Anyone homeschooled actually been successful with life?

Question

I was homeschooled from 7th grade on. 7ths and 8th grade my mom did with my brother and I. Highschool we did on our own, it was from Harcourt Learning Direct (used to be ICS, and Thompson Education Direct). I didn't really understand anything because I hate reading so I just skipped to the tests at the end, almost flunked on Math but I cheated from my brothers books so I would pass. But I'm not really smart. Infact, even 6th grade which was public school I didn't do good.

Am I doomed to be stupid with no job? How did the rest of you do that were home schooled?

Answer 1

I was homeschooled for a large part of my education; now I'm in medical school and loving it.  I'd like to think I'm relatively successful.  You need to find a method of education that works for you--if you're not a good self-motivator, homeschooling might not be the best fit.  If you don't like reading, maybe you're a better auditory or visual learner and a classroom-style presentation would be better for you.  (There's a homeschool curriculum called A Beka that's a video-based program, if that's interesting to you at all.)  I'll echo what others have said about finding your interests and pursuing that, no matter what source your education comes from.  Your life and future career are largely the result of what you choose to make of it.  You can be just as successful as the guy down the street--it's just a matter of putting your mind to it.  Good luck!

Answer 2

Honestly, homeschooling isn't your problem, lack of effort is.  You admitted skipping the reading, you admitted cheating, so basically you say you are not willing to work.  You hate reading, well I hate to tell you this, but whatever school you go to will require reading in order to learn all of the material.

You have to decide how badly you WANT to be successful.  Plenty of homeschoolers go on to college, but you would have to study at college too, and you are unwilling.  The fact is, we don't ALWAYS get a thrill out of everything we have to do, whether that is school work, or employment, or cleaning our houses.   We do certain things whether we want to or not because we know that they are worth the effort in the end.  Regardless of whether you stay in homeschool, return to Public School, or take your GED and go to Community College, you are going to have to decide that studying is worth the effort.  Otherwise you will be flipping burgers for your entire life in order to get a paycheck that will barely buy one of those burgers.

Answer 3

In all honesty, this isn't a homeschooling question. There are many just-graduated teens from public or private school who are wondering the same thing.

Also, there are enough stupid people with jobs out there, that it's clear that intelligence is not an essential component to having a job.

A large number of very successful people in this world came from less-than perfect childhoods, and many were not good students (or were not traditionally educated).

So, what makes people successful?

1) They do not define who they are by their problems. Successful people define themselves by who they believe themselves to be. That's why someone who doesn't seem like she's "all that" can do very well, while someone who is obviously talented can bomb. It's all about how we perceive ourselves. You'll have a hard time being successful if you continue to see yourself as stupid or uneducated. In other words, you have to believe in yourself before anyone else will.

2) Successful people have goals. What are your goals? Even if you have a Harvard degree, if you have no goals, it will be hard to find success.

3) Successful people keep on going. No matter what. You don't have a degree, or knowledge, or ability? Keep going anyway. Don't let that stop you. Keep learning, getting stronger, understanding yourself and your world.

4) Success does not get handed to you on a silver platter. Success doesn't come from the outside, it comes from the inside. If that is true, then it doesn't matter where you went to school. You're out of school now, if you want to be successful and satisfied in your life, that's your responsibility that you have to take seriously. Waiting for someone or something to give it to you will be a lifelong wait.

5) Lastly, successful people don't whine. Seriously. Successful people don't complain, blame people or things, or otherwise put negative energy out into the universe. If you want to be successful, you have to act successful. Whining about how you're not smart or didn't have a good enough education will only convince people that's true and keep you in a constant state of wondering when you'll be successful.

Very, very few people who are successful as adults will tell you that their young years were full of nothing but win after win. Successful people generally have gone through many struggles, and it's how they pick their behinds up, brush themselves off, and start over, again and again, that makes them successful.

Given that, so long as you are alive, you always have the opportunity to have a successful adult life. It's up to you.

Answer 4

I know some successful formerly homeschooled people. The difference between what's happened to you and what happened to them was the choices they made vs. the choices you made. It sounds like it was your unwillingness to seek help that caused a good deal of your problems, not the fact you were homeschooled. Would you have read more of your work in school? Done any better? It has nothing to do with being smart or not--somebody with an IQ of 95 (on the low end of average) can work really hard and get A's in school and somebody with an IQ of 150 can flunk.

Given what you've written, I'd say you definitely have an IQ at least in the average range. Just because you gave up when things were hard doesn't mean you can't learn that stuff--it just means you've got to be willing to work harder, get help, etc.

It is NEVER too late to start to improve yourself. NEVER. You have to be willing to do it, have to learn to deal better with your emotions (skimping on your education because of how you feel about reading, for example, is not a good way to deal with your feelings) and WANT to do something. Start brainstorming a little. If we lived in a society that didn't require money, what would be the job or field that would most satisfy you? That would serve others in some way while still fulfilling you? Start taking steps toward that. The only thing that has really gotten in your way until now is *you*, and all you need to do is to take a step in the direction you'd like to go so that you'll lead a better life.

