Please help me decide on what to do with my 8th and 9th

[cricket1178]

graders next fall!

I will be homeschooling my 8th and 9th grade dd's next fall. They are both ready for Algebra I(both completed pre-algebra this year and did well), although my 9th grader is a little better at math. My 8th grader is better with grammar, but the 9th grader is a little better writer. Both have good reading comprehension skills. My question is, can I keep them in the same courses even though one is highschool and the other is not? I don't want to mess up credits for highschool for either one of them, but I like schooling them together. It just makes it more interesting for the both of them.

[Musicmom]

I would say go for it and keep them together! :) I think it's perfectly fine for the 8th grader to be doing 9th grade level work. And I would think too, that it would be great to have them together to help each other out and especially for literature discussion.

I can't see that it would mess up their credits at all--their transcripts will just look slightly different, being offset by a year. Then when your 9th grader goes off to college and your 8th grader is a senior, she can just do different/more courses her senior year--and will have credits for those. And if you should find that your 8th grader really needs one of her 8th grade courses or credits for high school (such as the Algebra I or science), you can always include it on her transcript. (I wouldn't, however, put all or even very many of her 8th grade courses on the transcript, even though that is what you'll do for your 9th grader.)

HTH!

[Pamela H in Texas]

Yeah, I'd just have them do the same work. At some point, you'll have to decide whether the younger one is actually the same grade or not, but you can make that determination in a couple years, no problem. If you decide to homeschool an extra year, then you'd drop the 8th grade credits for the 12th grade ones. No biggie.

But definitely make your life easy :)

(how come MY kids couldn't have made it so easy for me? LOL)

[FloridaLisa]

My question is, can I keep them in the same courses even though one is highschool and the other is not? I don't want to mess up credits for highschool for either one of them, but I like schooling them together. It just makes it more interesting for the both of them.

I agree with the other posters to keep them together on as many subjects as you are able, if that puts them on the correct level. My rising 9th and 10th graders will have very similar schedules. There are a few differences, but they will both do geometry (though dd completed Alg II and ds Alg 1), history, lit, writing, speech, debate. They are both in Latin II; dd is ahead though ds is trying to catch her so they can tackle Latin III together. :001_smile:

I would just aim for the 9th grade level if you are keeping them together. That way, your 9th grader will have the necessary credits and your 8th grader can choose to use them or not.

HTH,
Lisa

[cricket1178]

This really helps a lot. I will go ahead with my plan to keep them together and aim for 9th grade work.

One more question, please. My 9th grader is really wanting to take Biology this year, but I'm worried it might be too hard for my 8th grader. Do you think Apologia Biology would be too hard for 8th grade?

[FloridaLisa]

I've had two dc take Apologia biology in 8th and they did just fine. The biology is not difficult math-wise. It was a jump in study skills for my oldest because he'd not yet had any text-based classes. I felt 8th grade was a great time to learn study skills and Apologia biology was a great course in which to exercise them. :001_smile:

HTH,
Lisa

[jubileex5]

I have schooled my two girls together since elementary. Now one is almost 16, the other 17 1/2 and they have done all of high school together with no problem. They will be starting 12th grade soon and will graduate next summer. So that means the younger one will be 2 months away from 17 before she graduates. The other will be 18 1/2. It has been wonderful schooling them together. They have enjoyed the companionship and it helps to have a buddy go through the hard classes with you.

Mary Jo