What grade for DS?

[whiteisle]

Let me start with asking forgiveness my ignorance with this question.

DS turned 6 yo at the end of May this year. We have friends whose son turns 6 at the end of August and he will be starting Kindergarten. So there's only 4 months difference in their ages. I've been thinking my DS should be starting 1st this fall. This confusion has caused more confusion when looking at different things like curriculums and programs and not knowing what DS should be doing/is capable of doing at his age. For instance, I have a real interest in a Charlotte Mason influenced program but when I explore AO or SCM I'm not sure if I should be doing kindy stuff or 1st grade stuff with him.

Thank you!

[zjande]

Can you call your school district & ask them what their kindergarten age/date is?

In my school district, a child is considered K age when he is 5 yrs old on or by Sept 5th. So, my 4.5 yr old will be officially a kindergartner in Sept of 2011because he'll turn 5 in Nov. 2010. Then a 1st grader the next year, etc. But, we use whatever curriculum & goodies that are a good fit for him, regardless of grade. Same thing with my older kids as well. Regardless of grade the ESD says they are officially, we just use whatever curriculum we like.

So, in our ESD, your son would be starting 1st grade fall 2010.

If I were you, I'd dabble in both K & 1st grade materials & see which is a better fit for your DS.

[frugalmama]

We go by what grade work we're doing - i.e. my barely turning 4yo is doing K work, so we're calling it K. We might do a two year K program, just depends.

I'd err on the cautious side and call it K, and if the work is way to easy, just go on to 1st.

[whiteisle]

Thank you both for the replies. He does seem to be in between actually. There are things that are technically 1st grade that he knows really well and then there are some kindy things he's never encountered. So I suppose I just need to kinda blend things for him and customize it. I guess that's the whole advantage of homeschooling, right?

[Rivka5]

I think you just have to look at the actual materials and judge what you think your son is capable of doing. If you're looking for packaged curricula, most will have a list of what is covered, and you'll probably know whether the topics are mostly things your child already knows, or not.

The Singapore Math website has placement tests for math, which would give you a rough idea of whether he should do K or 1 math. Sonlight has a quick online reading assessment that can give you a reading level. For something like history or science, the level doesn't matter as much as the content - is it something you want to cover, or something he already knows a lot about?

An advantage of homeschooling is not having to be tied to grade levels in any meaningful way. My daughter is just starting K by the school calendar, but she's reading at about an early 2nd grade level and doing mid-1st grade math. We've chosen to call her a kindergartener because she's five.

[Daffodil]

Here, both your son and your friend's son would have been eligible to start kindergarten this past school year, since both would have been 5 by the beginning of September. But if your friend's son had started last year, he probably would have been one of the youngest kids in his class, so I can see why his parents might have decided to let him wait another year. I think teachers often recommend waiting for kids (especially boys) who are just barely old enough.

So your son is old enough to be in first grade, but there are kids his age who are still in K, too. As everyone else said, you can just try out some different materials and see what he's ready for.

[PGTlatte]

I say that our oldest is in the grade he would be according to his age for the school district here...it has a Sept 1 cutoff, 5 by Sept 1 is K, 6 is grade 1, etc. He turned 7 in March so he is in grade 2. But for his materials, I use whatever is appropriate for what he can do. Some of the materials he is using are not labeled by grade number - they are labeled with a different system. For the ones that are labeled by grade, some of those are labeled grade 1-2, some are labeled grade 2, and some are labeled grade 1 but were way too challenging for him last year. So he ends up using whatever fits him. Since he can handle grade 2 materials in some areas, I feel okay about saying that is his grade level. I think it's not at all unusual for homeschooled students to use materials for different grade levels in different subjects.

[Savoir Faire]

My daughter turned 6 in July. Though we technically say "first" grade...she's somewhere between K and 1. I call it "K plus."

I'd say first grade, if he were in public school, would mean he'd know how to read...or was on his way. How is his writing? Number concepts? How is he maturity-wise?

