. Muffie *IS* a 2nd grader. No, she's not. She's a pre-k student who is advanced in reading (I'd insert the eye-rolling smiley here if my browser could do formatting

 

I was going to make a point, but decided this pretty much speaks for itself.

[Matryoshka]

 

So... does your view only apply to US students, or would you go with whatever the local system is doing? Or do you think the US grade system should apply globally?

 

She must go with local, as her "almost 11yo" would not be a 6th grader by age cut-offs in most of the US, where you have to be 11yo before  Sept.1st to be considered a 6th grader.  She must have late cut-offs where she is.

[8filltheheart]

I would agree that the grade level doesn't matter to a homeschooler, if the homeschooler is sure the child will be homeschooled until college.

 

I'm impressed with any of you who could be sure of that when your kids were 4.

 

For those who view it as quite possible that their child will enter B&M school sometime in the future, I think grade level does matter, because grade level is going to determine the level of curriculum for the most part. I wouldn't advocate for extreme acceleration, but there's nothing radical about being on the younger side instead of the older side in a group of similarly-aged kids.

 

As far as group homeschool activities go, when age matters, why not just make those activities available based on age instead of grade level?

Just a few thoughts.....first, since this is a homeschool forum, it isn't unusual for people to think in terms of not sending children to school. In many states, if you are putting your kids in school prior to high school, they may or may not allow entrance based on what grade you say or they may place by age. But for high school, many schools will not accept any high school credits, so you might have a child you believe has complete 9th and 10th grades and go to enroll them as an 11th grader, only to be told that, no, they will only enroll them as a 9th grader. But taking my 10 yr old to the high school and saying they have completed through 8th grade and I want to enroll them in high school.....no, that is not going to be likely. Very improbable.

 

Second, acceleration does not have to happen at age 4. As I have stated earlier in this thread, I don't teach preschool. My kids would not be able to enter 1st graders by stating that they had completed k at home when 4. :) However, that does not mean that they are not advanced and accelerated students. My kids normally rapidly accelerate in "output" academics in 2 age ranges.....around 2nd and/or 6th-8th. (ETA. That is when there seems to be major cognitive explosions.  Other advancements are more consistently paced as faster than general age.)

 

I am sure that there are probably a few schools out there some where that can accommodate really accelerated kids, but not realistic options for most families. So, even being advanced a grade or even 2 wouldn't have really helped my 12th and 9th graders. (My 9th grader started taking 3 foreign languages in middle school, 2 in 6th, as well as math (took her first alg course in 6th) and English comp and lit in 7th....shakier on the comp at the beginning of the yr, but solidly high school by the end.)

 

As far as age for activities, that is the what most public rec leagues do it. I personally have no objection to younger advanced kids participating in older kid activities if their behaviors match the older kids. There is nothing worse than when a parent insists a child is ready to participate in an older activity and then the child's behavior is most definitely that of their age. It ruins it for the older kids.

Edited September 10, 2013 by 8FillTheHeart

[SKL]

In many states, if you are putting your kids in school prior to high school, they may or may not allow entrance based on what grade you say or they may place by age.

 

But if you've been registered for years as a homeschooler, in a state where you have to state the grade your kid is in, then wouldn't that officially reported grade be respected by the school?  I'm pretty sure it would be in my state.

 

Again, this could be a local culture thing.  In my state, for my kids to enter 1st grade, all the schools I spoke to said that as long as they had completed KG in any school, they would take them in 1st grade, no questions asked.  (The same schools would not take one or both of them for early KG.)

 

[SKL]

What is "transitional K", Plum?

 

Here, transitional K is offered to kids who are are technically old enough for KG but not considered "ready."  Maybe some places include kids who missed the cutoff date as well.  The intention is that these kids will still do a year of KG after this transitional K year.

[boscopup]

But if you've been registered for years as a homeschooler, in a state where you have to state the grade your kid is in, then wouldn't that officially reported grade be respected by the school? I'm pretty sure it would be in my state.

 

Again, this could be a local culture thing. In my state, for my kids to enter 1st grade, all the schools I spoke to said that as long as they had completed KG in any school, they would take them in 1st grade, no questions asked. (The same schools would not take one or both of them for early KG.)

