Kelly and Christian both took their second past at the ACT college entrance test yesterday. Both of them felt like the did quite a bit better than last year. All got me to thinking about a series of comments by Ruthie made after the monthly homeschool update post last week. We are right at the point where we need to quit thinking about the transition from homeschool to college and start actually doing things. Ruthie’s comments that it is better to transition into college slowly rather than diving into an intense workload has changed my thinking on the way we are going to attempt to do this.
Our original plan was to put Kelly into school full time next year with a 13-15 hour schedule at a university rather than the community college. Lorena and I talked about it all when the kids were taking their test yesterday. Now we think it might be a good idea to transition her into college a little more slowly. We are going to start looking at putting her into two classes at the community college during fall semester–maybe Calculus I and Biology II. Then Calculus II and Chemistry II during the spring semester.
We want her to do something hard, but have plenty of time to do it. Her whole load for the year will consist of those four classes and and at least one more CLEP tests: American Literature. She will finish Precalculus before the end of the year this year, so we plan to get her going on Thinkwell Calculus after that. We know she will not be able to complete it, but it will give her a jump-start so that her first math class will not be so new to her that she drowns in it. She will continue through Rosetta Stone French, but probably not take the French CLEP test until after she has had a chance at at little immersion–who knows when. She will have to do the American Literature preparation with only the REA book and the local library.
The community colleges in North Carolina do not students into any classes unless the parents accompany them. Therefore, we will just have Christian load up on CLEP tests next year. He will do Chemistry, Calculus, one more History class, Psychology, Sociology, possibly American Literature. All that will give him what he needs to get an associate degree the year after that with a fairly gentle transition from homeschool to the community college his first semester.
Well, that is the plan. Maybe we can make that work. Thanks for the help Ruthie!
That’s kind of the opposite of what I did [smile]. Granted, I attended high school, but I jumped into college with 18 units the first semester. …I didn’t do that again [laughing].
My wife, who homeschooled through high school, had no trouble adjusting to the full-time aspect of our university.
For me, returning to a “you live at school” thing was fun. That was my experience. But you know your family best! May your plans be exactly what your family needs [smile].
~Luke
Man Luke, you are giving me heartburn over this thing. Have you guys got anything on the Sonlight blog or any of the Sonlight materials about this? Our kids are a little young. Kelly will be starting college as either a second semester sophomore or a junior at age 16. Christian will start as a first term sophomore at age 15. This is one of things about which I am truly conflicted.
Ruthie
Wow Ken,
Please, don’t give me that much power! haha….I do believe that the ages of your kids are to be taken into consideration and that you have PLENTY of time to transition them slowly into a full pace college schedule. Especially since your kids are not going to be entering the CC at the ‘bonehead’ level (nothing wrong with that if that is where a kid is or if you are an adult returning after a long hiatus) I think I would definitely take it a bit more slowly….your kids can lead the way as far as knowing what they can do….Let them start slowly and see how they do…it may be that they get into such a good clip that the second semester they can take more classes…I think that it also depends upon how you group the classes….Emma dropped out of Calculus her first semester, not because she couldn’t have eeked a passing grade out of it, but with all the other classes that she was taking that required so much writing, she felt she was drowning…it was VERY hard to allow her to make the decision about dropping it after only 3 weeks into it, but we let her….made her first semester much more pleasurable, and she had a bit of time for ‘a life’. She has made some very good friends in college and has laid down a network of ‘study buddies’ which is important. This semester she is conquering calculus for engineers and Chem 400 as well as taking a few other classes to round out her 16 units and is feeling pretty good about her progress…but she studies all the time and is in the math lab every day to stay on top of things. She also is getting a job through Federal Work Study in the tutoring lab, which I believe will be beneficial for her to learn to balance a small, part time job and college.
You will find the right balance….you know your kids….just remain flexible and know that you have time to make the adjustment and that your kids are going to absolutely flourish….they are coming from a very academically mind-setted (is that even a word?) family. They are not wimps when it comes to their education….it seems that you have always discussed your educational plans for the kids WITH the kids, so don’t stop…continue to let them own it a bit, too. Together you will find a happy medium where they can continue to grow. And most of all, DON’T get an ulcer over this! Breathe! Pray! Relax!
Lynn
But, Ken, your children, for as much as I’ve been around them, are *very* mature and capable for their ages. I think they’ll do well with whatever you are planning for them. Your current idea sounds like a great plan! I want to do that kind of thing with Michaela. With Joseph’s dyslexia, it just was not an option. We are still thinking now about how he’ll transition into a community college atmosphere where he’ll have to take notes on his own. He’ll probably have a tape recorder and start with just ONE class. 🙂
You all are such an encouragement to me. Thomas supports me 100%, but does not do a lot of active teaching. I sometimes feel like throwing in the towel when I think of my work schedule AND homeschooling, but then I saw some kids yesterday from the local public school (not that all public school children are like this by any means; I have one) daring each other to do really dumb things (and not that my children never do dumb things). But they were really humiliating themselves, and I remembered all over how much I value the focus on academics and character and honor in our homeschool group, and why I want to homeschool Michaela and be there to help her grow.
Thanks for your blog,
Lynn
Thanks for the comments Ruthie. Actually, this transition has been something to which I have been giving a great deal of thought and age has a lot to do with it. If Kelly were 18, I would probably take the Luke approach and have her dive into a full load (maybe not 18 credits, but at least 14 or 15). The reality, though, is that she will be only 16. With everything we have planned–CLEP, piano, sports, travel, etc., etc.–she will have a heavy load whether college is part of it or not. Mixed in this whole deal is that I took a 17 hour load in Mechanical Engineering when I was 17 years old and was just not mature enough to handle it well. I actually think both my kids are more mature now than I was at 17. I also think it is very important to have some peer support in terms of study pals, the choir, inter-mural sports, the school newspaper, or other stuff like that. It sounds like you guys really have it under control.
Lynn, Thanks for the very encouraging note. The first thing that caught my attention was your comments about throwing in the towel. I believe you could re-title the A Mother’s Journal blog to “The Joy of Homeschooling” and it would be perfectly descriptive of your homeschooling and your family’s life. You all are obviously having great success with all your children, each one being so different one from the other. We only partially started our homeschooling because of social issues, but it is at the absolute top of our list when it comes to the reason that we keep going. Even though our children are not perfect, the things we see in terms of socialization in the other educational systems available to us reinforce our reasons for continuing.
Thanks again for the great comment and the encouragement!!!