Graduate early? (gifted)

[StephanieZ]

I'd like to hear from anyone who has graduated a child early due to acceleration/gifted issues.

 

All my kids are super smart/gifted/accelerated. My first two have thrived with a standard-age graduation. We used APs, CLEP, etc, to give them a head start on college level work, no problems. 

 

My youngest is in 8th grade this year. She's also super smart, but she also, for good or bad, benefits from being Kid#3. For all subjects, she has a teacher (me) who has BTDT with two similar smarties already, so I don't waste time with poor-fit curricula and typically I teach with the same materials I've used before, so I better anticipate needs, streamline teaching, etc. I'm just a better teacher having done it at least once before, and she learns just as well, but typically faster/better since I anticipate things better, etc. 

 

So, anyway, this is technically her 8th grade year. She's an October birthday, so on the older side for her grade.

 

She's working at an advanced high school level and has been for over a year. She self-taught Spectrum (high school level) chemistry last year and has been self-teaching Art of Problem Solving math for a couple years already. When I say self-teach, I mean that I might have spent 10 hours in total last year checking (100% on everything is easy to check) her chem and her algebra. I don't think I spent more than an hour all last year teaching her anything. She just reads the book, nails the assignments, and carries on.

 

 

So, now, here we are in 8th grade. We've got a nice selection of work for her this year, all great stuff. MCT for English, MCT for lit, SonLight (easy, but we have it, and it's solid and fine) for US History, PA Homeschoolers for AP Environmental Science, AoPS Geometry (self-teaching with the text, as usual, she doesn't need the classes), and the last in the Galore Park Spanish series (equivalent of Spanish 3 or 4).

 

I'm starting to wonder if for this particular kid, we aren't going to want to go ahead and graduate her a year or more early . . .

 

The last thing I want is to be an empty nester a year early, but I do want to consider what is in HER best interest educationally. 

 

We have 2 universities in easy commuting distance. I think we could do "dual enrollment" there while still calling her a homeschool highschooler. If we do that, chance are she'll have a couple years of college credits by the time she graduates from high school. This is probably my current default plan. 

 

Alternatively, I could accelerate her a year, and she'd still graduate with many courses of AP/etc credit since by next year, since she's started AP this year and likely will continue with that to a large degree. 

 

Pros/Cons?

 

BTDT advice?

 

I really have never given this serious thought before, and I'm looking for ideas to consider.

 

FWIW, it will NOT be a good idea for her to wait until after 9th grade to decide to accelerate (so, about 24-30 more months). The reason for this is that she will nearly positively be a national merit scholar, and the critical test for that is given fall of 11th grade. NM scholarships are HUGE here in our house (as in >100k in scholarship money per kid), so I will need to plan for that, and the most sure thing is that we need to know when it is her 11th grade year to declare that so her PSAT that year is her official NM PSAT  . . . So, anyway, I need to decide for sure in the next 18 months, by mid-10th grade for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[J-rap]

That sounds similar to our family, and in hindsight I kind of wish we had done it differently, but we didn't really figure it out till #3.  So, she jumped from 8th grade to 10th grade.  We have absolutely no regrets in doing that and it worked out perfectly for her.  She would have really been unhappy, I think, to prolong high school.  I wish we had done that with our first.  Live and learn.

[quark]

We are in the middle of this now (3-year grade promotion). If she wants it badly and is very mature for her age, I'd say go for it. DS is so much happier for having decided this. I have no btdt yet of actually graduating him and seeing him off to college (this is senior year for him, he is 13+/9th grade by age), but although it hits me hard sometimes that this is my only kid and I have to see him wanting this so young, I would do it again if I had a second one wanting it. We have thought this through very carefully. It makes so much sense for him to do this.

 

Regarding College Board's PSAT though, a friend told me that you can sometimes call them and ask to have the grade designation changed. Do look into that. It is always good to have a back up plan. DS has already DE-ed at CC almost full time for 2 years (straight As, will have 70-ish credits at graduation) and our decision was strengthened after he also aced a university class and then lived in dorms alone for a few weeks recently and enjoyed the experience tremendously (despite falling ill half way through too and also juggling some leadership responsibilities). Eventually, whether he will go away to dorms or commute from home is still a question mark but we now know that he can if he has to (depending on the uni's policies) and that the learning curve will not be as steep as it was perhaps a year ago.

