Skipping Junior year??

[jetzmama]

This sounds crazy, but once a student has publicly stated a grade on PSAT (College Board) and ASVAB (Military), can they still skip a grade in the high school years?

 

 Technically, 16yo is wrapping up 10th, his first year in b&m school.  He took PSAT in 9th and 10th, ASVAB in 10th.  His b&m school offers no AP/dual enrollment or other college options until the senior year (and then only 2 classes), but he is very ready.  His middle school classes were taken in a co-op with several students who were 9th/10th grade, so it is conceivable to backtrack and combine those credits into a solid 9th grade year. Likewise, he had a 3.8gpa for his 9th grade year, taken with 9th-12th graders in both a co-op and online, so I have no problem considering that 10th grade.   Guess what I'm trying to say is that I can make the credits work in good conscience, but am wondering if a student is 'marked' as a certain grade level once they are in the College Board/Military database, and if that is adaptable?   Thanks for your help!!

[Lori D.]

Just a guess, but I'm thinking you may have the most trouble with the b&m school, getting them to allow DS to skip a grade...

 

As far as skipping 11th grade and the PSAT and College Board… at this point, I doubt DS's 10th grade score taken in Oct. 2014 can be counted towards NMS, as it is too late in the process to switch his score to count as 11th grade. However, DS may be eligible to take the PSAT this October (as a 12th grader, if he skips), according to info posted by Butler (post #26) in the recent thread "What do parents need to know about the PSAT?" :

 

"Students who plan to leave high school a year (or more) early to enroll in college full time usually can participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program if they take the PSAT/NMSQT before they enroll in college. Such students must take the PSAT/NMSQT in either the next-to-last year or the last year they are enrolled in high school. Those who take the PSAT/NMSQT in the next-to-last year of high school will be entering the competition for awards to be offered as they are finishing their final high school year. Those who take the PSAT/NMSQT in their last year of high school will be entering the competition for awards to be offered as they are completing their first year of college." -- http://www.nationalmerit.org/entering.php

 

I don't have any knowledge about how the Military would look on skipping, but if it was the high school / career version of the ASVAB, I doubt it will be much trouble to update skipping a grade with the Military later on -- those records are likely not as "permanent" as the official ASVAB required for enlistment purposes.

 

 

Not what you're asking about, BUT… My suggestion would be to instead of skipping, consider homeschooling again for grades 11 and 12 and outsource most or all to dual enrollment. There are a lot of benefits in going this route:

 

- allows you to do AP coursework at home and test at a different school that *does* offer AP tests

- not limited to just the b&m school's program of just 2 dual enrollment classes in 12th grade

- gives DS 2 years instead of 1 at home for maturing before heading out to Military or a university

- can participate in high school extracurriculars for 2 years, not just 1 (build up his "resume" for college admissions and scholarships)

- can accrue a rigorous transcript (college credits) and practice college class skills through 2 years of dual enrollment

- can accrue more college credits while still a high school student, AND *most* universities will still accept him as a freshman, making him eligible for all of the many freshman scholarships AND having knocked out some of the college degree program's gen. ed. courses before arriving at the university; in contrast, skipping a year and graduating early to go to the community college means any community college credits earned after high school graduation kicks DS into transfer student status, and there are far fewer transfer scholarships out there, and not nearly as many are renewable in the way freshman scholarships are

 

 

Just a few more things to consider as you work through all your options. :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

[jetzmama]

Lori D, 

Thank you for your response. You mentioned several items I had not considered (this is our oldest child, so we're still being 'broken in'  :001_rolleyes: ).    The value of the b&m school is the structure, the social aspects (limited number of like aged boys in our area, none who breathe sports...), and the opportunity to play sports (not legal in our state for homeschoolers).  Sadly, we cannot re-create any of that at home and we have seen him thrive with these things.  We did meet with the principal earlier this week with promising results to try to get a few more dual enrollment credits in.  Also did some research into a local college that has 1 month online dual enrollments summer sessions and ds is interested in several of those courses.   So, think we'll just keep him as a junior and eke out the college credits where we can.   Thanks again for your well-thought out response. It was very helpful. 

[Cosmos]

If you and he feel he is ready for college, why not simply apply? Forget about skipping grades and refiguring credits. Just write to the colleges, explain the situation, and apply. That's what I did my junior year of high school after feeling I simply couldn't spend any more time in high school. I applied to three highly selective colleges and was accepted at all three, along with good financial aid. I did not have enough credits to graduate from high school, but I had high grades, AP courses, and very good test scores.

 

The worst that could happen is he gets rejected and can stay in school for another year.

[bettyandbob]

In our school district, there is not "skipping". Graduating is about accumulating the required credits. So, if you have them done by the end of Junior year you can graduate. It's not uncommon to do this. Students will take summer school to get ahead in the English sequence--since you have to get 4 credits in high school and you have to take them in order.

 

It is my understanding, this has no affect on ASVAB. If your student wants to use the ASVAB scores and join the military after graduation, it is my understanding the scores need to be current within a few years. So, if your student joins the military he may or may not need to retake the ASVAB.

 

My dd thought about graduating in 3 years. She has no problem with accumulating credits. The problem was she wanted to have the most advanced diploma, coupled with the fact that our district has added extra requirements that the state does not require. She did take an overload of classes in ninth grade (8 credits instead of 7, I had to pay tuition for the 8th class and it was through the district's online program). That summer she was feeling burnt out from school and decided not to do summer school. She had some good things to occupy her summer (a camp to which she had gotten a scholarship and two part time jobs), so there wasn't a need to tell her to do something useful.

