I was asked what colleges we used for our children. Like we did with educating our children, my husband and I took it to the Lord. Like He did with that, we felt Him leading us differently. We had a choice, trust Him and walk where He led or do what everyone else was doing.
We were very blessed that we had solid guidance and excellent examples in our lives of how well alternative colleges work. These were people who had home-educated their children or were adults who themselves were home-educated. These godly influences have been and continue to be very valuable assets in our lives from starting homeschooling to high school to college to planning our retirement and so very much more. They don't mind listening to us bounce ideas off of them, and they have been very frank in sharing what has worked and what hasn't. Strong godly friendships are treasures in this world.
Here's the answer I shared:
What we did was call around to the HR departments of the best employers in our area and asked them what they liked to see. James Madison and Penn Foster were the colleges mentioned by most of them. Why go into enormous debt if the people doing the actual hiring don't care about the name but only the accreditation? especially since many people don't even work in their chosen degree's field.
James Madison would not allow our 13-year-old to start high school with them, so we used Penn Foster for high school because they were willing to work with us. She took a test to prove she could handle the work. Then Penn Foster would not let her start college at 14, so we used James Madison because they would. LOL! She earned her degree at 16.For our son in IT where certifications, not degrees, are the norm, we told him to get the degree AND certifications to give himself an edge. That advice worked beautifully for him. He was the youngest person (19 yo) ever hired by a company to run two industrial plants' IT departments. He earned the job over several other people who had worked in the industry for decades. He now oversees 5 industrial plants across the nation and is being encouraged to take another bigger promotion.
Even if they are skill-based like my third born son (construction), we recommended a college degree (which he earned). We told all of our children, "Skills open certain doors, and degrees open other doors. Having both opens even more doors. Life is long, and you do not know what changes and challenges are ahead. It is wise to make yourself as attractive to as many employers as you can."
