Should my homeschooled kid repeat a grade is a tough subject to try to condense to one article because at the elementary level it may not be such a huge setback as it might be for a kid in high school.
Then again, if repeating a grade in homeschool is a blow at a young child’s confidence it could be a significant concern.
Tough subject for sure with all the factors to consider.
Assigning grade levels is one thing we try to leave behind when we begin to homeschool. However, there are times we have to address it like when some states that require grade level reporting at the beginning of the year or it becomes more important at the high school level to show completion or college readiness.
I want to share some pointers that will help across the board for you to keep in mind if you feel like your child has struggled all year and really didn’t grasp very many concepts.
This is a challenging situation because you may feel that the right choice is to repeat a level so that your child can retain the information.
Add to that scenario, a state required test. This decision becomes almost too much to bear.
When faced with this decision, it is important to ask yourself if you think your child will make significant changes with that year?
Was it because of immaturity or was it because he really didn’t understand the subject?
If the child is old enough to understand that you are thinking about repeating a grade, will it crush his self-esteem?
A child knowing that he has to repeat a grade sometimes just does not have the same motivation for the next year.
In my experience, holding a child back had significant learning challenges later and more so than the parent is dealing with in the beginning.
Sometimes taking the state required testing and helping the child to understand that his end score is just that a score and doesn’t really indicate the progress he made in all areas of development is the less invasive way to go.
I wasn’t a math person in school and I struggled at the beginning of high school. Until I got a teacher that explained algebra to me in a different way, it didn’t click with me until the end of my sophomore year.
Though I kept a C average, I wasn’t held back and I had advanced classes in other subjects I excelled at. A different approach can be the key to making progress.
This is especially important if you are dealing with some failures at high school because one or even two weak subjects for a highschoolers are just struggles and not necessarily a reason to hold him back a grade level.
Switching gears on you, if you have a young child, then you know how fast a few months can make a huge difference in their physical growth. In two months, I am buying bigger size shoes and clothes One year, within just a few months, I bought tennis shoes two sizes larger. Academic growth is very similar. Within months, a child can move ahead quickly in a grade level.
If you decide to repeat a grade, do they really need the whole year to do that?
Besides the advantage we have in homeschooling of trying not to assign grade levels, we also have the benefit of stretching out a school year.
In high school, this can be particularly helpful if a teen is struggling with a subject and needs more time to mature prior to graduation. Too, it is very common for a teen to not know what direction or career he wants to take until later in high school.
If he finally chooses a career or college, you may find out that he may need to cover more language arts, math or science to reach his goals.
Instead of holding him back, lengthen the school year to twelve months and arm him with more subjects. This can look very different from what we consider schooling year round because most of us take a more relaxed approach if we school year round.
Schooling year round in this case would not be more relaxed, but would be more rigorous to stay focused on the goal of filling in areas of our child’s weaknesses in the 3Rs.
Repeating or Reinforcing Learning?
If a child is not getting a concept, then simply explaining to them that they have to reinforce their learning gives them a sense of empowerment and a can do spirit.
Though we try to avoid grade levels because they are not always indicators of what our children can actually do, grade levels can give us indications of what our children are struggling in or what subjects they have strong points in.
As the parent, it is up to you to decide what is the best course for you children, but remember in homeschooling we are homeschooling for mastery and sometimes it takes more than one traditional school year before a child is ready to move on to the next topic.
Do you have a child that struggled with concepts this year? Are you deciding whether to move on to the next level?
Hugs and love ya,
Also, look at these articles:
Gauging Homeschool Progress – Masters of their Material
The Dos & Don’ts When You Hit a Learning Plateau in Homeschool
