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My oldest (22) is at home while she goes to a local college.
My middle (19) is moving up to a mountain town to take a full time job that includes an apartment in the compensation. This will let her work on her college via online classes.
My youngest (16) is still in high school and is trying to decide between the different services and which ROTC program he wants to join.

The point is to plan your work and work your plan.

My youngest (16) is still in high school and is trying to decide between the different services and which ROTC program he wants to join.

Is he looking at going Guard or active? But I wouldn't really suggest going straight into ROTC. I started to do that, had issues with the military bureaucracy, and ended up going enlisted Guard for a bit while paying off the rest of school. (They messed up getting scholarship to cover tuition above the generic State/Fed TA.) Started regular ROTC, went Guard ROTC, then had to switch from 09R to 19D. Sweet stuff there!

Anyways, I would highly suggest him looking at enlisting for 2-3 years before he goes into the ROTC program. There is a HUGE difference between straight-cadets and guys who've gotten some time in the real Army first. It's much more difficult to make fun of your butterbar when you know he's gotten more deployments under his belt than you! The knowledge of basic tasks/drills, how the Army works, lingo, etc. is very useful and will help him a ton in ROTC. Plus, he can concentrate more on learning the officer tasks, instead of trying to figure out 360 security and how to crawl around in the dirt. When he goes off to LDAC for his evaluation, being at that level above most cadets will help him get the duty station/MOS that he wants, instead of getting stuck wherever they decide to throw him.

Of course, if he's looking at AF, just go straight into ROTC. Doesn't really matter as much for them :p