In a previous post, I discussed that college education may not be right for everyone. For some, both parent and teen know with certainty, that college is the right choice and that’s wonderful! However for those who aren’t so certain, there’s another option that homeschool graduates my want to consider – The Gap Year.

Sadly, I’ve spoken with many college graduates who, after graduation, found very lucrative jobs, lamenting, “I hate what I’m doing!” Many confess they would like to quit but can’t because they are up to their eyeballs in student loan and/or credit card debt. Some consider going back to school to study something different, but still don’t know what they want to do. One recent college grad I spoke with, just up & quit her very big-bucks job, because she couldn’t stand it. Would a gap year have helped these students? I don’t know. Would it have hurt them? No, I don’t think so.

The gap year concept – taking a year off between high school graduation and college – is a growing concept in this country. Many high school advisors and counselors are now recommending it to their students. Furthermore, high schools have begun having “Gap Year Fairs”, showing and promoting the many opportunities available to a high school grad during their year off from formal education.

According to an article in USA Today, as colleges’ witness more and more “gappers” arriving on campus with sharper focus, motivation and maturity Read the rest of this entry »

Not according to a December 19, 2007 article published in US News and World Report, a publication read largely by college graduates. Surprised?

The post-WWII era was a very different place than the world today and a college degree was accepted by most Americans as the safety net to job-security and personal success.

“If you want to get any where in this world, you need a college education” insisted most parents who remembered living through the Great Depression. Understandably, they wanted their children to live lives better than their own. It became the accepted norm: college equaled prosperity, no college equaled a life of “barely getting by”.

In my opinion, although I’m the first to confess, Read the rest of this entry »