 

 

When they say "any school", they're likely not including homeschool. I think it would be rare for a public school to just accept an accelerated grade level based on "mommy grades". And what 8 was taking about with high school is that homeschool won't count as credits for public school graduation, probably because we're not accredited and the public school is. They can't give credit for non-accredited work.

 

Now if your child is accelerated within the system (ie, a public school does an official grade skip), then they'll probably keep that acceleration in place for grade levels prior to high school.

[PachiSusan]

Isn't Transitional K sometimes called Pre-K, or is that what Pre-school is now called? This education label system is so darned confusing!

[Carpe]

I voted for "When other kids his/her age are attending preschool, if that is customary in the area" because it makes the most sense to me. My kids lost all their friends at 3 because they went to preschool and mine did not. In the social realm, we had become homeschoolers. Of course, we were not accepted by the local homeschooling community because of the ages of my kids. So we had no one for a couple years. It sucked, and even now, I do not see the point in it.

 

As for grade level, I intend on graduating my kids a year early age wise, but they will have completed the standard 13 years of school (more for the younger). So I see no harm in calling them a grade above what they would be in a B&M school. Doing kindergarten at 4, grade 1 at 5, and grade 12 at 16, isn't a big deal if they were going 4th grade work at 6, and will probably graduate high school with at least an associates degree.

[KarenNC]

As far as age for activities, that is the what most public rec leagues do it. I personally have no objection to younger advanced kids participating in older kid activities if their behaviors match the older kids. There is nothing worse than when a parent insists a child is ready to participate in an older activity and then the child's behavior is most definitely that of their age. It ruins it for the older kids.

 

I see this as a separate issue. Advanced academically does *not* automatically equate with advanced physically, socially, or emotionally. Very rarely is a child equally advanced across the board. Whether I have asked for out of level placement for my daughter in activities entirely depends on the activity. She is advanced in reading/language, etc, but not socially, emotionally, or physically. I've put her in out of level book clubs or English classes, for instance, but only after checking on the type of literature planned. This was the biggest issue for us when she was in 6th grade, so age 11. Her early August birthday met the age cut off for 6th grade (Aug 31), but the majority of folks around here seem to hold back their summer birthday kids (boys and girls), so many outside academically-oriented programs (library, nature center, etc) want to put all 11 yos in with elementary (so ages 6-11) rather than with older, whether they are in middle school or not. In academic areas, that simply was useless for us. It would be better if they go by grade. When we participated in a homeschool PE class, they started at age 5 regardless of grade designation, which I felt was appropriate.

[Chrysalis Academy]

In CA, Transitional K is an official state program because we are in the process of moving the K cutoff from Dec 1 to Sep 1, gradually over 3 years, one month earlier each year.  Transitional K is intended to serve the kids who would have been eligible for K under the old cutoff, but no longer are - so the Sept-Dec babies.  I don't know if they accept younger 4s as well.  I also don't know if redshirted kids are placed in TK either - those who are old enough for the cutoff but who are being held back for whatever reason.

[swellmomma]

Um,  what about if a child is in a brick and mortar school and skips a grade, or is held back a grade?  They are using material at a different grade level than their age would have suggested and are now considered as being at a different grade level officially. Homeschooling can be a little more muddied since a child might be using 6th grade level math and 4th grade level reading material but by age would have been in 5th grade for example.  Having seen a lot of different scenarios,  I don't think the definition of "grade level"  is as cut and dried as it may appear.  Not trying to be argumentative but I thought I would point out there are some gray areas here.  

 

I agree with this.  Take my dd14 for example.  Last year she was registered 7th grade, this year she is registered 9th grade yet doing primarily 10th grade and a few 11th grade classes for high school credits.  SO we do say she is 9th for social situations but really she should have been 8th but is doing 10th.  Outside of formal registration for clubs etc she tells people she is a 10th grade based on her level of work, otherwise (especially in homeschooling circles) they assume her work doesn't "count" because high school starts in 10th grade here, so if they hear 9th grade they assume she has more flexibility than she does compared to hearing 10th grade.

