As I venture into this new season of parenthood, I’m with an adult child. This child just graduated from Virtual Learning Academy Charter School in March 2020. One of the parts of being a parent that you’re never quite prepared for this idea that you’ll one day have an adult child. This new chapter is fun, interesting, and bittersweet all at once.

My oldest is an extremely intelligent soul. Always rising above the expected work and getting excellent grades. There was one time in public school when the grades started to slip, but we worked to find a solution and switched to VLACS. During this online schooling of two years, she surpassed expectations and graduated with probably nothing lower than a 90% in every quiz, test, and work.

Since my oldest is smart, I’ve been discussing what the next path is. Listening and chatting about ideas to see where she wants to head next. We have discussed college and scholarships but I’ve never been one to pressure or push college onto my kids.

I feel college is the first adult decision my children get to make and it may put them in debt for many years, if not planned properly. This is why I enjoy discussing options to see if perhaps a scholarship would be of interest and available for my oldest. If she can get most of her college paid for because she’s intelligent, then it may be worth it to go into college.

Of course, there are many scholarships out there and one such scholarship is Marc Zboch scholarship, but we’re learning more each day about college and scholarship options. I’m not sure my oldest will venture to a traditional college, but whatever my adult child decides I’ll back 100% since this is her time to figure out what’s best for her, not me.

This new chapter of raising an adult child, especially when the pandemic has had so many things shut down or changed, is hard. I hope that my positive attitude and open-minded discussions with my oldest will help her make an educated decision about what’s best for her future.

If you have an adult child who just graduated high school, you may want to look into some available college scholarships. There are so many different scholarships that kids can take advantage of as they transition into their first year of being an adult. College is truly a decision that must be made based on what the child truly desires to do with their future and if they’re prepared to go.

The last thing I ever want to do is force my children to venture into 2-4 plus years of a lifestyle that they’re not interested in. This is why we’ve always been honest about college, scholarships, and the options our children have. We also discuss how expensive college can be so that they can make an educated decision about getting into debt.

If your child wants to go to college, I hope that they have made a solid decision about what they truly want to be and have selected an industry that has substantial growth so they can pay off their debt they have after college scholarships have come to pay their portions.