 

Good luck!

 

Edited to give some details. Please don't quote as I will be removing details soon.

Edited August 22, 2016 by quark

[TranquilMind]

I'd like to hear from anyone who has graduated a child early due to acceleration/gifted issues.

 

All my kids are super smart/gifted/accelerated. My first two have thrived with a standard-age graduation. We used APs, CLEP, etc, to give them a head start on college level work, no problems. 

 

My youngest is in 8th grade this year. She's also super smart, but she also, for good or bad, benefits from being Kid#3. For all subjects, she has a teacher (me) who has BTDT with two similar smarties already, so I don't waste time with poor-fit curricula and typically I teach with the same materials I've used before, so I better anticipate needs, streamline teaching, etc. I'm just a better teacher having done it at least once before, and she learns just as well, but typically faster/better since I anticipate things better, etc. 

 

So, anyway, this is technically her 8th grade year. She's an October birthday, so on the older side for her grade.

 

She's working at an advanced high school level and has been for over a year. She self-taught Spectrum (high school level) chemistry last year and has been self-teaching Art of Problem Solving math for a couple years already. When I say self-teach, I mean that I might have spent 10 hours in total last year checking (100% on everything is easy to check) her chem and her algebra. I don't think I spent more than an hour all last year teaching her anything. She just reads the book, nails the assignments, and carries on.

 

 

So, now, here we are in 8th grade. We've got a nice selection of work for her this year, all great stuff. MCT for English, MCT for lit, SonLight (easy, but we have it, and it's solid and fine) for US History, PA Homeschoolers for AP Environmental Science, AoPS Geometry (self-teaching with the text, as usual, she doesn't need the classes), and the last in the Galore Park Spanish series (equivalent of Spanish 3 or 4).

 

I'm starting to wonder if for this particular kid, we aren't going to want to go ahead and graduate her a year or more early . . .

 

The last thing I want is to be an empty nester a year early, but I do want to consider what is in HER best interest educationally. 

 

We have 2 universities in easy commuting distance. I think we could do "dual enrollment" there while still calling her a homeschool highschooler. If we do that, chance are she'll have a couple years of college credits by the time she graduates from high school. This is probably my current default plan. 

 

Alternatively, I could accelerate her a year, and she'd still graduate with many courses of AP/etc credit since by next year, since she's started AP this year and likely will continue with that to a large degree. 

 

Pros/Cons?

 

BTDT advice?

 

I really have never given this serious thought before, and I'm looking for ideas to consider.

 

FWIW, it will NOT be a good idea for her to wait until after 9th grade to decide to accelerate (so, about 24-30 more months). The reason for this is that she will nearly positively be a national merit scholar, and the critical test for that is given fall of 11th grade. NM scholarships are HUGE here in our house (as in >100k in scholarship money per kid), so I will need to plan for that, and the most sure thing is that we need to know when it is her 11th grade year to declare that so her PSAT that year is her official NM PSAT  . . . So, anyway, I need to decide for sure in the next 18 months, by mid-10th grade for sure.

I did, and could have done it even earlier.  In retrospect, I think it was a mistake.  Prodigious brain power does not equate to prodigious maturity.  You can't rush the latter.  So in my particular case and with that particular child, I kind of wish I had waited. 

 

Others are at appropriate age. 

[Mike in SA]

Been there personally, and we have the second one on an assured early grad route (only question is how early).

 

My wife and I looked at how long we could postpone the inevitable, just to allow emotional maturity to catch up a little with mental maturity. Both DW and I started college at 16, so we understand how significant two years can be. Sending a 12 year old off would be unfathomable to us - hence our desire to provide additional depth prior to college.