 

I still maintain it counts as homeschool when the rest of the peers are going off to b&m school AND the parents have no intentions of enrolling their child in the b&m school. I don't see it as when a parent starts curriculum because some parents start curric or intentionally teaching at infancy but still plan to use b&m schools come Kindy, and some homeschool through high school never having used any(unschoolers).  If a parent plans to enroll their child in a b&m school at the compulsory age then what they do before hand even if teaching with a curriculum is parenting and tutoring, but it is not homeschooling.  Homeschooling is a lifestyle choice not just where you do school, so yes a parent can be and should be called a homeschooler if their child is 3 yrs old, they never plan on enrolling in a b&m school and they are accepting and begining to live the homeschooling lifestyle that is right for their family.  They don't even need to have begun "teaching" yet but if they are researching, and planning, and talking to other homeschoolers etc to learn more I count them as "in the club" so to speak.

 

I was actually part of the online (and later irl as we branched out) support group in the city 3 YEARS before I began homeschooling.  My kids were in b&m school, but I was a huge wanna be and just needed to get myself into a situation that I could make it work.  They fully accepted me and nearly 11 years later having moved away from the city 3.5 years ago they still fully accept me.  Only now I am considered one of the veterans helping out the newbies that stumble in looking for advice.  Sometimes these newbies have babies and toddlers but they know they will be homeschooling, they are gathering their information etc.  They are one of the group.

 

There is age cut offs for fieldtrips because honestly having 12-2and 3 year olds show up to a fieldtrip aimed at ages 8+ not only takes spots away from the age appropriate children, but the rest can not get out of it what they could and the little ones are not getting anything out of it.  Often field trips with older ages as restrictions do so due to health and safety issues.  Park days are open to all, who homeschool now, plan to, or are simply curious.

 

I find there is a lot of exclusion within homeschooling circles that I hear about online, and it is unfortunate.  Limitations for health and safety absolutely, but if a family never plans to send their kid to b&m school why does it matter if they call themselves homeschoolers at age 4 or if they wait another year until age 5?

[Mommy22alyns]

Kindergarten.  I "homeschool preschool"ed Sylvia, but that was with a wink and a nudge.  If she'd been my only child, I wouldn't have called it homeschooling.  She actually made that phrase up in her campaign to leave preschool.

[8filltheheart]

But if you've been registered for years as a homeschooler, in a state where you have to state the grade your kid is in, then wouldn't that officially reported grade be respected by the school? I'm pretty sure it would be in my state.

 

Again, this could be a local culture thing. In my state, for my kids to enter 1st grade, all the schools I spoke to said that as long as they had completed KG in any school, they would take them in 1st grade, no questions asked. (The same schools would not take one or both of them for early KG.)

 

I can't make any statement in regards to states I am completely unfamiliar with, but in the states we have homeschooled, no, I do not believe you can make a blanket assertion like that. For example, what about states where k is not mandatory? In some states we have only had to report ages, not grade, and in others we have had to report grade and age but not birthday. Eta: and we have only ever "informed" the state. We have never lived in a state where we received approval. They aren't acknowledging anything other than we are complying with the law of informing.

 

Fwiw, as far as I am aware the schools are under no obligation to admit a student under any circumstance other than grade level by age and even then, as I stated earlier, that is not even the case with high school bc they do not have to accept any high school credits from a homeschool.

 

When It comes to switching from homeschool to ps, I would not mp make blanket statements without confirming directly with the superintendent's office for the system I want to enroll my student in unless the homeschool law for the state might specifically address the state's role in determining placement.

 

(Fwiw, I personally think the doing K and using that for going into 1st is probably an oversimplification of the issue.)

[Coco_Clark]

I voted in kindergarten.  That's when kids begin school, which explains why any classes before that are called PRE school. :)  

 

Honestly I smile a bit at the (several) mothers of very small children who attend my homeschool support group.  I get why they are there and I do not mind them joining in the least, but as a person who doesn't like to press my opinion much because my oldest is in 1st grade and I have no idea what I'm talking about, I cant help but give a gentle inward grin to that mom of a single 6 mo old that knows exactly which phonics (or better yet, middle school math) curriculum is best.   

[SKL]

When kids switch from a state with a later cutoff to an earlier one, I haven't seen anyone required to repeat.

