Jr High is a waste of time!

According to Michael Farris, founder of HSLDA and author of "The Future of Homeschooling".

To paraphrase his exact words " Some educators have admitted to me that the Jr High school years ar basically repetitions of what the child has previoiusly learned. The real purpose of jr high, I have been told, is to provice an intellectually less stimulating time so the child can negotiate the emotional turmoil of puberty."

I have to agree with Mr. Farris' accertations.

Parents who don't homeschool don't normally review all of thier childrens books every year, but homeschooling parents do. I have noticed that my sons math books have not changed much from year to year.. nor have is English books. Every year they just add one or two more peices per subject. As far as I am concerned, it just undermines a childs confidence. If a child can multiply 2 digit numbers this year, why can't they multiply three and four digit numbers... it is just one more step.

So last year I noticed that his books hadn't changed much, and so this year I allowed him to skip grade 6 and take 7/8 grade courses. Eventually, it dawned on me that this meant he would be doing middle school in 1 year, in additon to skipping a grade. I freaked out! I feared I was pushing him too fast. Setting him up for failure... but then I looked at his books... Ummm where was the hard work. Sure there was more of it.. but was it any more difficult???? NO!

It just so happens that I picked up Micheal Farris' book "The future of homeschooling and reading that many home schoolers skip middle school altogether, when the parents see how repetitive it is. Pair this with the fact that many homeschoolers I know skip every other grade in Math and English (because of the repetition) and teach history and science either chronologically or from an encyclopedia series and this rarely takes more than 6 years total.

So my 11 year old is taking 7/8 grade classes this year and will very well start high school classes at age 12, 2 years earlier than I did. But I can relax in the fact that by allowing him to do the work he desires, and not telling him it is too hard and undermining his confidence, he can reach impressive goals at a young age. I feel like such sucesses will only give him the drive and confidence for future successes.