ofthevine Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 My oldest son is very young for his grade (elsewhere he would be in a younger grade) but has always been accelerated in both reading and now math. However, I'm interested in having a type of gap year where he can pursue interests and maybe hone in on a future career option before we go diving into high school and requirements. Has anyone done this? Thoughts on this type of thing? We would continue to have him write papers on his experiences with due dates, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 I would not take a year off math. If you want to pause the typical progression, then he could go "sideways" for a while and learn some interesting math topics that aren't normally covered. Or if the year is going to focus on career aspirations, then maybe special math topics that would be used in various professions. Or a year spend on competition math. Or problem based learning - some of Shelagh Gallagher's Problem Studies look very interesting. Wendy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofthevine Posted December 28, 2018 Author Share Posted December 28, 2018 Yes, I would go deeper in those studies as I wouldn't want his skills to diminish or fade in that year. Thank you for that. I'm thinking of taking this year between 8th and high school so that it doesn't affect his credits and he doesn't have that looming over him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 My son completed 8th grade at a private school in what should have been his 6th grade year by age. We homeschooled the next two years at a high school level and then he entered 9th grade at the public high school with agemates. The idea was for him to do b&m school through graduation. He is now in 11th grade and homeschooling part time. I will put the high school work he did between 8th and 9th grade on his transcript. If I were to do it over again, I would have used that time for travel and interest exploration while moving forward with skills (math, reading, and writing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 On 12/27/2018 at 12:22 PM, ofthevine said: My oldest son is very young for his grade (elsewhere he would be in a younger grade) but has always been accelerated in both reading and now math. However, I'm interested in having a type of gap year where he can pursue interests and maybe hone in on a future career option before we go diving into high school and requirements. Has anyone done this? Thoughts on this type of thing? We would continue to have him write papers on his experiences with due dates, etc. I would do it and in a heart beat, the middle school years are ideal for this sort of thing in my opinion, and I don't just think it is ideal for ALs, but even many kids who are learning at the usual pace. However, I recognize the effectiveness and benefit of a taking a "gap year" or even "gap years" during middle school are somewhat anchored by how much money or time the family can invest in enabling the childs interest, what level of access the child will have to a mentor, what kind of coaching/support they can get on an in-depth project, etc. Depending on the childs maturity and ability to self-regulate, he may need more/less parental support to make any progress with a particular project, no matter how interested he is in the field/subject in theory. Depending on the richness and value of other opportunities available, I'd even be willing allow my kid to pause in the regular study of Reading/Writing and Math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 We actually opted to keep ours in the younger grade from the beginning since we were homeschooling because we saw this becoming an issue later one in the middle school years. Subject matter acceleration wasn't an issue since we homeschool. We just didn't want it to become another tween stage issue to decide to take an extra year when it would be simple to skip if needed later. We are glad that we did as we can see that emotionally he could really use the extra time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofthevine Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 On 12/31/2018 at 10:22 AM, Gil said: However, I recognize the effectiveness and benefit of a taking a "gap year" or even "gap years" during middle school are somewhat anchored by how much money or time the family can invest in enabling the childs interest, what level of access the child will have to a mentor, what kind of coaching/support they can get on an in-depth project, etc. Depending on the childs maturity and ability to self-regulate, he may need more/less parental support to make any progress with a particular project, no matter how interested he is in the field/subject in theory. Very good point. I'll have to make sure my dh, ds and I sit down to figure out a plan beforehand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofthevine Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 How would you recommend I treat the sciences? Wait to start biology until his official 9th grade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 My oldest is unschooling her last year and a half of high school... I'm just having her keep a notebook and record everything that she reads, projects she does, etc. I don't have any earth-shattering advice - we're new to unschooling, too. My oldest (who was identified as gifted- scored like in the 99th percentile- in the brief time she went to ps) is basically unteachable at home now. Not sure of any other way to put it. I should've prepped her to start college early like I did (I started at 16). Instead, I'm trapped in this house with a 17 year-old who knows more than I do, is staying up until 3am sculpting and designing saltwater aquariums and does not want to start college early. It's ridiculous. *rolling my eyes* Why me???! *shaking my fist at the sky* Anyway, have you seen the unschooling blog https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com ? You may never go back to traditional homeschooling after reading her blog. Lol. She's got a ton of great advice on there. She has Podcasts, too. And she has an incredible system for recording their learning. Good luck with your planning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonbon Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Reviving this thread to see if the OP has come to more conclusions about a "Gap Year"? Any other stories from boardies out there who have done this in the middle school years? DD was a precocious learner at age 4 and I didn't know what to do at the time...she wanted more than to "just play" (though we continue to play / have a high value for play)...preschool didn't seem like the right fit...so we began homeschooling for a "trial year". Six years later, here we are. Academics are going really well. She has been identified as gifted; is advanced in all of the subjects we cover. We are outsourcing some classes this year--mainly for the social aspect (she is very extroverted) and shes thriving in this style of hybrid learning. The issue is that, looking down the road a bit, I would prefer that she have another year under her belt before starting high school (and college later). I started college on the younger side too and see that I could have benefited from more social maturation before leaving home. As someone else posted, I would like her to take this gap year between 6th and 8th grades so that it won't affect her high school transcripts / college admissions. I have some ideas as to what that would look like. In some ways, it wouldn't be really different. I would create reviews in math and help her to continue / keep all of the skills she acquired fresh. She reads a ton; I would value more time to read / discuss literature more deeply with her that our current schedule allows. I'd like to find some creative writing outlet or some new way to pursue writing (creation of a website; things related to small biz ideas she has). So, the 3 R's would continue. If we can afford to, I'd like to do some extensive travel. I also have another DD who is in the same boat. Different styles of learning; she hasn't been assessed formally yet, but she skipped a grade in math and language this year and her reading skills are really taking off. In some areas, she is progressing faster than DD1 did. So, again, a student on the younger side who could probably benefit down the road from some other experiences. They both seem / feel really "young" in some ways to me. In other ways, they are very mature and responsible. Not too "street wise", though, and that scares me when I look ahead. 😕 Partly, I'd just like to get off of the grade level / cover-this-in-X-grade "treadmill" for a year for the relational aspects between all of us as well. I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's done this sort of "gap year" and what it looked like / how it worked out. Curious about the OP's conclusions too-- Thanks-- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonbon Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Did a little searching after I posted and found: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonbon Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Just popping back in to clarify that both DDs will likely attend public or private high schools, so we will have to "align" to a grade level at some point vs. just "doing the next thing" (which has been a great advantage to homeschooling). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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