 

I was an early entrant.  My family moved during the summer between grades 7 and 8.  I reported to school and found I'd been placed in a 7th grade homeroom.  I went to the office and told them they had made a mistake, and they corrected it immediately.

 

I do understand that public schools don't always treat homeschool like b&m school, but arguably they should.

[8filltheheart]

When kids switch from a state with a later cutoff to an earlier one, I haven't seen anyone required to repeat.

 

I was an early entrant.  My family moved during the summer between grades 7 and 8.  I reported to school and found I'd been placed in a 7th grade homeroom.  I went to the office and told them they had made a mistake, and they corrected it immediately.

 

I do understand that public schools don't always treat homeschool like b&m school, but arguably they should.

 

I don't think you recognize the full complexity of the issue.   What you did as a public school student is completely irrelevant to the conversation.   The idea that "I do understand that public schools don't always treat homeschool like b&m school, but arguably they should" is meaningless.   What they should and shouldn't do is irrelevant.   The only issue that matters is what they actually do and/or are legally required to do.  We have lived near the pt of intersection of 5 different school systems.   Even within each system, the way homeschoolers were treated was completely different.  Each superintendent had their own way of doing things.  One system would allow homeschoolers to participate in after school activities, enroll in the odd high school class, etc.   Another system would deny homeschoolers access to everything.

 

The single instance of a school allowing your kids to enter into 1st grade does not negate the real legal issues facing homeschoolers across the country.   Ps kids have great difficulty in skipping grades in many systems.   Many systems don't have gifted services.   Walking through the door of the school with a child more than just a shift in a few weeks from the cut-off dates generally found across the country and expecting the school to enroll them in 2 yrs ahead of grade level (1 is probably feasible if they are on that cut-off cusp) is most definitely not to be assumed.   Possible....never say never.   But probable.....no.

[SKL]

Well, even if it wasn't generally allowed in public school, I still would do it if I were a homeschooler.  I think it's the right thing to do for some kids.  Why should I be constrained from doing what's right for my kid just because someone somewhere made up an arbitrary system that doesn't fit us?  Eventually I might have to fight the system and I would do it.  Ultimately it shouldn't be that important to anyone other than me and my kid.

 

It's funny that nobody seems upset about parents putting their kids into school later than the standard age.  Huge double standard in my opinion.

[Korrale]

I am familiar with 6 school districts 2 different states and all of them are willing to accept a child, who missed the cut off and was homeschooled for K, to enter as a first grade student. As long as the child met academic competency. Which is a meeting and a test. I KNOW that is not all school districts. But it is certainly worth trying in each case. Good luck SKL.

[8filltheheart]

Well, even if it wasn't generally allowed in public school, I still would do it if I were a homeschooler. I think it's the right thing to do for some kids. Why should I be constrained from doing what's right for my kid just because someone somewhere made up an arbitrary system that doesn't fit us? Eventually I might have to fight the system and I would do it. Ultimately it shouldn't be that important to anyone other than me and my kid.

 

It's funny that nobody seems upset about parents putting their kids into school later than the standard age. Huge double standard in my opinion.

I am really confused by this post. Who is suggesting that homeschooled children should not be working at their academic level? If you mean naming grade level according to ability vs age, you might be interested in searching the accelerated board for some of the threads on this issue bc it has been discussed there quite a bit. (Fwiw, I am discussing multiple grade level acceleration, not simply whether or not a child is 6-12 months younger than typical grade level.)

 

Briefly, we don't pursue early graduation bc we believe not graduating opens up many more opportunities. If you accelerate a child and they graduate simply according typical high school graduation standards, all you have accomplished is a rush forward to college which means a rush forward to adulthood. We want our kids to experience childhood and teenage types of activities before being saddled with adulthood. Adulthood looms ahead of all us for most of our lifetime; we see no advantage to rushing to get there.

