I wrote that last entry about not sending E to college full-time when he is 16, even though I went to college then and had a great experience. Are you wondering why I don’t want to send E?

I thought you might be. Here are some of my answers. Truthful answers. You don’t have to agree with them, but here they are.

He’ll be young. I know that I felt old and mature at 16, but I wasn’t.

He’s not an extrovert. I think it is hard for him to make friends and I want him to have more experience doing it in a protected environment.

He isn’t sure what he wants to do yet. I knew at age 6. I want to give him time to make his decisions without the pressure of needing to make them.

I want him to have the experience of working before he goes to college. I went to a very privileged college. Most of us did not have to work. And the problem with that is that we had no idea what work was, what we would do if we didn’t go to college. Some people gave up, thinking that work would be easier than school. Maybe for them it was. But a college education is expected these days and I want E furnished with the necessary tools.

Also, I think I tried to hurry through college in order to get out into the real world. I didn’t understand that I was in the real world, but that I had it a bit easier. My husband did know this because he worked before he went to college. I want the boys to have that opportunity, too. And since we don’t have a business he can work in, he’ll have to be 16 to work.

Those are basically my reasons.

There are others that might influence me, but would not be decisive, such as:
College is expensive and as a homeschooling mom I’m not working full-time at a paid job.
He’s my baby! (Of course, if I went with that, I would never want him to leave home, so I am not going with that.)