Red-shirting an accelerated learner

[JRmommy]

I often see many gifted homeschoolers graduating early.  But, I’m wondering if any of you have done the opposite with your children?  

I have an accelerated learner who is 11 years old and has an August bday.  He is at a higher grade level in most subjects even though we just finished up “6th grade”.  I’ve considered reclassifying him as a 6th grader this coming school year.  I honestly cringe at the thought of him going to college at 17 years or younger.  The social stressors at a university are so very much for a young teenager.  Not to mention after graduation with their degree(s), they will begin a career at such an early age.  Adulting is hard, folks!!  I’m sure I will be able to keep him challenged by going deeper and wider and focusing on his interests in high school.  And if he is interested in doing a gap year after graduating high school, I would be thrilled!

I haven’t seen conversations amongst parents of gifted homeschoolers about delaying high school graduation or even keeping them on track to graduate at 17/18 years old.  I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.

[freesia]

My oldest is a gifted fall birthday (November with December cut off). I wish we had done this. It is actually working out okay and we are feeling good about him going off to college, however more maturity in ninth and tenth grade would have been great. Also, I wouldn't feel as good if he weren't going to a small liberal arts school. 

[egao_gakari]

I only very recently found out that my mom sort of did this with me. (I was homeschooled through 6th.) She had planned to homeschool me through graduation, and her intention was to just keep me at home and learning more things till I turned 18 rather than setting graduation "requirements." Her reasons were, 1) My older brother and I had a terrible relationship and if she accelerated me there would be jealousy issues that would make it worse, and 2) She knew another homeschooling family who had sent a child to college very early, and he wasn't emotionally ready for it. I went through 12 years of home and PS education, and most of my adult life, not being aware of that she had the opportunity to let me skip a grade when she sent me to PS. I'm glad she decided to keep me in the grade that matched my age, because when I look at myself, I know for certain that I wouldn't have been ready for college any earlier, even though I was bored in a lot of my PS classes. (I also wasn't waaaaay above average the way some people are, though. I don't think I'd have been academically able to handle coursework more than 1 grade above my age.) Anyway, I don't think you'd be damaging your kid by just telling him he's in 6th because all 12-year-olds are in 6th, and letting him do coursework in each subject at whatever level he actually is.

[8filltheheart]

There are plenty of threads discussing not graduating gifted kids early. Red-shirting them, I am not sure about bc I haven't paid attention. The only one of our kids who has a late summer bday and did not start K at 5 is our weakest student and she still struggles as a7th grader.

i don't have time to search with the current cruddy search engine, but here is one thread I found quickly. https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/510030-downside-to-early-advancement/

Fwiw, we do not believe in graduating our kids early. We simply let them progress and study what they want at appropriate levels until they are graduates by age. My ds who just graduated from college (and also did not graduate early from college though he could have finished in 2 yrs) took philosophy and theology courses during high school, DE for math and physics at an advanced level, etc. My current college freshman studied unique literature courses and spent her sr yr doing a capstone thesis on Shakespeare. You can't run out of things to study. ?

fwiw, our belief is that staying the course and using all opportunities to their advantage ultimately makes them stand out and in turn opens more doors than trying to do things faster and at a younger age.  It is an approach that has proved successful for both undergrad and grad school applications.

 

[JenneinCA]

I tried to do this.  My older son has an October birthday.  So in some places he would be a high school senior this year.  

I tried to keep him involved with classes at his level and still be at home.  I registered him for the local community college when he was almost 15 because he needed outside teachers and he wanted in person classes.  He loved it.  But he was with people who were moving on to four year schools after completing their two years.

He went to the counseling office and found out exactly what he needed to do to get an associates degreee.  Then he did it.  I would have had him wait a year and take more different classes.  He didn’t want to.  I suppose I could have told him that I wouldn’t pay for any other school but he had taken most of the classes that he wanted to take.  He wanted things that are only offered at a four year school.  Higher math and more computer classes being the biggest issue.  

