Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

Tagged: college, dual enrollment, high school, teens

This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 6 months ago by Claire.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

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April 16, 2017 at 8:52 pm
Claire
Participant
Has anyone gone this path with high schoolers? And if so, could you share your thoughts here? Did you completely stop homeschooling and allow their dual enrolled classes to suffice. If you kept subjects at home too, which ones were they? I’d be interested in how it worked in a home with other children still homeschooling; what changed; the good; the different …. really anything you’d like to share here!
April 17, 2017 at 1:07 pm
missceegee
Participant
Listening in…
My oldest is 16 and intends to dual enroll for 2 classes per semester in 11th grade. Fall with be English Comp 1 and Student Life Skills (required). Spring term plans are English Comp 2 and an unknown. She just took the PERT test today. I’m not sure if she will do full campus or hybrid classes. Leaning toward hybrid. She will still have several things going at home and will still participate in our cm co-op. She is 100% independent in all of her work already and well versed in online classes so I don’t anticipate any issues. She drives and has her own transportation so it won’t inconvenience the family to get her there. She isn’t sure she wants to go to full on college, but likes the idea of dipping her toes in to check it out. All that to say, I’ve NO experience and am interested to hear from those who do, but these are our plans for what they’re worth.
How is my baby this old?
April 17, 2017 at 6:27 pm
6boys1girl
Participant
We did dual enrollment with our second oldest when he was a Jr and Sr. It worked well for us and once we move closer, I plan on taking advantage of it for our others as well. Since my oldest was going to the satellite college near here, my second oldest could ride in and out of town with him which kept it from causing too many interruptions for the youngers and myself. My oldest 2 are now in colleges close to each other but two hours away from us so I don’t have the transportation option for the younger group at this point.
Some “my child” specific information that might help some:
He took a Spanish class the first semester of his junior year. Picked this one since he still needed a foreign language, I don’t know one so I couldn’t teach it and we have yet to find a foreign language program that we actually like. It was wonderful to have that off my plate. It also helped him to see what classroom learning was like before he went to college.
Second semester he took a welding class. At this point, he had become very frustrated with everything mostly because he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do after high school (made worse since his older brother knew exactly what he wanted to do by the time he was 14) so I encouraged him to look through the college catalog and pick something that he might be interested in. He is now pursing a welding technology degree at the community college a couple hours from here and LOVES it.
He skipped first semester Sr year to finish stuff up here. Then last semester, he took an English/writing class and Calculus so he could transfer those for his degree.
So for us, it fulfilled many different rolls: taking care of a class I couldn’t teach, helping him find what he was really interested in doing after high school and getting him a few classes ahead in his degree.
As far as home stuff: he did continue to do school at home during all but the last semester. He did all but the subjects mentioned above at home. He didn’t have anything else to finish up the last semester except what he covered in the dual enrollment. Since he was independent, he was able to adjust his schedule to the dual enrollment schedule. He and I touched base once a week on how he was feeling about the work load and worked through any issues as they came up.
Family subjects: he was gone 2 days a week during two of those semesters. We live in the country so he would ride in with his Dad and older brother and spend the time at the town library or the college library doing homework between his classes – the college is in a small town near here and is a small satellite college so this wasn’t an issue. His brother also hung out with him between his classes and work schedule. Personally, I would have had a hard time with him being at the college all day twice a week if it was a big college or in a big city but that’s just my opinion. We choose to keep him involved with the family stuff anyway. To do that, we had two different read aloud books going – one for when Sam was home, one for when he was gone. We also assigned different enrichment subjects to the Sam-home days and the Sam-away days. He helped me choose which ones to do on his days home based on what he had already learned and what he was interested in learning. I found that all my kids (we have 7 youngers) looked forward to the different days.
It also proved to be a good transitional time for him and us. He was gone more and more as he got closer to graduation so the youngers (and me, truthfully) could adjust to him not being here all the time. That made his moving away for college this year easier. He also had a chance to try out a different learning environment and different teachers while still before heading out full time. He is now doing wonderfully in his college a couple hours from here.
If there is any other specific information I can give you or you are curious about, please let me know. I’d be happy to try to answer.
And, Missceegee, I totally agree: HOW can my babies be this old????

April 19, 2017 at 1:37 pm
Claire
Participant
I’m wondering what you all think of dual enrollment replacing high school at home? Four or five classes a semester with nothing additional at home? It’s an idea I’ve seen or heard floated before in Florida where dual enrollment is free for homeschoolers and where up to 15 hours per semester are allowed with acceptable grades. This essentially allows for a free AA degree from a participating Florida college if you were to space it out correctly over the last two years of high school. Or start in your Sophmore year and space it over three years of high school. Florida also has an unusual program allowing automatic admittance into their participating universities with an AA degree. This isn’t admittance into special schools within the university but just general admittance.

