Come along with me and see how I (imperfectly) accelerate my children’s education
Have you heard of the Brainy Bunch? I read the book years ago and was inspired. This family had 10 kids, and six of them at the time had graduated high school by age 11 and began in-class college courses at age 12. They’ve since done the same with the rest of their brood and many have gone on to become lawyers, architects, doctors, etc.
I love stories like this, where people upend the norm and do something wonderful in their own way; I love the feeling of getting ahead of schedule; I love uniqueness.
So naturally it got me thinking.
If they could do it, could I someday do something similar? I can’t remember if I even had kids when I read it. If anything, they were tiny. But it planted a seed.
This reminded me that I’d graduated halfway through my senior year instead of taking the full year. Remembering that tiny taste of accomplishment spurned me on.
Then, in December 2024 as I made some big-picture homeschool plans, it hit me: My firstborn was going to enter high school the following fall.
After I got over the shock, I remembered this idea of accelerating high school, and the more I thought and prayed about it, the more I liked the idea. I told him about it and asked if he was interested, and he definitely was (what 9th grader doesn’t swoon at the thought of being done with school early?).
For Silas, it won’t be as accelerated as it could have if we started earlier, but I’m confident we can at least cut off a year. Maybe more if he’s up for the challenge.
My daughter would like to accelerate as well, and she might graduate even earlier since we’re starting the process in the 6th grade.
Why Accelerate?
Why on earth would I want to do this? Am I just rushing through, teaching to the test to throw a diploma at them sooner? Do I want to push them out of the nest earlier?
I’ve asked these questions of myself as we shift gears. The short answer is no – I don’t want to rush, teach to the test, or push them out of the nest. My goal is still mastery of the subjects, understanding, growth in wisdom and character, space for them to enjoy being young.
For me, accelerating is more a matter of being strategic. There’s nothing wrong with a K-12 school career, but there’s nothing magical about that number either. I’m a firm believer that if my kids are mastering concepts, I don’t need to belabor them when we could move them on to the next challenge and build on what they’ve learned.
I’m also a big believer in raising life-long learners. So to me, high school is one phase of learning, but I will always encourage them to continue learning and growing. This helps when I feel the pressure to teach them everything they could ever possibly need to know – homeschool moms are here to build a foundation, not the entire house.
The book “More Than Happy: The Wisdom of Amish Parenting” gave me further confidence. Most Amish children finish school in the 8th grade, and most of them go on to become successful entrepreneurs and hard-working employees. This tells me that studying isn’t the only thing that prepares kids for life.
So here’s my best answer about why we’re doing it:
- I tend to be a contrarian, asking why things are the way they are. Sometimes things are the way they should be, but sometimes things can be done more effectively for people’s unique situation. My personal belief is that high school can be done more efficiently while still giving our kids a wonderful feast of knowledge and understanding (and, of course, earning those pesky official credits).
- I want a different story for them. My husband and I graduated college with student loan debt from two undergraduates and a Master’s degree; it took 16 long years to pay off. I want something much different for my kids. College is not an assumption in our home. In fact, if there’s a way to avoid it, we will. But if they do absolutely need college, then graduating early will give them two main options: (1) They could begin college early, taking part-time credit hours online or locally and working part-time to contribute to cash-flowing their classes and avoiding debt. (2) If they wait to begin college at a typical age, then during that extra year they can work full-time and save for their future. Both options still allow for downtime and a social life.
Imagine how wonderful it would be to begin their adult lives without an elephant of loans on their back. What a gift!
Begin with the End in Mind
This is an ongoing question between my husband and I: when our kids are officially beginning their adult lives, what do we want them to know, to understand? More importantly, who do we want them to be? Though knowledge of the basics is incredibly important, we’re trying to see the big picture. So we’re beginning with what our state requires, brainstorming how to best equip them for life, and then seeing where those can intersect.
For instance, we want them to be aware of some of the nuances of our culture, and to have thought through some issues that regular social studies curricula just don’t cover. This year I’m having them take Tuttle Twins Academy because it offers one Social Studies credit and covers issues like ”The Dangerous Isms,” which equips teens to understand the dangers of Marxism, socialism, and wokeism; and patterns in history which show that “history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, but it does rhyme,” meaning there are generational patterns of rise, clash, and rebuild.
The Practicalities
On a practical level, we are starting with two main things:
Utilizing summers: Usually we take two weeks in June and August completely off; otherwise, they do 1-2 hours of school most summer weekdays. This will allow us to get some credits in the summers as well.
This works for us because I choose to have very mellow summers. Even with some beach/pool days and outings, we’ve had no problem doing a subject or two most days. If your summers get busier but you still want to do this, you might have to say no to a few social engagements, or maybe only have a number of weeks of official “summer school” to earn a credit and then have the rest of the summer off.
Intensives: We are taking a note from some colleges and trying intensive-style learning. This means they do fewer subjects at a time, but spend more time on them in a school day. For instance, our British Literature curriculum’s schedule suggestions take at least 4 weeks per workbook at 45 minutes per day. But with him doubling up on literature work each day, he’s been able to complete the workbook within about two weeks.
So far, we’re enjoying intensives. Motivation sparks in my children when they feel like they’re making tangible, faster progress. Having every subject automatically take a whole semester can sometimes drag and actually become a demotivator for some. This, of course, depends on personality and subject. For instance, if I were to make math an intensive, both my children’s brains would break. So I do it with subjects which, even if they’re not excited about them, are at least not quite as taxing.
Challenges:
- Figuring out transcripts. I suspect it seems more intimidating than it actually is, but it’s still something I need to do my best to get right.
- When I develop a goal like this, I can get really into it, so I’ll need to strive for balance. These are human beings who have their limits and desires to keep in mind. Challenges are good, as long as they don’t morph into unrealistic expectations.
As we continue on our adventure, I’ll keep you posted on our progress and on what we learn along the way. Stay tuned!
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