Officially I didn’t give him a high school diploma until after he had an associates degree.  I was holding out for the four English classes and the history/social studies classes that he didn’t take enough of.  I decided it was silly to withhold his high school diploma when he had proof that somewhere along the way he figured out that material.  Sometimes I am forced to realize that it isn’t my life it is his and he is ready to move on.  So whatever you decide to do know that your child may have other plans.

(He is heading to Student Orientation today.  He is entering a four year school as a junior majoring in Computer Science.  He is seventeen.  There was no pushing on my end.  I just didn’t hold him back.)

[igbu]

Both our boys have late summer birthdays.  We "redshirted" both.  When our boys were young I asked as many folks who had wrestled with this decision.  I don't recall any of our friends regretting their decision to "redshirt" their boys.  It is certainly different for everyone. 

DS14 entered K at 6 years old, but did only 1/2 days as we after-schooled a lot the first few years (simply because he seemed to love it).  We didn't know until 2nd/3rd grade that his academics would require accelerating (i.e., subject accelerating).  It was during 6th going into 7th that we learned his middle school and high school would probably have to look very different than we had plan/thought due to local schooling limitations and his need for radical acceleration in a couple subjects.  As he moved into the middle school years and now high school we are very glad we redshirted him.  He attends his local school for Concert band and sports, but at this point most everything else is done thru study centers, online, at home, DE, etc...  As long as his need for academic peers and rigor is met, we do not plan to have him graduate early.  However, we've learned to be very flexible as every year or two it seems we need a new plan.

Our DS12 is in a very similar situation, he is physically and socially not as mature as his older brother was at the same age.  Again for us (and him) "redshirting" him and choosing to subject accelerate the academics has worked well so far.  He would be undersized and maybe a bit less mature around older middle school kids.  Academically, his needs for accelerating and rigor is greater than his older brother.

For us we believe finding balance between their need for academic peers, rigorous studies and their social and sporting desires to be very important.  Some years we can see a need for more of one than the other.  We've adjusted the schedule accordingly during those times.  So far its worked well.  Having a little more maturity or at least being on par with the girls has helped during middle school as we discuss and navigate these early social years.  Also, it certainly doesn't hurt during the middle school and early high school sporting years, to be one of the taller/bigger kids (one of our boys fits that bill).  

If the academics (during HS) drive an early college decision so be it although that's not the current plan.  I think we've come to believe that accelerating academics is a bit easier (today) than ??de-accelerating?? to meet social/sporting needs.  We are thankful that so many resources have become available over the past few years that allow subject acceleration.   Don't know if we could have done it 10-15 years ago.  

[EKS]

We almost red-shirted my older (summer birthday) son by having him "repeat" 11th grade.  This would have looked like him doing CC for two years starting in what would have been his senior year.  But by May of that first year, it suddenly became extremely apparent that he was done with high school, so I graduated him, and he did a gap year.

The younger one (winter birthday) officially skipped (at a b&m school) first 5th and then 7th grade.  After 8th, we brought him home and he did high school work for two years.  Then he decided to try the public high school in what would have been his 11th grade year, but we put him in as a 9th grader.  He enjoyed it for a year, but halfway through 10th he decided that much of it was "meaningless."  So I pulled him out of the two most meaningless classes to homeschool at the end of the first semester.  Next year, he will take three classes at the high school and everything else at home.  He has decided that he wants to be done by the end of next year, so we will be pushing to finish.  He may decide to take some courses at the CC or the local vocational high school in what should be his senior year (and if he does this, he would officially graduate after that) or he might do a gap year (and if he does that, he would graduate at the end of next year).

All of this is to say that you won't know what is best for your son until you get there, and maturity has a funny way of happening in spurts.  Also red-shirting can look like a gap year, and for gifted kids who are burned out on high school, a gap year may be more valuable than another year of academics.

