How early to start working on college credits?

[hsfamfun]

I am graduating my youngest son from homeschool in May. My oldest only wanted to do Dual Enrollment with the exception of Aleks, which we used for math. He began taking college courses in his Junior year and accrued 26 credits before he graduated high school. My youngest son is not as strong academically as his brother, but was much more open to alternate credit than his brother. He will graduate in May with 12 college credits and 20 credits on his ACE transcript. He is leaning toward pursuing a degree via distance learning, where his brother chose a traditional college where he lives on campus, has a double major and is in the honors program. There is no wrong or right, but I do think that the student should do the decision making on college credits. I insisted that my youngest son try his first Dual Enrollment course, because his confidence was low and he didn't think he could do it. Well, he proved that he could do it and do it well! After that, it has really been up to him.