Answer 5

No, you're not stupid, but you need to change curriculum because cheating to pass totally defeats the object of the exercise. See if you can unschool instead, picking the subjects and projects that YOU find interesting to study so that you actually learn something and get back your self confidence.

Being successful with life isn't about the $s in your pay check it's about being happy with who you are and what you do. Be that a company director or a blacksmith or a SAHM. Try to figure out what you would like to do with your life and then build your education around that goal.

Answer 6

1 your gonna have a good job....

2 my god mom she was homskooled up until her senoir year she works with engeniring and dircet  or something stupid like that im not my god bros and sis are the learn alot of stuff i think what it was was that computer **** that all ways f me up in regular skol

in fact i do better in a day of home sckool then i do in a week of reg. skool lol

Answer 7

There are many, many famous successful people who've been homeschooled - just google "famous homeschoolers" and you'll get about 100 lists.

I don't think you're "not smart"; I think your kind of intelligence isn't valued by our education system. You have many gifts I'm sure! The trick will be finding out what those are. You might start with the book "Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewellyn; she's got tons of inspiration and concrete ideas for teens to find their passions - and it doesn't have to look anything like school.

Answer 8

Personally, I don't believe in home - schooling. What I recommand is not to worry about others experiences. I was at the hospital for 3 months (I'm in 8th grade) so while staying there, I had to my homework and tests by myself with no one to help. I cheated on my tests but now I regret it because I don't fully understand the units so I'm in trouble next year in high school. What I would do if i were you is start over; start fresh. You hate reading? Make it fun! Look up neat ideas on the internet. I personally HATE reading myself so I try to make it as interesting as possible using my imagination.

Bottom line: Start fresh. I know it's way of your question but it depends what career you're interested in. Hoped I've helped.

:)

Answer 9

Yes, lots of people have.

However, you need to think through this - do you just want to get through school, or do you want an education?  An education means that you are prepared to handle what will come your way later in life; a diploma just means that you got through the assignments somehow.

If you hate reading, try reading along with some great audiobooks.  My son also hated reading until I let him do this, and now he picks up novels on his own.  It helped him pick up on *why* reading can be so fun and interesting.

Your grades don't mean that you're not smart...they mean that you don't yet have the skills necessary to really understand what you're doing.  Reading comprehension is key - if you don't understand what you're reading, you're not going to learn from it.  

I would suggest going back and doing some high school courses on your own.  Lightning Lit is great (and interesting, and easy to work with) for reading comprehension and lit analysis, IEW is fabulous for writing, and there are math programs out there like Teaching Textbooks, VideoText Interactive, or Chalk Dust that will teach you in a way that doesn't feel remedial.  (Heck, my son does VideoText, and I'm learning from it.  I graduated over 15 years ago!)

No, you're not doomed to be stupid with no job - but in order to avoid this, you need to go back and relearn the skills that you missed.  Reading comprehension needs to be your first priority, followed by math (at least algebra) and writing.  Give it a year, maybe two of focused work (2-3 hours per day) and you should be where you need to be.

There are public and private school grads who are in your same boat - they were passed through from one grade to the next without gaining the necessary skills.  You're not alone, and you're not stupid - you just need to focus for the next year or two in order to be prepared (i.e. educated) to handle whatever it is you want to do.

Answer 10

Either you weren't cut out for homeschooling (lacking the drive to actually learn, too used to the public school environment) or your parents just weren't homeschooling you in the way that best fit your learning style. Maybe you're more of a hands-on learner and needed to be doing experiments and projecte and the like, or maybe you're an audible learner and would have done better with video courses or computer software that gave you video examples and interactive lessons. I'd tell you that cheating definitely set you back and it was your choice to do that, no one elses, but I'm sure you already realize that and I wont beat the dead cow. Typically though, homeschoolers aren't like that. If there aren't measures taken to prevent them from cheating, it's usually because they WON'T and DON'T cheat, and their parents know it. And with all the countless methods and curriculum options out there, homeschoolers don't just sit and read out of books then take tests (unless that's how they learn best). There are experiments, projects, field trips, computer software, videos, interactive lessons, cooperative classes with other homeschoolers, community involvement, unit studies, duel enrollment in college classes, educational camps and programs, interest-based learning, hands-on learning tools, educational games...SO many options and so many resources that are used to set homeschooling apart from public school and make it a unique, individualized experience.

