Wednesday, February 17, 2010

College

She has driven all of three times, not counting the two parking lot sessions.
She doesn't wear makeup.
No boyfriends right now. (that I know of)
She still hugs me and kisses me in front of her peers (warm fuzzy).

And yet, in the past weeks, there have been obvious signs that time is moving forward, regardless of her resistance to what ails most teenagers.

Of most importance (besides the "Getting of the Learner's Permit") are her invitation to apply for membership in the National Honor Society, as well as her initiative to enroll in the International Baccalaureate program at her school. Both of these things will assist with college and scholarship eligibility. The IB program is advanced, and only one or two schools in our state offer it. By the time IB students graduate from High School, they have anywhere between 14 and 30 College Credits already under their belt - depending on what college they attend. 

So, she brought home her potential schedule for the next two years. I didn't really go to college. My parents didn't get so involved in preparing me for it, and I was fairly ignorant of the process. I have taken community college courses over the years, but I'm still a freshman. Ha. Still, I have learned that students need to have a plan for college; they need to plan their classes in advance just as if they were planning their college courses for a degree. I have also learned how important college is for very motivated students such as my daughter. But, I'm not sure she's looking at the longer vision of how the courses she is taking in High School should tie in with her college courses, thus funneling her interests into a future Career.

So, blah blah, all that aside, there is a course she has chosen that I don't believe would help her High School to College transition very well, there is a course missing that would help immensely, and there is a course that she should have taken this year (but didn't).

So I started thinking about other options. I thought of Summer School to help with the course she should have taken this year - that would position her to take the higher level course next year in that area of study. I thought of the deal we had made that if she took Speech, I would let her take Psychology except that messes up her athletics plan. It's a tricky, puzzle-like thing, this getting ready for college stuff.

Then it hit me - community colleges offer online courses, summer courses, and weekend courses! So, I got online to check out the facts, when THIS article headline screamed out at me from my browser page. Hello? could I have had a louder signal that I was on the right path? Of course, our students won't graduate in 10th grade and then go to college, but when you look at the end results its the same thing! 

That article tells me that community colleges are ready to handle HS students who want more, and need more than their school or schedule offers. She could potentially graduate with not only the extra college credit hours offered by the IB program, but also with college credit by taking the two courses that satisfy her ideal High School course of study. Our state allows Junior and Senior HS students to enroll in concurrent college courses as long as they meet certain qualifications - which she has! So, I am having an a-ha moment. I feel like once we agree on her schedule and have this college/high school classes conversation, our next step will just be to start researching colleges, scholarships, and her future.

As a PS and an "it really doesn't matter to anyone but me" I visualize her in a career somewhat associated with Japan and the Asian culture. She is taking her second year of Japanese, and will take all four years. If she takes the US History course that she needs to graduate, and she takes it in a concurrent college course, then she could take Asian studies next year - which would gel with her Japanese class. She can take the "mother-required" speech class in a concurrent college course, which would prepare her for the 2nd level course of Intercultural Communication. She is an art student, has impressive drawing skills, and is extremely interested in Manga/Graphic Novels. She has also been working on writing a book for the past couple of years. All of these things seem to gel together into one big glob of possibility that would open so many doors for her when she graduates. I hope she agrees...but I know there is a 70% liklihood that she won't. I just needed to write it all down so I don't forget when it comes time for this very important talk. And I am encouraged by the article I stumbled upon about the High School/College connection.