I have a story in progress that calls for an adolescent character and their mother to live on the road for a while, not really staying in any given place for very long. My question is, in the event that a child has been out of school for a few years without homeschooling (or with inadequate homeschooling, whichever) and then attempts to enroll in public school again, how would the school system decide what grade to place them in and what classes they needed? In this case, I'm talking about a teenager, high school age group. I've tried doing web searches on the topic, but all that comes up is seemingly irrelevant pages. That said, I'm just trying gather any information I can, so I can present that part of the story in a believable way.

I'm also interested in (for separate projects):

• School spirit! Was your school big on it? Or was it basically just the members of the sports teams and their immediate friends that gave a darn? Did you personally care, or did it feel like something you were estranged from? Just looking for insight into people's personal experience for this one.
• Horses! Breeding, equestrian riding, and the Appaloosa breed. Any useful, informative links would be appreciated.

hmm, I feel like there would be some kind of exam or something to place them in a proper grade? I'm not sure but that's just my take on it :)

School spirit: yes, my school was big on it. We had spirit week and did the pep rally things and stuff. I wasn't estranged from it but I didn't really go out of my way to help out unless friends were. Horses: History? Maybe? Those are just what I came up with on quick notice :)

If the adolescent character did attend school but didn't stay at one school for very long then I think they will likely just be held back. (I know of at least three instances at my high school where this was the case.) However, if the character didn't attended formal school at all then they would considered a "student with interrupted formal education" or SIFE. An in-depth article I have found on the topic is here: (Click here for the online PDF file...) There is a lot of information there, but from what I can gather... The student in question will be assessed, not just by the teachers but also the guidance counselor(s) and social worker(s). Depending on the results of the evaluation they will be placed in the appropriate instructional program in as timely a manner as possible. It is highly likely that they would be placed in the grade that they would have moved on to had they been able to stay in school or the last grade they were in if it is deemed necessary. It is also possible, I think, that they could be placed with their age group but they would likely need special tutoring in that case.

As for your other questions, I know nothing about horses but I will come back later and share my experiences/opinions on school spirit.

[edit] Right... So... About school spirit... I wasn't an athlete and I didn't have any friends who were athletes. I appreciated that the rallies got me out of class and it was nice to feel like I belonged, kinda, as I cheered and clapped with everyone else. But did I feel any kind of school loyalty? No, not really.

My biased opinion is that: The people who feel the most school spirit are typically those on school teams, be they athletic or academic. Their friends and popular kids (may or may not be one-and-the-same) are likely to also feel strong school spirit. The majority of the students will be lukewarm. They may feel a certain amount of pride or they may not care at all, depending on their particular set of circumstances. (For example: Are they fans of a particular sport? Or... Do they feel bullied by the athletes? A fan will have school spirit and loyalty. A victim of bullying will most likely not.)

Thanks. :) Unfortunately, that document seems to be targeted at students who aren't natively English speaking, which isn't quite what I'm going for. A placement test does sound reasonable, but I'm not sure if that's what schools really do or if there's some other component to the process. I may need to just call a local school and ask about it, but I wanted to try and find the information elsewhere before interrupting someone's work day for information I only need for fictional reasons.

I was never into the whole school spirit thing. It seemed irrelevant and like a waste of energy, and it seemed like most of the people I knew felt about the same in the long run, aside from the guy I'd known since fourth grade who was on the football team. I was a peer counselor and involved with Challenge Day, so it wasn't that I was anti-community, but the school spirit thing didn't feel like a community thing to me... It felt like the type of superficial junk that doesn't foster real community.

Earlier today, my brother left Disney Channel running in the dining room and an episode of I Didn't Do It was on where one of the girls was dating some guy from another school and her own school practically shunned her for it, including some of the faculty. I just kind of laughed at it and said it was ridiculous that TV shows always present high school life that way, because in my experience 'school spirit' was something they talked about on the morning announcements which hardly existed in the actual school. My mother insisted that in Texas, where she started high school, school spirit had indeed been a big thing. So I was curious what other people's experience had been like.

You may be able to go by the administration office of a local school and get the information you need, or be able to schedule an appointment with a school official. They'll probably look at you weird but if you are willing to work with them, schedule-wise, I think they'd be willing to answer your questions.

In my personal experience as an SIFE at the age of 16 (tried to home school but never got all the stuff), I just decided to get my GED. I did and by 17 I was starting at a local community college. Almost every SIFE that I've met has chosen to go that route, *as soon as possible, because it is hard to get caught back up. The ones I have talked to were all held back a grade (or two) when they tried to return. They were older than most/all of their classmates and there was an assumption, at the start at least, that they failed a grade (or two) due to poor academic performance. A SIFE may very well be teased by other students and treated differently by teachers. (In every instance, we talked about the aftermath but I've never really thought to ask about the how and why of their being held back as opposed to being put with their age group.)

*To get a GED, I think you have to be considered legally responsible for yourself, due to your age or other dispensation, or get permission from your parents and/or other officials. In my case I think it was just a matter of my parents getting me enrolled in to the program. I think. It's been a few years... LOL

Also, I'm from Arkansas. I don't think we are as bad as Texas but at the bigger schools with football teams (my school was fairly small and only had basketball) the whole town will get involved. Whether or not the students really have school spirit or if they are just following status quo, they will sometimes shun another student if that particular student has become friends with someone from a rival school or if they are dating someone on the rival team, which is worse of course. Usually the shunned student is someone who is popular (oh, the betrayal!)... Occasionally it's a student who's going to get picked on no matter what they do, and that's just the most convenient thing for their harassers to pick on them about. I'd say it's more likely to happen during football season when everyone is being goaded to cheer on their team and show their school loyalty.

yeah, I find Disney Channel to be extremely laughable now. My school was in some kind of middle place between what your mother experienced and you. We had spirit week and got to dress up or do things to "prove" our spirit, but people usually only participated to have fun. Like Wacky Tacky Day, people would try to outdo other peoples' wackiness. We weren't overly spirited but we had pep rallies that were kind of fun. Teachers vs. the basketball team in a game to see if we'd get out of classes early one day or something along those lines.

Darn, well I can ask my sister, she is a HUGE horse nerd so she'll probably know tons about Appaloosas. I know she has a giant book dedicated to different breeds and information on them.

I did bookmark the links you provided, but I certainly wouldn't object to more information. :)

And yeah, we had spirit week and stuff like that, too, but it just never seemed all that significant. Like you said, for fun, not so much for spirit.