April 19, 2017 at 8:07 pm
missceegee
Participant
I think it depends on the student and their goals. For my dd it isn’t the right fit, but who knows for future kiddos.
I know one young man who did it and it was a fit for him. He transferred to unf with aa degree at 18. He focused on marketing I think. He’s 20 and a college grad with a job and and recently married. It fit his goals and he would say worth it for him.
I think you have to decide kid by kid.
April 20, 2017 at 6:58 am
Claire
Participant
I agree with you, Christie. All children are so different and they change as they grow too – what works now, might not later. Together we’ve sort of sketched out a plan over here so I guess we’ll see soon enough! I’ll keep posting about her experiences in case it helps anyone else make these decisions/gain insight.
April 24, 2017 at 8:01 am
Benita
Participant
I think supplementing verses replacing depends on the child and what you want to still have control over. It does change the atmosphere of homeschooling. Your child is out of the house some and you have no authority over those classes. But it is a wonderful experience for them, it gets them ahead, and helps them transition well. I opted for supplementing and still having my high schoolers doing a few things with me.
Everything is mostly independent in high school anyway, I just wanted them to still have some experience with the atmosphere of learning the CM way. I wanted them to still be able to do morning time with us as much as possible- to experience poetry, art, music, Plutarch, etc… a little longer. I still like discussing their readings with them and I like to review their science journals and have them share commonplace books with me.
We’ve used college classes for maths and extras like Psychology and Sociology. But I still wanted them to do CM style Literature and History with me.
I have one child who is not at all interested in going to college. However, next year, part of her homeschooling will involve taking a couple of classes at the local university. This will give her a taste. It may change her mind, it may confirm that she doesn’t like it, but either way, it wont hurt!
April 25, 2017 at 7:54 am
Claire
Participant
I don’t mind the authority shifting. I think she’s ready and I’m very comfortable with her out in the world figuring things out a bit for herself. If she finds it too much or just doesn’t want to do it – no worries we can always revert back. She’s lead the initiative so I’m supporting it.
I am terrible about the “gray” in life. I’ll admit it! I can’t imagine balancing the blended dual enrollment with lessons here together. Of course, I haven’t tried yet but knowing my personality (all, nothing) I worry. I do think I’d like to see her continue some aspect of our CM style. I do. How exactly to do that without her feeling torn too … not so sure. I guess it would need to be sort of fluid? Not something she likes! She’s my schedule, precision girl.
I think there is room, easily, for her to share what she’s doing, to be in the same learning space as we are, etc. We shall see … 😉
April 26, 2017 at 3:14 pm
Betty Dickerson
Participant
So my oldest and next youngest (twins) are two years apart. For her senior year, all three big kids dual enrolled and attended classes together. That was such a blessing. They started with 2 classes first semester and then 3 the following. The boys continued to dual enroll for the rest of high school. We live in a smaller town in Florida (versus Miami where we used to live) and they had church friends also there on the small campus. First semester I drove them, then they drove themselves.
I see the wisdom in it. They were very well prepared for classes with their CM education. It was a good transition to outside accountability, especially for the boys. I could not teach some of the subjects they took. I could not have done it justice. They performed so much more for the professor than they were doing for me. It is a bit mom-intense at times, because I was proof-reading so many papers. They have had amazing professors and horrible ones. But both were learning experiences and profitable (so thankful for YouTube to learn a subject when you have to)! We utilized their guidance counselor a lot. It was a good transition to entering the world and working out those awkward homeschool social quirks but yet remain different than the world. They also got to see up close what “lostness” looks like and to learn to share their faith and stand up for truth.
For my younger kids, it was also an adjustment. Our schedule changed, and it revolved around the college year. It is hard to “do school” when big kids are off and wanting to go to the beach. When there are finals and papers, chores don’t get done as consistently. There were a lot of impromptu study groups at my house (keep frozen pizza handy). For the first few years, I still required some subjects from them at home (independently) and kept them working on good books I wanted them to read before graduating.
I am still praying about whether next child will dual enroll and when/how much. She will not have siblings there and is more impressionable. I will wait to see maturity and may take her and wait there in the parking lot and do a read aloud with the youngest while we wait. I still have 2yrs to figure it out. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to utilize dual enrollment. I received a lot of positive feedback from professors praising the love of learning and maturity they saw in my kids (compared to those who were never homeschooled) and even praised me for doing a good job with them. That was really nice and comforting to know they were well prepared.
December 3, 2017 at 6:05 pm
missceegee
Participant
UPDATE…DD16 is just finishing her first term dual enrolled at the local college. She should have an A in SLS and either a high B or an A in English Comp. 101. English was 2 days a week on campus. SLS was 1 day. She really enjoyed the English professor and the SLS not so much. She handled the classes just fine.
Turns out, she is going to graduate our homeschool a full year early in May 2018 and instead of dual enrolling fall 2018, she will go to college full time. She would not have been ready for 4-5 courses at the college this year due to finishing up other learning for me, but she will be wrapping up all I’ve set before her this next semester.
December 4, 2017 at 7:45 am
Claire
Participant
Update … here too! 🙂
My daughter finished her summer term with an A in an English class and decided she liked the atmosphere so much she would continue her schooling at the junior college through her senior year. Technically, she’s still a registered homeschooler (keeping her courses free) but she’s not doing any core lessons with us at home any longer but instead discusses all her lessons from school here. Narration has proven a powerful tool that she relies on still. She’s just finished her first full term at the college taking 12 hours/4 classes. She loved it! This is her exam week and grades won’t be final for a little while longer but she should finish with straight A’s this term too. She’s working closely with the four year colleges that she plans to apply to and making sure that she is meeting the very specific requirements for the particular colleges at the universities that she’s interested in being admitted to. It’s a careful dance for sure. In fact we discovered that she’d had to dial back her course load in the Spring term to 9 hours/3 classes and then will be able to go back up again after that term. An odd rule in her articulation agreement with this junior college but not a big deal over all. She’s still on schedule to graduate high school while simultaneously earning her AA degree.
My son, and only other kiddo, and I are plugging right along as we had before she sort of flew the coop. I’d say his education is far far more independent than hers was at his age but it seems to be working. I do find that I have to remind myself to allow/require oral narration and grand discussion of lessons with him in order to “round out” what he’s doing. I guess I feel a little like he’s following a college model now too in that he’s being responsible for his interaction with the materials and having to study/consider things outside of his readings to make sure he’s understood lessons completely.
I would note that a lot, if not all, of their enrichment (feast type lessons) are taking place in activities and nontraditional CM ways now instead of as a part of their daily lessons. That’s both interesting/working well and a bit hard to accept when I’ve experienced the opposite for years with CM.
hth someone!