Homeschooling high school or just sending them to community college?

Question

I plan on sending my children to college at 16 years of age. How many are going to homeschool high school till 18 yrs vs graduate them at 16?

Answer 1

That's a tough one to answer. In my opinion, it depends more on the child and when they are ready and not so much a date on the calendar. If my highschooler was motivated to meet the requirements, do the work, and wanted to go to college early, by all means, I would help her achieve that goal. But if my highschooler wanted to work at the same pace as her publicschool and privateschool friends and finish highschool at the same time they did so they could "stay together", then I would help her achieve that as well. (which is exactly what she wants to do)
Many homeschool families I know do dual enrollment and have their highschoolers attend credit classes at the community college during their highschool years. Makes the transition to a 4 yr. effortless since they can go as a transfer student.

Answer 2

Our local community college only accepts students based on specific credits they have earned, which only an accredited school can grant on behalf of the province. So, there's no real benefit to 'graduating them' at 16 here to go off to college unless they've already done all the necessary grade 12 coursework to get into post-secondary.

There is Athabasca University which has an online program and will allow 16-year olds to enroll. But the types of programs are limited and are not as 'high level' as many homeschooling graduates want, although it can serve as a good first year basis which then gives college credit to switch to another post-secondary education at 17.

Personally, I'm not setting a timeline. We've pretty much decided that we'll see where we are at when we hit grade 10 (first year high school here). The kids may end up going to school, or, our daughter in particular, may have already finished some high school course work and can get 'early' credits at that point and then might decide to just continue at home, getting all their credits for a diploma early, or go to school and graduate there early. Basically, graduation will be dependent on achievement, not on age.

Answer 3

My daughter has been home schooled since first grade. She is now two grades ahead..and able to start taking classes at the community college at age 14 (she's 12 now)..she will graduate at 16 and then will most likely go to university..but the college credits will help her avoid some basic courses that many have to take in their first year or two.

Also to the people that attack home schooling..don't knock it til you try it. I have gone public school and homeschool and my child gets a MUCH better education at home. You should ask what your child is really learning at school when the teacher spends an average of 1/3 of the time calming the class down and dealing with problem students.

Answer 4

If you're college system allows it fine. However understand THEY will have to take a MATH and ENGLISH placement exam and that will determine if they get Baby Math or College Math, English 1 or English 21. Also understand you are only allowed to miss a few classes each year, not 20 days like in public school and you are generally expected to do reasearch outside of the college, the encylopedia and do 3 hours work for each 1 hour of class. Community college is FAR easier than 4 year college, but still it's a different experience.

Answer 5

I'll probably do a combo of both homeschooling a little and community college when my son turns 16. That way my son doesn't have to take a full course load esp. the first semester or 2, so he can get great grades I hope! Also I'm better at English and History so I can continue doing those the first year of school, plus we can try to tweak and fine tune those esp. English (he has dyslexia also). Math and science I'm ready to give up as soon as he turns 16!

Answer 6

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I imagine that I'll take them as far as I can. I'll then let them go to the community college up the street for what I can't teach them. (I never was good at maths higher than algebra, and I learned that in college better than I EVER did at high school.) I'm pretty sure I can teach any science discipline they could want, because I loved the sciences and took at least a little of them all. But I have a long way to go before I have to worry about that. My kids are 8, 5 and 2.

Answer 7

As a public high school teacher I can see how the public school system fails many students and will continue to fail student through a continuation of trying to create factory models to education children and forgetting that character is an important issue that should be taught in schools. Sadly I remember the day when my high school graduation was led by a guest speaker who only talked about how wonderful it was for her to have been a teenage mom and how wonderful it is there are so many teenager monther getting ahead - although its nice to see those girls graduate - it is not worthy of mentioning.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 8

Have you looked into the community college near you? Each has its own rules. Ours has advanced education where a student has to be 16 and have a certain gpa and can take 2 classes at a time. If your child has a diploma these rules may not apply. Do you think he/she will be mature enough and ready for a community college emotionally and in every other way?

Answer 9

It depends on the person.... I also homeschool my son, currently in 6th grade. I think we will choose the best courses for him, possbily a combination of college classes and core highschool classes. I graduated from a public highschool when I was 16, and went to straight to college, but I was more mature than some at my age, I was better able to handle the level of pressure that a college environement put on me. I think that your children will be able to help you determine what will be best for them, as long as they are learning and happy, that's all that matters!

Answer 10

There is a system called "Duel Enrolling" for High School Students.
Basically what it is is that high school students can go take college classes at the local high school for free(not counting expenses for books). The credits count for both hightschool and college.