what if we have to txf to a brick and mortar school at some point

[aishamama]

Hi all, I'm sorry for the thousands of questions. I think many have these questions when first starting out.

Can someone tell me if I HS my son however I want but decide later to put him in a brick and mortar school, how would we figure out what grade he should go to?  Would they be fair about it?   He would be ahead of the other students in his exact peer group. It doesn't mean I necessarily want him to skip grades; but what is the process for determining placement? Do public schools assess the student and place according to what the child knows and according to age? 

thanks!

[kathymuggle]

The default is to put them in with their agemates.

If you wanted to accelerate him in either a subject or grade, you would have to prove he could do the work (and even then they would not necessarily be keen)

Proof would probably involve doing well on in class subjects as well as any testing.

If he tests as gifted, they might be more willing to do acceleration.

My suspicion from what I have seen on these threads is that in general getting a child accelerated is not going to happen without substantial proof and advocacy.

[umsami]

I think a lot depends on both your child's age and the school district.  A lot of times for younger grades, they seem to go based on an age.  They're usually reluctant to put a much younger child in with older children even if that's the level the child is at academically--partially due to social maturity.   With older grades, they're more likely to go based on knowledge.

Still, remember a lot of kids in bricks & mortar schools are at different levels on different subjects.  Good teachers who aren't overburdened can handle that.  

[earthmama369]

Younger grades go by age. We recently transferred our unschooled daughter into public school for a semester or two and the full extent of their evaluation was to ask her age and when her birthday was. Based on her birthday, she was put in first grade. It's still pretty subjective -- in most other towns in our state, her birth date would put her in kindergarten.

Academically, it's turning out to be a reasonably good fit, largely because her previous learning experiences have been apples in comparison to the school's oranges. So while she's a grade or three ahead in certain areas of certain subjects (mainly social studies, science, math, and "extracurriculars"), at the ripe old age of six we never required her to sit down and write sentences or read a book. Her teacher has, and she took all the tools she already had and made the transition easily (aside from adjusting to sitting for so long and her hand muscles getting sore!). Within a couple days, she was writing sentences using capital letters at the beginning and punctuation at the end and reading level 1 and 2 books. She's made a game out of figuring out the rules and following them, so she's on her teacher's good side, and socially, she started in the middle of the year, so she was the "shiny new distraction" and has made a lot of casual friends in the easy way that kids that age often do.

Personally, I'm not entirely thrilled with the experience, but it's medically necessary for me right now and I appreciate that she's enjoying the novelty of the experience and I'm really glad she's made the transition so well.