Okay, here’s the situation. Im 20 years old. I was home schooled by my mother, who had no idea what she was doing. She didn’t want me in school, so she kept me home, but didn’t really educate me. She taught me to read, that’s about it. Fortunately I had a strong drive to learn and I read a lot and taught myself things. But I didn’t have anything close to a normal education. She also was strongly against college, so I was never taught how to prep for it or given any guidance in selecting a career. And as an addition hindrance, I wasn’t properly socialized growing up, so I have terrible anxiety and I don’t really know how to interact with people. I know, my life’s a mess.
Now that you have some background, here’s my question: How do I overcome this and get into college? Where do I start? Should I get a GED or am I young enough to enroll and do senior year of high school and get a diploma? Is that even a possibility? I’m so overwhelmed. Can someone show me one step at a time how to get my life on track? Am I a lost cause, or do you think I have a chance at making something of myself?
Oh, I should add that I live in Wisconsin. Which means it’s very easy to say you’re home schooling your kid. The state never checks up on you, you’re never tested, you don’t have to prove anything or follow a curriculum. You could literally teach your child nothing and there would be no consequences. Which is basically what happened to me.
Since it is so easy to homeschool in Wisconsin, I’ll assume it’s also easy to graduate as a homeschooler. If that is possible, could you/your parents issue you a diploma and officially graduate? From there, you could attend a community college. If you commute there, it will help you slowly get used to a more structured schooling approach. You should probably start with just a few classes, which may be remedial depending on how you test in.
From the community college, you can decide if you’d like to just get an associate’s degree or transfer to a four year college. Most states have partnerships between the state college system and the state community college systems, so if you do well at the community college, you have a good chance of getting into a four year university.
I would very strongly recommend against going back to high school. If I were you, I’d take these steps:
Search “community colleges near [city you live in]”
If you can find some, look and see what their enrollment policies are like and where they transfer students to.
Email/call them to ask about how you should deal with your graduation if you’re not already graduated
Start there, take placement tests, pick classes, etc.
If you have more questions, feel free to ask again! Good luck!
Sigh, it’s people like your mother that give the competent home schoolers a bad name. A community college would be your best option, I agree. What is your financial situation, though? Are you still living with your mom?
Thank you both for your advice! I’ll look into the community college thing. Pretty sure there’s one right here in my town.
Albert69: I’m semi-independent, I’d say. My parents live on a farm but they own a house in town and I rent from them (my brother lives here too). I work part time. I’m only making about $800 a month. But I could probably pick up more work if I needed to. I definitely have to pay for everything myself. My parents don’t approve of college.
That is absolutely horrible. This is the kind of thing that gives all the rest of us a bad name. Don’t homeschool unless you are actually going to homeschool. Pulling your kid out of school and doing nothing is not homeschooling.
If your parents are willing, have them write your transcript to show that you graduated high school. However, given what you wrote above, I’m going to guess that they wouldn’t really have any idea what to put on the transcript (since you were mostly self-directed) and wouldn’t be willing (since they don’t approve of college). They might be willing to do this if you don’t mention college to them at all.
You have to pass all 5 sections of the GED in a single administration of the test. If you fail even one section, you have to retake the entire test.
Community college is probably your best option after that. Community college is generally quite affordable. Once you have gotten some classes under your belt, you can decide whether you are interested in a certificate or an associates or continuing to a university for a bachelor’s degree.