After Thanksgiving I sat down to create schedules for Nate and Jon. (We are taking a break from having the third teen boy here until January. ) I flipped the calendar open and it was – blank. Nathan is now fully on his own schedule. I didn’t even know that this week was Finals for Biology and Speech at the college. I didn’t know that he was supposed to volunteer at the cultural center all week to hang lights and program the electronics for the big Christmas Production. I didn’t even know that he’d be off school until January.

It’s been a whirlwind of a semester. We had visited our local high school to see if there were any classes that might help out Nate. Each year we research all of our options to meet our educational goals. Nate wanted to take Anatomy, but the Apologia materials looked REALLY intense. I thought – if it is this hard, maybe he should just take it at the college – or at the high school – for a credit. The local high school is small, and uses the community college for some of their classes. In just a couple of hours, he was signed up to take his college entrance exams, took the exams, visited the counselors, signed up for class, handed books, and enrolled. batta bing. batta bam. He came home to tell me I needed to go to the school to sign papers. Ha.

I can say that the 101 Series DVD Biology was a great choice for him. Even though he took the course 2 years ago, he remembered it all. His trouble was that he didn’t study enough for the exams, because everything in class was a review. Handbook of Nature Study was a huge help as well. He got 100% in all of his homework, tests, and labs – but the 3 exams were a bit more challenging. Just found out he passed his finals and the class with flying colors. (Still waiting on Speech, but for his class grades, he should get a great grade.)

He met with the college counselor yesterday and they mapped out a class list so that he graduates with an Associates when he graduates High School. From this point out, all of his work will be dual credit. But what does that mean for home learning? A lifestyle of learning?

There are a few classes I want him to finish at home – An online Essay class – Notgrass Government, R. C. Sproul Jr’s Economics, Algebra 2, and Visual Latin. He says he’ll dive back into these during the break til January.

He works at the Community Center as a lifeguard every morning, college in the afternoons, then events in the evening. As long as I keep sandwich makings in the fridge, he manages to come home during breaks.

I keep wondering if this is the right way? I can tell that I am so not in control of it. Is that my only fear of it? I’ve heard mixed reviews of College Plus – the child’s motivation being the main factor. Nate doesn’t do well with online studies – read above of finishing a class he started before September . . . This path will cost him time, but not monies. The college is pretty tiny.

I’d love to hear your dual enrollment stories, college plus, challenging classes, the road to the first two years of college, etc.

Jon and I will keep plugging along with Middle School – Nate’s only 16 so we still have a couple of years home together. There’s just something about the word College that seems so final – like my job is done. Maybe that’s the part I’m not comfortable with.