After hearing about the great success my daughter has had, most doubters at this point will inevitably say “Well she was a special case then. Surely, she did not miss out on her childhood. But, other children who have entered college probably did not have the same experiences as your daughter.” Watch my eyes roll.  I assure you, they do not have three heads and their experiences are quite similar. Yes, there is the occasional child who did not have the wonderful experiences that my daughter and the others have had. I have seen a few children who have been damaged by being home schooled or accelerated, but they are very few and very far between.

Would I recommend early college for your child? I can only share that it was a great experience for us and I know of others who have had great experiences too. Only you know your child. It is, indeed, a huge leap for a 13 year old to interact with college aged students and professors. In my experience, only very mature kids should attempt it. There are a lot of mature kids out there. I’ve met many kids who I feel would do very well in the college environment. However, each kid is different and the most important thing in contemplating early college is that your child needs to be on board with the amount of dedication it takes to be a success in college.

He or she needs to be willing to put in the long hours of studying and meet deadlines. He or she needs to be able to focus on a topic for a three hour period and be able to absorb the class time as any college level student would. Ah, I hear the doubters now saying it is too much work for a young child to have to do. Sorry, wrong again. When compared to the nonsense work that kids in high school have to do, it comes out to the same amount of work.

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