When should we start high school?

[howiecram]

Hello! I have a daughter, with a late August birthday. Our homeschool journey actually began because of this. All her friends were starting school and here we have an August 1st cut off, vice September 1. The schools around here (particularly the Catholic School we would have attended) were pretty strict on the cut off. I never intended to homeschool, FYI, but the Holy Spirit called and here we are wrapping up year 8. 😆. This particular child will homeschool through High School, I have no doubt about that. The first year of "K" was a very loose K and I really didn't want to homeschool. We found MP after that first year and she placed in MPK (vs 1st grade). That was a bit of blow. 😉. Anyway, long story she had trouble reading and so she completed Simply Classical 2, 3 and 4. by her 5th grade year we did a bit of a mix. She did the 4th grade literature (all of it), First Form Latin and R&S5 math. She did Fable and EGR1 with MPOA (and did VERY well). She finished Greek Myths and CS 1, as well as States and Caps. This past year, I was calling her a "6th grader". We are working through R&S6 math (she's doing great and for the first time since R&S2, she's finishing every lesson (we were able to sometimes do 2-3 lessons at a time). She's not an A+ student because I believe of her ADHD, but scored a solid 92-93 pretty consistently on all the tests. She won't finish Second Form, but my plan had been to take 2 years to do Third Form. My mom (a former middle school English teacher) took over her English studies and they worked through the 6th AND 7th grade English text (she also did writing and they studied together Heidi and Twenty One Balloons). She is finishing FMOR and CS2 and Geo 1. (we did drop Classical Comp since my mother willingly took over those subjects).

In discussion with my mom, she said "as far as I'm concerned she is starting 8th grade next year. *hmmmmmm*. I have her enrolled in MPOA Pre-Algebra and I plan for her to finish SFL (we will just have the last unit to do) and begin Third Form Latin. She will for sure do Anne of Green Gables and she started this year the Poetry and Short Stories book that is scheduled in the 8th grade, so she plans to finish that next year. She'll work through the 8th grade English series she has been using and will help with writing, etc. I'm a little stuck at this point. History/Geo, etc.

Would you move your child to High School the following year? (essentially skipping 7th grade) There are plusses and minuses to both. Her plans are "travel the world "and "write about it", then possibly enter a convent. I realize she is only 12 and this could drastically change, but I don't see her entering a math/stem/science field. She wants to do Latin AND Greek and then study French. (I'm trying to sell her on Spanish 🤷♀️)

Regardless of whether she is a 7th or 8th grader this coming year, I'm not sure what to do for the Classical/Modern/Christian Studies. I own all materials through the 8th grade (but I don't have Geo 3 yet). Oh, I realized I also don't have science figured out. She's completed only Mammals and Astro. She loves reading though and has read every science book we have in the house.! LOL. I own Birds and Trees, Novare Earth and Physical Science.

She's enrolled in MPOA Pre-Algebra and she spends 1 hour a day with my mom on "English" (grammar, writing, spelling, poetry, literature, etc), so I don't want to do any more "instructor" classes next year. My younger two will also take a considerable amount of my time.

So, my two questions are...move her to 8th or go ahead and give her 6 full years before "high school" is over?

[jen1134]

As a mid-August baby with a mid-August baby who is graduating next month…someone in this spot could really go either way.

That being said, given the ADHD and related challenges, I would base your decision off of emotional maturity rather than academic. I think you already know the 30% rule (for others else following: children and adults with ADHD tend to be 30% younger emotionally than their chronological age.) Obviously, that gap varies from child to child and I’ve seen it shrink a bit depending on how the ADHD is being coached/treated/etc.

So, based on what you know about that gap and it’s related factors for your daughter, what emotional age do you suspect she’ll be at when she is 17, about to be 18? I think that would be the deciding factor.

[Mom2mthj]

How old will she be on august 1?

[howiecram]

How old will she be on august 1?

She will be 12. She turns 13 on the 23rd.

[howiecram]

As a mid-August baby with a mid-August baby who is graduating next month…someone in this spot could really go either way.

That being said, given the ADHD and related challenges, I would base your decision off of emotional maturity rather than academic. I think you already know the 30% rule (for others else following: children and adults with ADHD tend to be 30% younger emotionally than their chronological age.) Obviously, that gap varies from child to child and I’ve seen it shrink a bit depending on how the ADHD is being coached/treated/etc.

So, based on what you know about that gap and it’s related factors for your daughter, what emotional age do you suspect she’ll be at when she is 17, about to be 18? I think that would be the deciding factor.