[CrystalAnne]

My husband has a summer birthday and was held back due to maturity.  I have a September birthday and missed the cutoff.  We were both the older ones in our classes, and academically advanced.  Having taught in the schools for a number of years and spoken to many teachers (who all pushed to wait until 6 yrs old), I decided to "give that extra year" to my summer birthday boy.  I saw too many young kids who struggled socially, academically, or both.  And I saw many kids who excelled with both, and that social maturity made a huge difference!  We still challenge him academically and give him work for the grade ahead quite often.   However in social settings, scouts, church stuff, etc., I call him the younger grade.  We'll always have the option to bump him up to the next grade if he should need or want to.  

[kiwi mum]

4 hours ago, EKS said:

All of this is to say that you won't know what is best for your son until you get there, and maturity has a funny way of happening in spurts.  Also red-shirting can look like a gap year, and for gifted kids who are burned out on high school, a gap year may be more valuable than another year of academics.

I totally agree with this. There is no way, at age 11, that we could have predicted where DS would be (either academically or socially) at age 17. Keep your options open. Play it by ear. The right path will become clear when it is time.

[JRmommy]

Thank you all so much for all of your thoughtful responses!  I’m feeling much more confident in our decision to redshirt our 11 yr old.  And since my youngest’s bday is late July (she will be turning 6 years old next week), we will redshirt her, too!  And just as mentioned earlier, if they are ready to graduate earlier and/or decide to do a gap year, we can address it when the time comes.  

[JRmommy]

6 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

 

i don't have time to search with the current cruddy search engine, but here is one thread I found quickly. https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/510030-downside-to-early-advancement/

Fwiw, we do not believe in graduating our kids early. We simply let them progress and study what they want at appropriate levels until they are graduates by age. My ds who just graduated from college (and also did not graduate early from college though he could have finished in 2 yrs) took philosophy and theology courses during high school, DE for math and physics at an advanced level, etc. My current college freshman studied unique literature courses and spent her sr yr doing a capstone thesis on Shakespeare. You can't run out of things to study. ?

fwiw, our belief is that staying the course and using all opportunities to their advantage ultimately makes them stand out and in turn opens more doors than trying to do things faster and at a younger age.  It is an approach that has proved successful for both undergrad and grad school applications.

 

Thank you for posting the link to this thread!  It was very helpful!

And I’m so thrilled you responded.  My son used “Treasured Conversations” a couple of years ago and it was our favorite writing curriculum to date!

[SKL]

If he's about to turn 12 and going into 7th grade, then why would he not be 18 when entering college?

I'm not clear on why you want to redshirt.  You don't mention that there are social or other delays / immaturity compared to others his age.  So I agree with those who say, keep your options open.  Personally, without knowing more, I would put him in 7th grade this fall.

One consideration is that once he turns 18, he has the right to go his own way whether you're done educating him or not.  I would personally rather do as much as I could before they become adults - including graduating them if possible.

[SoCal_Bear]

I did with my son who has a late September birthday. The cutoff was 10/1 for our state that year. The following year, It moved to 9/1. I chose to do this because it is easier for me to move him up later than to move him back if social issues become a factor. In my experience with working with preteens and teens, you can use how a child is at 4 or 5 to predict how things will unfold when they hit puberty. I decided to give him the gift of time and allow him plenty of time and space to be a child. Since we homeschool subject acceleration is not an issue.

 

[kiwik]

I hate the idea of my kid being a legal adult for the whole last year of school.  One of mine may be one won't.  That said I think it would be fun to do half school half work placement for the last 2 years.

[Dmmetler]

Well, at 11 we seriously considered a school that would have put DD doing a 2nd year of 7th grade, because they placed by age (and then individualized for ability). At 13, we ended up adjusting her grade level forward, and, on paper, skipping 7th grade entirely (because by making 7th 8th on paper, she was able to get some classes on her high school transcript.  She has enough high school credits to graduate a year early if she wants to do so, quite easily, 

She’s now seriously considering international universities, which may, depending on country, require a gap year for visa reasons. 

