For all who took an extra year BEFORE high school

[Targhee]

My situation is that I have to declare the beginning of 9th grade in order for oldest DD to participate in a 4-year high school program she wants to do.  But I am undecided yet about whether 9th grade starts this fall (the track she has been on since being grade accelerated in public K) or after one more year.  

 

I am not in this post looking for help making the decision of when 9th will start - though doubtless I will solicit input later.  What I am asking is this: if you added a year before beginning high school, what did this "extra" year look like?  Did you just press on to the next thing? Did you focus on shoring up a weak area of executive skills? Did you run wild (or lazy) with interest driven work before knuckling down for high school?   Why did you choose the focus (or lack thereof) of this extra year? 

 

 

 

Feel free to add why you chose to add a year before high school, too. TIA

[Holly]

I've been thinking about adding an extra year for DD.  She's struggled with math and writing for quite awhile, so we'd use it to continue working on catching up in these areas.  She also struggles with getting things done on her own time, so self-motivation will be a goal for next year.  She has a summer birthday, so she'd still be 18 at the time of graduation if we add an extra year.  I'm a bit hesitant to do this at this point because it's hard to say where she will be in 4 years.  

[Targhee]

Thanks for your response.  Do you think your dd is struggling with completing work because of motivation or because of executive skills issues? I know my dd has lagging executive skills, but I still find it hard to tease out whether it is that or a lack of motivation when it is a time issue.  Do you have any idea what you might do to help your DD with getting things done? I'm assuming it is something you will work on whether she starts 9th this Fall or next, and I am all ears for other people's ideas and suggestions. 

 

 

I've been thinking about adding an extra year for DD.  She's struggled with math and writing for quite awhile, so we'd use it to continue working on catching up in these areas.  She also struggles with getting things done on her own time, so self-motivation will be a goal for next year.  She has a summer birthday, so she'd still be 18 at the time of graduation if we add an extra year.  I'm a bit hesitant to do this at this point because it's hard to say where she will be in 4 years.

I think the bolded is very true, so any decision is a gamble.

[MerryAtHope]

I don't know if you're interested...but fwiw, I chose not to add an extra year. What that looked like:

 

We did "press on" to the next thing in all areas. Writing and test-taking skills, as well as executive function skills were things we focused on throughout high school. The 9th grade year was a lighter year (no foreign language) to ease into highschool level work. We didn't go wild with interest-driven work, but I did include interest-driven work within his classes (and sometimes AS a class) whenever possible, throughout high school.

 

For this particular student, I think adding in a year would not have been taken positively no matter how it was framed, and that any benefits (an extra year to work on writing & executive function skills) would have been outweighed by the discouragement of not progressing, peers not understanding etc... (even well-meaning friends can say stupid things, especially at that age). 

 

And...it really wasn't needed. His first year in college was challenging, and I occasionally walked alongside, but he did things neither of us could ever have envisioned 4 years before and had a very successful year. They do grow an incredible amount over these high school years, in every way. 

[Targhee]

Thank you. Would you mind sharing any strategies, resources, or tips from your experience in shoring up executive skills and test taking skills?

 

I don't know if you're interested...but fwiw, I chose not to add an extra year. What that looked like:

 

We did "press on" to the next thing in all areas. Writing and test-taking skills, as well as executive function skills were things we focused on throughout high school. The 9th grade year was a lighter year (no foreign language) to ease into highschool level work. We didn't go wild with interest-driven work, but I did include interest-driven work within his classes (and sometimes AS a class) whenever possible, throughout high school.

 

For this particular student, I think adding in a year would not have been taken positively no matter how it was framed, and that any benefits (an extra year to work on writing & executive function skills) would have been outweighed by the discouragement of not progressing, peers not understanding etc... (even well-meaning friends can say stupid things, especially at that age).

 

And...it really wasn't needed. His first year in college was challenging, and I occasionally walked alongside, but he did things neither of us could ever have envisioned 4 years before and had a very successful year. They do grow an incredible amount over these high school years, in every way.