 

For our older son, we worked with the local public school to let him DE sooner, and take more APs than officially allowed by the school (some will be credited as only "honors," but he can take the test). This will allow him to stay with his age peers, but still accrue almost 90 college hours before graduating, while not affecting his incoming freshman status at any college we care about.

 

For younger DS - who is taking honors physics in 4th - there's no such hope. We'll just layer in a bunch of math and science that is not normally available to undergrads, and stall with a couple of years of advanced (for high school) lit. That should hold things off until 14-16 somewhere.

 

For what it's worth, we have spoken with a number of college admissions offices, deans, and parents who have graduated their kiddos young. The trick (and the approach we are taking) seems to be to declare the undergraduate process to be the child's high school. Parents watch and manage just as they would any other high school aged child. It's a time to learn responsibility - not to be saddled by early adulthood.

[SunshineMom]

We are in a similar boat however my dd wants to do high school sports and science clubs so she'll just dual enroll for 11th and 12th grade years. I personally won't rush to college unless your kiddo is really pushing for it.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Jewels

[Guest]

I would plan on a 12th grade year DE or working deeply on something at her inerest level. 8th geo is the double accel track here, and she is old for grade, so I wouldnt grad early as that would put her a level lower compared to age mates when beginning college coursework.

[StephanieZ]

I would plan on a 12th grade year DE or working deeply on something at her inerest level. 8th geo is the double accel track here, and she is old for grade, so I wouldnt grad early as that would put her a level lower compared to age mates when beginning college coursework.

Well, with her AoPS, she did ALg 2 before GEO (at least we did for this kid) and she has also done other "extra" maths (Counting & Probability, a middle school level Geo, etc, etc) . . . The only reason she's not much more accelerated on the traditional high school math route has been our extensive efforts to avoid that with deeper/extra subjects . . .

 

Even with AoPS (the most challenging math I've found), her current trajectory has her doing Calc in 10th grade, or latest 11th grade (if we spent 10th doing more "extra" maths instead of typical curricula). As she only has Alg 3 & PreCalc to do before Calc, and she plans to do them both in one school year (next year, 9th grade) as her older sister did (easily) . . . 

 

She'd be doing DE by 11th grade at this rate if we don't otherwise change her grade. 

[Lawyer&Mom]

For what it's worth, we have spoken with a number of college admissions offices, deans, and parents who have graduated their kiddos young. The trick (and the approach we are taking) seems to be to declare the undergraduate process to be the child's high school. Parents watch and manage just as they would any other high school aged child. It's a time to learn responsibility - not to be saddled by early adulthood.

I think this is spot on. I grade skipped and started university at 17 as a regular freshman in the dorms. In retrospect I think I would have rather started at 15 or 16 but lived at home. I would have benefited from academic challenge of university earlier than 17 and the freedom/responsibility of being on my own later than 17.

[quark]

.

Edited August 22, 2016 by quark

[Tess in the Burbs]

this is a great discussion.  We have been back and forth about whether to count this as 8th or 9th grade for DD this year.  Passing her brother has always been a concern, but at this point I have to be fair to her as well!  She has great maturity for her age and does well with older kids(her 13th birthday party was just attended by ages 13-17).  We weren't leaning toward DE, but maybe I need to consider going to college early, attending locally and living at home.  It would give her the challenge but not send her off too early.  

[Guest]

Well, with her AoPS, she did ALg 2 before GEO (at least we did for this kid) and she has also done other "extra" maths (Counting & Probability, a middle school level Geo, etc, etc) . . . The only reason she's not much more accelerated on the traditional high school math route has been our extensive efforts to avoid that with deeper/extra subjects . . .

 

Even with AoPS (the most challenging math I've found), her current trajectory has her doing Calc in 10th grade, or latest 11th grade (if we spent 10th doing more "extra" maths instead of typical curricula). As she only has Alg 3 & PreCalc to do before Calc, and she plans to do them both in one school year (next year, 9th grade) as her older sister did (easily) . . .

 

She'd be doing DE by 11th grade at this rate if we don't otherwise change her grade.

