| Dual enrollment (that is, enrollment in high school | | | | didn't speak up in class, even when they knew |
| and college at the same time,) may not be the | | | | the answer. The academic environment was very |
| best option for homeschoolers, especially if your | | | | poor. |
| child has perfectionist tendencies. | | | | I go to a lot of college fairs in my business. One |
| A common pattern works something like this: | | | | community college took me aside and said "Please |
| - high-achieving teen feels unchallenged at home | | | | tell homeschoolers not to send their young |
| and goes to community college | | | | children to community college! We have |
| - gets straight As with little or no effort | | | | adjudicated people in the classes!" She said felons, |
| - then starts college at a real university | | | | including predators, were known to be on campus, |
| - works as hard as they did at community college | | | | and they worry about innocent homeschoolers. |
| (i.e., not much) | | | | I live in very liberal Seattle, but I've heard very |
| - gets poor grades because they used the same | | | | similar stories from a mom in Oklahoma. |
| skills as when they were at community college | | | | I know that lots of kids do well in dual enrollment. |
| - teen feels stupid because of poor grades | | | | I've noticed that they typically aren't |
| - parents notice sadness, become concerned | | | | "perfectionist" kids. As the result of my |
| Our pediatrician said this is the common cycle that | | | | experience, I recommend that people use dual |
| "perfectionist" kids go through during the transition | | | | enrollment only when they have completely run |
| from community college to a university. He said | | | | out of curriculum AND can't afford the costs of |
| that as a doctor he never recommends dual | | | | college. Dual Enrollment is not a panacea for gifted |
| enrollment (high school and college) while a child is | | | | children. |
| in their high school years. He always recommends | | | | More importantly, though, you know your children |
| continuing high school or going to real college early. | | | | better than anyone, and you know what will help |
| When we were in dual-enrollment, we couldn't find | | | | them thrive. No situation is perfect, but you will |
| many classes that would challenge my son and at | | | | find what works for you. I wanted to give you |
| the same time not offend our faith. That meant | | | | the benefit of other's experience, and relay the |
| my Poli-Sci son Alex spent most of his time in | | | | information that I got from my child's doctor. |
| engineering physics and math classes with his | | | | I asked my son if he thought community college |
| brother. I'm glad he liked differential equations, | | | | had been a mistake. At the age of 20 he said |
| LOL! | | | | "YES!" If I could do my life over again, I would |
| In addition, we noticed that for the first time, my | | | | have homeschooled college for two years, not |
| kids encountered people who didn't want to learn. | | | | one. Community college wasn't worth the cost of |
| People there thought passing meant over a 0.7 | | | | "free" education. |
| GPA, and that a 2.0 in a class was good. People | | | | |