Yes! I've thought about that and just don't know! She is in American Heritage Girls and my observations of her she seems just like the rest of the girls. That being said, at home, I'm not prepared, for example for her to be a babysitter. She's impulsive and I think lacks practical skills or rather problem solving.

So....any advice on science/classical/modern/christian over let's say the next 2-3 years?

[jen1134]

Yes! I've thought about that and just don't know! She is in American Heritage Girls and my observations of her she seems just like the rest of the girls. That being said, at home, I'm not prepared, for example for her to be a babysitter. She's impulsive and I think lacks practical skills or rather problem solving.

So....any advice on science/classical/modern/christian over let's say the next 2-3 years?

I just went through the same thing with C so I copied the chart I made for him and then customized it with some ideas for R. Maybe it will help trigger some ideas:


Trees is a great prep for high school level work when you do the optional advanced topics at the end of the book!

[Mom2mthj]

I don’t think that I would accelerate her ahead of where she would be for local school cutoffs. Next year when she is in 8th I would start keeping better records in case you decide she would want to graduate early. My birthday was always the first week of school in September - I turned 5 the fall of kindergarten and turned 17 the fall of my senior year. Academically I was already bored to tears as it was, but emotionally I was young and going away to school was tough. She held my older brother back when they moved because of a late September birthday but he decided to graduate early because he h-a-t-e-d high school so you just never know. He went a year locally to college and then went out of state to finish up his engineering degree. It is hard to predict the future, but with homeschooling you really don’t have to rock the boat right now. Seventh grade content can be what you feel is the right thing for your daughter. It is a concept that can be hard for people very immersed in away school.

[momgineer]

She is currently an older 6th, right? Next year I would keep her in 7th. I know your mom sees her working at an English level to be in 8th next year and I assume that’s why she says you should skip 7th, but it sounds like you are currently working “behind” the standard 6th so why jump to 8th? I would also be worried about ADHD as a barely 18 year old college student. So many reasons to stick to the track you are on. There is no reason why your mom can’t just keep educating her at a higher level in English than her grade level. There is always higher level things to do even if it is beyond standard high school level. She could always dual enroll junior and senior year and get some English Gen Eds out of the way and get a feel for college.
As far as what to do in those four subjects some ideas would be to do:
science- she has very little background here. I suggest Trees/Bio in 7th, Physical Science in 8th, and then you can start high school science having had solid middle school level life science and physical science.
Classical- it sounds like you have only down Myths and FMOR. You could do FMMA in 7th and FMOG in 8th and save Homer for high school.
Christian- it sounds like you have finished CS2, so I’d do CS 3 in 7th and either CS4 or Book of the Ancient World in 8th
modern: you have only done Geo 1. I’d do Geo 2 in 7th and the American Studies in 8th. I’d save Geo 3 for high school.
with that plan, she would be a bit behind with high school classes compared to typical MP path, but the Homer and Geo 3 classes which MP does in 8th are perfectly good as high school credits.

[Katie]

So far, I’ve done both..accelerated one and slowed another down. My oldest daughter started high-school a year early. She was certainly ready academically. Here we are at the end of her second year and have decided to slow down for several reasons. First, when I think of her going off to college, I’d rather her be 18 than 17. Second, accelerating her put her ahead of her co-op friends and she got to thinking about that and decided she’d like to graduate with all of them. Lastly, taking an extra year will afford her the opportunity to slow down her Junior and senior year which will help focus and give more time to improve CLT scores for scholarship money, work her side jobs on our little farm, etc.

My next daughter is also a summer bday. She would actually fall in as a 7th grader (barely) this coming year, however, she struggles greatly with focus and I KNOW when she gets in to highschool that extra year will be needed. Ive seen this with my son (she is a lot like him). He struggled his way through Highschool..not academically, he’s smart..but the focus for highschool load was tough for him. He could of greatly benefited from an extra year. In fact, he is using the summer to finish up his senior year and possibly the fall.

All this to say, I wouldn’t rush moving ahead. She may be able to handle it now but highschool is a different battle for those kids that struggle with focus and time management.

[pickandgrin]

To Dorinda's point about grade levels, I was reminded of the delightful chapter, "What grade is Betsy?" in the sweetest book, Understood Betsy.
It has always been an encouragement to me!

[howiecram]

Thanks everyone! I was definitely feeling like "no, keeping her where we planned." As I was explaining to my mom, it actually works out really well. She wants to tutor all the children through this particular program, but she had already admitted that she could only zoom 1 hour per day. So, it was going to mean dropping literature for my eldest in 8th and "only" doing the grammar/writing with the middle. Since they are finishing the grammar "early" she can spend my son's "6th" grade year only with him for that 1 hour. (I feel this one on one tutoring has really helped my daughter organizationally and I'm hoping for the same for my son) I was going to have to do literature in 8th with her anyway. This "new " plan also allows her to possibly take the HS1 classical comp class as an "8th" grader. I would then probably sign her up for Physical Science as well, keeping to our 2 online class maximum motto. (Hoping the VT math will work without an instructor!).

