Starting High School question

[Runningmom80]

We've recently figured out that DS 12.5 is mostly in high school level classes. We have him grade skipped with the to grade 8, due to his short time in school, and I'm wondering if there are any downsides to starting his HS transcript this year. My concern is that if he decides to take 4 additional years of high school (not skipping again) will it be held against him if his transcript spans 5 years?

 

I tried searching for the answer to this and didn't come up with anything. TIA! 

[Arcadia]

2 hours ago, Runningmom80 said:

 My concern is that if he decides to take 4 additional years of high school (not skipping again) will it be held against him if his transcript spans 5 years?

 

No idea about college admissions obviously.

DS14 choose not to grade skip and it is the correct choice for him. His high school transcript would be 4 years but his credit by exam section on his transcript would be starting from his 7th grade year because he cleared the AP Calculus BC exam that year. 

When we submitted his dual enrollment admission form for 9th grade in October 2018, every course listed for fall semester was in progress. I just attached his AP Score Report 2018 to the transcript. It wasn’t a problem and they issued him a student ID.

When we submitted his dual enrollment admission form for 10th grade, his transcript is kind of messy (he still owe some 9th grade courses) and we attached his AP Score Report 2019. He didn’t have problems registering for Fall 2019 classes once the paperwork boxes were all checked in their system. He was also able to clear the prerequisites for the two courses he wanted with his AP exam score. The admin cleared the prerequisites before I had DS14’s AP score report sent from CollegeBoard, the counselor office just told me to send soon (which I did).

ETA:

DS13 missed the state’s birthday cutoff by a few days so he was grade skipped in public elementary school. DS14’s birthday is just before the cutoff.  Both kids start 9th grade at 13 years 8 months. 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Arcadia

[lewelma]

Is he still in school or back home? If he is home, my understanding is that you can stall on claiming his grade until PSAT in 11th grade for NMS.  Obviously, I'm not the expert in this field.

When DS applied to university, his schedule was 6 months off (southern hemisphere), and he had earned his high school diploma from NZ in 10th grade (diploma is based on exams, and he had taken them, so the diploma date was listed on his transcript from the NZ qualifications authority), but then kept working in "high school' for two more years.  It was a right royal mess to deal with.  But basically, we counted 4 years of work, and very briefly discussed how we handled these oddities. 

Ruth in NZ

[Arcadia]

8 minutes ago, lewelma said:

 If he is home, my understanding is that you can stall on claiming his grade until PSAT in 11th grade for NMS. 

 

My kids get free tuition for dual enrollment for high school starting from 9th grade as long as they don’t take more than two classes per quarter at one of the local community colleges. I don’t know what would happen if either of my kids does high school for five years, maybe I have to pay for any dual enrollment class taken in the 5th year. Another local community college let my kids have free tuition for dual enrollment starting from 10th grade. 

[Runningmom80]

39 minutes ago, lewelma said:

Is he still in school or back home? If he is home, my understanding is that you can stall on claiming his grade until PSAT in 11th grade for NMS.  Obviously, I'm not the expert in this field.

When DS applied to university, his schedule was 6 months off (southern hemisphere), and he had earned his high school diploma from NZ in 10th grade (diploma is based on exams, and he had taken them, so the diploma date was listed on his transcript from the NZ qualifications authority), but then kept working in "high school' for two more years.  It was a right royal mess to deal with.  But basically, we counted 4 years of work, and very briefly discussed how we handled these oddities. 

Ruth in NZ

 

He's at home, he has been at home since K. (My younger two went to school)

It's different in the US, he needs a number of credits, so I was thinking he could start now. I don't know that he would even need an extra year but now I'm talking about another skip so that's why I'm confusing myself. I suppose I could start counting them and then just see where he is in a year or two.

[Runningmom80]

27 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

My kids get free tuition for dual enrollment for high school starting from 9th grade as long as they don’t take more than two classes per quarter at one of the local community colleges. I don’t know what would happen if either of my kids does high school for five years, maybe I have to pay for any dual enrollment class taken in the 5th year. Another local community college let my kids have free tuition for dual enrollment starting from 10th grade. 

 

That's nice! We don't have to wait until high school for DE credits, but they usually only award 3 to you're students. 

[Arcadia]

10 minutes ago, Runningmom80 said:

It's different in the US, he needs a number of credits, so I was thinking he could start now. 

 

I’m going for the more credits the better when my kids finish 11th grade. Another thing to consider for us is that my kids are asynchronous so they are catching up on their humanities. So for them, doing a grade skip would make my kids behind grade level for English and humanities.

9 minutes ago, Runningmom80 said:

 

That's nice! We don't have to wait until high school for DE credits, but they usually only award 3 to you're students. 

 

For the community college my DS14 like, it’s 7 quarter units free (Fall 2, Winter 2, Spring 2, Summer 1) per academic year. So it’s just 3.5 high school credits per academic year. We would have to pay the same as full time students if DS14 wants to take more than 2 courses per quarter (1 course limit for summer quarter).

[alewife]

5 hours ago, Runningmom80 said:

We've recently figured out that DS 12.5 is mostly in high school level classes. We have him grade skipped with the to grade 8, due to his short time in school, and I'm wondering if there are any downsides to starting his HS transcript this year. My concern is that if he decides to take 4 additional years of high school (not skipping again) will it be held against him if his transcript spans 5 years?

 

I tried searching for the answer to this and didn't come up with anything. TIA! 

My kids started high school level classes before the traditional high school age.  However, they all graduated from our homeschool at age 18.  Their transcripts were organized by subject, and I gave them credit for many of the high school level classes taken prior to their official start of high school, so their transcripts spanned more than 5 years.  