 

You mentioned sports. If your ds is enjoying sports or other extracurriculars like music or theatre that is something to consider. My dd is a junior. She's run out of math at the school. It's hard to explain, but her school has IB programming for math. Her class this year was a terminal class in the IB sequence and the school does not have a class for her. Her teacher wants her to take Calculus at the cc next fall (strongly insisting it). The class dd finished had more calculus topics than a calc AB class so we know dd could handle it.However, I'd have to pay for the cc class ($800) and dd does not have transportation. But I told dd we could figure those two things out. The thing I really wanted her to consider is the fact that next year will be her last in ballet. As a senior she is guaranteed a solo in the winter show. Long rehearsals and 10 shows coincide with the cc's exam period. DD would pretty much have to choose between the cc calc class and her last opportunity to perform. Looking big picture, is it going to matter if she takes calc for college credit before or after she graduates and is that going to be more important or a happy memory compared to tying up her childhood hobby. With those thoughts, dd is going to take AP Statistics online for her last high school math class. She doesn't know what she wants to study so having had some calc and some stats in high school actually puts her in good position for required college math. Our focus and decision making would be different if she was determined to go to engineering school, but despite loving physics, she has no interest in doing that.

 

ETA: one last thing to consider is your student's maturity. My oldest graduated young, due to grade skipping in elementary school. Doing so probably wasn't the best thing for him. It works for a lot of people, just not him.

[Lori D.]

The value of the b&m school is the structure, the social aspects (limited number of like aged boys in our area, none who breathe sports...), and the opportunity to play sports (not legal in our state for homeschoolers).  Sadly, we cannot re-create any of that at home and we have seen him thrive with these things.  We did meet with the principal earlier this week with promising results to try to get a few more dual enrollment credits in.  Also did some research into a local college that has 1 month online dual enrollments summer sessions and ds is interested in several of those courses.   So, think we'll just keep him as a junior and eke out the college credits where we can.

 

There are pros and cons to public school -- AND to homeschooling. Fulfilling these needs of your student is very valuable and it's great you've been able to enroll DS in a school to be able to meet these needs. That's got to be a real boost seeing that DS is thriving in the school setting! :)

 

Yea! Good for you seeing if you can get the school to bend about the dual enrollment! :) And the 1-month summer session dual enrollment courses sound interesting, too. Hope one or both of those options will work out for your DS!

 

If one of the reasons you are hoping to do dual enrollment is for the college credit to be able to later reduce total time (and thus, total cost) required at a 4-year university, you might also look into having your DS take some CLEP tests before graduating. Check to see which tests would be accepted by the universities that DS is interested in applying to, and make sure to only do tests that will actually be applied as credit towards the degree program or gen. ed. classes for the degree program -- often CLEP credit is accepted, but only as "electives", which does nothing toward working towards the college degree.

 

BEST of luck with the dual enrollment and high school extracurriculars, and enjoy those last 2 years of high school! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[jetzmama]

Thanks for the wise words!   We are still trying to figure out what to do, but have realized we're putting too much emphasis on college credit.  The full two years at home still are irreplaceable and he currently won't consider any of the nearby schools because his sport is not 'their' sport.   Thanks again!  

[G5052]

Yes, it's all about credits.  My younger one may graduate a year early, so I've been lining up the credits towards that end.  We are approaching the PSAT/SAT/ACT with that assumption.

 

But I won't commit to that until what will be their senior year.  A lot can happen in between.  We had a friend whose daughter had a very difficult year with cancer who had planned to graduate early, and she was only able to complete a few credits that year.  So they went to a "by subject" transcript, and she ended up not graduating early after all.

 

We had a math problem this year that will make getting in four math credits an issue, but we'll figure it out.  

 

We have another friend who did a light senior year in order to catch up on the math with some project-based learning and dual enrollment Spanish.

 

Lots of options.

[MAIMOM]

I wish you the best with your research and decisions. It is not easy to evaluate all options and pick the best one for your situation.

 

I am taking my oldest two to college this summer which has caused me to do some evaluating. I realized the last few years I have spent a lot of time worrying about academics and credits. However, when they were graduating I was thinking more about maturity and character. Most of the things I have really worried about the past few years can be addressed by and app or a program....poor spelling...spell check....budgeting they can use quicken....poor reading skills there are books on MP3 that can be read to them etc.... However character has to be internal. Our son has been home this last year working to pay for college. Academically he has always been very advanced. This year we have spent a lot of time talking him through logical choices and responses to life. I guess I say all that to say do not hurry your son's time at home along.  You would be giving up your last year of parenting with your son. This age our jobs as parents are less about instruction and more about coaching them. That does not make it any less important.  I had no idea how vital the last years at home are until we walked through this last year with our son. Watching him choose schedule and jobs and friends on his own. Managing his money......or spending it recklessly for 3 months.....looking at his spending with him and seeing his eyes open wide in realization of how easy it is to overspend using a debit card. Coaching him in using an envelope to help him dictate where his money goes. We had prepared him in so many ways and yet so many things he still has to learn.

 

I wish you and your son the best. These next few years are so exciting and rewarding for all.

 

[jetzmama]

Wise words. Thank you, MAIMOM.