i was homeschooled after finishing the eighth grade in public schools, it was probably the worst decision i ever made. i know to some it may seem like the easy way out, not having to catch the big stupid yellow ride in the morning, sleeping in, study when you want, graduate early. i got all of those things and at the time it was great but now that i am 20, i have much regret about it all. i missed out on everything and never got to socialize with anyone and now i have social anxiety disorder because of it. plus i never got to graduate because my parents never sat down with me helped me. they ordered my 9th grade supplies and i had to do it by myself and then they never ordered my next years supplies. i thought for sure i was going to graduate 2 years earlier but i didn't and still haven't. so to those of you who are homeschooled or are thinking of homeschooling, just make sure your parents are cut out for it and also get involved in social events so you can still meet people and talk to others. my parents didn't prepare me for the future what so ever and now i am paying for it and it sucks ass so please take my advice and stick to public schools. i wish i would have. danny
you can't blame your parents for your problems. You were given the opportunity, you blew it. You could have joined a homeschool group for the socialization you needed. you don't need supplies to learn, all it takes is the desire to learn. Nobody can give you that desire, it's up to you whether you learn or not. And, I'd bet, you learned a lot more useful information at home than you would have learned by memorizing lists and sitting quietly in a classroom full of other kids your same age. Everything you do can be a learning experience, if you just pay attention. You are so young. You have your entire life ahead of you. There's no hurry. Learn what is important to you, leave the rest behind. But don't blame your parents for what you haven't learned. Education is so much more than sitting at a desk filling in worksheets. It's up to you, what do you want to know more about? Pick something, and learn all you can about it. That's what really matters, not when you graduate or what score you get on the SAT. ETA - I'm fairly famililiar with homeschool laws. Where do you live that a child can just drop out and call it homeschooling?
This isn't home schooling, this is neglect. Most home schoolers and unschoolers are very involved in their kid's achievement and do the work to help their kids. I am sorry you had a bad experience, but most home schoolers are not like this. What was your parent's impetus to home school you, if they didn't want to be involved? And, it is NOT too late to learn what you missed. Intelligent people never stop learning. Smart adults "home school" themselves for their lifetimes. Start reading!!!!
I'm sorry that your homeschooling experience was negative. I feel for your plight. Don't give up on yourself. You should try and get your GED, in some states you can even go back to school when until you are 21. Maybe there is an adult ed in your area that offers diplomas if you go through a specified program. It might take some work but you can do it. For my part I plan to be very involved in my son's education. Homeschooling is not the easy way out. It is an alternative to a flawed system. But it only works if both the parent and child do the work. H
dearest mamaboogie, you don't understand, i know it seems like most parents want the best for there children and they do everything in there power to make sure they have a promising future, this wasn't the case, my parents didn't give a damn, it was there fault. i was 13 years old, i made the choice of sitting down and teaching myself, they never helped me, they never said anything to me. it was i who sent in all the forms, the paper work, the completed test,and i passed, i got all B's, i told my parents and they said they would order my 10th grade supplies, i kept asking and asking them as time went on and they put it off like it was nothing. they spent there money on other things. i was a helpless child, what could i do at the age of 13 with no job and no money... i didn't have the choice of going anywhere, i was stuck in the house all day, even if i wanted to join in some kind of event, they would have never driven me to it. so yes i completely blame my parents for this. i am 20 years old and i am currently working on my GED, but i should have been in college by now. any 13 year old would sit around if they had the choice, it's the parents who have to push them and set rules to make sure they go far in life. instead all my siblings and i were smoking pot in the basement and they insisted we do..
not true. homeschooled children tend to score much higher on college entrance and exit exams than kids who went to public school. Most kids who are homeschooled are actually educated to very high standards. The op was not homeschooled, not by any definition of the word I've ever heard of before. The op unfortunately dropped out of school, and her parents let her do it, which is probably against the law in their state. Danny, there is nothing wrong with going to college in your twenties. For some people, it's actually better that way. I went back to school in my mid twenties, and was much more serious about it, got much better grades, and learned a lot more than I did when I was goofing off partying all the time in my teens. For me, I wasn't ready for college at 18. Maybe you are just now serious enough about getting an education to take it seriously enough to stick with it and put forth the effort it requires. No, not all teenagers would choose to sit around smoking dope all day every day. 13 is plenty old enough to own your mistakes instead of blaming others. And 20 is plenty young enough to learn from those mistakes and still set your life on the right course. best of luck to you!!
Don't feel like you are behind. Don't be a slave to 'this is what I should be doing at this age'. It's not the time frame in which you get things done that matter, there are kids in college right now, because 'this is what I should be doing at this age', and they're not learning anything, they're not enjoying it, they'd rather be out there in the world learning on their own. I know this because that was me a year ago, I went through college and my high school career feeling the same way, and I know lots of older people in their 30's who say that is the best time for them to go to college, and that they wish they hadn't even tried when they were younger, they regret not experiencing the real world first. So what I'm saying is don't feel discouraged, you are on your own path, make it fulfilling. Good luck to you.