To answer your question, I've been homeschooled since 9th grade and I'm doing great. I mostly worked independently. After a period of de-schooling (unsctructured down-time where i wasn't made to do anything, but offered pleanty to do at my leisure) I re-discovered a love for learning that public school had been beating out of me for years. I hated reading as well, and I ESPECIALLY hated math. We kind of eased our way into homeschooling and into a sort of routine. I started attending piano lessons, guitar lessons, and fencing lessons every week and networking with other homeschoolers. We got textbooks, but we really only used them as a guide line... A way of determining the bare minimum that i should know about a certain subject and obtaining quick information and assignments. I picked classes I was interested in... Music Theory, World History and Culture, Sign Language, Biology, Music Apreciation, Child Development...and then added in the classes I knew I NEEDED to take once I determined that yes, I do want to go to college. That meant adding in Algebra and English. I didn't like the idea of either, but that was because I was so used to the way the two classes worked in public school... Diagram this no-brainer sentense, strain your eyes reading this butchered passage from a great work of literature and answering trivial questions...look at this example and then do fifty repetitive problems like it without knowing WHY you're using that particular formula to solve them but just that it's the one you have to use, and so on. But it wasn't like that. Mom and I spent a lot of time making lesson ideas (I'd call them plans, but a plan is something you tend to stick to every detail of, and again these were mostly guide lines). We decided not to use a standard English textbook, but instead to let me read REAL books at my leisure and do research projects, book reviews, creative book projects, creative writing assignments, and so on using topics I choose for myself. This way I'd be reading and writing and practicing skill sin both. Mom graded writing, or I'd have an adult friend do it so I could make sure I wasn't practicing a gramatical error or bad writing habit without realizing it. For math, we decided to use practice problems and such, but also to do lots of hands-on activities (many that I helped to think of) to really drive the concepts home. I remember using a peg board and rubber bands to learn about graphing linear equations and slope and such, we used colored construction paper cut-outs, K'nex, colored liquid in different shaped containers, a sort of math version of Scrabble we made, legos, sidewalk chalk, colored string, and so much more. I also did a lot with an Algebra 1 and 2 computer program that had interactive, animated examples and activities (this got me interested in studying 3D animation and software engineering later on in 10th and 11th grade). I did lots of role playing activities for History, full emersion durring sign language lessons (we would do every day things like cooking, shopping, cleaning, going for a walk, packing a suitcase, feeding the pets, etc. Something relating to that day's vocabulary. We'd only speak in sign so the vocabulary relating to that activity would be introduced and if you didn't know the words you needed to say something you had to find some othe rnonverbal way to say it. Great fun!) I did disection and other interesting experiments for Biology as well as field trips to swamps and wildlive preserves, I had my music lessons and fencing lessons and clubs I'd joined, and I studied a lot of things on the side as well. We'd go to plays or concerts, hear things in the news, find things in books I'd read, learn about something in a core subject that wasn't elaborated on enough, and so on, and it would give me some big idea for something I had to build, invent, draw up, research, write about, read about, ask about, and learn about in general.  It was GREAT.

That year I completed English I and II all at once. I also completed Biology earlier than I intended to and got a head start on Earth and Physical Science. I got invited that year for the second time to participate in the People to People Student Ambassador program and travel to Australia and New Zealand, so I got to do a lot of extra research on those countries, and when I took the anual state evaluation, I scored in the 98th percentile in Reading and the 93rd in Math.. I zipped through 10th grade (though some things were 11th grade material) the following year and got the same head start on the next year. That year the state reading test came back with a perfect score, and I moved up to 95th percentile in Math. This year (11th grade, but some 12th grade material) I took the SAT's and got a total score of 1930, but I feel the need to take it again and see if I can do better. I took on a lot of extra classes this year such as Programming and Robotic, 3D Animation, and French. I have done tons of labs for Chemistry and have learned a ton, and I think I'll be starting Physics before summer break comes, or at least registering for a college science class for the fall. I finished 12th grade English and will spend the rest of the year reading and writing for fun as it is now something I LOVE to do. This fall I plan to start classes in college as a duel enrollment student while taking Trig, French 2, and some electives at home. Over the summer I'll be attending the Congressional Student Leadership Conference that I was invited to after attending a National federation of the Blind Youth Leadership seminar, and i'll earn college credit through that. I plan to start full time in college by the next Spring or Summer A term, and hopefully it will be at the University of Florida, or at Florida State.

I think typically homeschoolers are successful. I certainly think I am, my definition of success being that i am getting what I want out of life and I am happy with what I've done and plan to do. I love to learn, and it's thanks to Homeschooling.

If you're still in school, I'm sure there are ways you can improve your education. Just explore your options. If you're out of school, you can still test into a community college, or take some remedial math courses and take the SAT and go on to a university. You're not doomed. No one is.

Answer 11

i am having success... i passed my GED last year and applied to ASU (arizona state) and i have a 3.7 so i consider myself to be doing very well

Answer 12

Thousands of people have graduated from home-schooling and have gone on to be influential in the work-force, politics, the ministry and many other areas in the community.

Some people do as you have done and cheat their way through school whether it be home-school, public school, private school, or even college.  They are successful cheaters --- for a season --- but it will come around to stare them in the face someday and they will no longer have a say in anything -- nobody will trust them and their reputation will be just what it is.

It is never too late to change direction.  You are not automatically doomed to be stupid --- that is a decision you must make for yourself.  Turn your life around by becoming a well-mannered, honest citizen and learn the things that you need to know.

My children were all home-schooled.  The eldest is working as a supervisor for a graphics installation company.  One is getting A's in college -- no cheating -- all honest.  One is married and working as a nanny.  The other is still home-schooling and working for a landscaping company.

Our friends are veterinarians, doctors, chemists, engineers, printers, etc... They have been home-schooled for their entire pre-college education.

Go to your local community college --- take a placement test and sign up for classes.  Get the best possible grades without cheating.  You will do very well and you will be smart and be able to get a good job.