So how do I KNOW...

[ATL Mom]

My 16 year old niece says that she really wants to do homeschooling. We are making her finish out the school year so she will have completed the 9th grade in May - assuming she passes everything.

I'm working on building her itinerary and curriculum to ensure that she gets the proper high school classes, etc.

Our agreement is that we will do a trial run over the summer before I actually notify the state that she will be homeschooled. That way, I get a chance to see if she will do the work without fussing, whining, complaining, fighting, etc.

My question is this - How do I know she will continue to do the work for me after school has officially begun and she has moved to an official homeschooler? I know I can always put her back into public schools if it becomes necessary, but I'd rather not pull her out if she won't do the work in a homeschool arena. Right now I'm not really convinced that she will do what I will ask of her. She is currently complaining about the simplest assignments that she has been given in public schools. (Vocabulary is SSOO hard because they get twenty new words each week added to the previous five weeks worth of words from which the teacher specifies five words that might be on the next vocab test.) I'm very frustrated by her complaining and I'm not really sure if this is just normal teen-age stuff that I should overlook.

The real issue is that I know she was homeschooled by her dad - or at least he pretended to school her - and I'm concerned that she will expect to revert to his methods even though I've told her very clearly that my expectations will be much higher than his, or even the public school's, expectations. I also told her that I will have no time or energy to fight her to get her to do the work.

So - Any suggestions on how I can decide if she is honestly committed to homeschooling or if she is just trying to avoid school and thinks this is an easy way out? How do I KNOW?

[SweetDesiir3z]

I'm personaly also a highschooler in 9th grade. Unfortunetley I most likley wont be starting the home school thing until next school year. I will be taking 9th grade over next year because i've gotten myself in a few situations this year where i've been physically dissmised from public school for a semester and sent to a secondary school. That simply wasnt going to happen so I just didnt go. I didn't reall get in trouble, florida doesn't seem to be too strict with truency but I now have 0 credits and its almost the end of the year so i plan on starting fresh next year. My main problem was that I was very distracted by my peers and current happenings. I've been home schooled before and didn't have any real dificulties with, the only thing that really bugged me and caused me to get and attitude was I felt like my work was way too much above lelvel there for I found every assignment extremley difficult and a chore all its own. I was in 7th grade and she was giving me SAT prep. So all I can say is make sure you find what level she is on and plan youre curriculam according to that. Other than that it should be smooth sailing. I hope you do decide to homeschool her its a wonderful that I think everyone should be allowed to experience and pusrue at least once in life. Good luck!

[Theodore]

I don't think there's any way to tell in advance what's going to happen. You'll just have to hope for the best. Keep in mind that homeschooling allows you to work year-round rather than just during the regular two semesters, so your niece could theoretically do even less work per day than at school and still end up doing more per year. Just assign her some reasonable daily amount based on a yearly schedule (no more than 3-4 hours if she works continually), and make her sit there until she completes it all, ignoring any whining and allowing a short break every hour. If she works hard and finishes in 2 hours, she has lots of free time; if she doesn't, she'll be sitting there a long time. The choice should be obvious.

Also, as SweetDesiir3z pointed out, keep in mind that your niece has had a mediocre education up to now, and try to not advance her too far too fast. The end goal is having her finish high school in x years, and it's ok to take a few extra months now to fill in missing holes, if that means she won't be miserable and resisting you. Emphasize the less work per day part, not the more work per year