 

Homeschooling has the advantage of not being bound to traditional classroom subjects and age-targeted abilities. My children have complete freedom to study whatever we want to whatever level of difficulty they are able to achieve. That opens doors to all sorts of opportunities that early high school graduate are going to miss out on. For example, summer camps, competitions, internships that are geared toward highly gifted students.

https://cogito.cty.jhu.edu/summer-programs/

(There are competition and online opportunities at that link as well). And another list of some great opportunities: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/Academic_summer_programs

 

These types of programs are only open to high school under kids. Some are extremely competitive for admission. So a younger age child that has only finished standard high school courses will not stand out if they apply according to grade vs age. There will be more qualified applicants that are older that have far surpassed typical high school level achievements, but were not graduated early, so they are still high school students. Those are the individuals are who early graduates have to compete against, not their academically avg same-aged peers. And these camps, etc can literally change their lives. They have for our family. They are around peers that are equally passionate and on equal academic footing. They have access to faculty that are used to working with top students from around the world. They are exposed to topics that are beyond any typical classroom. They are really inspired to achieve great things.

 

Same goes for college admissions. If you want to go to Princeton, Yale, MIT,CalTech, or any other really top school, simply graduating with a typical advanced high school sequence at 15 is not going to help your student gain admission. First, many unis don't really want younger students on campus, but beyond that, the vast majority of applicants will be equally as academically gifted and will have taken more substantial coursework beyond that level. They don't get brownie pts for being younger. (The alternative, of course, could be one of those recent news stories about young kids attending lower tier schools. Not a goal for our family and you can read lengthy discussions pro/con about that topic on the accelerated board.)

 

And, a huge reason is simple maturity. Kids can be brilliant, behave very maturely in normal circumstances, and have their brains fall out of their heads when they fall in love the first time or any of the other growing up things that kids normally do under parental guidance. When they make poor decisions at an older age, those decisions can have serious lifelong consequences. We want our kids to be at home with us to teach them how to navigate through some of these firsts with guidance vs completely on their own.

 

Honestly, from our family's perspective and experiences, there are no cons to not graduating early and innumerable advantages.

 

As far as your last comment about no one being upset about kids entering later and it being a double standard.......personally, I don't care if people want to enroll their kids in K at 4 or 6. it is completely their decision. However, and this will rankle many feathers, there are real issues for not encouraging enrolling all kids at age 4 bc functioning long term academically goes far beyond what a child is doing at age 4 and encompasses what they need to do at 8,12, 14,etc. Learning to read at age 4 is not necessarily a sign of being academically advanced. It is completely within the normal bell curve. So a child that reads at 4 and is not really gifted but averages out over time could end up at a disadvantage if they are not able to deal with abstract concepts of at higher levels at the younger age where another yr of brain maturity might have been all that was required for them to have easier success. Another drawback is if they are not mature enough to handle the output expected at certain age levels. They might able to keep up "in their head," but physical output-wise, they lag. School becomes a constant pushing from behind to get them to perform at the same output level as their peers. Conversely, if in an age-even situation, their output is normal, they could have constant success. Is the advanced yr worth the cost to the self-esteem?

 

Those of us that homeschool don't have to grapple with those decisions at the same inflexible level as those who put their kids in school. We can literally meet our kids where they are across all spectrum. It is why the entire grade level/age thing is just not big of a deal in the homeschool context. If your kids are in school, you have to play the game according to normed input/output based on mass avgs and based on their rules. Not a game I want to play which is why I homeschool.

 

(Please excuse errors. Mistakes are not being corrected)

[SKL]

I never said or thought that all or most kids should be grade accelerated.  Each kid is an individual and there should be room for individual differences.  Given that a high % of homeschooled kids will be in brick & mortar for part of their education, I would want to get the grade level right for each individual kid, taking into account their overall development.

 

I know there are many arguments for graduating at the oldest possible age.  However, I do not have the same priorities as those who make those arguments.  For example, I truly do not care if my gifted kid gets into one of those top universities.  It will be up to her whether she wants to try.  I don't care about gifted camps and competitions.  If my kid wants to pursue them, then fine.  I would be equally happy if she decided to get a part-time job at a pizza shop.  I don't consider a half-year acceleration to be rushing adulthood, and I'm not afraid of my kids being up against the adult world a little earlier than their age peers.  That was the experience of most of my family, so it fits right in with my culture.  To each her own.

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

Honestly, from our family's perspective and experiences, there are no cons to not graduating early and innumerable advantages.

