Comments on: The gap year, Part II: my own thoughts

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:34:19 +0000

I agree whole-heartidly about the gap year (or more). I wish that I had taken one when I graduated from highschool. I was way too immature and unready for college. It started off ok, but got worse as I started paying more attention to dating and partying than in studying. After three years of school, I had little to show except for student loan debt. I decided to drop out and eventually enlisted. After taking a gap four years in the Marine Corps, I returned to college, motivated and ready to learn. It was the best thing in the world for me. I was taught independence, that I had to be self-motivated, work ethic, personal responsibility, and a desire to make a better life for myself and family. In my second go-around in college, I became an Honor Student, was awarded academic scholarships, and got straight-A’s most semesters. Not bad for a former drop-out on scholastic probation. I’m not saying that everyone should enlist, but that going straight to college is not always the best choice. It certainly wasn’t for me.

By: Karen Farhart

Karen Farhart — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:52:30 +0000

We are currently doing the high school/college thing with our son who scored high enough on his ACT to be accepted early. I was going to pull him out of the local high school anyway (I had already done that with my son who was a senior) because of some very disappointing things I’d been realizing. My children’s friends are in church, they are very active there – youth, praise band, etc. So for Sam, my 16 yr old, it was an obvious move. It’s been excellent b/c he’s at the community college where he only attends class and then goes to work or comes home. There is not a “campus life” atmosphere so he sees it as the place where he takes his classes not where he socializes or hangs out. HOWEVER, although I think this opportunity is awesome educationally if they can handle it academically (my older son wouldn’t have been as compatible) Sam is very bothered by not knowing what he will do once he is done there. I have been trying to tell him he’s 16 and he shouldn’t know already. But this idea of a Gap year is incredible and has made me so excited because it’s exactly what he needs. I can’t wait to share the idea with him. I’d never heard of it before. Thanks for your blogs on it, they have been fascinating.

By: Cindee

Cindee — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:54:52 +0000

“My fifteen-year-old just didn’t have anything left to do!” Now that I’m forty-one, when I hear that, I want to say, “Really? Anything? She’s read all the Great Books, learned a foreign language, travelled, worked a job, volunteered? Amazing!”

You use this statement rather sarcastically, but this is exactly the situation I’m in and not for the first time. Without going into personal details, what else is there to do? We live in a rural area. My kids can run the farm, speak languages, travel regularly, work and volunteer. At 17 they still run through their passions and need some inspiration to continue. Where do we get that without using the University system?

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:41:44 +0000

I loved your imagined response to the “My fifteen-year-old just didn’t have anything left to do!” I’m 41 myself, and there are plenty of things to do, read, explore, discover. But with two elementary-aged children I homeschool, my opportunities are, at this moment, straitened. Maybe I’ll take a gap year when I’m fifty!

By: Andrea Sims

Andrea Sims — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:23:46 +0000

I am also wondering what you think about the “Early College” programs where high school students earn college credit and graduate with an associates degree? I see your point about emotional maturity but was wondering if getting to tackle more substantial material earlier might help a kid choose a life’s work. I certainly enjoyed my college time, worked, studied abroad, took classes in lots of different areas, but never really found that focus – I believed what my college told me about “liberal arts majors are able to do anything!” but never figured out what that “anything” was!

By: marianne

marianne — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:31:06 +0000

I struggled with learning disabilities, all through school. I went to one of the top five public high schools in the USA and has no confidence in my self or my education . I was working full time trying to put myself through community college and support myself. I was not a happy girl. when I was twentyone I dropped outof school worked at saving my money for a three month solo trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe. It was the best thing I could of done. I came back with so much confidence I could finally concquer college.

By: Monica

Monica — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:16:15 +0000

Thank you a million times over for this series! My daughter graduated (from homeschooling) in 2008 and took a gap year much to the horror and distress of family and friends. She didn’t know what she wanted and was not interested in going to college at the time. She is now 19 1/2 and truly enjoying taking her classes at the local jr. college. She needed the time to mature and know what she truly wanted to do with her life, not just academically. She was able to go to Washington DC, spend some time with family, and confirm that she wanted to study American History. She has your book of Ancient history, my little ones use SOW, and I am awaiting the arrival of The Well Educated Mind, so that I can begin my own “real” education! Needless to say, you are a wonderful blessing in our homeschooling lives and hope you visit CA really soon!

By: Alana

Alana — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:49:22 +0000

Wonderful!! Thank you for this series on the gap year. Our plan is for our children to travel and do volunteer work the year after graduating, and then go on to college. I want them to go in fully appreciating what they have, and some life experience behind them. My gap was 15 yrs…I am just now going to college, and can say without doubt that NOW I am ready. Any earlier it would have been a waste of time and money…before children because I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my adult life, and after because I had very few brain cells left. :smile: Now that they are older I am able to take the time and focus that my degree takes, and I know what I want to do with my life…and last but not least I am able to fully appreciate the process of education..the frustration, elation and pushing through things that I have no interest in but serve to fulfill the greater purpose.

By: Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Barb-Harmony Art Mom — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:21:33 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this series! It is exactly what I needed to read right now. My husband and I enjoyed reading Part I and II and we eagerly await the rest of the series.

Thanks for the link to the 10 Things to Do In Your Gap Year article as well. It has given us much food for thought for our 14 and 16 year old boys.

Very appreciative of your thoughts,
Barb and Dave

By: wildIris

wildIris — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:03:28 +0000

I graduated from high school at 16 and took an unintentional gap year, traveled and went to a trade school far from home. After a year of trade school I was ready to go back to school. I spent the next seven years taking classes in subjects that interested me, but I never graduated even though I had double the number of credits. I didn’t go to school to get a job at the end; I went to school to fill in the gaps in my education, the gaps from finishing high school at 16.

The gap year, especially with college acceptance out of the way, does make a difference. I look at my slouching 17 year-old son an know that this boy would not last more than a week in a classroom even at the community college level. A gap year for this boy could possibly mean the difference between success and failure academically.