Thank you for this perspective. The bolded is a very big consideration for me. We are lucky in that we are moving (no one would know but us), but this child is prone to anxiety and identifies strongly with her academic ability so the potential emotional/psychology significance isn't lost on me. Then again, she's an October birthday, and would start university away from home at 17.

[Lori D.]

...this child is prone to anxiety and identifies strongly with her academic ability so the potential emotional/psychology significance isn't lost on me. Then again, she's an October birthday, and would start university away from home at 17.

 

Or she could start university away from home at age 18 if she did a planned gap year after graduating at age 17. :)

 

Or, you could have her "walk" graduation at age 17 having completed all of your homeschool credits, and have her take a year of dual enrollment courses at the local community college or university and award the diploma for "official" graduation at age 18. So, "on paper" DD would still be a high school student, but in reality she would be doing all college work while living at home and having a year to mature, to possibly work to earn money towards college, and be knocking out a year of transferrable gen. ed credits -- and possibly shortening her time (and hence, money) required for a 4-year degree.

 

Neither of those options would have the emotional/psychological impact of "repeating" a grade or "being held back", because in every way except for the date on the diploma, the student has moved on to college work after 4 years of high school.

 

We know 2 families who had young students (one was 16, one was 17) who walked graduation, but did all dual enrollment the following year, and at the end of that year the parents awarded the diploma. Worked great for allowing the students to move ahead to the college work they were ready for, but allowed them the extra time to mature that both needed for being successful in going away to college. :)

[MerryAtHope]

Thank you. Would you mind sharing any strategies, resources, or tips from your experience in shoring up executive skills and test taking skills?

 

Thank you for this perspective. The bolded is a very big consideration for me. We are lucky in that we are moving (no one would know but us), but this child is prone to anxiety and identifies strongly with her academic ability so the potential emotional/psychology significance isn't lost on me. Then again, she's an October birthday, and would start university away from home at 17.

 

A lot was just me working one on one with him. For history, I would have my kids take notes, and if they did poorly on a test, I would let them earn points back if they could find the answers in their notes. This encouraged them to think about the types of things to include when they took notes. I also modeled a lot--I would read through what they wrote, ask questions, write down things they remembered, and then fill in details I would consider important. I talked about why I felt they were important (for example, it's probably not important to remember every place a person lived, but if a significant event happened or a place molded that person's character, place is much more important--and so on). It's hard to weed through what's important and what isn't, and we worked on that a lot.

 

We experimented with study styles for tests, and I also let them earn back points by answering orally or finding information in a book if a test went poorly--I set them up to succeed, and used each test as a learning experience until gradually they needed less and less help. 

 

I walked through how to read a textbook (what do you read first, captions, pull-quotes, side-bars, or main text?). 

 

I did a lot of having them plan their work but telling me their plan so I could help them keep on track, and so I could suggest tweaks as needed (or sometimes let them try it and see how it went--there's learning from both successes and failures when it's a fairly safe environment). We used workboxes for organizing work--one especially needed that all throughout high school. They worked toward more and more independence each year, but we continued a daily meeting time. In the last year, I do at least one syllabus-style course that simply has test dates and project due-dates, and I ask them to come up with their plan for how to read, study, work on things etc... I let my oldest get about a month away from the first test, and then asked how far he was in the reading, what his plan had been (he had decided to just read first and work on all of the study questions for all chapters later--and I asked if he did that because he thought it was an effective way to study or because he didn't like to write--and he said it was the latter!). Then I asked if he knew which chapters the test covered (he didn't). I let him experience the effects of procrastination and that panic that can set in on an easy course--and then had him get a calendar and figure out what it would take to get back on track for the test, showed him again how to read the syllabus, and so on. I found that very valuable as it helped him want to have good study habits for college the next fall. Papers were still hard--we came up with a rough "form" showing how to break down the steps and how much time to spend on each. 