 

As far as your last comment about no one being upset about kids entering later and it being a double standard.......personally, I don't care if people want to enroll their kids in K at 4 or 6. it is completely their decision. However, and this will rankle many feathers, there are real issues for not encouraging enrolling all kids at age 4 bc functioning long term academically goes far beyond what a child is doing at age 4 and encompasses what they need to do at 8,12, 14,etc. Learning to read at age 4 is not necessarily a sign of being academically advanced. It is completely within the normal bell curve. So a child that reads at 4 and is not really gifted but averages out over time could end up at a disadvantage if they are not able to deal with abstract concepts of at higher levels at the younger age where another yr of brain maturity might have been all that was required for them to have easier success. Another drawback is if they are not mature enough to handle the output expected at certain age levels. They might able to keep up "in their head," but physical output-wise, they lag. School becomes a constant pushing from behind to get them to perform at the same output level as their peers. Conversely, if in an age-even situation, their output is normal, they could have constant success. Is the advanced yr worth the cost to the self-esteem?

 

Those of us that homeschool don't have to grapple with those decisions at the same inflexible level as those who put their kids in school. We can literally meet our kids where they are across all spectrum. It is why the entire grade level/age thing is just not big of a deal in the homeschool context. If your kids are in school, you have to play the game according to normed input/output based on mass avgs and based on their rules. Not a game I want to play which is why I homeschool.

 

 

This is so, so true.  My dd10 is technically in 6th grade, because she has a November birthday and started K at 4.  At the time, it seemed like the only possible decision: she had done 3 years at a Montessori preschool, Gessell-tested at developmental age 5.5-6, and was clearly ready for K-level work.  She is tall and ahead of the game in physical development too - walked early, lost teeth early, puberty early, etc.  

 

But . . . while she is physically and intellectually advanced for her age, she is emotionally very much a child, a 10 year old.  The fact that in some emotional and social ways she was "behind" her peers was already becoming apparent in the beginning of ps 4th grade, and I shudder to think what it would be like to be in junior high for her this year.   Holding her back was not an option, because she was already bored with the level of work she was doing, not to mention already taller than all the other kids in her class.  So homeschooling fit the bill - we can do advanced work in the areas she is ready, but she still gets to be a little kid for as long as she wants to.

 

All this, I already knew.  What is becoming increasingly apparent to me as I now homeschool dd7 is that there are fundamental differences in their development trajectory that I chalk up to their age.  Dd7 is performing a grade level ahead of where dd10 was at the same age.  At the end of 1st grade, she is where dd10 was at the end of 2nd.  (They are otherwise very similar learners, both on the bright/accelerated end of the spectrum, no learning differences or anything).  I'm not saying I expect this to continue, necessarily, but I just note a readiness to learn in dd7 which I do attribute to the fact that she is 7 months older than her sister was at the beginning of 2nd grade.  I also look back at my own experiences - my birthday is Dec 5, so I missed the Dec 1 cutoff by 4 days, and thus was a year older than dd10 in each grade level.  I think I was more mature and more developmentally ready for more complex, abstract material than she is now.  Not because I'm smarter, but because I was a year older in 6th grade than she is now.

 

So dd10 could easily graduate early - she will, in fact, be 17 when she starts college if we take no action.  And judging from her current asynchrony, that would not be a good thing, even though I expect she'll be ready for college-level work at that point.  We don't have to make a decision yet, but we are actively considering an extra year of middle school so that she's the appropriate age - 18 - when she is "ready" for 4-year college.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Reported #208

[mytwomonkeys]

I considered my own children "homeschooled" from the time they would have been in public school kindergarten (I kept records and registered them through the state). Up until that point I just would tell people we planned to homeschool if anyone inquired. My kids have been learning since birth though - of course. The term "homeschool" for me simply means we opt out of mandatory public school and choose to oversee their academics at home.

[NittanyJen]

You did not "homeschool kindergarten". You homeschooled pre-k (age rather than the grade level of the material is what counts) and then your daughter did early entrance into 1st, skipping kindergarten entirely.

 

I've got a 6th grader who is using a mix of 8th grade & up materials. She is not an 8th grader because she will not be 13 by December 2nd of this year. If I wanted to put her into a B&M high school next year as a freshman, I could petition for a double grade-skip but that wouldn't make this her 8th grade year.

