Occasionally a parent will ask if it makes sense to not move a student forward in their homeschool work, or to repeat past work. From a practical perspective (this is not legal advice!), it really just depends on the reason for retention. I encourage parents to think outside the grade level “box” and view learning as a continuum—what is the next thing and is my child ready for it yet?
Keep in mind that math and language arts are the sequential skills subjects, so these are the only subjects that would usually even be a consideration if it is an academic concern vs a maturity concern.
Does your student need to repeat an entire year of that continuum in math and language arts (the skills subjects), or can she move forward and just re-visit a few things?
Or is the student so emotionally immature for the grade level that she struggles socially at that level as well as academically and it is impacting her interactions? Remember, grade level is an artificial construct used in conventional schools, so you may find that simply allowing her to progress academically as she is able in each area, and then socializing at her comfort level could be your answer.
If the student truly has not grasped the whole year’s content, it can make sense to take a year to repeat the information that the student was not ready for — if it’s the whole year’s information. (What will you do differently this time?) But in most cases, the student simply needs remediation in a concept or two (not needing to repeat the whole grade’s content) –so it is usually sufficient to simply remediate that content and move forward.
If you do retain the student, what will you do differently this year to help in the target areas? It will be totally up to you as a parent to evaluate. Here are a few articles on the topic:
- Repeating a Grade: The Pros and Cons
- Grade Retention
- On Grade Retention (ERIC Digest – a public school publication)
- Essential Questions Regarding Grade Retention
- Am I Doing Enough?
- Testing Basics (with assessment tools)
What about a junior high student?
If your student is in junior high and you are not sure if he is ready to move into high school level work….. it may help to have an idea of what students generally need to move to high school.
Generally speaking, your goal in finishing 8th grade is to be sure your student is ready for high school, especially in the skills areas of math and language arts. This will usually involve solidifying math skills–preparing for algebra, strengthening math computation/skills/speed and math understanding/reasoning. In language arts, this is the time to solidify English grammar, work on vocabulary skills, and be as strong as possible in writing skills — both organization and mechanics. (Logic and reasoning skills are also a plus at this level.) Those are the two major skills areas and are most critical moving into high school.
For science and social studies, a goal is to have a solid foundation in basic principles of science and the scientific method. Most students at this point would be familiar with conducting and documenting experiments using the scientific method and lab notations, to some degree. For history and geography, most students would have at least a basic understanding of the history and geography of their state and country, as well as a foundation in ancient and modern world history and geography. Civics studies in junior high school are also typical, if even just one semester. These science and social studies topics will generally be repeated at a more mature level in high school, so a foundation is likely sufficient. (These are content subjects, versus skills subjects.)
For more information on what would typically constitute high school readiness, you may wish to consult a scope-and-sequence checklist or skills list to get an idea of what may be typical to have learned by the end of 8th grade (hold this list loosely—but it can be a good starting point).
Two examples: Here is a free pdf checklist (Hewitt) of suggested learning objectives for grades K-8 OR the Typical Course of Study (World Book) for your child’s grade level. Either checklist can help you identify what skills your child has already been taught and mastered and which still need to be addressed this year. You can use this information to help guide your plan for your student throughout the remainder of the year. (You can find more options at the end of this article.)
This is also a great time for your student to think about some of his/her passions and interests and how those can be explored in more detail in high school. One benefit of homeschooling is the opportunity for you to tailor the course work to reflect your child’s interests and ambitions and to pursue the skills needed to move into the next season of life after high school.