 

Anyway...it's definitely a process, and I think it takes a few years. I wish I had known more and understood more when I first went to college! I think college is still a learning curve on that front, but there's a lot you can do to "ramp up" to those expectations too.

 

WRT your daughter being so young--I wonder if she would accept an excuse that was non-academic (like, you never realized she'd only be 16 when she graduated when they bumped her ahead, and that's just too young)?

 

Or she could start university away from home at age 18 if she did a planned gap year after graduating at age 17. :)

 

Or, you could have her "walk" graduation at age 17 having completed all of your homeschool credits, and have her take a year of dual enrollment courses at the local community college or university and award the diploma for "official" graduation at age 18. So, "on paper" DD would still be a high school student, but in reality she would be doing all college work while living at home and having a year to mature, to possibly work to earn money towards college, and be knocking out a year of transferrable gen. ed credits -- and possibly shortening her time (and hence, money) required for a 4-year degree.

 

Neither of those options would have the emotional/psychological impact of "repeating" a grade or "being held back", because in every way except for the date on the diploma, the student has moved on to college work after 4 years of high school.

 

We know 2 families who had young students (one was 16, one was 17) who walked graduation, but did all dual enrollment the following year, and at the end of that year the parents awarded the diploma. Worked great for allowing the students to move ahead to the college work they were ready for, but allowed them the extra time to mature that both needed for being successful in going away to college. :)

 

I wonder if it matters if it's "dual credit" or if the student has graduated and is "in college" if they are living at home either way? In many respects, I feel we had that advantage of walking alongside while our student does an AA degree locally and then transfers later. But either way, I do really like this idea for such a young graduate.

[Targhee]

Thanks Lori and Merry.

 

There are a lot of factors going into the decision, including dd's opinion. Right now I am trying to figure out what grade eight and three quarters might look like. Knowing that will help inform the decision.

 

Merry, your explanation of practices and approach to boost those executive skills was very helpful.

[mysticmomma]

What if you let her pick her science, history/social studies and electives? Maybe give her a list of ideas but be open to her coming up with something totally different. You could then do writing across the curriculum. Maybe give her a list of novels and have her choose a few for literary analysis. Give her a list of science fair type project ideas and let her choose one per semester or even come up with her own. Help her make a schedule and then set reminders for follow through. Back off on the second project and help make the schedule but don't do the reminding. Same thing for the literature. A lot of hand holding with the first, much less for the second. Mom picks the math and maybe one other thing. Then the explanation is you want her to have time to explore her interests and not just learn what mom says coupled with not wanting her off to college as a minor. She may be more motivated and disciplined if the content areas really interest her.

[EKS]

My son attended a private b&m school after homeschooling for K-4 for 6th (first skip) and 8th grades (second skip).  We have been homeschooling again for the past two years.

 

For most of that time he was adamant that he wanted to be in high school, so his homeschooling documentation says that he was in 9th and 10th grades and we did high school work.

 

BUT... If I had known that he would decide that he wanted to attend the public high school as a 9th grader next year I would have done things VERY differently.   

 

I would have gone sideways in math.  I would have picked topics in history and science that I thought would be interesting.  Same with literature.  In writing, I would have had him do a lot more creative work.  I would not have had him do German.  And I would have taken the time to travel.

 

Oh well.

[Targhee]

My son attended a private b&m school after homeschooling for K-4 for 6th (first skip) and 8th grades (second skip).  We have been homeschooling again for the past two years.

 

For most of that time he was adamant that he wanted to be in high school, so his homeschooling documentation says that he was in 9th and 10th grades and we did high school work.

 

BUT... If I had known that he would decide that he wanted to attend the public high school as a 9th grader next year I would have done things VERY differently.   

 

I would have gone sideways in math.  I would have picked topics in history and science that I thought would be interesting.  Same with literature.  In writing, I would have had him do a lot more creative work.  I would not have had him do German.  And I would have taken the time to travel.

 

Oh well.

So, if you had known ahead he was going back to public school in his age-based grade you would have had a year off the linear progression of math, language, and history and taken the opportunity to study things not typically studied in high school. Science too?  And no foreign language. Thank you for this perspective.