 

I'm not sure why I'm bother to reply to this, other than this argument has me kind of gobsmacked . . . since when does everyone enter school at exactly the same age?

 

My son went to an accredited Kindergarten program, and was admitted at age 4.5.  He most certainly was a kindergartener, not a preK student.  It was unusual, but the consensus was that he was so far advanced that he would have wilted and mentally died in a preK program that year-- in fact, he was at the top of his class and kind of bored even where he was at that.

 

Since when is there some kind of "universal code of homeschooling" that dictates where everyone is?  I never seem to have gotten that memo.  This seems like it's turning into a pretty silly argument!

 

Our family personally says there is no such thing as a grade level in homeschooling.  We register with our state as "ungraded" and will simply graduate our kids when they are ready, and prepare the high school transcript to cover the previous four years of school, whenever that happens to land.  As much as I believe that grade levels are completely irrelevant to the homeschool world no matter how your state requires you to fill out a form or check off a box, I don't, however think all homeschoolers must think the same way we do.  Some people derive comfort with the familiarity of the concept of grade levels, and I would not be the one to deprive them of that sense of comfort.  I'm not the grade leveling police nor the homeschooling police, and I don't believe you are, either!

[8filltheheart]

I never said or thought that all or most kids should be grade accelerated. Each kid is an individual and there should be room for individual differences. Given that a high % of homeschooled kids will be in brick & mortar for part of their education, I would want to get the grade level right for each individual kid, taking into account their overall development.

 

I know there are many arguments for graduating at the oldest possible age. However, I do not have the same priorities as those who make those arguments. For example, I truly do not care if my gifted kid gets into one of those top universities. It will be up to her whether she wants to try. I don't care about gifted camps and competitions. If my kid wants to pursue them, then fine. I would be equally happy if she decided to get a part-time job at a pizza shop. I don't consider a half-year acceleration to be rushing adulthood, and I'm not afraid of my kids being up against the adult world a little earlier than their age peers. That was the experience of most of my family, so it fits right in with my culture. To each her own.

The question I was attempting to raise, not with you specifically but with concept of 4 yr olds in k, was that it shouldn't be considered in isolation of being ready for K or 1st grade. The issue stretches forward throughout their entire academic education. Yes, some kids step into K at a young age and thrive. But, it is equally true that many kids that start young lack the maturity (not behavior, but self-discipline to stay focused on task for extended periods of time and/or putting in the required amt of time for writing, researching,etc.....the output rquired for classes) and the development of abstract thinking skills that are required in upper grades bc they ultimately follow a more normal cognitive development and their cognitive skills lag a yr behind the grade level when they are older.

 

These are issues that you cannot foresee when they are 4 but are normal cognitive developmental stages. So, whether or not a child should be/may be 4 vs 5 bc is not isolated to simply when they enter school. Nor am I suggesting there is only one answer. I am simply pointing out that it isn't really as cut and dried as they can do skills x,y,z and therefore they should be in grade whatever.

 

As far as the rest of my post, don't take it as personally directed toward you. I was simply attempting to discuss the issue that many of the posts mentioned....accelerating grade level. I wasn't writing only to you, but quoted you bc you said why fit into an arbitrary system that doesn't fit us. I was simply explaining that there are valid reasons for sticking with the age label bc it can come into play when they are older. Nothing wrong with pointing out the other side of the issues.

 

You did bring up an interesting question.....homeschool kids spending part of their time in school. When we started homeschooling, that was definitely not the case. We didn't know any homeschoolers that sent their kids to school. Now we know many that send their kids to private high school, but I still only know a handful that sent kids to ps. I wonder what the actual statistic is? I have no idea. Ps is absolutely not an option for my kids, so I haven't really given much thought what percentage of homeschool kids go to ps.

[SKL]

I am well aware that the grade placement at age 4/5/6 has long-term effects.  I nevertheless believe that the person most qualified to decide where my kid fits is me, considering I'm the one who has spent the last x years with her.  Of course I considered all the mental, emotional, social, and physical aspects from a long-term perspective.  I assume other parents do the same.  I also have the experience of myself and two of my siblings (and several of my friends) starting KG at 4 (in rigorous schools) with no ill effects.

