What do I do and how do I do it?

[cmill]

I live in Virgina in the Fredrick country school area. Pretty soon my (18 year old) sister is going to be moving down here to take care of our mother who is having liver problems (on top of many others) The only problem with it is, she wants to be unschooled for her last year of high school. We have another family member who does unschooling in another state and he seems to be doing very well with it. My sister has been to seventeen different schools as a result of my mothers "moving habits" and she's either often re-learning things or having to learn things without the knowledge required to do so.

She tends not to get along with kids in schools because she has poor social skills from moving so much, teachers don't like her and come up with reasons to get her out of there class (once, a teacher let her skip a full month of her class because she didn't want to deal with her) because since she's been to seventeen schools she knows how the system works and doesn't believe the "bs" they put in these kids minds. She was once kicked out of school and brought home in a cop car because she walked out of the class room to use the rest-room which they denied her the right too...She was also once beaten really badly (and held at knife point) due to "homophobic" kids at one of the schools that she went to.

We haven't had luck with schools and she is refusing to show up to school if we don't unschool her. She doesn't want to go to collage and she said that if they refuses to pass us...that she will tell them that she doesn't want to go to collage and doesn't plan on working so they might as well just pass her rather then making her go to a school that she has no use for.

She also wants to be unschooled so she can go back and forth to visit her father who lives in the state at which she is moving from

I would love to grant her wishes but I don't know how to go about doing so, what are the requirements for one to be unschooled, how do you go about applying for it, do you really have to be passed? What's the easiest way to apply for unschooling, Can she even be unschooled since she's eighteen? Anything other information other then the questions that i've asked would be really helpful!

[Lillian J]

You don't need to apply for unschooling, and there's no such thing as requirements for it or being "passed" to start it - you simply need to tend to whatever the laws are in your state for homeschooling, and you always want to think/talk in terms "homeschooling" when it comes to handling whatever requirements there might be. She can find ways to unschool within the broader term of "homeschooling," but it wouldn't be prudent to announce to authorities that she wants to "unschool," or she could end up causing much more hassle than it's worth to use that term. I'd be surprised, though, if the law even required anything of an 18 yr. old in terms of any kind of schooling - she would be considered an adult in most places - and as an adult, she'd be able to do anything she wanted. But here's a page of information on VA, including a link to information about the laws. I'd suggest getting a copy of The Teenage Liberation Handbook to get started finding out all about unschooling/homeschooling.

Lillian

[CrazyCatLady]

I'd say it's just time to get a GED and/or forget about high school. That or wrap it up quickly. I did three years worth of high school in about a school years worth of time because I was so ready to be DONE. Maybe she's ready to start trade school, or community colleges (can take a lot of classes online usually), or even an online college (check for reputable ones though). You don't need a high school diploma to start most colleges or trade schools. And the ones that require a diploma, rarely actually want to see the diploma or verify it with anyone.

Since she's 18, you could look into her getting paid to take care of her mother (if your mother is officially disables anyways). The state has paid my family members money in the past to take care of me since it interfered with their ability to get/keep jobs.

Good luck.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by CrazyCatLady

I'd say it's just time to get a GED and/or forget about high school. That or wrap it up quickly. I did three years worth of high school in about a school years worth of time because I was so ready to be DONE. Maybe she's ready to start trade school, or community colleges (can take a lot of classes online usually), or even an online college (check for reputable ones though). You don't need a high school diploma to start most colleges or trade schools. And the ones that require a diploma, rarely actually want to see the diploma or verify it with anyone.

Since she's 18, you could look into her getting paid to take care of her mother (if your mother is officially disables anyways). The state has paid my family members money in the past to take care of me since it interfered with their ability to get/keep jobs.

Good luck.

At 18, she's an adult and it's time for her to just look at what she wants to do and for the family to just do what they can to help her with that.

[Piglet68]

Yup, at 18 it's time for her to live her life. Which is really what unschooling is all about, IMO. Does she have any idea what she wants to do? What are her passions?

[2mama]

I second the Teenage Liberation Handbook.. Good food for thought for both of you!