When you are thinking about taking classes at a community college, using the dual enrollment option, it’s tempting to have your children take their weakest class. Community college can quickly provide missing classes, but always remember the long term goal. If your child is doing poorly at home in a certain subject, they may not do better in a community college. Spend some time looking objectively at your child, and decide if he or she is really ready for college level work. After all, most students who are a sophomore or junior in high school are completely grade appropriate and emotionally appropriate for high school. That doesn’t necessarily mean that your child will also be grade appropriate in college.
If your child is struggling to do the work at home, then placing them in a community college isn’t going to make the subject easier or a better fit, or closer to their learning style. Instead, the class will be harder and faster – more like an assembly line classroom. There will be less flexibility and possibility of matching a learning style.
Particularly if your child is a unique learner, I would try to expose them to as much success as possible, and encourage them to become a confident learner. That may mean you avoid the community college until they are older.
You want your child to have success in high school. You want them to learn at the level where they can learn and love learning. You don’t want to put them in a situation that is so challenging that they may fail. Community college is very popular among homeschoolers right now, but it’s not a perfect fit for everyone. If your child is doing well at home, you may want to keep doing what you are doing. If your child is struggling at home, then recognize there may be even more struggles if they are exposed to college level material at a college pace of learning. It’s not right for everyone, so evaluate the situation carefully.
Listen carefully to your heart, and remember that it’s OK to be working at grade level. It’s OK for high school juniors to be doing the work of a high school junior. You want your children to experience success in high school, not experience failure at a community college.
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Pamela G says:
That’s wonderful advice for those looking at dual enrollment. There are fun
classes that the dual enrollment high school student can take. My daughter took two art classes her first semester, had a great time and scored well because this is her intrest.
My advice would be to find a fun, extra-curricular type of class for a first college class experience.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:42 pm
karen says:
I was thinking in the lines of doing lab courses in the community college because it seems that would be better than trying to do them at home.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Lee says:
Karen,
Some colleges will prefer a lab course taught in a community college (just a few colleges) so check with them before deciding. As far as “better” though, I’m not so sure. The choice that is BETTER is truly the method that helps your kids learn the most. My children did a lab science in the community college. The teachers had low expectations, and many of the labs were the same lab experiments they had already done in our homeschool. I think the learning was better at home – at least for us. But one college wanted a lab verification, and community college provided that for us.
Blessings,
Lee
January 19th, 2010 at 11:17 am