So she is on level with her gifted age mates, who typically in this area are young for grade. Sure, bump her up and grad her with them. They are typically starting DE in 11th, thn full time DE on the CC these days. Edited August 22, 2016 by Heigh Ho

[wapiti]

I don't have any BTDT perspective but will offer my two cents anyway.  To be clear, the question is whether you should change this year from 8th grade to 9th for a rather accelerated student with an October b-day, yes?  I would be open to that; I know plenty of people who turned 18 in the fall of freshman year back in the old days (including my dh and my brother; I'm not sure they realized or cared that they were slightly young for grade).

 

The question I'd consider is whether her college apps would be significantly better if she waited.  It sounds like the academics are sufficiently covered to be competitive for top schools or for scholarships.  I'd think about whether she is likely to have the whole package she'd need for ECs and interest development, aside from academics, in the new time frame.  I'd go ahead and track the classes as if she is 9th and then revisit the question in a year.

[Arcadia]

I'd go ahead and track the classes as if she is 9th and then revisit the question in a year.

I agree. It is hard to tell how much maturity happens in a year. And kids' wishes change too. My oldest change his mind about physics over summer from too much to want some more :lol:

[Luckymama]

FWIW you can easily change the grade/year level for NMSF purposes. We did so in January after dd took the PSAT as a reported 10th grader. I followed the policy in the PSAT/NMSQT booklet by writing to the NM corp and stating that dd was in her "next to final" year of high school. A confirmation letter followed a few weeks later.

 

I was always anti-grade-level acceleration. The plan was to do APs at home with me and take a class or two at a time at the state flagship university a mile away from our house (full pay unfortunately). We had to re-examine that plan once dd shifted away from a STEM path to critical languages/international relations in ninth grade.

 

She's graduating a year early. She's applying to colleges now but is planning on a gap year studying abroad (those applications are being written as well omg). That way she'll have the international experience she craves as soon as possible, she'll gain fluency in her first or her second critical language, and she'll enter college with her grade cohort.

 

All this was driven by dd. She's the one who came up with the proposal to graduate early and to study abroad during a gap year. She is incredibly motivated.

[G5052]

My youngest is accelerated and will graduate this year. 

 

We used the PSAT early on for practice and fulfilling state testing requirements. She had a perfect score on the English first try, but the math. Enough said. She took it twice and studied in between, and we decided to not do it last year. So that wasn't a factor for us.

 

She's done a mix of AP, dual enrollment, online, local, and classes with me.

 

The only area she'll be a little short on with her transcript will be math. She will graduate with Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II.

 

She wants to attend the local community college which has a superb honors program and a strong 2+2 program for what she wants to do. Her brother got into several selective schools and chose to do the community college to explore, and he loves it. He'll graduate in May and go to a top-20 school in his major if he stays on track.

 

For us it was an issue of being ready academically, having clear goals, and wanting to move on with life.

 

DH is retiring in December, so it's quite a period of transition for us. I'm going to keep working and am exploring some volunteer opportunities.

[Mike in SA]

Well, with her AoPS, she did ALg 2 before GEO (at least we did for this kid) and she has also done other "extra" maths (Counting & Probability, a middle school level Geo, etc, etc) . . . The only reason she's not much more accelerated on the traditional high school math route has been our extensive efforts to avoid that with deeper/extra subjects . . .

 

Even with AoPS (the most challenging math I've found), her current trajectory has her doing Calc in 10th grade, or latest 11th grade (if we spent 10th doing more "extra" maths instead of typical curricula). As she only has Alg 3 & PreCalc to do before Calc, and she plans to do them both in one school year (next year, 9th grade) as her older sister did (easily) . . .

 

She'd be doing DE by 11th grade at this rate if we don't otherwise change her grade.

Fwiw, our 9th grader is into his second year of calculus at the public school - no problems there. There are sufficient online courses to fill 3 years with valuable topics without worrying about college credit or overlap.

 

For our younger one, we've added three years of geometry beyond the AoPS level, including a geometric intro to linear algebra so he can take differential geometry after calculus in 6th. That way, he can study relativity and cosmology at something approaching full depth in 8th, without the pressures of a college schedule or grading requirements.

