I`m not sure on this. In my state you don`t have to keep attendance for a child until they are 6 years old. (And it doesn't state if that has to be kindergarten or 1st grade.) So I was waiting until dd is 6. She will be 6 in Sept. We have been doing things all along, but kinda spotty because she did not have a long attention span. She is getting a lot better now though. I was going to start kindergarten with her this year, but I am hearing and seeing things that make me think that she should be starting 1st grade. When I was in school, you started 1st grade when you were 7. I guess thats what I was going by. Some things she could do in 1st grade, but I don`t want to overwhelm her. So I was thinking of doing kindergarten anyway. I mean isn't that the beauty of home schooling? You can do what you think is best for your child?
My dd would have only been in Kinder this year because of how her birthday falls. But She will be doing 2nd grade work and she will turn 7 in october. We started earlier because she wanted to. Thats the good thing about homeschooling you can go as fast as you want to or as slow as you need to.
I believe it's 6. Here the cutoff in ps is Sept 30, so if your child turns 6 on Sept 30th, they can be in 1st grade. Dd is 6 1/2 now and will be starting 1st grade in the fall.
Its all relative. Call it first grade if you want. Your school can cover different stuff during first grade than others. You could also work on kindergarten stuff this summer, then "graduate" to first grade in the fall and pick up where you left off. Many first grade curriculums have a great deal of over lap with Kindergarten so you could even start with that and remediate as needed on missing skills. You are the teacher, principal and superintendant.
Do you feel she is "ready" to start school? If so, go ahead and do it more formally. I think most schools consider 5 as Kindergarten age, and 6 as 1st. But these are NOT hard and fast! YOU are in charge and can do as you think is best for your child. Regardless, I wouldn't report her until you had to! In Ohio, it is not required that you assign your child a grade level.
In our state if you are not 5 by September 1st you are not supposed to start kindergarten. So I would say, that 6 for first grade....meaning have to be 6 by September 1st. Of course my son's birthday is the 12th so he'd not qualify, but he can read already. Now for math he's doing well with adding, but doesn't like to subtract so I stepped back and we're playing games and such to build confidence, then we'll go back to the subtraction. If you're planning on homeschooling, i wouldn't necessarily consider grade as much as aptitude....maybe as a loose guidance for what materials to buy. For example, my eldest is doing 2nd grade....when I got the 1st grade materials, i was able to let her test out of a few of the units b/c she knew the stuff already - I had already covered it a different way....didn't want to bore her. We use Alpha Omega Lifepacs. She loves it. I love that she loves school. I would, when looking for a curriculum, start based on where her knowledge is now and build from there. Several companies also ofter tests so you can find where she'd fit in their curriculum. Good luck!
That truly is the beauty of homeschooling. You can go with whatever level she is on regardless of age. You don't have to classify her as k or 1st only. If she can do 2nd grade reading and k math then go with that and work on what you need to. Grace turned 4 in January and we will begin k in the fall. If she was in ps she would not be able to go to k until the fall of 2008!
I agree with Vantage Even though we call what my 5 yr old does "kindergarten" she is reading at first grade level, math at first grade (in fact we are using Saxon math for first), and the I use FIAR with her for the rest. My "2nd grader" just turned 7, but reading at a 3-4th grade level, math at 3rd (we used a slight more aggressive math this year, and she starts leaning multiplication next week!) and her writing really improved where she is now writing full page stories with illustrations. My 5th grader writes like a 3-4th grader (his parents both have ATROCIOUS handwriting and he's a lefty to boot, plus he's only 10, and 10 yr old boys just don't think writing is important right now! Three strikes against the poor guy!) But his math is 5th-6th, and most of his history and reading is 7+. My point here is that it really doesn't matter what grade you call it, you will inevitably work with you child at his or her level, not some prescribed grade level - you child may read at second grade level (2.0 second grade - 0 months), do first grade math, but write like a kindergartener. My kids DO like being able to say what grade they are in so they are like their friends, and it helps me to serve as a guide (a checklist) of what we may need to cover over the course of a year, or what we may need to catch up on if we missed it. Grades are truly relative. Just have fun -- that's what we try to do with our homeschool.
School starts August 21st around here, my child will not turn 6 until September, but will start 1st nonetheless.
