Brenda Rose

This morning my 22 yo dd Martha and I went shopping. She is home for
Thanksgiving from her 4-yr. private college, where she is a senior. We saw
a lady frrom our former church, whose dd just went to the same college as a
freshman this year. The mother told us how hard the semester has been for
her dd, that (public) high school was hard enough, but that the girl is
really having a tough transition. She wants to stay, but already needs to
pull grades up.
Martha started telling how she had started by taking classes at the
local community college, to get used to the level of work required, and then
had made the transition to the four year school. It had worked very well,
she had adjusted then to being away from home, she was glad she had chosen
that route, etc.
It was so good for me to hear that she actually liked the way she chose
to do college and isn't sorry that she hadn't gone straight to a four-year
or left home sooner. She was homeschooled (very, very relaxed) after 2nd
grade until she began college. My older ds had done college the same way,
and it was good to hear Martha talking about it to someone else, telling her
the benefits, even though it's too late for her dd. It gave me a nice warm
feeling to hear one of my children affirm that she liked the way we chose to
do things in our family, both the parts we chose for her (such as trying out
homeschooling) and the parts she chose herself.:-)

I know that both my ds 26 and dd 22 are happy that they chose community
college, first a few classes, then full loads, then with 40+ credits,
transfer to a 4-year school.
Neither ever took SATs or ACTs. They both did well enough at the community
college to have partial scholarships at the four-year.

By the way, ds knew pretty much what he wanted to do since age 5, and dd
decided on her major while at community college, but is now taking a
different direction for grad school. And dd 24 chose to go to cosmetology
school and has been working happily in that field for about 6 years. I
really believe that all children are unique and will approach life,
learning, possible college, and employment in their own way. FWIW

Brenda Rose