Our 16-year-old is a very smart high schooler who is mega bored in school.
He is about to start his junior year in high school and is on track to graduate in a year and a half, which is one semester early.
He’s been begging us to pull him out of school so that he can finish a simple homeschool program and get a high school diploma in less than one month. After that, he would go to a community college and then transfer to a local university, where he plans to study accounting and then sit for the CPA exam. He’s following in my footsteps.
He’s so bright. He has good people skills. His GPA is 4.6 and it feels like a mistake to just pull him out. I know he can accomplish more than I ever did. However, he’s extremely bored at school and the only solution the principal provided was to add more AP courses to his schedule.
Will it look bad on his college resume to have graduated from an easy homeschool? He’s already gone so far.
What if he wants to change his path and do something more challenging, say become a doctor, in the future?
Does anyone have any suggestions for other programs for smart kids? Something to help him try other subjects or interests?
Instead of graduating high school early, could he take college courses while still a high school student, whether at the regular high school or as a home school student? This could allow him more time to explore his interests through college courses in various subjects before committing to a college and major path. Of course, if the college courses taken while in high school are applicable to the college and major path he chooses, then he may be able to graduate college early (but note the 150 credit prerequisite for the CPA exam).
Are there other issues beyond academics like social problems ? If he’s not challlenged, how about a more rigorous schedule through APs or dual enrollment courses. You noted the principal said to do this - so what is his (your son) concern with doing so ? Maybe he doesn’t have enough rigor (which it’s important to many colleges).
Accounting is one of those recession proof majors - sure there are college rankings but whether you go to top ranked UIUC or not ranked UNLV like my nephew - the big firms and more will be there.
You have a right for concern but many do homeschool and do just fine in college admissions.
Please make sure you understand parental requirements in this process - from academic to college recs and more.
I’m not a home school parent but I surmise there’s a lot of responsibility here and not just on the student’s part.
Thanks for your input. I myself am a CPA and have a tax practice. It’s been a better career than I ever expected and I had him take a tax course and he said although it was dry, he kind of liked it…
I don’t see why an open admission community college will care, and a university will mainly consider college record for students transferring at the junior level (but high school record will matter more for frosh/soph level transfers).
CPA’s get hired from everywhere, so HS and college won’t much matter. OTOH, if he changes his major to premed, community college courses will definitely matter.
How many AP’s did he take as a Soph? What AP’s does your HS offer to juniors? Seniors?
What is his math track?
Scores on any standardized tests? (SAT/ACT)?
btw: if he takes a bunch of community college courses, he’ll be considered a transfer into a 4-year school.
Yes, because he will still need a bachelor’s degree and an extra 30 hours of upper accounting courses. So in total he will be in college for at least 5 years. If it goes how he plans then he will be 21.
If he takes college courses after graduating high school, then he will likely be required to take the transfer path when applying to universities. However, universities typically do not require applying as a transfer for students who took college courses while still in high school. So remaining a high school student while taking college courses keeps open the option of applying to college as frosh.
No need to have him graduate early just to turn around and enroll in community college. He can take college courses as a high school student. Search your community college and local college websites for “concurrent enrollment” or “early college.” Your son’s guidance counselor should be able to help get him enrolled. State and high school policies will determine the number of courses he may take concurrently and whether any courses must be taken at the high school.
Depends on his current school. Is it just boring? No activities that interest him? Not enough challenging classes? Might consider it.
But taking college classes can put you WAY ahead of a class especially when it comes to taking licensed exams for example. I literally was JUST old enough to sit for a professional licensing exam at the end of my college career. I was youngest (or close) in my class. It fit what I wanted but not necessarily the best life decision.
If there are some other interests this might be the time to explore. Outside interests–sports, music, community organizations. I did a few but wish I’d done more–it would have set me up to learn how to network and grow as a person.
AP courses are far more rigorous than community college. Can you accelerate him enough to finish next june with a diploma, and start college after that?
I think there is a lot of wisdom in this statement. I would be concerned with pushing through high school as quickly as possible. The primary gain would seem to be merely getting out of a current situation. That does not necessarily mean the next situation will be an improvement. You are only a kid once so it would seem to me that you would want to make the most of it as possible - racing through it seems to be a waste of an opportunity.
If he’s bored, there are likely a lot of curricular changes at the current school (or different local high school if available) and extracurricular activities that might make things more interesting.
Does your son have an IEP program? This would provide a basis, through the school, to create a more academically stimulating environment. Are there subjects that he is more interested in that he could take either at a local community college or online. And possibly / likely get high school credit?
This is a time of his life that has the potential to be highly rewarding in ways that do not create a lot of risk. Pushing through that time to go to community college seems suboptimal (there are several bright kids at our high school that attempt this and it never really seems to work as intended).