Here are some excerpts from the mother of a home schooled student: “I don’t know if you remember the circumstances which surrounded Michael when we brought him in for testing at Ability Potentials. He was and had been a very unenthusiastic home schooled high school student. (I often likened his high school years to pushing a very reluctant elephant through a small doorway.) His dad and I were strongly considering having him spend an extra year in high school to take care of both academic and maturity issues.

 

“I have to say that the meeting that Michael and I had with you – which his dad subsequently listened to – radically changed the way we schooled – and parented – our son. Michael’s profile indicated that he was a ‘people person,’ extremely auditory, musically gifted, and strongly intuitive. He also needed busyness and a ‘fast pace’ in order not to waste time or get into trouble. Your words were: ‘Your son needs to get out of high school. I think he’ll do well in college as that environment will play to his gifts – it will be at a faster pace than high school and the lecture-based classes will play to his auditory strengths.’ You encouraged us to plan on only one more year of high school and to have him take a few classes – you recommended psychology, music theory, and criminology – at our local community college as a part of his senior year curriculum.

 

“Fast forward to Michael’s senior year. In order to graduate, he had to take a very full academic load. He also worked part-time and played varsity basketball. He actually thrived under the pressure that this tight schedule provided. His senior year was the best academic year he’d ever had: all A’s and B’s, including three classes that he took at Montgomery College. There were several times I asked him point blank, ‘Who are you and what did you do with my son?’

 

“Last week Michael finished up his first full-time semester at Montgomery College, missing a 4.0 by a hair. He wants to transfer to a small liberal arts college in Ohio, and needed a letter from one of his professors as part of his application. Enclosed is a copy of the letter of recommendation that Michael’s psychology professor sent. Also, with his college GPA, Michael was offered a merit scholarship. If someone had told me, even two years ago, that these events were in Michael’s future, I would never have believed them!”

 

 

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