The advantage, as explained to us by the university he'll be attending was that if he earned the AA, they would transfer him in as a junior and he would not be required to meet their "general ed requirements" even if they were slightly different from the CC "gen ed" requirements for an AA.
OoooOOoohh! That does sound like an advantage indeed! Plus, that is 2 years of college work that you don't have to pay college $$ for! Good for him!
Our son homeschooled. We did not do General Ed anything, just the things I thought were compelling to learn. He took a year at a Jr College (age 16) and they ONLY used those grades when he applied for universities. Never really bothered with his High School stuff. Altho our hs office made us a beautiful diploma. The course work did not match the standard -- World History in 10th, etc.