<p>Hi. as a parent I wonder if my reaction was just because I didn't really have a choice, so I'm wondering if you would want this for your kids or wether you think there's some value in taking their time.</p>
<p>As a parent, it would probably save you money to do this since tuition goes up every year but are they going to miss out on something? Also, they'd earn more money since they'd have a longer productive career after college (assuming someone would employ a 22 year old doctor). Personally, high school was boring and a waste of time for me but my kids seemed to do fine and enjoyed it. Do you think I would've been robbing them of something by not getting them into college sooner?</p>
<p>Eh. It’s another “!8 Kids and Counting” type family. The kids in college attend extremely conservative Christian colleges of no particular repute. We have no way of knowing how well prepared they are academically or where they’ll end up in life. Would I want this for my kids? No, because I don’t want my kids raised in a close-minded religious environment where they never encounter anyone who isn’t just like them. (The eldest girl is moving to a house right near her parents.) I don’t see how their “acceleration” is of value to them or the world.</p>
<p>My kid was taking community college classes at 12, but staying at home to do it. He left for four-year college at the standard age. I don’t see any value in sending them off to the work world so soon, but if college is necessary to feed the brain then it’s wonderful to have.</p>
<p>The only problem I feel is bad with kids that young being in college is that how are they supposed to fit in with the college crowd?, 20 something year olds aren’t gonna want to be friends with a 12 year old so it will be hard for them to make friends in college.</p>
<p>Agree with you MommaJ. Family with 10 kids who believe it is environment not genes- anyone can do it, chose home schooling for control- sent kids to a small Christian college. NOT impressed. 25 year old D is an engineer - finally just moved down the street. The extremely gifted need to do college regardless of age and won’t fit in with agemates- this family has opted for very controlled environments both at home and in college. Wonder if they had the 2400 SAT my kid did at barely 16, or, given the colleges attended merely the test scores (or lower) of those in Talent searches at age 10… Of course FOX News picks up on this. Quantity instead of quality. </p>
<p>PS- my son started college at a large flagship at 16 (fall birthday). Did several math grad courses as an undergrad and added comp sci. His college academics were far superior to those kids. He was reading at the 5th grade level while just about 5 in kindergarten. His giftedness, not pushy parents. He definitely knows how to think on his own. Genes, plus an average WI city (a state with historically good public education) with gifted education available. Maybe I could have done what that family did- IF…but I would rather have a life outside of pregnancy and childrearing… Such a limited world they live in.</p>
<p>My two sons took their first college classes at ages 12 and 14 respectively. It wasn’t really that big a deal. It’s not hard to get a lab partner or join a project team – some students volunteer because they feel like protective older siblings, others are clever enough to figure out that if a kid that young is permitted to join the class, he’s almost certainly going to be an A student and a hard worker. My 14-year-old used to get regular calls from his 26-year-old lab partner asking for advice on the lab write-ups.</p>
<p>The ideal scenario if they can take college-level classes while still being with their peers in age for some or most of the time.</p>
<p>Being a full-time student at a college and especially going away to college when very young should only be a last resort for someone that really requires it intellectually and for which other means of intellectual growth are not feasible. There is always a trade-off.</p>
<p>Another thought- spending the teenage years away from home sure saves the family the difficulties of that stage in life. Push them out of your nest (into the confines of a proper college for likeminded views, not academic strengths) before they challenge you.</p>
<p>Maybe they shipped them all out to make room for the next batch of children. </p>
<p>I have a much bigger issue with the ten children than the lack of allowing them to grow wings. Sounds like just another controlling super religious family rather than one of any above average intelligence.</p>
<p>This isn’t what I would want for my own offspring. That said, I think some of you are being a bit harsh. The boy who has a master’s degree in computer science got it from Troy, a public university. The girl who is a physician attended a DO rather than a MD school, but it still seems like a real (albeit new) program; the school doesn’t seem to have any religious affiliation.Lots of kids can’t get into any US medical school. </p>
<p>I suspect that even if these kids didn’t accelerate they would have attended Evangelical Protestant colleges anyway.</p>