[catz]

I have a similar kid - HG/PG scores in early elementary.  He's been doing high school input or higher work for a long time.  Some 7th/8th grade work is transcripted for credit.  We are going the DE route.  My kid has told me in no uncertain terms he does not want to move out of the house early or "adult" early.  He is very academic but he also does lots of extras (music lessons in 3 instruments, theater, etc) and is just really enjoying life.  He also doesn't necessarily have a direction he wants to go in post college.  He has an October birthday too although red shirting spring to summer boys is extremely common here since all day kindergarten became the standard.  He went to B&M K and 1st and he was kind of the middle of the boys age wise actually.  He has decent college ready ACT scores as a freshman. 

 

Anyway, what does SHE want to do?  I'm fine with DE, but I'm not anxious to have my kid move out early unless he were pushing for it.  But he is a kid that will probably want to experience live on campus life.  Most students here that do DE keep their freshman status when they go to college.   The extra time for my kid is good in terms of maturity, organization, confidence, direction, focus.  He's smart but can be scattered.  If he wanted to go early and was pushing hard for it, I might re-evaluate.

 

I have a math degree and ended up repeating/stretching out some math for him and doing focus on problem solving at different points.  That has worked well.

 

We have 2 friends that launched very bright/GT kids to college early the past few years and both of them had struggles and hiccups and ended up changing course.  So that colors my view. 

Edited August 22, 2016 by WoolySocks

[Kassia]

My daughter (just turned 14 and in 9th grade) wants to graduate early, but I would prefer that she does dual enrollment until she's 18.  I will have her prepared to graduate a year early if that's what she really wants, but I am hoping that she will change her mind.

 

My niece graduated high school (parochial school) at 16 and started her freshman year at Dartmouth just after turning 17 last year.  She just turned 18 over the summer as an intern in D.C.  So far it seems to be working out fine for her, but she's a very mature young woman (lost her mom to breast cancer when she was 13). 

 

 

[katilac]

 

She'd be doing DE by 11th grade at this rate if we don't otherwise change her grade. 

 

DE in 11th grade is not a problem; that's a very common time to start (it's when both of mine started at the local uni). You might be able to get permission to start in 10th as needed. 

 

She wouldn't be all that young if you accelerated her one year, but if you have a good DE option that is probably what I would go with over accelerating 2 years. It varies by school - at the one my kids went to/go to, they could take up to 11 hours per semester. It's the very independent, self-teaching kids who sometimes take a while to adjust to another person's schedule and assignments! 

 

Both of mine did a 2nd foreign language. My oldest did volunteer work and some elective work in linguistics, my youngest is focusing on art electives. (just some ideas for adding challenge/depth along the way)

 

Check out the local universities and see what they have to offer. They might have some electives and activities that she could try just for fun and enrichment, in addition to pure academics. 

 

If you decide this year is 9th, it wouldn't be that early, there's always some fall birthday kids and the cutoff varies. I know my oldest was chomping at the bit by senior year to go, go, go. She turned 18 right before leaving for college, and my youngest will turn 18 right after leaving for college. 

[StephanieZ]

Thanks so much everyone! What an interesting conversation! 

 

What does she want to do? - - - I haven't even broached it with her. I have always had a firm plan of NOT graduating early, lol. She's young, we've never stressed grade level assignments. I won't broach this with her for at least another year or two. 

 

Maturity -- She's very mature for age at THIS TIME. However, I've already raised two teens, so I know it's totally plausible for her to stall or go backwards emotionally between now (going on 14) and when she's 16-18 and academically ready for college. This is actually the primary reason I've never seriously entertained my kids going to college early.

 

NMSC grade -- That's AWESOME to hear it's easy to change the NMSC grade designation. That takes a lot of pressure off! I'll just be sure that if I haven't yet decided to graduate early or not, that she preps and does well for PSAT 10th grade to leave open the option to change her grade designation that year. Awesome to know! Huge help! Thank you!

