<p>My wife and I homeschooled our sons through 8th grade, so we were thinking broadly about college from an early age. By 7th grade, we needed to start thinking about what we were going to do for high school - continue to homeschool, or send them off to a traditional school - and that had implications for their academic path after high school. So, we started thinking a little more specifically about college by the time our older son was in 7th grade.</p>
<p>We sent him to a traditional high school and over time, it became clear that he could aim pretty high for college.</p>
<p>Yet, the Ivies didn’t really appear on the radar until his junior year. And Harvard was the last entrant to the field, entirely due to listening to Dean Fitzsimmons at an open house that we attended because of the other two schools that were presenting that night.</p>
<p>My younger son’s path has been similar, although because of the experience with my older son, possibilities that didn’t occur to us until later in the game previously are already under consideration with him. And his mix of possible schools is a little different (but not much).</p>