All that is to say, grade level can be really mutable for gifted kids. It very much depends on what the child wants to do at the time. DD has been involved in college classes unofficially since age 8 and for credit since just after turning 12. At 9-10, I thought we could go deeper, do online classes, maybe some DE at 16/17 when it was free, and be fine. By age 11, she was wilting on the vine and needed other kids, so suddenly both school, even with putting her back to her age grade, and early college were on the table. After a year of college classes, it was obvious that she was going to run out of stuff to do there, too, even with taking everything that looked interesting and not tying herself just to one major. Hence the grade skip.  Right now, she plans to not start at a university as a full-time student before age 16 because of housing restrictions at many schools. 

At 11,the idea of an extra year made sense. She seemed too young, too immature, too flighty. Gifted, yes, but little. At 13,she truly holds her own as a college student and is accepted as such with little question. If she needs a gap year, or to readjust and do a 5th year of high school, I don’t think anyone would question it due to her age (and the cover school she is under tends to encourage 5th years). 

 

 

 

 

[4KookieKids]

We are keeping all of my August-Sept bdays in their normal grade where they are the oldest, but I’m not sure it’s considered red shirting since the grade cutoff where live is July 31st. I could’ve easily moved them up a grade for ability but don’t have any reason to. I can adjust material for them, it’s easy to advance their grades later if needed, and I want them to have ample time to just be kids and not make them grow up faster. Occasionally, we do a it a higher grade level on a camp form if there’s a camp they want to participate in that they miss the grade cutoff for (eg Lego Mindstorm camp for an older/advances 2nd grader but the camp started at 3rd grade), and they did just fine, no questions asked. 

[katilac]

8 hours ago, SKL said:

If he's about to turn 12 and going into 7th grade, then why would he not be 18 when entering college?

I'm not clear on why you want to redshirt.  You don't mention that there are social or other delays / immaturity compared to others his age.  So I agree with those who say, keep your options open.  Personally, without knowing more, I would put him in 7th grade this fall.

One consideration is that once he turns 18, he has the right to go his own way whether you're done educating him or not.  I would personally rather do as much as I could before they become adults - including graduating them if possible.

 

I agree with everything in SKL's post. Which, y'know, is highly unusual ?

[8filltheheart]

10 hours ago, kiwik said:

I hate the idea of my kid being a legal adult for the whole last year of school.  One of mine may be one won't.  That said I think it would be fun to do half school half work placement for the last 2 years.

I don't know the process there, but in the US, a lot of kids are 18 for almost their entire sr yr. If the state's cutoff date is Sept 15 or earlier (majority of states http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/mbquestRT?rep=Kq1402 ) and school doesn't start back until mid-Aug, then all of those late summer/early fall bday kids will turn 18 right around the beginning of school.

I absolutely agree that I don't understand  why you would red-shirt an advanced middle schooler for no reason other than graduation age bc a gap yr is always a valid option.

[lewelma]

I don't know the process there, but in the US, a lot of kids are 18 for almost their entire sr yr. 

In New Zealand the cutoff is typically July with beginning of school year in January.  This makes half of the kids 17 and half of them 18 when they start university. With an August birthday, my son is an oldest here and a youngest in America.

I am not sure I could have kept ds home for another year.  Not only was his last year of high school crazy difficult to pull off at the level he was studying (no dual enrollment here so it was all on me!), but he has become *very* much an independent adult and is ready to leave home.

[Ann.without.an.e]

My middle dd is definitely gifted.  She is a September birthday and I chose to have her wait to be officially kindergarten.  I just didn't want her going to college at 17.  And even though she was always super smart (even young), I feel emotional maturity is a factor too.  She will turn 16 this fall and be a sophomore and I am still glad for my decision.  She is mature, she is smart.  She could be a junior for sure but I want her home for one more year and she wants that too ❤️ 

[Momto4inSoCal]

My twins were born 9/30 and the cutoff is 9/1 now in CA due to recent changes. I had planned on keeping them back before I knew the cut off had changed. I just wanted to give them more time to be little and play. It didn't seem right starting at 4 turning 5. I don't regret it at all so far but they are still little. One twin is more advanced than the other and he will be starting BA3 in Sept but he will officially be 1st grade. I figure we have time to really delve into things and dig deeper or slow down if we want to. I have no plans of holding them back academically and we will go according to their pace. There are so many options for homeschoolers in high school including dual enrollment, early graduation or technical certificates so if they are still ahead by that point we will probably look into one of those options depending on what they are interested in. Most likely dual enrollment or spending time really studying what they are interested in. I'm sure we will figure it out when we get there. It's only one year difference and we will never get the younger years back. 