 

Extracurriculars -- Brag alert: My daughter excels at pretty much everything she touches. Sorry, but it's true, lol. She's a powerful little person and always has been. Since she was a baby, I joked that she'd either run the world some day or be a master criminal of some sort. Fortunately, she has a good heart and strong ethics, and so ruling the world seems more likely, lol. Her EC activities are very strong. Lots of leadership and activity in two areas -- local environmental groups (100s of hours a year, leadership roles, etc) and also music (advanced classical pianist as well as a contest winning and paid-gig-doing old time fiddler/banjo player/singer). Next year she'll also join our local super awesome FIRST Robotics team (that my senior son has been very involved in), so she'll have a full plate, so to speak, and I'm not sweating her EC resume. That said, ECs are not really a huge deal for us for college apps, as the elite schools are off the table due to finances.

 

(BTDT, investigated the options . . . Short version being that we will NOT qualify for ANY need-based aid for her, but we can not actually afford the 70k+/yr full price tags . . . We have an unusual financial situation due to having had huge business and student debts, which are just now getting paid off after 15+ years of large payments, but won't all be paid off until she's actually in college . . .  But that means a BIG part of our taxable income goes to debt repayment, which doesn't fit into the EFC calculators nicely. They see a high income and want a big chunk of it to go to college  . . .  They don't care that we've been spending a large (huge) part of that to pay for our business acquisition and our educations and another huge part on taxes (as that debt repayment is taxable income) . . . and that we just now started funding our own retirement as those debts have begun to be paid off . . . So, anyway, we have to be able to pay cash for college, which means we need to keep her costs under 30k/yr which means, in essence, she needs merit money, which will mean state schools with automatic NM or other Merit money or possibly 2nd/3rd tier schools that offer competitive merit money. None of the most elite schools offer any merit money.)

 

Anyway, her current plan is to be a vet (like her dad, and to take over the family business, lol), in which case we'll for sure want her to go to an undergrad for free or super cheap so she can use our "bank of mom and dad" money to help reduce her vet school loans -- as vet school is crazy expensive (exploded costs in the last decade or so, and the job market is much tighter than it used to be due to rapid increase in enrollments, and salaries have not REMOTELY kept up with cost of schooling), much more expensive than makes sense for the earning power of a vet . . . We don't want to quash her dreams, but realistically, the only sensible way to go to vet school REQUIRES you to minimize debt. So having us fund her first year or two will help (a lot) with that, and we can do that if she doesn't spend much during undergrad . . . So that's the plan we're preparing for, while of course keeping as many doors open to allow her to change her plans later as desired. Some graduating vets are coming out with 400k+ in debt and earning an average of 80k in wages . . . Meaning a lifetime of debt . . . No way do we want that for her, so unless she redirects herself to human medicine (I keep nudging, lol) or a similarly lucrative field, we'll for sure want her to minimize grad school debt, meaning we'd like her to save *our* money to help with that if possible. 

 

Thanks all for the input! I really appreciate being able to bounce ideas around and hear y'all's feedback. Keep it coming!!! 

 

 

[katilac]

 So, anyway, we have to be able to pay cash for college, which means we need to keep her costs under 30k/yr which means, in essence, she needs merit money, which will mean state schools with automatic NM or other Merit money or possibly 2nd/3rd tier schools that offer competitive merit money. None of the most elite schools offer any merit money.)

 

 

 

I was going to recommend taking a look at the Alabama schools, and then I noticed your signature! 

[StephanieZ]

I was going to recommend taking a look at the Alabama schools, and then I noticed your signature! 

 

Roll Tide!!

 

UA offers awesome merit money and has been an awesome experience so far!! College girl loves it, and with 5 years of tuition free (their NM package), she can get her BS & MS (in Comp Sci) tuition free (plus other money that covers most of the rest of her costs). U of Alabama is really a fantastic community. Everyone there is so nice and they have fantastic opportunities. There's a good chance our senior (son) will go there next year, too! 

