I am home schooled and in the 7th grade. What do I need to do to skip 8th grade?

Question

I am pretty sure that I will pass any tests I need to take. I live in South Carolina and I have been told by my former public school teachers that I could skip a grade. Any help is very appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

You have to do the work and cover the ground.  It's also the rules of the system you use.

You will probably have to double up.

In public school 8th grade was Algebra 1 and 2 and 9th grade was Geometry 1 and 2 and 10th was either Algebra 3 and 4 or Trig 1 and 11th was the rest of the algebra and 12th was pre-cacl or cacl or math anaylsis

If you don't the algebra background the geometery will be hard.  The trig will definately be hard.

Math is probably the most important.

I doubt that history and English and Science will be missed that much moving from 7th to 9th

But as I recall 8th and 9th were both Earth Science and World History.

You can make up for that reading books.

So find out what the courses entail.

Find out especially waht the 8th and 9th math courses are

That will be the most important, because it's the most difficult.

Answer 2

Since home schooling, true home schooling that is; is not tied to a grade level but is based on the competency level of the student it should not be an issue as long as you are capable of doing the work.

Our children have always worked at different levels in the subjects that they had as part of their "formal academics"..

Your parents can graduate you when you finished your high school program, if you graduate early like so many, you simply start college, and that's it.

Just make sure to make time to study for the SAT and ACT as well.

Now if you are enrolled in an on-line, public school @ home program, or a charter school you may have to contact the school and find out what their take on it is.

Answer 3

In North Carolina, it is completely up to the parents.  The student only needs to complete the work required by the parent.

Answer 4

If you are determined to get to college early, first, look in to exactly what is required of you as a homeschooler in your state. This can be done easily enough at hslda.org. Some states have very strict guidelines, others do not.

If your state allows freedom and flexibility, you can talk to your parents about your plan and start working toward it. If they are in control of your curriculum, then you can request to begin working on highschool level classes in your 8thgrade year, as long as you are ready, academically. If you are enrolled in an umbrella school, request to test out of certain subjects to move along faster.

Once you hit highschool it will be very easy to finish early. Most generally you will want a certain amount of credits to prepare you for college, so you can "blow" through them pretty quickly. For example, our local public highschool works on a block schedule, meaning each semester is an entire year's work, so they offer 8 full credits a year, and require only six to advance. If you took that as an example, and finished 8 full credits a year (and if they can do it, no problem for you!) you could get everything you need to be well qualified for college in three years, or less.

Also, consider dual enrollment. Most community colleges will allow you to start taking courses at fifteen, sometimes sixteen, so you could start knocking out some lower level courses while still in highschool.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

If you're going through an umbrella school or virtual school, you'll have to fulfill the requirements for 8th grade that they've set forth.

Other than that, I don't get the point. We've been homeschooling for 9 years and grades are really just arbitrary.  To eliminate confusion, if someone asks what grade one of my kids are in, I'll just say "he would be in grade ___ if he were in school."  

When it comes to their actual school work, however, they might be working on a reading book that is for a grade lower and a math book for 2 grades higher, or vica versa. When we choose educational materials and activities, we don't go by grade levels, but by what we need at the time. When my daughter was 15 and qualified to take college courses, we didn't start calling her a "freshman"-- she's just a homeschooler taking college courses.

Grade is really irrelevant to education, it really only helps educators sort kids, and considering the main qualifiying element to grade is age it is pretty meaningless and has nothing really to do with lifetime learning.

If you're a homeschooler, why not just keep learning, who cares what grade you can say you're in? If you're going through a specified program with guidelines, that's one thing, like I said, but if you're just homeschooling, things like "skipping a grade" and being "left back" are pretty meaningless-- you just work at your own pace.

Answer 6

That's completely up to your parents.  I would talk with them and see what you need to do to fulfill 8th grade requirements - they may allow you to test out of various courses and start on high school work.

My son is 10 and is working on 7th-9th grade work; I tell him he's in 5th grade so that he knows what to answer when people tell him, but he'll most likely start college classes when he's 15 or so.  Grade levels in homeschooling don't apply nearly as much as they do in classroom schools...it's really more just so that you know what to tell people when they ask you what grade you're in :-)

Hope that helps!

Edit - as for what your homeschooling form says, that will be up to your parents and your state laws.  If you live in a state that requires annual testing and/or evaluations, you should be able to list whichever grade you're ready for.  Just make sure your coursework and test scores measure up to whatever you list on your eval/intent form.

Edit again :-) - unless your homeschool accountability group has strict rules about age/grade correlation, you should be able to send in your form stating whatever grade level you're working at.  You should be able to either test out of coursework (I allow my son to do this so that he doesn't have to go back through things he already has mastery of) that you're good with.  Also, if there is a subject or two that you do need to put the coursework in for, you should be able to put extra work in now (if you're up for it) or put in extra school days on the subject.  

Example - my son tested out of two math books.  As long as he got a 95% or above on a quiz for a specific set of lessons, I didn't make him go through and do those lessons.  He got to move on to new material.

He also has chosen to take on some extra courses, and he's agreed to either put in time after his other schoolwork is done, or count some Saturdays as school days to get ahead.  As long as he's willing to put in the work with a good attitude, and he can show that he's mastering the material, I'll allow him to work at his own speed.  Heck, if he has a goal to enter college by 16 and is willing to put in the work to do so, I will definitely allow him to do that.

One thing to watch: make sure that you're really gaining mastery of the material.  It can be really tempting to rush through in order to get the work done and move on, but as you move into high school work, you're going to see a change in the material.  You'll have coursework that requires you to analyze and evaluate on a deeper level, and this can't always be rushed.  If you're willing to put in an extra hour or two a day, or to put in extra school days, you'll definitely be able to do it.  Just make sure that you're not cheating yourself out of skills that you'll need down the line in order to make a specific time goal.

You are not required to take algebra in 9th or anything like that; take it when you're ready for it.  Colleges will require algebra, and usually geometry, prior to enrollment, but that doesn't mean you have to take it at any certain age.  You can work at your own level and your own speed, so you can take it at whatever age you're ready for it.

You sound like a very bright student, and I wish you all the best.  Keep up your goals and your hard work, and keep open communication with your parents about how to reach those goals.  Hope that helps!

Answer 7

ask mom? rotf!!

I'm sorry Brittney, that was kinda mean.  In the end, we are all just a composition of our experiences.. and you sound like a nice kid.  :)

Answer 8

Pass the tests, double your workload and when you send in your IHIP (individualized home instruction plan) have your parents (or at-home teacher) put down specific information about why you should be able to skip to the next grade, like maybe instead of completing the normal "250+" hours of required instruction, say that you've done maybe 350 (and it helps later on if you actually HAVE done the extra work - you can't just skip a grade without consequences, sorry.)

Once you turn 16 you stop sending in quarterly reports and IHIPS to your district superintendant, and then you can go off to college or drop out or whatever you'd like. I advise against dropping out, but by all means, go to college early.