There is something about taking your second (and last) child on a college tour. Homeschooling has been a long journey for us, nearly 12 years of taking it semester by semester and making sure we’re preparing our kids for adulthood. Taking Jeremy on a college tour was surreal enough, but now it’s Jackson’s turn, and he wanted to go to my alma mater.
Jackson is about to wrap up his junior year, which has been his most challenging academic year yet. He’s thinking a lot about what happens after high school, so in order to help him consider all the options, we scheduled a tour at MTSU over our spring break. Jackson is particularly interested in film production and has a natural inclination towards writing/storytelling, so the College of Media and Entertainment is a solid fit for his interests and talents.
After walking around campus with our group, we took a second tour of the production studios and other parts of the Mass Comm building (which isn’t what it’s called now, but that’s what we called it in the late-90s).
Jackson’s eyes were already wide and bright from our walk around campus, but seeing the technology in the animation room, the TV studio, and all the film equipment really piqued his interest.
There is still a final year of high school for Jackson to accomplish, and it should be the easiest academic year ever. Whenever I bring up his senior year and impending graduation, he shuts down the conversation with a smile. He’s not quite ready to consider what it will be like being on his own, even at his mother’s old college a few hours down the road. It’s a delicate balance of excitement and nerves, which is normal, of course.
There’s a real possibility that Jackson will start at our local community college and finish at least his freshman year while still living at home. But, we’re open to the possibility that he could take the leap and go off to college in a year and a half. Who knows? There’s a lot of time left to figure it out.