ETA: I just re-read your post and realized it was for an 11 yo not a 4 or 5 yo. I would keep him at his grade level and decide later. It wouldn't be hard to add an extra year if you decide to do that or maybe you will feel differently at that point and want to graduate him. 

[Donna]

When I began officially homeschooling dd at 5yo, I decided to keep her at the grade level she would be for her age then adjusted her curriculum to fit her ability. She began high school level classes somewhere around 6th-7th grade and dual enrollment last year as a 10th grader. She tested well enough she could have graduated early and gone to college but she was not in a hurry to go, still doesn't know whether she wants to go a traditional university or conservatory route, and is more interested in enjoying her music and traveling right now. We seem to have fallen into a perfect situation for her currently. She does her DE classes online so is able to travel constantly for her music while keeping up with her studies plus she still has time for her own projects. In our current state college classes are free for high schoolers so there was also financial incentive to not graduate early though that will only be realized if she decides to go somewhere that will accept her credits...otherwise, she will simply have the experiences and learning from those college courses. 

I think these choices are as individual as children themselves. We have friends who have chosen to graduate early, others who went the DE route, and others who went a more typical high school route without DE (with and without APs). 

[Clemsondana]

Since I haven't had a specific reason to change my kids' grade level, I've chosen to call their school grade the grade that they'd be in our local schools since it's helpful for social activities - Sunday School at church, youth group, etc.  For baseball and karate, there are age parameters for teams, classes, and competitions, and I want for them to have their school grade be the same as the other kids in their age group. I just adjust their school work to match their abilities and maturity level - for example, we did history with very little output because my kiddo who knew a lot of history didn't have the ability to write a paper about it.  In math, ability far outpaced frustration tolerance and writing ability, which affected curriculum choices and pace.  I don't know what will happen when they get older - college classes while living at home?  Going to college early?  Home-grown classes that allow more depth?  A year of non-required classes that add breadth while they grow up a little more?  Independent research, internship, or part-time job?  I don't think that there's any way to figure out now what we'll need later - at different times, I've been startled by amazing acts of maturity or beating my head against a wall to get them to do things that 'all other kids their age can do'.  I've kind of settled into 'they are who they are, they'll grow when they grow, and we'll figure it out when we need to'.  

[scbusf]

My gifted son turns 12 today and he is starting 7th grade this coming year (but he is already doing some high school level curriculum). However, we are in no hurry to graduate him early. In fact, depending on how things play out in high school, we will probably encourage a gap year after high school.

[mathnerd]

On 7/17/2018 at 1:39 PM, 8FillTheHeart said:

fwiw, our belief is that staying the course and using all opportunities to their advantage ultimately makes them stand out and in turn opens more doors than trying to do things faster and at a younger age.  It is an approach that has proved successful for both undergrad and grad school applications.

 

I agree with this. Though initially, when my young, gifted son was very ahead in all his skillsets, I was considering the option of graduating him early, when he hit age 8 and his maturity level went up and he could read and write advanced content, many opportunities opened up for him. As 8FillTheHeart said, he has not run out of things to study. In fact, there is hardly enough time in a day for him to get all the studying done because of the number of options that he is interested in. I will continue to challenge him in his areas of interest and though not redshirted, he will graduate at the conventional age for graduation. 

[....]

I would say, be flexible.  My oldest tested as gifted during the brief time she went to public school.  99th percentile.  I came close to letting her skip 8th grade and just start high school early.  I ended up not letting her skip a grade.  She's now 16 and I regret it.  She's ready for college *now*.  This fall could've been her senior year, which would've been more appropriate.  She's not just ready academically, but she's done being a kid.  Of course there's always more stuff to study at home, but my dd is just developmentally ready to move on to something new.  