I had already planned to enroll her in Kolbe beginning in 8th (when she takes Algebra) because the local public school will not accept a "mom transcript" if for some reason she would need to enroll in it mid way through high school. This "rule" is in place if you want them to issue the diploma. You can enroll and take a full class load with a mom transcript, but they won't give you a diploma from "their" school. (Apparently it's perfectly legal, HSLDA has not been able to "fight" this one). The way to avoid this is by enrolling in an accredited program.

As an aside, my brother finished high school in 3 years. It was not planned. Since he was in the 6th grade he wanted to do an exchange program. My parents told him he could do it the summer between his Jr and Sr. year, but he had to pay for it. He worked out a deal with my parents that my mom would give him lunch money. He could "save it" and pack his lunch, or spend it on lunch. He diligently packed his lunch every day. So, in the middle of his jr. year, my parents sat down with the counselor to look into summer exchange programs. There is a program through the Rotary club and it was having trouble getting kids! The counselor suggested instead of the summer exchange he participate in this year long program (it was ironically cheaper than the summer program!). My parents weren't comfortable with him attending a school in another language and it counting on his transcript. The counselor checked his file and they did a little bit of re-arranging (the school was on a block schedule) for the second semester of his Jr. year and he was now a "Senior". He graduated an entire year early and still managed to finish number 10 out of more than 500 students in a class he was never in! LOL. (someone actually approached him at graduation "complaining" he took his number 10 spot!). So, my point here is I know there is a LOT of time between now and her possible graduation. My brother did attend the exchange program and was required to attend the German school (he was only 17) per his exchange agreement. It was a little tricky applying to colleges with essentially a "gap" year, but he was able to receive a ROTC scholarship to George Washington University despite some initial confusion.

[tanya]

As someone who graduated from high school in three years and then went straight on to college, I would not recommend it. Academically, it was fine, but I was not in the same place as my classmates socially in maturity, and looking back on that, I can see it clearly. I feel like another year of high school would have been good for me - another year to mature and be ready to take on the challenges of college life, both academically and socially.

And as a teacher of upper grammar school students, my younger students were always behind socially too and struggled more. It is really amazing how a few months can make such a difference.

And finally, as the parent of grown children, don't rush it! It goes too fast anyway, so embrace it and make it last as long as you can! (And that's my sentimental reason!)

Tanya

[CatherineS]

I've held back several of my children who are less emotionally mature and have not regretted it, even though all are bright and could have pushed through on the academics. So I definitely wouldn't rush a child with ADHD to be the youngest in her grade.

[howiecram]

I've held back several of my children who are less emotionally mature and have not regretted it, even though all are bright and could have pushed through on the academics. So I definitely wouldn't rush a child with ADHD to be the youngest in her grade.

I really had that feeling too. I'd almost prefer for her not to go "away" to college until she is 21. I don't know that that will happen, but...an "extra" year of high school + Jr. College a year or so and maybe a true gap year would get us very close to that. She may have other ideas....😉

Despite graduating number 10 in my class of more than 450, I nearly failed out of college my first year....so I have the experience sitting with me as well. I needed/wanted desperately to leave home though (nothing serious was happening at home really, but I wanted my "independence" ) and my high school experience was clearly less than challenging. It did not prepare me for college at all.

[Mrs Bee]

Our girl will almost certainly graduate early, at the same time as her brother, who's almost exactly 12 months older. It was not part of a plan, it's the way things sort of happened, by way of decisions we made that did not have anything to do with graduation goals. One difference with Christine's daughter is that my girl is in the opposite birthday situation, she's "old" for her grade - where I come from, she'd be in the next grade because the cutoff is December 31. So for her, graduating "early" means she will turn 18 in the late fall of her first year in college, which is not an unthinkable situation.
I said at the beginning "almost certainly" because as homeschoolers we have the luxury of complete control over this particular aspect... also known as "kicking the can down the road" 🙂 There is no need to decide at any point in advance "I/You will graduate early", things can be left fluid, flexible, one just waits and sees, what's the point of feeling the pressure years in advance... Yes, there is the matter of high school record keeping, but if you decided to start that in what should be her 8th grade, it could even be accomplished in a way that she's not even aware of what you're doing. Again, you can keep it fluid and flexible, and consider it practice for yourself as well, using 8th to start keeping records the way you'd like for high school - but with no declared, official graduation goals.