Here in WA state we don't even have to report that we are homeschooling until the child turns 8 yo. That's the cumpulsory age. kindergarten is when the kiddo is 5yrs old. School starts after labor day here so they have to be 5 before then. My daughter turned 5 in february but she attends a special ed preschool. next year she will go to preschool again then after that it's homeschool. I got a lot of attitude from a friend's hubby because I was keeping her in Preschool when she's old enough for K. My friend has a kiddo that will be 5 this summer and they are making a big deal about how I'm going to damage my child by holding her back a year and their kiddo is so much smarter because he's going to start K. The beauty of homeschool and as a parent you get to decide what is best for your kiddo no one else. My 11 yo likes telling people what grade he's in but actually he's all over skill wise. We just go by age and what grade is the equivalent in PS.
I mentioned that we don't have to label our kids as far as grades go. I never have written a specific grade on my notification forms. Well, this past yer, I had to report Phillip for the first time. I consider him 1st grade, but I didn't put a grade down. For the first time, I received a call from the district, asking me for a grade level on my kids. I politely told her that we weren't required to give that information. She got rather upset with me, and told me that she couldn't file my paperwork unless she had a grade level. I politely but firmly informed her that this was Year Eight for me, I've never given a grade level in the past, and I wasn't going to start to NOW. Well, EVERYONE ELSE I've contacted was co-operative.... That's nice, but it is not required by law, and I chose NOT to give that information.... She finally told me that FINE! SHE simply wouldn't process it!!! and hung up! Then, I get a call again from a differnt office, wondering where my evaluation was for Philip. I didn't need one, because he just turned six and it was my first year to report him. But, she informed me, he's in 2nd grade, and we need it for 2nd graders! OH!!! Itold her that *I* never said he's in 2nd grade, and no, they needed it for children the year AFTER their first official year. Well, isn't he 2nd grade? So I explained that he did 2nd grade reading, 1st grade math, science with his 10yo sister, and history with his 12yo sister. What grade would she like to consider that, LOL! This lady was really very nice, she was just having a hard time understanding! Finally she just gave up, and didn't worry about it. (But when I got my paperwork back, they had him marked as 2nd grade, lol!)
I'm cheating and not reading the other responses.... IMHO grade levels are things that you or your kids say when asked "Gee, little girl what grade are you in?" lol The work level is dependent on where they are. If she knows the K stuff throw in something harder if she doesn't then tone it down to fit. If the age/grade thing is for state requirements then go with what the state says for grade not necessarily level, right? Deep breath....enjoy the fun!
Grade level is also helpful for clubs/church/contests, etc. that divide children by the grade they're in. That's why I always make their "grade" whatever it would be if they were in the school system.
I do the same thing Jackie. So far I've had to put her grade level on 2 summer camp forms and kid's club at church. Samantha was in ps for 4 years so I guess I am used to the "grade level" thing. Even though she is on a highschool reading level and 5th grade math she is 6th grade begining in the fall. With Grace I am going to begin Kindergarten work in the fall. Reading and handwriting mainly. But when I sign her up for things at church I will put prek because of her age. So there ya go! Confusing enough?
That is what I do. Other than that, I don't pay much attention to grade level. If my child moves ahead great...if my child needs to slow down that is fine also. This is really subject to subject thing also. My kids are in different levels on different subjects at times.
Is it really cheating when you don't read the other responses? If so I'm cheating too but it seems to me like there are really two 'issues' when asnwering that question. The first is what grade level work you're giving him. And the second is what grade level you put down on paper. As far as what grade level work--I think, like others, that you give whatever fits his needs. My oldest dd does Core 1 from Sonlight, with 3 & 4th grade reading and 3rd grade math. She's in 2nd grade. It just doesn't really matter. As far as what to put down on paper IF you are required to do so, is that you should put down what grade he would be in if he were sent to school. Perhaps nothing I'm going to say pertains to your situation but bear with me. ;-) If you live in a state that requires testing, you probably don't want to test him earlier. . .even though he's perfectly capable of doing well. When you are filling out paperwork for camp etc. they generally have things grouped in terms of grades. Even if it is not an issue now it may be in the future. For example in NYC, you cannot work unless you are a certain age and have finished a certain grade. They do not care that you thought outside the box and taught your child according to his needs. They just want to know what grade he is in.