 

If your ds had not chosen to go back to public, and chose homeschool until college or until DE was your plan to graduate him at 16? Then college while living at home, or away to school? 

[EKS]

If your ds had not chosen to go back to public, and chose homeschool until college or until DE was your plan to graduate him at 16? Then college while living at home, or away to school? 

 

One plan was for him to apply to the early entrance program at the nearby state university.  If he was accepted, he would have commuted from home the first year (a bit over an hour each way by public transit) and then moved to the dorms.

 

Another plan was to homeschool next year (age 14/15) and then do DE at the CC after that until he was ready (maturity wise) to graduate.  Then college at the usual age or a year ahead.  

[LisaKinVA]

Oldest son was "held back" and did a 2nd 6th grade year.  He will turn 17 on the official first day of school.  

• Math, we moved forward, albeit at a slower pace.  He took Algebra 1 over two years, and Algebra 2 over two years, with Geometry in there as well (he completed Algebra 2 his now - freshman year of high school.  This was mostly related to his not wanting to show work, sloppy mistakes, not doing homework, forgetting...
• Science, we moved forward, not necessarily with the most rigorous high school level programs -- but solid ones.
• English and history, we totally moved sideways.  I essentially eliminated questions which required him to infer from the text how someone was feeling, what they might be thinking.  He did not understand that line of thought.  He couldn't "see" it.  He could read and comprehend facts, dates, normal basic comprehension questions.  So, we plugged along using higher reading levels for the actual texts/vocabulary, but kept the output at a very concrete level.  There were some parts of English grammar he just completely forgot, as well.
• Foreign Language, we moved forward.

I can say (and he would agree) that had he not been held back, his 9th grade year would have been an absolute disaster.  He would not have the grades to be considered for advanced levels of English or history, possibly not even math or science -- and he very likely would have flunked half his coursework.  He would never have had a shot at National Honor Society, or be thought of as a good student.  A good kid, sure -- but not a good student.  He is also of the personality type, that he would have also believed that he was a poor student, and that would most likely have followed him for years.

 

His critical reading score jumped dramatically.  He's always had a great vocabulary and good comprehension of the actual text.  He struggled with how to interpret text and deeper meaning from the text. He was just starting to come through the fog at the end of his 8th grade year. Neither of us remember that year with much fondness (we didn't fight, but it was so hard to keep him on track!) His biggest growth spurt was at the end of 9th grade, and his voice stopped changing when he was 15 1/2 (comparatively, this is pretty late).  We are not sure if he still has a few inches left, but the end of that major growth spurt made a huge difference in his being able to attack school work with a higher level of critical thought.

 

By giving him that extra year to mature/grow, he is a different kid altogether.  His freshman year was still a bit of struggle, but by the end of the year he was excelling.  This year has had more typical growing pains (literally and figuratively).

 

A "gap year" would have certainly given him an additional year to grow and mature -- but it would have come at the cost of his high school academic record, and possibly destroyed a good amount of his own self confidence (which was already on shakey ground as a 6th grader).  I didn't see any point in essentially making the start to his adult life more difficult because his issues were clearly developmental in nature.  His development was "normal" for his physical age, but according to the cutoff of the state we were living in at the time, did not match the level of development expected or needed to be successful in high school.  The extra year before high school was where it was clearly needed.

 

If he had been able to succeed in school, but was merely naiive, or somewhat socially immature, a gap year after the end of high school may have been much more appropriate.

 

Edited June 10, 2016 by LisaK in VA is in IT

[SparklyUnicorn]

Not exactly the same situation, but I listed my older kid a grade behind.  I always just worked at his level irregardless of the number.  When I decided that it was basically to minimize the number of tests I'd have to do for the regs.  Now at this point I'm skipping him ahead on paper because that is currently more in line with his goals/plans.  But, again, still we are just working wherever he is at and don't pay any attention to what grade level books are.