College costs continue to rise every year. We have 3 children at home. Higher education costs for the toddlers is not currently on our minds, but our 12 year old, Marshall, is approaching this milestone faster each year.
Marshall is a fun, energetic, bright and extremely creative boy. Besides playing on the computer, another favorite activity is reading and then creating anything his mind thinks of at the moment. Seven years ago he was diagnosed with ADHD and auditory processing problems. The traditional classroom was not working for him. Three years ago we made the decision to homeschool and our son has excelled. As both my husband and I are educators, we use a Math and LA curriculum and then let him explore his choice in other subjects and anything else his racing mind sets out to learn. He is also an accomplished athlete earning trophies and medals throughout his competitive gymnastics season. Homeschooling was the perfect choice for our family and our once academically struggling son is now two years advanced, testing in the 99th percentile.
Marshall thinks quite a bit of what he would like to do when he grows up. He has plenty of time to think about his future, but he seems to be focused on learning to make video games. He has started a journal, making detailed notes of his creations. He is already developing characters and settings. We love to see his creativity and encourage him to write his thoughts down for later reflection.
As parents, we obviously worry about future education costs. Our child will need an excellent school to challenge him. We started saving for his future education about 5 years ago, putting money into his education account 4 times a year. We have also enrolled in the Upromise program. Through this program, you receive a percentage of purchases into your education fund. This includes regular grocery shopping, pharmacies, gas, stores and Internet shopping. To increase our funding, we also use the Upromise MasterCard. On top of our other purchases, we receive an additional percentage back into the children's funds. We now pay all bills and everything we can think of through the MasterCard and then pay off the MasterCard each month. This additional strategy has increased our contributions tremendously.
Good luck to all parents as we plan for our children's future.
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