I'm not sure what to do. Please advise Right now my SD is doing 2nd grade work. We had to go back and re-do a lot of first grade stuff at the beginning of this year (this was our first year homeschooling) and now she's somewhere in the middle of second grade stuff. We are planning on schooling her year-round and we are going at her pace. We figure she'll be around 3rd grade level at the end of the summer. All of her PS friends "graduated" into the next grade, so they are telling everyone they are third graders now. My SD won't be a "third grader" until the end of the summer when her second grade work is finished. She will enter "third grade" at the same time as her friends. Should we tell her that she's a third grader now so she can be like her friends? We were going to make her a certificate and make a big deal out of it. I was planning on doing it at the end of the summer, but now her friends are talking about being third graders and I can see she's starting to feel left out. Plus all the graduation parties are now. Since we are loosely following a second-grade curriculum it really makes no difference work-wise to us whether we call it second grade or third. She'll still be doing the work at her pace. Still, she didn't do all the stuff we had planned for second grade because we still have the summer to go (we only do 3-4 days a week because she's at her mom's some of the time). So I kind of feel like we're lying to her since we're not ready to crack open the third grade curriculum stuff yet. Thoughts?
Ask her what grade she thinks she is in? Think about it this way all those kids boasting about being in the 3rd graders will actually start 3rd grade by relearning 2nd grade material. If she feels like a 3rd grader then that is what she is. Another idea have her do a big "end of year" project once finished and presented then you can present her with her certificate for entering 3rd grade. GL
Well. Technically all of her friends are NOT third graders. They are going into the 3rd grade - which is what she will also be doing. I can't believe the mediocrity we celebrate in this country. "Graduation" in 2nd grade? We NEVER did that when I was in school! LOL Labels are just that. Labels. Just because you say a child who has just finished 2nd grade IS a 3rd grader, doesn't mean they are until the day the set foot into the 3rd grade. And "graduation" parties? For moving from one grade to the next????? I don't have advice to handle it with her. She's no different than they are - she will be a 3rd grader in the fall. It's hard to get kids out of the mindset of grade level. I bet if she were tested right now, she'd test better than any of those "third graders" because of how well, and how one on one her teaching is. Hope you find the answer you need. Sorry she's feeling left out. Edited to add.....I'm totally ALL FOR celebrating being done a curriculum/grade, etc. But to have an actual "graduation" ceremony? To have a real "graduation" party? I say when they finish elementary, finish middle school, and finish high school . THOSE are major milestones. Does this make sense?
I call my DD a 4th grader now since she had her test. She is still doing some 3rd grade work that I want her to finish before we start the new stuff. I told her that the grade is just a number because our science and social studies don't have grades. Growing up as soon as school was out we always said we were the next grade up.
My kids are graded according to age. As I asked a lady from the school district once...my son was doing 1st grade math, 2nd grade reading, and history/science with his older sisters (grades 5 and 7). So what grade would YOU consider him? Actually, I called him a 1st grader, because that would have been his grade if he were attending PS. It's just so much easier to keep him in the same grade as his peers!
I am not sure what qualifies someone as a 3rd grader vs a 2nd grader, but in the public schools, the materials overlap so much and is reviewed so much that almost any child could skip a grade if they really wanted (and the schools allowed it). I would just let her call herself a 3rd grader now that she is that age. Also, remember, public schools rarely do the last 1/3 to 1/4 of any textbook. So if you have even gotten that far in to the 2nd grade curriculum, then you are no doubt good to go to the next level. I am quite anal though, I always finish the books.
I would just tell her she will be a 3rd grader with her peers in the fall, when they all go back to school.
AS soon as my kids take the CAT test they both start saying they are in the next grade.. my son though throws out that he's doing high school classes if kids get snippy - LOL. I would tell her to tell people that she is going into 3rd grade in the fall. That's a correct statement. Of course, when she finishes all her 3rd grade stuff and moves into 4th grade stuff before her friends..... well that should be interesting Oh and I can't stand all the graduation stuff..... we did the preschool graduation with dd and only did it because we were going out with everyone afterwards for pizza But personally thought it was a waste. Of course now I dance when we finish a book - LOL!!
Even though we finish our math over the summer and work on languages as well, I give all my kids a little "completion" certificate at the "official" end of our school year in June. That way they feel like they accomplished something, even though we are still working. Then we say the same thing - they are going into whatever the next grade is. We don't do a graduation type thing, but our homeschool group did hold a huge end of the year party, and there were three 8th grade promotions as a part of that, but that is all.
yep, I did that for a while too .. but now I just go by how many years in school they hve been. Ds though cause his science is going t be sos8 claims he is in 7/8th grade next year... so thats up to him. I don't put a lot of stock in it and so far my kids have not either. ds11 is the one who gave in this year when his bball buddies were questioning him about what grade he is in and all,they think he is really smart because hes been in 6th grade at 11? I laugh he is a summer baby so of course he seems younger, Idid the same as a kid. I agree with those who say, to find out what matters to your dd, but I would not push the issue, its a pride thing really. We moms want other people tosee our kids as "normal", but they are already there in our eyes so why do we care what other people think?
I haven't read the rest of the responses...but 2nd grade graduation party? What a joke! I don't have a good answer for what to tell her. I wouldn't worry about it unless she asks directly what grade she is in. I might tell her she starts 3rd grade in Sept. or whenever you think it will be.
Oh, come on, you bunch of sour pusses! It's fun to make a big deal about moving to the next grade! Man- we get a cake, Jeanne gets a report card, she gets a few dollars for passing, and we get supper out. That's her graduation party. That report card isn't all fluff, either- I'm not kind if she's got to work on something, and it shows her grade for each subject. My Jeannie is now a fourth grader, but we're finishing up her third grade math.
Isn't that the normal age for 6th grade? I was older than most of the kids in my grade all the way through school, since my B-day is the end of October. I was 11 to start 6th grade, and turned 12 in October. Most of the others in my grade had just turned 11 or were 11 most of the way through that grade. In the OP's case: I don't really understand the idea of saying "I AM in 3rd grade now," when really, if she's finishing 2nd grade stuff, she's NOT in 3rd grade yet! But why lie about it if she WILL be in 3rd grade by Fall? Then she can just tell the truth that she'll be in 3rd grade next year too!
yes Deena it is the regular age for it, but it seems kids here start late or something, or they turn the next age before December , so he seems younger to them, it is funny to ds and I!
yep, it is so funny, ds just asked me one day .. "um mom am I ahead in school or something? Cause like they cant believe I am in such and such grade because I am only such and such age. Thats waht its supposed to be isn't it??" Then this year one of the kids at bball asked me what grade he was in lol!
Thanks for all the replies! I will tell her to tell her friends (and anyone who asks) that she will be going into third grade in the fall...which she will! I'm positive that when they all go back to school she'll be "ahead" because we're going to keep on trucking along! We weren't going to have a big party but we were going to take her out to dinner with the family and maybe do a fun night for her. No presents or anything, but some kind of celebration for her hard work. That's more what her friends have been doing.
For our 'graduation' from 3rd to 4th I took DD out to a moive. That is a real treat since the tickets are $8.