<p>How awful to have your kid have to decide at such a young age what to narrow down their field of study to. So many people find their passions in the teen years and some not until years later.</p>
<p>You can’t really place these kids inside the “normal box”. You have to understand that as home schooled kids, their environments and educations have probably been completely different than most kids. I know that when I homeschooled mine got exposed to MUCH MORE than they would have in public school. It is the same with many homeschoolers I know. And no big deal about charting a course early. Tons of people change careers, go back to school, etc. Most homeschoolers here start college level courses at 14, but can’t attend until 16. A lot of them take the core coursework and then CLEP out when they get ready to enter, so they can focus on their majors.</p>
<p>There is overlap in what is taught in middle and high schools and at colleges, especially community colleges. For example, algebra courses are offered at all three places. As long as my children are learning, I see no reason to enroll them in college early. But if a student has exhausted the offerings at the high school, early college should be considered.</p>
<p>I have a couple who could have left early. I saw no need to rush them and have no regrets. They don’t either. Adult life comes soon enough. (They also did college classes earlier, but at home - homeschooling for middle and/or high school as public school here would have bored them - and we considered those classes ‘high school’ even when they got credit for them from their 4 year schools.)</p>
<p>Many students who are capable and pushed young burn out very early in adulthood. One can find challenging academics without pushing or getting rid of the social part of growing up IMO.</p>
<p>Parents are responsible for their children until they’re 18, minimum. Either way, the parents will be keeping the kids in an environment friendly to their religious beliefs whether they send them to a religious college at 12, or keep them at home until 18.</p>
<p>Seems like some people just want to get on here and bash the family for their religion. I think it’s great that the kids are academically ready for college level studies at the age of 12. Are they really worse off academically than a non-religious 18 year old who goes off to a less than top school and gets a Philosophy degree with a 2.0 GPA?</p>
<p>They probably are, Gator. From what I’ve observed, there’s a huge difference between the level of classes at top schools and that of most local, non-selective colleges. It does look like the local school did prepare them for the next level. What I may have done, if those were the colleges available to us and we were homeschooling, is allow the kids to attend there are dual-enrolled students and then had them apply to stronger universities as freshman. I personally would not have accelerated my kids for them to get degrees from a local college. There are stronger colleges within Christianity, such as Wheaton College in IL and Pepperdine.</p>
<p>Oh, and I know of what I speak: back in the day, I was accelerated in school by several years.</p>
<p>I know, right? My poor kids. There are six of them and I’m pregnant again, as if it was my choice or something. To make matters worse, we are uber-religious and homeschool.</p>
<p>I know at some point they will encounter the outside world and learn to use a fork and spoon but I’m trying to put that off as long as possible. Wicked, wicked utensils.</p>
<p>My oldest started attending community college (at the actual building!) when he was 14 and now at 18 has an associate’s degree in physics. He’ll be starting at the U. of Michigan (on campus!) this fall.</p>
<p>It’s crazy that different families do things differently. All young people would turn out better if everybody had my values and did things the way that I think they should. Down with diversity!</p>
<p>Both my sons were intermittently home-schooled during grade school. I think even an average child can learn twice as much in half the time at home under guidance, as opposed to sitting in a classroom: it’s unbelievable how much time is wasted in school just in crowd management, task-switching based on the clock and moving from point to point. Our family outings, both locally and on vacation, were a steady stream of zoos, museums, and pioneer villages. Much better to see and interact with the material than to listen to a lecture while staring at a couple of pictures in the textbook.</p>
<p>I think this is what most of us mean when we talk about starting college classes at home - not literally at home, just not living in a dorm at school. Starting on campus at 18 is normal. ;)</p>
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<p>I agree 100%. Even my youngest - who chose to go to our public school for high school - did so much better from 5th to 8th (not just my bias - his standardized test scores too). He was homeschooled those years.</p>
<p>I’ll grant that there are better schools than the one I work in (I went to a better public school myself), but one can do a bit more if given the opportunity and REALLY small class sizes that focus on the individual and their needs.</p>