8th Grade Graduation question

[scrapbookbuzz]

I get why people have the 8th Grade graduation. It's a nice step of honor to the next level.

I just don't really understand how or why it's done in the homeschool community. My kids are all over the place when it comes to academics
that there would be no way to officially declare a next grade - at least until high school graduation.

If you are a homeschooler who's done a formal 8th grade graduation or know a homeschool who has, will you please explain how you determined
that you should and would do it? 

Thanks!

[Ellie]

3 hours ago, scrapbookbuzz said:

I just don't really understand how or why it's done in the homeschool community. My kids are all over the place when it comes to academics
that there would be no way to officially declare a next grade - at least until high school graduation.

 

Homeschoolers talk about how "grade level" is unimportant, but all y'all, here on the forums and I would assume IRL, tend to refer to your children first by their grade levels, and second by their ages, so...?

And eighth grade "graduation" is not "declaring a next grade." It is recognizing the accomplishments up to that point (although I had never heard of an eight grade graduation until my children were older, because where I grew up, junior high was seventh, eighth, and ninth, and there was no graduation from ninth; we just went to the high school next). It's a hold-over from the days when, in some communities, formal education only went through eighth grade.

I maintain that when it's necessary to refer to our children by a grade level (and that should only be with non-homeschoolers, i.e., Sunday school teachers, grandparents, nosy neighbors or grocery store clerks...) it should be by the grade level they would be in if they were in school, based solely on their date of birth and the cut-off date in the state where we live. The year that our children are six by the cut-off, they enter first grade, and the next year they are second grade, and so on. No red-shirting, because for homeschoolers the grade level is irrelevant; it is just a way for institutions and groups to put children together who are the approximate same age.

[Tanaqui]

All the time I read here about how people stop homeschooling in high school. The end of 8th grade may be the last time for all the homeschool kids to get together before they enter brick-and-mortar schools.

Quote

It's a hold-over from the days when, in some communities, formal education only went through eighth grade.

 

And even today, for some students it's the last academic milestone they'll achieve, or at least the last one they'll achieve with their peers.

[Knock]

29 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

All the time I read here about how people stop homeschooling in high school. The end of 8th grade may be the last time for all the homeschool kids to get together before they enter brick-and-mortar schools.

 

This rings true in my area, where many families send their kids to public or private school for the high school years. I don't know that any of our local organizations hosts an 8th grade graduation (the way they do 12th grade graduation), but I know families who celebrate by announcing graduation, maybe taking pictures, and hosting an open house or party. 

Me, personally? I have a lot of nieces and nephews, none who are homeschooled but all who attend schools who celebrate 8th grade graduation with dances and a ceremony. So I celebrated my kids' 8th grade graduations, too. We did a fun, informal photo shoot and invited everyone over for a party. It was very low-key and looked like any other family event, except dessert was a cake with "Congrats, [Kid]" written on it. 

Because nobody but me really has an interest in the details of their curricular map and long-term educational plans, I planned their 8th grade celebration for the year they would have made it had they attended brick and mortar school. My kids were all over the map at that point, working at, under, and above grade level in various subjects. It's the same approach to placing them in grade levels when required for other things, like church groups or scouting or whatever. Nobody cares when my brick-and-mortar nieces and nephews are working above or below grade level, either. I had one nephew who was allowed to celebrate his 8th grade graduation with his classmates, but really he still had to attend summer school in order to make up three months worth of work he missed while in the hospital. It's flexible,celebrate whenever you want!

[sweet2ndchance]

Eighth graders in public school can be all over the map too. Some have completed algebra 1 already and others are just finishing up pre-algebra going into 9th grade. Still others may still be struggling with basic math and need pre-algebra in 9th grade. Those same students could be all over the place in writing and reading too. Some are ready to tackle early college level novel reading and essay writing while others struggle to form a coherent paragraph and read grade level material. Not all eighth graders are on par with each other no matter how they are schooled. That's why there are usually 3 or 4 different levels of basic math and English that a student can enroll in. Some will take remedial classes, some will take A-level and others will take honors or another track to AP level classes depending on their skill level in that particular subject.

I think eighth grade graduation is less about academic completion and more about celebrating the fact that these "children" are now teenagers. They are on the edge of childhood and entering young adulthood. They are entering a new phase in life and the graduation is less about what they have achieved academically in most cases and more about celebrating how grown up they are becoming. Same thing with kindergarten and preschool graduations. It's not about academic achievement. Kids that young are even more all over the place than 8th graders. It's about celebrating them growing up and becoming a "big kid" and going on to big kid school.

I also think, in the homeschool community, it can be a little bit about making sure the kids don't feel like they are missing something by being homeschooled or to prove to family and friends that worry about the kids "missing out" that they don't have to miss out on things like that just because they are homeschooled. 

[Farrar]

We're going to do photos and a surprise 8th grade end of year trip in a few weeks when activities are finally finished. We did a special meal out and some special things honoring growing up stuff when they finished 5th grade.

