Bluemagic and HK gave you good advice. It depends upon the CC. Around here, I'm pretty sure my 5th grader could pass most courses at the CC. In other areas of the country, there are some very good CCs.
When my middle kid needed to take Chemistry over the summer to make her HS schedule work, our HS did not recognize the local CC course for credit - they recognized a local, highly regarded private school summer Chemistry course.
Most kids at our HS who run out of courses (mainly in math) go to local 4 year colleges for courses. We are fortunate that there are six of those within about 3 or 4 miles of the HS.
Many colleges do not recognize the CC credits. The quality and content of the courses is too varied from CC to CC for colleges to deem which courses are worthy of credit. AP courses, however, are supposed to cover certain material and are standardized (to a degree). If the kid takes the AP exam, his score gives the colleges a way to compare him to every other kid who took the exam.
I think AP scores are good for five years, but you should find that information on the College Board website. Even if college courses are good for 10 years, I don't see the need to credit a kid for something he took when he was eight.
