My daughter dropped out of highschool what can I do?

Question

Here's the story, she was raised by her grand mother and grand father. They passed last year and she had to come live with me. She didn't speak to any one for a while, and decided to drop out of high school at 16. I had to take her to see a counselor because of everything. It has been a couple weeks and I've bought her a GED book but she wont read it. All she does is sleep. I want her to go back to high school or at least take her GED but I was wondering if she would still have a decent future with just a GED. And also what can I do to get her out of bed she is one of the laziest teenagers I've ever met.

Answer 1

She is 16. Force her. She can't drop out without parental consent. she is truant and that will fall on you.

Answer 2

shes depressed and going through grief the most you can do for  her is be supportive and let her know you love her. don't push her to do anything that she doesn't want to do, but yet be talkative and re-get to know each other.  the most i can say is watch the warning signs for drug/alcohol abuse, suicide feelings

besides that you can't say she is the laziest teenager alive, she needs time to reflect on how she feels and what she wants to do, as i said if you push her she just might runaway from you and give a rats *** anyway.. and yes a G.E.D.  is better then a high school diploma with a G.E.D. you have to work for it as of going to school for four years and just getting whatever, from what you said in you paragraph and how you wrote it, you need to realize that she is hurt and be more in tune of what going on in her life and how she feels instead of blocking it out and just trying to move on as if nothing happened. Perhaps talk to a psychologist, and google depression and ways of dealing with besides drugs, and there are seven stages of grief shook/disbelief, denial, bargaining, guild, anger, depression, acceptence and hope, and they don't all come in that order

and for people who say G.E.D. is less then a diploma (neeh)

there the same, you still can get a job, most places prefer a G.E.D. then high school, you can get straight d's and get a diplomia but when you get an G.E.D. you actually had to work to get the credits you need, the thing about nowadays is that most places look for college degrees or certificates

Answer 3

Shes depressed, her life drastically changed. GED is okay, diploma is better.Let her cope a little bit. Ask her what would make her feel better. Someone else raised her, she probably has some trust issues with you, build some trust back.

All teenagers are lazy....

At 16 in most places she can chose to drop out. Not a lot you can do. you can require her to get a job. But be reasonable she is hurt/depressed and now living with you...obviously that wasn't the best thing at some point.

Answer 4

I dropped out of school, too. Technically, I was homeschooled. There are online highschools that you can attend via your computer, and though they cost money comparable to a private school, you do get a diploma and not a GED in the end. I opted to homeschool the old-fashioned way, no online school. So I had to get my GED. You can get into a lot of community colleges and some private colleges with a GED.

I decided to go to school to be a nurse, and I went a private university for a while. I had no problem getting in. Sometimes they will give you an aptitude test, before they accept you.

Had I finished school, I would have a great career in nursing, with just a GED (and of course, the four year dergree)

But I decided to quit because I found that I did not have the stomach for nursing. I went to a great vocational school for make-up artistry, they accepted my GED no problem, and I went to school for two months and earned my certificate from the school.  

I dropped out of highschool, left a private university, even-- but I have a great, fun job that I love, and I make about $100-150 an hour, and work as often as I wish to. And the $100-150 an hour is wage for being out of school since April of this year. I own my own business, and I am only 20 years old.

I really think that the laziness and refusal to go to school is simply rebellion. I had many friends like that, and honestly, many of them went to boot-camp type highschools, as they were sent there by their parents. Very few came out of boot-camp environments with a good disposition. Most were hardened and felt abandoned by their parents.

I think that she is being rebellious now, but she will eventually snap out of it. The rule with many of my friends was if you quit school, you get a job. And I can think of quite a few friends who worked a minimum wage job for a week and then decided that highschool was not that bad.

I had my moments of sleeping all day, too. But if you walk into her room, open the curtains, pull the covers off and say, "You are applying for jobs today!" then there is really no falling back asleep after that.

Worst case, she refuses to ever go back to school. She will have a future! When her maturity kicks in and she realizes that she needs education. There are so many great career-oriented schools out there. Long term, I think she will be fine. Maybe she will just ruin this schoolyear for herself, but return and graduation a little late.

Eventually, the rebellion gets boring. You sleep all day, you don't work or go to school...there is only so much you can do with no money, no job, no school, etc. Something will give. She will go back to school or at least want to make a change because her life will be miserable. There is honestly only so much time you can spend watching talk shows and sleeping all day before you get antsy.

Good luck! It will be okay! It's exciting that you get to have her in your life more often, even if it is hard right now. Things will be okay. And YES, she can have a future with a GED!

Answer 5

She may have depression from grieving her grandparents who -- lets face it -- were her parental figures instead of you for whatever reason.She should be in ongoing counseling because the AVERAGE span of a grieving period can be up to 2 years and if it has been one year or less -- she is still going through some massive stuff inside.

However -- you can stand up and be the parent -- but she will test your limits because whether or not you had a good reason to have her with her grandparents instead of you she is going to have trust issues with you and wonder if you are going to stick around.

There should be an alternative high school in your community or a nearby one that will (a) offer her credits to finish her real diploma; or (b) offer classes and the GED test. She should be going there for interaction with the teachers and other students.

If her deal is that she is upset about moving and does not want to deal with a new high school the idea of going 1/2 day with the focus on getting her credits instead of all the drama and c**p of high school might appeal to her. Regardless of their reputation many of these high schools have mature students who simply could not tolerate the emotional c**p of high school and want to earn their credits and get out.

A GED will not be that bad for her future. She could get into many traditional colleges with the GED and almost any community college.

Another possible option for her (and not to be harsh but) if she really does not want to be with you at this time is job Corps. She can live onsite and finish her diploma while also training for a career. They will have counseling and other things she needs there.

The Colorado center is in Collbran

http://collbran.jobcorps.gov/

Quite  honestly I do not know if she needs pills or anything but it seems like she is having a big depression right now that is understandable with all the changes and the first order of business for the rest of the summer is to treat her depression for real -- not only a few sessions with a counselor but real treatment by a doctor and building a relationship with a supportive therapist.

Between now and September you can figure out what to do about schooling and it is not too late-- she could decide to go back to her high school as if nothing happened (unless she had Fs or incompletes on her transcript -- then obviously she needs to make those up).

Best wishes to you.