I have a question for those of you with children in the public school system. The state of Texas requires that everyone under the age of 18 be enrolled in school unless they have 1)graduated high school, 2) received a GED (Graduate Equivalency Diploma). If they get a GED before they turn 18, the high school in the district in which they reside must sign and give their permission before the person can enroll in college or in technical school or otherwise wait until they reach the age of 18.

Does the state you live in do this? Seems to me that if you have the GED, you should be free to do what you please.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), August 31, 2000

Answers

I home school my kids, and we've never had a problem getting them into the local junior college while still in high school. The jc just looked at my kids' ACT scores and a note from me, their teacher, stating that I thought they could handle the work and that was that. I've found them to be very accomodating and no interference from the high school was required. You might check with the institution directly to see exactly what is required for admission. Good Luck.

-- glynnis in KY (gabbycab@msn.com), August 31, 2000.

I homeschooled my two teenage boys this last year without any interference from the local authorities. They are returning to high school this year and I'm nervous about it. Here in Utah, good ACT scores and a portforlio of their work is enough for the local colleges. Do a word search on the net and you will find alot of material that will help you with homeschooling requirments across the nation and where you live. I must say that the more esoteric goals I had set for my sons were met. Now I feel that there are lessons for them to learn that can be taught better by the local school. THESE ARE NOT SCHOLASTIC LESSONS. They are better scholars now and I hope thay will not lower their standards because the teachers are less demanding than I was. (They still didn't reach the standards I set. They are very capable but tend to be lazy.) Good luck.

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), August 31, 2000.

How old is your son? My girls have taken college credit course both corespondence through the high school, and also summers. I was under the impression that you couldn't even get your GED until you were 17? I couldn't imagine that if he had his GED in hand at 17 and past the TASP/College Entrance Exam, or met the criteria from his TASS, ACT or SAT scores that he could not go to college. Get him on the phone or to the college campus and have him talk to a counselor, by the time my kids are this age they are taking care of most of this stuff on their own. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 31, 2000.

I got a court order to get him into the program (REACH) for the GED. He is 16. It was by mutual consent. I am sick of the school, and they are tired of seeing me. I have fought the battle of the local school system here for 5 years, and I am weary. When you go in to try to talk to them rationally, they are like fence posts. They simply sit there and tell you they are so glad you agree with them completely and support them completely with whatever they decide to do. It is like being in some sort of bad dream. Anyway, hopefully he will pass the GED in 2 months and we will be done with the lot of them. I have not tried to homeschool. This district has a long standing reputation for harrassing people who homeschool. They harrassed one family I know, bringing out the law all the time until the sheriff finally got involved and told the school to back off. The family was in compliance with state law, and the sheriff told the school he would file harrassment charges against them if they didn't leave the family alone.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), August 31, 2000.

I recently read somewhere that taking the GED can actually be detrimental to getting into alot of colleges. Don't know if that is really true or not though, as my two high school homeschoolers are doing American School and other subjects which I am supplementing such as foreign languages, etc. We are very fortunate that, in our state (ID), there are NO laws regarding homeschooling your children. Most of the colleges I have spoken with regarding my kids have said that, if they have good ACT and SAT scores, a transcript from AS and another transcript from me, they would accept them (these are not community colleges either).

How sad that your local school district is harrassive of homeschoolers. Having pulled my kids out of school when we moved 1 1/2 yrs. ago, I am a very strong advocate of homeschooling; I wish I had done it from the start. I think that if the school in my area was harrassive of homeschoolers, that would strengthen my resolve even more. I figure if they are so upset by it, it must be threatening to them in some way; and what does that say about what they are really "teaching"?

-- Lisa (tepeeclan@nidlink.com), September 02, 2000.

Green, it's a control issue -- the educational system wants control over your children for as long as they can get it, ultimately from the cradle to the grave, literally. They are actually working on that. If your son goes to college outside of Texas for a semester, would that solve the problem? Could he then transfer to one in the state, if he so desired, without the "permission" rigamarole? I will comment, though, that unless he is a mature sixteen-year-old, you would want to be cautious about sending him off to school away from home too soon. How about correspondence courses for a while? Or on- line classes? He would have to seriously motivated to continue his education, because it is hard to keep going on your own, but it might help him get some of the basic first-year core classes out of the way.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 02, 2000.

We also homeschooled and the homeschooling diploma is as good or better than a GED here (and it was in South Dakota too when I lived there a few years ago.) Just do what you think is best for your child!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), September 02, 2000.

I started grade school a year early, and didn't see any point in hanging around for my last year of high school, either. The principal of my high school refused me and 6 others permission for early graduation, although we had enough credits to graduate. I applied under Special Admissions to the U of WA. I had no GED, but I had taken the pre-SAT. On the basis of that and some recommendation letters, they let me in, at the age of 16. Mind you this was 1974. So there are ways around their rules. The state of Texas must be great indeed where to be a drop-out is to be an outlaw...

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), September 02, 2000.

Green, see if you can enroll your kids directly into college. That's what we did with our daughter here in Oregon, mostly because she was wasting her time, bored, and getting into too much trouble in highschool.

Whatever you do, make sure your kids don't lose their Texas residency by leaving the state for too long - check it out. I don't know of ANY other state which has such an inexpensive higher education system than Texas. My one son went there (A&M), and his tuition, room and board combined was like a third of just tuition costs here in Oregon! (thanks to the foresight of the Texas leaders back in the forties, when UT discovered oil on its holdings)

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoffjoe@yahoo.com), September 02, 2000.

My daughter, now age 19, will be graduating from a top N.Y. college this Dec. She has been homeschooled from the 3rd grade and started in a local community college at age 15 and received her GED and her Assc.Degree at age 17. She had no problem in entering college as a transfer student and has been an excellent student. We live in WA which has been friendly to homeschoolers unlike MI which had at the time regularly harrassed home schooling families- we did not tell them we exisited. Being able to use local programs and then take her GED along with the 2 year degree,she ha no trouble with any of the colleges she applied.

-- ricky zachow (seeker@az.com), September 04, 2000.

i agree with ricky. here in washington they try to help home school families as much as possible. also you don't need to state your child's educational intentions until they turn 8 years old.

-- Amber (ambrosia75_@hotmail.com), September 04, 2000.

part of the reason some states harrass homeschool families is the funding issue. for every butt in a seat they get about $4000 a year. if your learning at home your costing them money.

-- Amber (ambrosia75_@hotmail.com), September 04, 2000.

I pulled my son out of "public" school in 3rd grade, that was in 1984. Amber is right about the money, in Colorado they got $2500.00 a year per child registered in the county school system. I actually got the county to pay for the Abecka Books ($400.00) each year!! They still made a profit of $2100.00 and all they had to do was give him one test at the end of each year. I don't remember but I think back then every child had to be at least registered somewhere. They gave me no trouble at all, one less parent to listen to. In Kentucky I got no trouble either, they have to let you, they can't stop you as far as I know. He did his High School in 3 years at home instead of 4 with excellent grades. We used Pensacola Christian College in Florida for the books but Kentucky did NOT pay for them. I think if they know you are not going to be quiet or go away they will do what you ask just to get rid of you. Worked for us!

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), September 04, 2000.