[dhudson]

My oldest graduated high school days after he turned 17. Went to college and lived in Honor's Engineering Dorm that same year. Academically, he did fine, he was mostly bored but emotionally he struggled a bit. He had some depression issues but since he was only 15 min from home we could manage it. He turned 18 and flew to Boston to work for MIT and lived in a MIT Frat house with graduate students. He handled this summer much better with a year more maturity even though it was a harder situation. He started back to school today and chose to live at home. I really think emotional maturity is a far better determiner than academic maturity. For more younger twins, we just put them in the next academic class but leave them closer to their age for school. They will graduate at 17, almost 18.

[SunshineMom]

The free time for extracurricular activities and travel are invaluable at this age.  

Edited August 22, 2016 by Jewels

[Janeway]

I would just graduate her a year early. I would not call her a higher grade level until after the qualifying PSAT. I think there is a process where if she scores very well, you can ask to have her 10th grade scores count. I would go that route. If her 10th grade scores aren't that great or are borderline, you will have an extra year for her to try.

[The Girls' Mom]

With my oldest, we started to skip 8th grade.  I thought she was ready, SHE did not.  We ended up technically doing 9th grade twice..lol.  She needed the time to mature, and she's even on the older side for her grade.  Sending her to college at 17 would have been a disaster for her.  She turns 20 this December, and is finally ready to think about going away to school as a transfer student.  (she's at a CC right now and living at home)

 

OTH, we did skip the 8th grade with the twins.  They were more than ready, maturity-wise and academically.  They will graduate the same week that they turn 17.  The biggest problem they've run into so far is just that all their friends are older and were driving and such a long time before they were.  They finally caught up to that milestone, and it is fine again.  

Maturity-wise, they will be more than ready for college I think.  Their dad and I both were early bloomers and had moved out by 17.  

So, really, I would base it on maturity more than academics.  

Edited August 23, 2016 by The Girls' Mom

[8filltheheart]

This is very family and individual dependent.  We opted to not graduate our kids early.  For us, that was the best decision.  Our current college student was able to create independent courses he loved. He explored out of the ordinary high school subjects like philosophy (which he loved). His dual enrollment classes at the local university worked out well for him b/c he was able to take classes that fit his needs vs. classes off a prescribed list.  Bc of what he achieved during high school, he was able to earn a full-ride at a school where full rides are not typical.

 

Our current 12th grader ended up having a health crisis at the end of 10th.  I am so glad that we had all of last yr and this yr to work through meds, self-advocating, self-monitoring, etc.  She has also managed to create quite a list of major accomplishments.  Right now she is waiting to find out if she will be part of an incredible opportunity. (it would not have even been a possibility with early graduation.)  She is also applying for extremely competitive scholarships.  The accomplishments during the last 2 yrs of high school (very similar to her older brother) are what make her even think she might be a competitive applicant.

 

If $$ isn't an issue and if they truly cannot have their needs met at home (my kids have been able to with a combination of DE and private tutors), then we might have considered alternative options.  But, for us, not graduating early has been nothing but positive.

[regentrude]

My DD was very accelerated. Think tutoring (not just taking) calculus based physics at the university at age 15.

We opted to skip only one grade and have her graduate at 17.

She could have completed high school level work earlier, but we chose to have her take courses at a four year university while in high school

and delay graduation until 17. She graduated with a very strong transcript, 32 college credits in physics, French and English, and was admitted to a highly selective college with very high academic standards and quite a bit of pressure. Even there, she is pulling off a double major in physics and literature within four years (without using any of the credits she earned in high school).

 

For our DD this was exactly the right decision. She is mature enough (in fact, she is the one who organizes things and handles stuff with her friends and room mates) and doing extremely well academically. I do not think that an earlier graduation would have been beneficial, but I also know it would not have served her well to be held back another year.

Sure, we could have found more classes to take for her, but it was important that she be surrounded by academic peers and given an actual academic challenge. She would not have found this kind of challenge at our uni.

Edited August 23, 2016 by regentrude

[8filltheheart]

LOL....I had skipped some of the middle posts. Bama is where our ds is attending full-ride. :)