This approach was not an issue when it was time to apply to colleges.

Good luck!

[Runningmom80]

Thank you!

[8filltheheart]

Our approach is the same as @alewife's. Our kids just take whatever courses meet their academic needs. If the courses are on a high school level and they are 10 yrs old, then they are still just a 5th grader taking high school level courses. We still don't graduate them until what is supposed to be their sr yr anyway. (There is no grade skipping in our homeschool since I am the one that decides what they are studying any given yr. It is completely irrelevant what grade the courses are normally taught bc they don't need to jump through hoops to be allowed to take appropriate level work.)

I also organize transcripts by subject vertically and yr horizontally.  Include a column for prior to 9th grade that shows what courses were taken before they officially started high school.

Copy of sample high school transcript-1.pdf

Edited August 3, 2019 by 8FillTheHeart

[Runningmom80]

Thank you 8! That is helpful.

[Runningmom80]

6 hours ago, HeighHo said:

No problem.  State law here says 8th graders in public school must have the opportunity to take high school courses in mathematics and one other subject. Some schools will start math in 7th.  

Grade 8 is the normal placement here for a student turning 13 in the fall of 8th grade. We have December cutoff. 

 

DS is November birthday that’s what we didn’t fret too much over the skip. Our cut off is end of September.

[daijobu]

On 8/3/2019 at 2:34 AM, 8FillTheHeart said:

Our approach is the same as @alewife's. Our kids just take whatever courses meet their academic needs.

 

Agree with this.  Whenever your student wants to graduate and move on, then count backward 4 years and that's his high school.  

What is considered grade level for any given class is not well defined.  Students here will take algebra anywhere between 6th and 12th grade.  (And often an even wider range.)

[EKS]

On 8/2/2019 at 11:52 AM, Runningmom80 said:

We've recently figured out that DS 12.5 is mostly in high school level classes. We have him grade skipped with the to grade 8, due to his short time in school, and I'm wondering if there are any downsides to starting his HS transcript this year. My concern is that if he decides to take 4 additional years of high school (not skipping again) will it be held against him if his transcript spans 5 years?

I tried searching for the answer to this and didn't come up with anything. TIA! 

I hope not.  My rising senior's transcript will span 8 years.

ETA: He attended a b&m school for the first two of those years (grades 6th and 8th) where he received high school credit for math.

Edited August 9, 2019 by EKS

[daijobu]

On 8/8/2019 at 7:32 PM, CuriousMomof3 said:

This is maybe a dumb question, but  if you start a transcript now, and don’t graduate him for 5 years, couldn’t you just erase the first year, and maybe rename some classes (English 10: British Lit, becomes English 9: British Lit) before you send it off to colleges?

 

 

I think to a certain extent you can.  

I organized my transcript by subject, and included a few items on the high school transcript that were taken in middle school:  algebra, geometry and AP CS A.  I made it clear that those grades were not used to calculate GPA or for units for graduation.  I included them in case any box-checkers wanted to make sure she'd taken algebra and geometry (important for UCs), and just because it was an AP class.  

But I don't think what constitutes English 9 versus English 10 is well-defined.  Everything else I'd just rename the year.  

[Guest]

On 8/8/2019 at 9:32 PM, CuriousMomof3 said:

This is maybe a dumb question, but  if you start a transcript now, and don’t graduate him for 5 years, couldn’t you just erase the first year, and maybe rename some classes (English 10: British Lit, becomes English 9: British Lit) before you send it off to colleges?

 

It depends on if you need the credits/course names. Here, biology and algebra have both required some fiddling to get them within 8th-12th grade, where they can count on a transcript, and adding a 5th year of high school might mean having to find another class in that extra year to check some boxes, because the classes with that name have scrolled off the bottom. 

FWIW, we ended up sort of doing the reverse-in order to get DD’s college classes to count on a high school transcript, 7th grade abruptly became 8th, and she just doesn’t have a 7th grade. She will also have an extra year after completing all high school requirements because she will still be officially under the mandatory education age for our state. It’s just easier to not graduate her until after her 16th birthday, even though most of her coursework has been college classes since age 12. 

[Runningmom80]

23 hours ago, HeighHo said:

 

High school courses can be taken any time the student is ready. 

 My state has a procedure for test out and for alternative demonstration of proficiency.  One does NOT have to take courses in a particular year or a course at all if one demonstrates proficiency sometime during the 8th-12th years, and that's good for 6.5 credits for B&M students.  One also does not have to take the standard high school courses...for example in lieu of Regents Algebra 1 exam done before 8th grade, one substitutes AP Calc, IB Math, IGSE,or SAT Math Subject exam done in the 8th-12th grade period while one is busy with Linear Algebra or whatever if one has not graduated early.   Advanced courses are really all about working with the Admin.   Keep in mind though, that people usually don't do the bare minimum if they accelerate, the AP scores for example need to be 3 or higher.    An superaccel math sequence here in a wealthy school would be 6th Alg 1 & 7th Geo (no high school credit if B&M), 8th A2 (high school credit since in 8th grade), 9th AP Calc BC, 10th & 11th Calc 3,  Diff Eq and 12th work with mentor or Linear Alg.   To satisfy high school grad requirements, the Regents Exam for A1 and for Geo is satisfied using alternative exam AP Calc BC score or SAT Math Subject test. its not necessary to change the grade level, and if the student wants to grad early that's okay too.  

 

Ok so he's on that math schedule and it seems to be similar here. (for acceleration)