The kids are both in the Enth Grade! Woohoo!

"What grade are you in?"

That tends to be a tough question for a homeschooled kid to answer.  Especially if that kid has always been homeschooled.  They aren't accustomed to the year by year specific grade labels that most of their parents (ahem) are mentally attached to.

For example:  I guess you could say Poodle is going into third grade.  But if she were in the public school system, she'd be going into the second grade.  Her birthday is a few weeks after the cut-off date for the public school system, so if she were in the school system, she'd be one of the oldest kids in her grade level. So, in some ways, she's second grade, in some ways, she's third grade.  I have no idea at what grade level she's reading.  Ditto her math.  Ditto all of it.  I simply know where we are, and I'm focused on improvement.  That is all.

This Article explains it all SO WELL!  So well, in fact, that I had to share it.  And, also, to explain why sometimes my kids get a little glassy-eyed when you ask them what grade they're in.  :-D


7/3/11 PS to the Post!
The link that I shared is NOT meant to be derogatory towards a traditional school system AT ALL.  Seriously.  I shared this on another forum and truly offended someone and had to go back and read the article again to see what it said that I missed!  The primary point of this article, in my personal viewpoint, was to explain the difficulty that sometimes arises when a homeschooled kid is asked what grade they're in.  In fact, that difficulty tends to also affect the parents, because they often have their children working on a variety of levels with all of their subjects.  So, please understand that I mean NO OFFENSE at all.  Truly.  And if I get the impression that I need to take this down too, I sure will.  Because I don't intend to be negative about my educational choices or anyone elses!
I know the schools around my area would never behave as did the one in the article, and I actually have a hard time believing any of them actually DO behave that way.  I can only assume that some do, because I'd hate to think the author was just flat out lying.  But, in my experience, most teachers would be thrilled to see a child excelling in a classroom.  So, throw out the bones, and keep the chicken of the article regarding how "grade levels" are hard for us to label sometimes.  That's all.