Personal insults are not allowed on Hip Forums, consider this a warning, Big Bug Nuts. Maggie SuperModerator
Same question, where did you get your info. Most homeschoolers do very well, score higher on national tests, and seem to deal well with college and work life. So do alot of traditionally schooled kids. Danny, That sucks. Unfortunantly I saw my stepmom do the same thing to my half-sister. Everything you said sounds exactly like what she put up with before finally giving up, after all what could she do when no-one was willing to help? i lived too far to be of much help.- The good news is now she is 24, just got her GED and is going to school to be a nurse. So don't give up. As for not homeschooling, I think that most of the parents here have made a full choice to support their children and give them what they need. Thats why we come here
Yeah, any parent that is on a homeschooling forum, discussing issues, are more aware of their children's abilities and needs, social and educational. The parents of this forum really feel for you, but you can't blame the whole homeschooling community for your parents' neglect. And if this started at 13 years old, then you could have talked to a counselor at your local school district and put BACK into public school. You didn't have to wallow in your parents' neglect. There was a lot you could have done. And you still can do. Life and education doesn't stop at any age. Your brain never rots. If you want an education, GO GET IT! And keep posting. We'll be your support.
Look everybody, I am not looking for pity here, this is something that should have been delt with years ago, and there's nothing you can say mamaboogie that would change my mind about blaming my parents. I 100% blame them. Everyone has there own opinion when it comes to parenting. I don't personally have any children but I know if I did, I would do everything in my power to make sure there future is a success, but just to clear things up, when I did go to public schools, I did really bad, I barely passed the grade I was in each year. I got C's and D's. Everytime I brought my report card home to be signed, my parents would see those D's and think nothing of it, they'd say eh, at least she passed. If got in trouble and had to go see the principle, the school would call my parents and they'd say "ok we will talk to her when she gets home", I'd go home and my parents completely forgot that I had even been in trouble earlier. I had a few friends in middle school and I lost all of them after a year of being out of public schools. I tried to stay in touch with them, but they were all mad at me for not going to highschool with them. It was my parents idea to homeschool me, they thought I would do better because I could concentrate more at home, I thought the same plus I was scared to death of going to highschool. And yes 13 year olds can make "decisions", but not the right ones unless they were raised to. I've been in the same careless atmosphere my entire childhood, there's no way I knew what the hell was going on. I didn't know what to expect in the future at that age, I didn't know how hard it would be to make a living on minimum wage, things are really difficult, and I think that if my parents would have been there for me and taught me how to be responsible, taught me what the road had ahead for me, then I could be on my way toward a very successful life. Anyways, this post wasn't really a cry for help, this post was more of advice. Basically any parent who is thinking about homeschooling there child or any student who is thinking of asking there parents to homeschool them, make sure you look into it first because it isn't always the right path for everyone. I missed out on a lot, meeting people, prom, dating, graduating, just make sure that it right for you and your lifestyle. Every child grows up differently, and a lot of that has to do with who they are when there older,not just there friends and the pressure around them, the only thing my parents taught me was how to spend money I don't have. When you grow up never really being discplined and allowed to do whatever you want, then you really don't know how to make the right decisions, this is probably why a lot of 13 year old girls out having babies, because there parents let them make there own decisions, when you should be responsible for everything your child becomes till the age of 18. Again, this is just my opinion, I am not looking to argue with anybody over this. I love my both parents a lot, they are now divorced, I don't sit here every second blaming them for things, I am actually completely over it, all I'm saying is that I didn't have a very good experience with my homeschooling so make sure you all look into first. Peace out.. Danny
tennessee does admittedly have very poor public schools. it's because of our former Governor, Lamar Alexander, who is now Secretary of Education for the entire country (are you scared yet? you should be). And Tennessee also has a very large homeschool community, with children who are performing much better as a group on those standardized tests than the vast majority of the nation's public-schooled children. in 2005, the national average ACT score was 20.9. The average score for homeschooled children was 22.5 http://www.act.org/news/data/05/pdf/t11.pdf ...and that's just from the first website I found with a quick google. Homeschooled children do tend to perform better on those sorts of tests, not just in Tennessee. edited to add a bit more... second website I found with my google http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp
It's not really just the learning that I'm concerned about, it's there childs confidence and trust in others. But I guess all of you know what your doing so my written experience is just completely pointless. Sorry to have wasted your guy's time.. Danny
Danny, it's good for us who homeschool to see stories like yours, to be sure that we are NOT doing the same thing to our own kids. But most of us are careful to keep our kids lives enriched. Homeschooling can and does work. It just takes a LOT of effort... on both the parents and the kids' part! love, mom
http://f4.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/sLT8Q_...64QluYRRDaKNZhWMtLh7Z/Stanford HS Article.htm interesting article from stanford about how homeschoolers deal with college.
My story is almost identical to "dannyandkodiak's" story. So I know what you are going through. ( and I thought I was the only one ).
Maybe it is a good wake up call to hear stories like this. I for one am open to hearing about homeschooling experiences from the kid's perspective..that's basically my unschooling philosophy- listen to your kid. I also had parents who were "out of it" much of the time, going through divorce, etc. so I can relate to experiencing some neglect. (plenty of love and support too though) One thing though, Danny (and moon), you do need to come to a point in life -hopefully not too far in the future- when you realize that blaming others, parents especially, is only making you depressed and unfulfilled. Think about it, your parents "made" you - if you resent them or focus on their failures, then you are also seeing yourself in that same light. Believe me I've been there and done it too. It's really hard to look at yourself in the mirror and take responsibility for where you are in life, but it's hugely liberating also. No one can do it for you, it's something that has to come from within. It does not absolve your parents, but that's not really something you have to worry about anyway. Just be yourself and be open to letting go a little. None of us feels exactly the same about things now, as we felt 5 years ago. Life goes on, come along with it. peace
