<p>We are debating whether my homeschooled son should enter 9th grade at age 14 or 15. He has a January birthday and is prepared in terms of maturity and academics. He is considering several boarding schools including Exeter, Andover, Groton, SPS, and Deerfield. It doesnt look like he would top out of the coursework at the larger schools that offer post-calculus coursework (he will start Algebra 3 at age 14). It appears he could take coursework similar to what he would take his first year in college.</p>
<p>Normally, I wouldnt consider holding him back, but this forum has me questioning this assumption. Ive seen other posts debate whether this type of redshirting is worth the financial cost. My financial situation is the opposite. My employer will pay for boarding school, but private university would be a financial reach for me. We dont see this as something that would hold him back from a start on life he could easily finish public university in 3 years if thats what he chooses to do, and if not, hell be that much more prepared for grad school. So the question really boils down to what would be a better experience at age 19 - a final year of boarding school or a freshman year at a public university (with the non-trivial financial consideration favoring boarding school).</p>
<p>Repeating a year would be an important, meaty topic to discuss w the school Admissions people during the interview/visit. </p>
<p>Since your employer will pay for boarding school, check to make sure that the employer will cover the cost of the repeat, since your son will be finishing secondary school “late”, i.e. past the conventional graduating age. If you are covered, then his repeating a year offers you an additional year to save money for his college costs.</p>
<p>As far as my employer is concerned, he wouldnt be skipping a year since he doesnt have a grade level as a homeschool student. You raise an important question in whether he would be finishing late by the standards of the school. I have the impression from previous forum topics that age 15 19 is fairly typical age to go through boarding school; that is what got me thinking about this. If he really would be 6 months or a year older than his average classmate, that would be reason enough to start at age 14. Is there anywhere I can find the average age at graduation?</p>
<p>I raised the issue of “finishing late” in the context of your employer’s reimbursement. I would still check w your employers policy just to make sure. </p>
<p>My understanding is that “finishing late” at a high caliber prep school is not viewed negatively by colleges. Kids in the U.S. typically finish HS in the 17-19 age range. Some prep school repeats finish at age 20.</p>
<p>My child is on the older side of his class, and we’ve seen only positives. However, he has a late summer birthday, so had just turned 15 when he entered ninth grade. That said, he reports that he’s somewhere in the middle of the ages of others in his class. So a child with a January birthday might be on the older side, but certainly not unusually so. That said, if I had a kid with a Jan. birthday who was otherwise prepared, I’d probably choose to send him at 14. </p>
<p>Overall, though, I agree with GMT that this is something best decided on after the interview. I know that other parents have gotten very good advice from their AO’s on which grade to apply to. If it were me, I’d also want to know what the mean age was in a typical class. And how students are mixed matters too. At Exeter, for example, dorms are a mix of grades from day 1. At Groton, I think they are grade segregated, at least for the first few years. That might make a difference too.</p>
<p>I’ve found that my kid is on the young side of most of her freshman peers at age 14. It sounds like your son could handle the coursework at 14 but what about his life and social skills?</p>
<p>Momof7thgrader raises an important issue regarding social fit. At the selective schools on your list, there will be a fair number of repeat kid, especially boys. </p>
<p>As much as we as parents don’t want to think about our kids dating (cringe), the reality is that younger boys will be at a comparative social disadvantage with respect to dating older girls.</p>
<p>Many schools can and do create further courses in subjects for students who need them. Do not assume that schools which don’t list courses beyond calculus could not offer further math instruction, or indeed, instruction in other subjects. </p>
<p>There is also a school of thought which holds that it is possible to progress too quickly through math topics in high school. This is a matter for further discussion with the schools which interest you.</p>
<p>Do you wish for your son to play on varsity teams? Has he reached his growth spurt yet? One downside to being young for a grade is sports. A boy who has not reached his adult size should not be playing contact sports with grown men, due to the difference in body size. Again, discuss this with the schools you’re interested in. Each school has a different approach to athletic teams.</p>
<p>I recommend looking at Junior Boarding Schools that go up to the 9th grade. Most provide nurturing environments, rigorous academics, competitive sports (they play secondary school teams), along with expert secondary school guidance and placement.</p>
<p>What type of employer pays for boarding school ?</p>
<p>P.S. The answer to your question depends upon your child’s development. In my experience, home schooled kids are behind in social development. (Bet I’ll get some hate posts for that bit of honesty.)