A ceremony seems a bit silly to me, but if the other kids in our co-op were also finishing middle school, we'd probably do one. Most of them are in 7th this year though.

In general, I think marking milestones and honoring our kids is something that is nice to do. In public school, kids get honor day and award ceremony and special honor roll pizza party and final advisory day and so on and so forth. I think it's okay to give our kids some of those things sometimes.

[daijobu]

We had some sort of party for students moving from 5th to 6th grade (elementary to middle school).  It was at my house, potluck, and I handed out free printable internet certificates to each student.  No cap/gowns or anything, just a little acknowledgement.  It was fun, and another excuse to gather some of my dd's friends.  

[daijobu]

Just now, daijobu said:

We had some sort of party for students moving from 5th to 6th grade (elementary to middle school).  It was at my house, potluck, and I handed out free printable internet certificates to each student.  No cap/gowns or anything, just a little acknowledgement.  It was fun, and another excuse to gather some of my dd's friends.  

 

Somehow, we just forgot about 8th grade for some reason.  

[Dmmetler]

Well, my DD ended up starting the year as an 8th grader and ending it as a degree seeking college freshman:). Although I’m not planning to officially graduate her until she finishes the AS :).

 

 I did do my end of year party today for my clubs and classes-the kids got certificates for their accomplishments this year, and added to a bulletin board where they wrote stuff that they were proud of (which, along with academics, dance recitals, and soccer tournaments included things like “made friends with Susan” and “got to a new level in Splatoon”). And sometimes parents will choose to celebrate a “graduation” as part of that. 

[2_girls_mommy]

We did an 8th grade graduation barbecue for relatives and neighbors for both of mine. They have worked hard and are moving up into the final years of school. It was very informal. This weekend was dd13's. It coincides with their dance recital that grandparents always come to anyway. Just on those two particular years we had a barbecue before hand and set up an "open house' for the grandparents to look through. I set up displays from some of their bigger projects this year, put out some artwork from everyone, and set out all of their certificates from outside things from the year for everyone to ooh and ah over. I ordered my dd a small gift and grandparents gave her small money gifts. We had grad balloons and cupcakes. All of our schools do something to celebrate going to high school. It seems normal to reward mine too. 

[2_girls_mommy]

adding- both of mine are all over the place as far as where they are in different subjects. Wildly different levels from where the other was at the same age. But that is their 8th grade year, no matter which math or science text they are working out of! It is the same in schools. When I went into 9th grade I was in Alg. 2 with seniors. That meant those seniors left 8th grade doing basic math and moved up to preAlg. in 9th. I had done that in 7th. My girls are the same. But both have worked hard at their own levels in everything. Both read, do math, do latin, take outside science classes and do homework, have their own special talents and skills and outside classes, etc. They both deserve celebrating. 

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Our homeschool group had a combined 8th grade and high school graduation ceremony (last night, actually), so we participated.  I don't think we would have had something just for our dd if there hadn't been one for our group.  She's participated in weekly enrichment activities with most of them since Kindergarten and I think all 9 of them will still be homeschooling next year.

[Lecka]

I have a 7th grader and i was shocked recently with how concrete he is in his understanding of things, why things matter, etc.

We tell him about the future, but it’s concrete things now that matter to him.

I think it makes a difference to some kids to have these concrete events that are about the importance of education and making good choices.  

[MerryAtHope]

On 5/20/2018 at 9:56 AM, scrapbookbuzz said:

I get why people have the 8th Grade graduation. It's a nice step of honor to the next level.

I just don't really understand how or why it's done in the homeschool community. My kids are all over the place when it comes to academics
that there would be no way to officially declare a next grade - at least until high school graduation.

If you are a homeschooler who's done a formal 8th grade graduation or know a homeschool who has, will you please explain how you determined
that you should and would do it? 

Thanks!

 

Our local homeschool group has, at various times, done an end of the year graduation. It just depends on the moms who are interested, but often it's a combined K-8th-high school. The nice thing about that is that it celebrates the uniqueness of homeschooling, and it makes the celebration a bit bigger/longer than a service for just one or two students. Some years it was just a graduation, and other years it was a "TAG" event: Talent Show, Academic Fair, Graduation. 

Where your kids are academically really has no more bearing on when you would do an 8th grade graduation than it does for what grade level you call your kids. Most people just call their kids the "grade" that they are relative to their age. At the end of that school year (or a date that you choose to mark the difference between "8th" and "high school," you can set the date. So, whether you school year-round, or follow a traditional or non-traditional calendar for schooling, you can still make it work if it's important to your family. I think what's done in various communities can make it more or less important.

My kids did a K graduation because there were people doing ceremonies those years. They didn't do an 8th grade graduation because there were no high school graduates those years (I've found that it was usually the desire for a high school graduation that "drives" the interest here).