Arkansas Ged

Q: We are considering Home Schooling our 16 year old son. We would be interested in hearing from anyone who has started this late home schooling. We are well aware of the reasons and benefits, but need to know the issues of starting at this time. Any help is appreciated...

A:I had the unique opportunity to be a home school student at the age of 17. It was at this time that my parents extracted me from the Cedarville High School in Arkansas. At the time I was a "straight A" student and that was exactly the problem... I was coasting. Totally bored. Learning almost nothing except that the system can be fooled quite easily. The biggest issues I had to deal with were the shock and the isolation. As a teenage male this was a difficult social period and I would encourage you to be patient with your son. His hormones are clouding his mind and the lack of daily exposure to other students will seem like you stole his oxygen... for a time. He will adjust and adapt. And he will start to make better social decisions too. A nice benefit. The shock will take longer. I did almost nothing for about a month after I was taken out. I was so stunned. My parents helped me with this aspect by keeping me engaged with household chores and projects. ( We lived on a small farm) After that I began to wake up and prepare for the challenges of real life. Please note at this point that most states allow your young person to be officially "done" at 16 or 17. This gives you a huge area with which to work. You do not have to follow any rules or do anything the state demands anymore. Your teen will love this freedom to explore what *he* wants for a change. I would encourage you to allow him this path. Let him choose his lessons now. Down deep he knows what he needs. He will stagger about like a drunken sailor for a time because he has never been allowed to decide for himself, but he will soon find a path he likes... then look out!! :-) Just try to be supportive of whatever path he takes, even if you think it unwise. All knowledge is of use in the end. I eventually took, and passed with outstanding scores, the Arkansas GED test. Not that it really mattered except for getting into college. Nobody else in life cares about this piece of paper. I think it is more important to do for yourself really. To prove to yourself that you can.

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