As to being done with high school early, I’ve heard of many homeschoolers in that boat. It’s a great time to take a Community College course or two, and concentrate on figuring out what career they are interested in. They can shadow different people at their jobs, volunteer or find other ways to learn about different jobs. I heard of one kid who wanted to go into Emergency Medicine; by 16 he had his EMT certification and was riding along with the Ambulance company. That’s not for everyone, but with that experience he’s got a very good idea of what that career will entail (not to mention it will look great on a resume when he’s looking for his first real job!). I wish I had known more about what different jobs were really like when I was in college and choosing a major.

It’s still a long way off for me (my daughter is 7), but I wanted to share some good ideas I’d heard about.