Odd that you homeschool which is substantial control over your child, then let others “raise” him. I applaud you for allowing your child to grow in the real world.</p>
<p>P.P.S. Please don’t bombard me with statistics about how well homeschooled kids perform on standardized tests.</p>
<p>Well, Axelrod, I think you’re inviting defensiveness with that post, which comes off as pretty snarky about homeschooling. You’re painting an incredibly diverse group with a very broad brush. </p>
<p>One very good reason why people homeschool and then send their kids to boarding school at their employer’s expense is because they are working overseas. Their employers recognize that the educational opportunities in the base countries aren’t great and make free tuition part of the overall package. Some parents, however, prefer to have their kids with them in the younger years and so, with limited educational options, choose to homeschool–while exposing their children to a real view of the world inaccessible to most of us sending our kids off to public school in the states.</p>
<p>I do want to second PhotoMom’s suggestion of looking at the junior boarding schools. There are a number that are outstanding and regularly send kids to any boarding school you would care to mention. Not only is it a superb environment for young people, they get to be the ‘big wigs’ of their school in grade 9, have a proven record of being successful in the boarding school world, but they are known to hit the ground running once they go on to regular boarding school. Some even choose to repeat their 9th grade year at the new school, which would address your age concern.</p>
<p>2kids makes a good point about 9th graders at junior BSs having the opportunity to be the big fish. Would be something to weigh as you transition your S from a homeschooling environment to a classroom environment. </p>
<p>As our S has found, the selective schools you mention in your OP can be a VERY humbling place socially & academically for 9th graders who have been used to being the star in their previous environment.</p>
<p>Based on the experience of my son and his friends who have homeschooled right up to boarding school, I don’t see the big fish/small pond/star thing as much of an issue. I know it seems counter-intuitive to parents who have not homeschooled, but parents who are rigorous homeschoolers (i.e. the kind who look at rigorous boarding schools) tend to be far less lavish with praise than teachers–even those at top boarding schools–and their kids tend to function very independently of them. And if adjusting to socialization with one’s peer group is an issue (not saying it automatically will be), I’d vote for having a younger kid surrounded by older, more mature students than by younger junior high aged students. Just my opinion though, based on an admittedly small sample. :)</p>
<p>At any rate, the OP was not expressing concerns about his child’s ability to transition from homeschooling to boarding school, but about optimal grade level for a kid with an in-between birthday.</p>
<p>As the parent of a homeschool-to-boarding-schooler, I have to agree with classicalmama. My 13-year old is thriving as a boarding school freshman – she won’t be 14 till nearly the end of the school year. Teacher conferences at parents weekend and midterm grades bear out our thinking that it was the right time for her. We never considered junior boarding school - if only because it simply wasn’t on our radar.</p>
<p>All other things being equal, and reading the OP’s original query, it seems like the questions have as much to do with the logistics of budgets (i.e., saving for college) as they do with the preparedness of the student to enter high school at 14.</p>
<p>Axelrod, your post is, forgive me for being similarly “honest”, both disingenuous and unwarranted, and does nothing to further the conversation or provide information to the OP’s legitimate question.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your ideas. It seems that a 15 year old 9th grader (or 19 year old 12th grader) would not feel out of place. Other than that, I dont have much in the way of social concerns. He makes friends easily, though he seems to prefer the heat of competition to team camaraderie. The athletic opportunities seem adequate, though no better than club sports available elsewhere. His motivation for applying to these schools is the academic opportunity.</p>
<p>My real concern is that, at age 19, he may feel he would be better served academically at university rather than what will essentially be a 5th year of high school. The Exeter and Andover course catalogues indicate course work at the college sophomore level, but I wonder if these courses are offered every year or are just on the books from a previous year. I also wonder whether the middle and smaller sized schools, such as Deerfield and Groton, can offer challenging course work to a 19 year who has completed Calculus and the standard core of AP Science and Social Studies.</p>
<p>I can give you info. about Exeter. While the school does not have AP classes, my son was able to ace an AP test after 3 terms of a regular 200 (10th grade) level class with very little outside prep. By senior year, pretty nearly every class is freshman college-level. Accelerated classes are beyond that, VERY rigorous, and offered regularly. If the course is not offered regularly, that is indicated in the catalog–otherwise, you can safely assume it will be there. The bigger issue, frankly, is that students are often bored their freshman year of college because the rigor is not the same. </p>
<p>Our son applied to prep school from homeschool for much the same reasons–it was becoming more and more difficult to supply the academic rigor he needed as he got older. Prep school has more than met that need. The sports are a bonus though I agree with your assessment; there are club teams that are more competitive. The sports at bs are at about the right level though, I think, given the time required by academics.</p>
<p>^^Concur. Junior and senior years at the top prep schools are significantly more rigorous than freshman year at virtually any college. Just the nature of the diversity of courses, the demanding level of instruction, and other expected commitments.</p>