I was the same way when I was in high school.  I started college at 16.  I was just done.

It's hard to predict what our kids are going to be like when they're 17-18, I guess.  I do feel like I made a mistake.

[Condessa]

If we had been sending my older ds to a brick-and-mortar school, I would have redshirted him.  He is an incredibly bright, accelerated kid academically, but socially and emotionally immature.  When we got word last summer that my kids had been accepted to the homeschooling charter that my girls had been on the waiting list for for the prior two years, I was very uncertain whether to sign him up as a Ker or wait another year.  I think if I had tried to make him do set amounts of school subjects on a schedule at that point, he would have rebelled.  But he was desperate to take cello lessons, which we could not afford without the charter school funds.  They were willing to allow us to continue to follow his lead so long as he kept making regular progress across subjects.  It was a wonderful year and just perfect for him right now, but I do wonder if his maturity doesn't catch up, if we might eventually need to adjust his grade level.

 

ETA: He has a June birthday.

Edited September 16, 2018 by Michelle Conde
ETA: ds has a June birthday.

[J-rap]

We redshirted both of our kids who had late summer birthdays.  We didn't realize they were gifted when we made that decision, or for a long time afterward, in fact.  I guess we just thought all kids were like that, especially since we homeschooled and had no comparisons except our own family.

Both of these kids had great childhoods and many wonderful opportunities, but wished they hadn't been redshirted.  They felt very ready to move on before their senior year, and felt like they were being held back just to go through the motions of getting required subjects done.

I'm not sure how I'd do it differently today.  I maybe would have still started them late, but then done high school in three years.

 

[kiwik]

On 7/19/2018 at 8:13 AM, lewelma said:

 

 

In New Zealand the cutoff is typically July with beginning of school year in January.  This makes half of the kids 17 and half of them 18 when they start university. With an August birthday, my son is an oldest here and a youngest in America.

I am not sure I could have kept ds home for another year.  Not only was his last year of high school crazy difficult to pull off at the level he was studying (no dual enrollment here so it was all on me!), but he has become *very* much an independent adult and is ready to leave home.

But a lot of schools use an earlier date.  The school my kids started at were absolutely rigid on a March 31st date (and insisted it was the same throughout NZ) whereas other schools in town use April 31.  I have one March and one May.  I will say in the 70s the only kid who was younger than me had a early May birthday so I guess even through the ministry uses 30th June as a cut off for funding many schools use an earlier date and have for some time.  I wasn't impressed by the blatant lying though.

Edited August 10, 2018 by kiwik

[regentrude]

I do not see how "grade level" matters in a homeschool until age 16 or so: you teach the children at the level they are capable of. If a 13  y/o is ready for college level work, they do college level work as homeschooled students; the label "8th grade" is pretty meaningless.

You cannot, at age 11, predict their maturation. One of my children needed to go away to college at 17 because it was necessary for her development. The equally gifted sibling would not have been mature enough. You don't have to decide until you need to declare which year is 11th grade, because that's the year the PSAT counts for NM. I would not make any predictions now how mature and ready they may be at age 17. A lot of development will happen between now and then.

Edited August 10, 2018 by regentrude

[luuknam]

On 8/10/2018 at 9:49 PM, nwahomeschoolmom said:

I started college at 17 just because of when my birthday fell. I started Kindergarten when I was still 4...I know that would not happen today...kids seem to be starting later and later (since now Kindergarten is full day.  I went in the days of half day Kindergarten when it was more like preschool.)  Personally, I don't recommend college at 17 unless your child is very mature.  I wish I had had a gap year to just work at a cafe and gain maturity and realize why I going to school.  I went to a top college and would blow off career fairs because I preferred being an angstful artist type that didn't care about money or big corporations.  I had to learn the hard way that money is required to live and spent a lot of it going to grad school to actually learn and get decent grades.  We will be making our son take a gap year.