 

As for "my kid will never go to ps," I hope you are right.  Personally I'm a single mom, and if anything happened to my health or my finances, my kids would probably end up in PS.  In fact, I might even decide to move them there if I don't find the current situation working out.  (We've seen homeschoolers do that on this board many times.)  I personally want to be prepared for the possibility that my kids could end up in PS.  Not saying everyone else has to think that way.

[8filltheheart]

As for "my kid will never go to ps," I hope you are right.

Sigh.....I don't know how many times I have to say I am not speaking about anyone's child in particular and was simply discussing the issue in general.

 

As far as the part quoted, I have been homeschooling since 1994. I have no intention of quitting. We have life insurance and trusts in our wills for private k12 or private tutor education in case something should ever happen. This is a very serious issue for us and is one that we made a top priority in providing for.

[RootAnn]

When kids switch from a state with a later cutoff to an earlier one, I haven't seen anyone required to repeat.

 

Actually, a grandchild of one of my mother's friends moved a year ago from a late-cut-off state to my state (now one of the five earliest cut-offs in the nation) after completing kindergarten in either a public or private school. The new school (private, I believe) put the child back into Kindergarten without any tests or meetings. The parents didn't fight it. The child repeated Kindergarten. 

 

I thought it was weird, but it wasn't my kid or my business. (My understanding is that the kid does not have any developmental issues & is "very bright.") But, I have heard of it!

[SKL]

Actually, a grandchild of one of my mother's friends moved a year ago from a late-cut-off state to my state (now one of the five earliest cut-offs in the nation) after completing kindergarten in either a public or private school. The new school (private, I believe) put the child back into Kindergarten without any tests or meetings. The parents didn't fight it. The child repeated Kindergarten. 

 

I thought it was weird, but it wasn't my kid or my business. (My understanding is that the kid does not have any developmental issues & is "very bright.") But, I have heard of it!

 

I could see it if redshirting is very common in the new school, so that the age difference would end up being very great.  My kids were born E: 3 months / A: 10 days after the general cutoff, but the next youngest kid in their class was born 4+ months before the cutoff.

 

[dirty ethel rackham]

I voted preschool if everyone attends preschool.  If prek is not the norm in your area, then I would say Kindergarten.  I entered the world of homeschooling when my son couldn't go to preschool due to a medical problem.  EVERYONE in my town sends their kids to preschool.  It is extremely rare to find a kid who doesn't go.  Even the most AP moms were leaving their screaming, not-ready-to-separate moms at preschool.  I was the weird one who thought that it was absurd to make a kid have such great anxiety.  I joined a group because we had absolutely NO playmates for my son (none in the neighborhood due to parents working and kids in daycare, none in our former play groups because they were too busy.)  But, I jumped headlong into homeschooling preschool (in an unschooling way.)  We had a very strong support group with lots of families with preschoolers - it was rare for anyone to send their kids to school for K because they were diehard committed to the ideas of homeschooling (lots of John Holt influenced families.) 

[Ellie]

I would agree that the grade level doesn't matter to a homeschooler, if the homeschooler is sure the child will be homeschooled until college.

 

I'm impressed with any of you who could be sure of that when your kids were 4.

 

For those who view it as quite possible that their child will enter B&M school sometime in the future, I think grade level does matter, because grade level is going to determine the level of curriculum for the most part.  I wouldn't advocate for extreme acceleration, but there's nothing radical about being on the younger side instead of the older side in a group of similarly-aged kids.

 

As far as group homeschool activities go, when age matters, why not just make those activities available based on age instead of grade level?

 

And that's one of the main reasons I feel so strongly about it. More than parent has had children end up in school where the grade level matters (whether it should or not is a different issue, lol), and there's been scrambling around to figure things out. Just go with the grade level when you have to put it on paper and then move on.

 

When I used to organize field trips for my homeschool support group, I always specified ages, not grade levels (unless we were going someplace like the Monterey Bay Aquarium that wanted to know which grade levels and then I fiddled with my sign-up registration forms, lol). I was amazed by the number of homeschoolers who could instantly say what grades their homeschooled dc were "in" but had to stop and think when asked how old the children were--and these were people who had always homeschooled. :blink: