High School and College and Life OH MY!

As I watch my children navigate the teen years and observe the world, so much does not make sense to me. See perhaps I was naive as a teen or perhaps times really are different almost 20 years later, but eegads the stress people put on this age group is CRAZY!  I was an average student, I got decent grades.  I had no knowledge of AP, dual credit, IB.... we had honors and that was for the smart kids, of which I was not a part of :)  I was the worlds worst cheerleader (seriously Sue Heck style if you watch The Middle), I was on the track team for 1 season, but instead of running hid behind the shed near the track until laps were over and then talked with my friends in the weight room.  I got A's in some classes and a D in one or 2 (ahem Chemistry and Geometry).  I was pretty normal.  Like many of my friends we stressed about finals or midterms.  I didn't know their was a prep for the SAT, I just took it and while taking it worried that I had too many c's in a row colored in.  I worked after school about 15 hours a week in a daycare center and other then that I was a kid.  I enjoyed my life.  Now looking back and homeschooling my kids and looking at the school world I am floored by what these kids have on their plate.  I am sitting here trying to figure out why.  I feel like we parents and adults may have forgotten what life really is all about.  Do I want my children to go to college, of course!  I want them to find the path that makes them happy and gives them a future.  I do not think though that we should sacrifice our children's childhoods to make sure they get so ahead they feel they can not stumble.  I started college at a very expensive private college, my mother was employed their at the time and so I was able to attend for free.  Two years into that experience my mother no longer worked there and I transferred to a cheaper state school.  During that transition I had my first child and didn't finish my degree, but later enrolled in an online university (actually 2) to finish my degree.  In that experience I learned many things.  First, college is not the end all be all.  It took me 12 years to complete a bachelor's degree (long story, but I have almost enough credits for 2 degrees because of my change of majors).  I did not get a better education at the more expensive school.  Each place taught me something different, but I did get much better grades and gave much more effort when I started having to pay for my classes!  I learned that in those 12 years I changed my mind numerous times on what I wanted to major in, I found a love for learning when it was at my pace and my discretion.  I found out the important things in life were never my job, home, pay scale, or possessions. It was the fact that I married my best friend, that we enjoyed our life when we had little money and 2 kids, it was our decision to have this gynormous family, it was our decision to move across the country to try living someplace else.  I am not against this rigorous education programs and push for higher education, but I do think we step back and look at what we are teaching our children.  I feel like we need to step back take a breath and realize we probably all don't need to speak Latin and Greek, it is OK if we disliked the Odyssey (its super boring lets be honest), it is OK if your child is a C student, it is OK if they don't excel or want to excel in that sport or club or whatever will "look good on the college application"  Heck....crazy here it is OK if they choose to find their way in a non traditional way!  We as adults know the stress that we face as adults, no amount of stress in the teen years is going to take the adult stress away, it just changes its source.