Quote from Forum Archives on July 16, 2001, 8:43 am

Posted by: dhaley <dhaley@...>

We've had so many friends do different things for graduation. Much of the
decision deals with your local state requirements. I've had friends that
had their children take the GED at age 14 and then not homeschool or go to
college. I've had friends that followed a 13 year plan like in Canada
because they felt their child would be more mature and better able to handle
the rigors of college life it they waited a year. I also think alot depends
on the child.

With my daughter I'm sure we could graduate very early but she is also very
pretty and turns the heads of boys when we go shopping...some even have the
audacity to cat call. Since we believe in courtship we feel it would be
detrimental to introduce her to the typical college dating scene before we
know she is ready emotionally and maturity wise. We'd rather wait and let
her study at home. There are many Bible colleges and Universities that are
now offering correspondence courses that a student may take at age 16 as
long as they've taken the SAT and have a decent score. We are fortunate to
have a friend that is a believer and a local veterinarian. My son has a
high interest in being a vet. Thankfully Pete has offered to let David go
with him when he needs help. This has gone a long way towards motivating
David in his studies. Last week David helped Pete do a post mortum on a
cow, etc. Pete made some interesting comments while he was here at our
house castrating two bucks that I thought I'd wethered but were now to big
for me to handle. He told us that he would never have survived the UofM vet
program had he gone straight out of high school. That the rigors and
maturity required for the program would have done him in. Pete actually got
his undergraduate degree first, worked for several years and then when back
for his Vet studies. He was very encouraging to me to encourage David to do
as much study at home as possible, work locally for maybe two years while he
studies undergraduate studies that may be done at home or a community
college and then begin his university studies. He said the most successful
students in the vet program with him were those that were older students. I
still don't know how we will do things. Right now I'm just concentrating on
getting the basics covered. Pete encouraged us to pursue the undergraduate
math and science requirements at community college or correspondence if we
were able. He found that having to take multiple maths and heavy science at
the same time to be what did in many of the students. He said if the
students could have stretched out their education another year to take these
courses they'd not have been under such pressure.

I do have friends that have their children take their junior and senior high
maths and sciences at community colleges those courses count for college
credit and high school credit. We may pursue this option with David. Just
my thoughts...Deanna