Going back to school after educational neglect?

Question

Suffering from anxiety kept me from going to class everyday & eventually I ended up having a teacher come to my house to teach me. She came for 1 semester and then the school denied me of needing the teacher anymore and insisted that I return to my classes. Eventually we decided to pull me out of public school and enroll me in a private home school to finish the year. My family had a lot of things going on and my education got placed on the back burner. We never turned in any of my work, kept a transcript or anything and by the next year I wasn't enrolled in any school whatsoever. Because my name wasn't in the public school's records anymore, nobody came around to investigate and I fell through the cracks. I'm 17 now and should be going into my senior year but instead, I'm still in 8th grade. We can't afford a private school and are afraid of the legal consequences if we try to re-enroll in public school. I want to know just what they can do to me or my parents if I re-enroll. cont v

Answer 1

Your grammar is better than 90% of questions and answers on Y!A.   Don't worry about that.

You can get an education right now.   Start reading.  Start studying.   Watch video lectures online.  Do free classes.  Many colleges have online classes that are free.   You do not get 'credit' but you do get an education.

When you turn 18, go to your local community college and take a placement test.   Enroll in classes.  You may qualify for a grant and part or all of your money will be refunded to you.

There is no reason why you cannot get an education.

Get busy!  (smile)

Answer 2

There is no need to label yourself as being in "8th grade".  Grade levels are just arbitrary numbers.  They are not a measure of how much or little you know.

It sounds like you're in a state that doesn't require reporting.  If that is the case, just put the past behind you, and start your college career.  Find out the requirements for enrollment in a community college and start taking classes there.

You seem pretty intelligent and I'm sure you'll be just fine.  Good luck!

Answer 3

As far as the legal issue I would recommend advice from an attorney. As far as your education I feel you should call the board of education in your area and see what they can do in helping you get tested in where you need to pick up in your education and go from there. I believe that your education can be handled and I don't see no serious legal battles that will get your parents in trouble for this matter should of been looked into years ago. Still it is better to be safe then sorry and wouldn't hurt to just ask an attorney for advice so you would feel more at ease.

Answer 4

You may not have been doing formal study for the past few years, but you have probably been learning something. Public school probably isn't the right answer for you. I would suggest you write up a list of subjects you want to study or need to study, then have a dig through here: http://homeschoolreviews.com/default.asp... to find appropriate resources. Lots of programs have questionaires on their websites to help you determine what level of book to buy. You might need to go back to 8th grade level on some subjects, but probably not. If it does turn out that way, you are so much older and will pick it up much faster than you think. At the very least, you'll need maths and a good program to teach you how to write in a variety of styles. It doesn't matter what you intend to do with your life, you need to be able to write and will be hampered if you can't. After that, you can add any subject you like, or just read your way through the library. Educating yourself requires reading, writing, thinking, talking and listening. So read, a lot. Read lots of different things. Read things that look like they may be boring, just in case they aren't. Consider getting a copy of The Well Educated Mind. It looks scary, but it will teach you how to read critically, what to look for, think and write about. Then talk to your parents about what you've read. The content, the arguments being made, what you know about the author, what you thought about it, what other books it reminded you of, other books that disagreed with that one, and listen to your parents opinions too.

Plenty of unschoolers hardly touch textbooks and come out as well educated people. You may be behind, but you aren't a lost cause ;)

Answer 5

First, I am sorry that this all happened to you.  This is clearly a source of stress, and you need to keep stress down, so let's find a way of reducing that.

Get to a phone and call the school board anonymously and simply pose the question for "a friend."  You may very well be able to pass equivalency tests or have a school tutor to get you back into the stream as you should be.

It is fairly astonishing what happened, and I would fault the school district at least as much as your parents, though your parents are not blameless at all...

Please ask for an evaluation of your anxiety situation, because how do you know you are ready to be thrust back into school anyway now?

Anyway, it is cool that you are going to make it happen now.  Please do persevere, as your education is worth it.  VERY important, as you obviously know.  Good luck, my young friend.  I will be thinking of you.

Answer 6

It will depend on the laws where you live. Honestly, though, I'd discourage you from going back at this point. You'd be better off either creating your own program and learning what you can the next couple of years (see The Teenage Liberation Handbook for more on taking charge of your own studies) or study for the GED. I doubt they would put you into gr. 8, but assuming you are in the US and gr. 9 is the start of high school, there are credit issues to deal with and you would probably have to start there. Do you really want to spend the next 4 years in school? Being 3 to 4 years older than all of your classmates? Graduating at 21? You can take the next year and study on your own or study on your own for the GED and be done. Or you could contact your local community college and see about taking some courses and what the admission requirements are for that and possibly get started on college now instead of graduating in 4 years and starting then.

Btw, just because you didn't hand in any work doesn't mean you are still in grade 8.

Answer 7

Why don't you just try to take the GED and see how far you get.  Chances are you will do pretty well.  If not, you'll at least know where you stand.

Answer 8

I suspect you are an anti home school troll....

Answer 9

I think you would get in trouble so keep getting homeschooled. for a person who doesn't go to school, your grammar is not that bad compared to people on yahoo answers who write like this:'

h3y iM 14 y3aRz oLd aNd PREGNET wHaT shoUd I do?

Answer 10

oh my gosh lisen your parents wont get prosecuted but what they did is there fault you are seventeen and are on eight grade   thats not right im sorry but ita not your parents will be put on traill then after the judge makes his decision he will eaither decide for uyou to pay a fine or be put in public school this should of been slltled a long time ago

Answer 11

You have not been educationally neglected.  You communicate well. You understand words like "consequences", and you understand the idea of legal ramifications.  

Why would you want to go to public school?  Enroll in a jr. college.  Take some of the freshman courses in English Com, Speech, beginning Algebra, First Aid, etc.  Just take transferable courses.  You will do fine.

You are blessed that your parents allowed you to learn by following your interests.  You could be one of the unfortunate few dumped in public school who are pushed through year after year never learning to read and write.  You are blessed.

Answer 12

I would not. You might get in trouble. Why don't you just homeschool?????????????????????????

Answer 13

I strongly suggest you enroll in adult-ed classes aiming toward your GED.  Some places actually have regular daytime classes just like public school, only you're working toward the GED.  Other places only have night school.  This will "go" a lot faster than trying to go back to public high school, and a lot smoother, and then you can get on with your adult life, whether that's going to college, or getting a job, or going to a vocational certification program somewhere.  OR, you could try Job Corps, although that can be rather rough -- you leave home and live in a barracks situation, and there are lots of inner-city hard-cores there.  But you do work on your GED and get job skills at the same time.

Answer 14

Well I think it is a bit too late for you to go back to school considering you are almost at graduating age. I do suggest finding out if they have an adult school where you can take courses until you can get to the level where you can take your GED and move forward. You are too old to be going back to a Public School and besides that I doubt they would take you at your age being at that level.

Like I said before you best bet it to ask at the local adult school or community college. Regardless you need to study enough so you can get your GED. You need this for any job.