 

Actually, plenty of states do still let 4yos start full day K - here the cut-off is Dec 1st. But anyway, I don't know how much it matters... I have a summer birthday and I took a gap year (exchange student in Thailand), etc, but I'm not sure I've attended a single career fair at college either (and I've spent many, many years in college). Being a year or more older doesn't guarantee certain kinds of maturity, just like being a year younger doesn't guarantee a kid doesn't have certain kinds of maturity. 

Like others said though, a kid with an August birthday who starts 7th grade at 12yo will start college at 18, and besides, you can't predict maturity nor is there a need to yet. Even being in a high regulation state I've told my kids that when the time comes we'll decide whether to skip, do, or repeat 8th grade... no need to redshirt before that point (I've got a 2E August birthday about to turn 11 entering 6th (he was in PS for 5 years, from 3yo to the end of 2nd grade), and a November birthday 7yo entering 3rd on paper who likely would need a grade skip if entering regular school). I've just told my kids (mostly the oldest) that grade levels don't matter and that what matters is at what point they can take DE and at what point they're ready to graduate, etc, and that those things aren't just about academic ability, etc, so, they know that it's just a number because I have to give the state a number on the paperwork, and that in reality there's quite a range in ages at which kids graduate etc based on skipping, repeating, month they were born in, etc. 

[MamaSprout]

We've had several grade skippers in my family in both my generation and the one before. Most have had "meh" college experiences.

Dd was grade accelerated when we had her evaluated, provided she could grade skip into a self contained gifted class (not an option here, which is why we homeschool).

Her brothers were both red-shirted because they were right at the cut off, and while they did an enormous amount of dual-credit, I'm still not sure it was the right choice. I think it delayed them too much. It's a tough call.

I feel like homeschool is the gift of time. I also don't want to move her into the adult world any faster than needed if I can keep her brain busy in the meantime.

Edited August 20, 2018 by MamaSprout

[....]

1 hour ago, MamaSprout said:

We've had several grade skippers in my family in both my generation and the one before. Most have had "meh" college experiences.

 

I started college at 16 and it was like I had been rescued from a deserted island!  I loved everything about college.  Lol.

[MamaSprout]

On 8/17/2018 at 8:59 AM, Evanthe said:

 

I started college at 16 and it was like I had been rescued from a deserted island!  I loved everything about college.  Lol.

It's a tough call.

Edited August 20, 2018 by MamaSprout

[alewife]

On July 17, 2018 at 3:47 PM, JRmommy said:

I often see many gifted homeschoolers graduating early.  But, I’m wondering if any of you have done the opposite with your children?  

I have an accelerated learner who is 11 years old and has an August bday.  He is at a higher grade level in most subjects even though we just finished up “6th grade”.  I’ve considered reclassifying him as a 6th grader this coming school year.  I honestly cringe at the thought of him going to college at 17 years or younger.  The social stressors at a university are so very much for a young teenager.  Not to mention after graduation with their degree(s), they will begin a career at such an early age.  Adulting is hard, folks!!  I’m sure I will be able to keep him challenged by going deeper and wider and focusing on his interests in high school.  And if he is interested in doing a gap year after graduating high school, I would be thrilled!

I haven’t seen conversations amongst parents of gifted homeschoolers about delaying high school graduation or even keeping them on track to graduate at 17/18 years old.  I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.

I haven't read the other replies, so hopefully my comments are not too repetive from what has already been said.  

My kids all graduated from our homeschool at the typical age of 18.  I don't think they would have been accepted to the colleges they are attending had they graduated earlier because their extra curricular activities would not have been as strong when they were younger.  For example, one of my kids conducted research once a week and more hours in the summer. However, he was not permitted to begin the research until he turned 16 as that was the minimum age established by the hospital. His research ended up being published in multiple medical journals (he was 2nd author) and winning international awards. Had he graduated early, he would not have had this on his resume when he applied to colleges.  

My kids were also able to go into college with quite a few credits.  Their schools do not accept many AP credits, but they do permit the kids to take departmental exams for credit.  My current senior has enough credits that he could have graduated from his school early had he wanted to or needed to.  

Every situation is different. For my kids, graduating at 18 was definitely the right decision.