[earthmama369]

I would see if I could check out some samples of the activities in the different resources you're thinking about buying, and use that as a benchmark to decide if they're the right level for your son. Many children are asynchronous learners, meaning that they might be ahead of grade level in one area but behind or at grade level in another. And since schools use different curricula and different age cutoffs for kindergarten, using their benchmarks as your own can be tricky.

By the standards of the town we live in, dd would have been kindergarten age last year, despite the fact that she would have only been 4 for nearly the entire first semester. By the standards of the next town over, she would be starting kindergarten this year, turning 6 at the end of the first semester. That's a big difference! By my own estimation, she would do better in kindergarten this year, being on the older end of the age range. Socially, that would be a better fit for her than being the youngest and smallest in a first grade classroom. Academically? Going by our town's curricula standards, she's working on K through 3rd grade level in different subjects, and sometimes working on all three levels within the same subject. For example, she doesn't sight read all the numbers from 0-10 yet. But she's doing some basic multiplication in her head, and that's what she's really interested in. That's the only thing that's motivating her to start learning how to sight read numbers -- so she can do math problems on paper.

I'd say it's normal for your son to be somewhere between K and first grade in his abilities right now. Maybe using some resources from both would work best for him, even, rather than using just one resource. That can get expensive if you're buying new, but it might be possible to find some of what you're looking for gently used or even at the local library.

[elizawill]

the cut-off is sept 1 here. so my daughter is in grade 3 but almost 9 (in october). although my kids are registered with a grade according to their age, i wouldn't let that be any influence necessarily. if i felt they were more advanced, i would go that route & buy the curriculum that best suits them, ykwim? just do what you feel most comfortable with

[phathui5]

I think a lot of 6 year olds can do 1st grade work. Especially since he'll have the one one one tutoring of being home with you, I would start with things like 1st grade math and work with him on it.

[Lisa1970]

I would look to see what is offered at each level and pick the one you think your child would enjoy the most. I would not worry about what the number is where it says grade for the program.

[mommeeoh]

Your son, if in "formal" school, could be starting either K or 1 this year depending on whether you felt he was ready last year or opted to hold him back as some do for various reasons. My dd's are 6 and 5 with April and August bdays respectively. IMO both were/are ready to start K at 5, but both have friends with bdays close to their own (one boy and one a girl) whose parents opted to hold them back a year, one b/c they felt he wasn't emotionally/socially mature enough, the other b/c they decided why rush through childhood. There is no reason you have to do all K or all 1st, you could do a combo from the get go or flow into it over time. You can start out on something slow, and if he gets it quickly fly through it to move to the next level sooner. I'm starting mainly K with my 5yo but suspect we'll be doing lots of 1st stuff as the year progresses, she's dying to do everything her sister does and so far has shown the aptitude to keep up. Last year odd didn't start math until January, she flew through it so I'm prepared to do both 1st and 2nd grade this year if needed. On the other hand, I couldn't get her to work on reading for anything. That's the beauty of hsing to me, we can move at their pace.

[mom2ponygirl]

I think you are looking at two different issues. 1) What grade you declare on any required paperwork and tell to random people who ask, 'Oh, what grade are you this year?'
2) What grade level curriculum to try or skills to work on.

1) I would declare him his age/grade based on your area's cut-off date until there was a compelling reason to do differently. This can be helpful for academic competitions, testing, and potentially athletic teams. For answering random people, it is what they expect to hear and that makes them happy and bug you less. ;-)

2) Don't be surprised if you need different 'grade' level stuff for different subjects. Look at where he is now, think about what skills he needs to learn, listen to what he enjoys and how he learns best, then pick stuff that fits his needs. Ignore grade level beyond what is helpful for narrowing down choices. So he will work at what ever grade level he needs to and that will be fine. That is the huge advantage to homeschooling!

[pigpokey]

It sounds like you should buy the first grade materials for your subjects and then you can just slow down where needed and speed up where needed.

We do not have to declare grade levels to the government in Georgia.