# graduating your homeschooled teen



## country_wife

My DD is 16. She has always worked well above her grade level, and we plan to graduate her in the spring. Our problem lies in the fact that Ohio's compulsory attendance age is 6-18. DD is old enough to take the GED, but we are hoping not to go that route. My concern is that once we graduate her from homeschool, the school district may consider her truant (once the assessment forms stop arriving for her, but continue for her sister). 

Has anyone here graduated a homeschool student (without the GED or any correspondence courses)? Any advice?
Thanks!


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## Guest

What about having her take classes at the community college? They would count for her degree and she wouldn't be counted as truant.


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## Callieslamb

Is your daughter looking to go to college? Or is she just finished? I had 2 daughters that were unhappy in school and during their senior year we just pulled them out and said we were "home schooling" which we did. I put them in classes at the community college - only, we had to have the GED to be able to take the classes. We had to go through the school district to get some kind of release form also. They also needed the GED to get jobs. So we did the GED. When they went to college - no one asked about anything. Their ACT scores spoke for themselves. our last daughter, left for college this fall. They didn't even ask for her high school transcripts. Once they get into college no one cares where they went to high school.

If she is planning on going to college, there are many home school-friendly colleges out there. Does your state allow for umbrella schools or oversight schools? The ones that over see your educational plans (but don't really do anything). Most of the ones here will give you a certificate of graduation but I am not sure if they will do it early or not.


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## Sonshine

My DD graduated this year. Of course, each state is different, but in Georgia, after the age of 16 you don't have to list them as being homeschooled. I made up her transcripts and gave her a diploma, which she used to join the USAF. She graduated from basic training today. YAY! And will be starting tech school on Monday.


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## Cheryl in SD

Our plan is that as soon as they finish their high school courses, they dual enroll into a local college to complete their high school years. Dual enrolled courses are usually much less expensive for another bonus.


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## Danaus29

I graduated both my kids. Ds took the GED (if the student is under 19 they have to get special permission from the district superintendant) and dd just got a written diploma. But by stupid Ohio state law (you can graduate from public school at age 16 and not violate the compulsary attendance but you can't graduate from home school that early!!!!) she has to still be a full time student or be released on a work permit. Or you can do what I thought of doing, just fill out a withdrawal form. What I actually did was just stop sending in the paperwork. There are so many truly truant students in this district they didn't have time to check into our situation.

You can use college courses as a supplement to the home schooling cirriculum BUT you still need the paperwork that is completed by a certified teacher to be sent in to the district until the school year in which she turns 18. After that you don't need to send anything in, not even the completion paperwork for the last year of schooling.


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## country_wife

Danaus29 said:


> I graduated both my kids. Ds took the GED (if the student is under 19 they have to get special permission from the district superintendant) and dd just got a written diploma. But by stupid Ohio state law (you can graduate from public school at age 16 and not violate the compulsary attendance but you can't graduate from home school that early!!!!) she has to still be a full time student or be released on a work permit. Or you can do what I thought of doing, just fill out a withdrawal form. What I actually did was just stop sending in the paperwork. There are so many truly truant students in this district they didn't have time to check into our situation.
> 
> You can use college courses as a supplement to the home schooling cirriculum BUT you still need the paperwork that is completed by a certified teacher to be sent in to the district until the school year in which she turns 18. After that you don't need to send anything in, not even the completion paperwork for the last year of schooling.


Thank you for answering my question. That's pretty much what I'd suspected, but I'd not been able to find anyone that had been in a similar situation. Unfortunately, I don't think we'd be under the radar in our area if we stopped sending in paperwork. The district has been known to send a truant officer to homeschooling homes..just for the heck of it, I guess. I mean, they _know_ who has filed paperwork and who hasn't.

Looks like our choices are GED or continuing to homeschool. 

Thanks again. And thanks to all those that responded.

BTW, Danaus29, what part of Ohio are you in?


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## roncarla

I graduated from high school when I was 16 and enrolled immediately in college. I didn't have any problems with the school district.


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## Danaus29

Columbus - Grove City area, Southwestern City Schools.

The part that really stinks is that college professors are not certified teachers. I had a couple college professors that would have written dd an assessment saying how well she was doing but the state won't accept it. I had a dozen or so teachers that refused to write an assessment because we didn't follow the exact same cirriculum as the school (she was still struggling to READ for cryin' out loud!!!) and one that charged me over $150 for an assessment and a whole bunch of other junk the school didn't need but that was her "standard" assessment. Our district also wants more info than the`state requires you to give. The last year I turned in an assessment I told them I would not be doing another since the district was telling their staff that they would be fired for reviewing home school paperwork. I got 3 or 4 letters requesting dd's info and school status but I know other kids that just quit going to school at her age and the district never contacted any of their parents. And I sure didn't have another spare $150 laying around with ds in college at that time.


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## country_wife

Danaus29 said:


> Columbus - Grove City area, Southwestern City Schools.
> 
> The part that really stinks is that college professors are not certified teachers. I had a couple college professors that would have written dd an assessment saying how well she was doing but the state won't accept it. I had a dozen or so teachers that refused to write an assessment because we didn't follow the exact same cirriculum as the school (she was still struggling to READ for cryin' out loud!!!) and one that charged me over $150 for an assessment and a whole bunch of other junk the school didn't need but that was her "standard" assessment. Our district also wants more info than the`state requires you to give. The last year I turned in an assessment I told them I would not be doing another since the district was telling their staff that they would be fired for reviewing home school paperwork. I got 3 or 4 letters requesting dd's info and school status but I know other kids that just quit going to school at her age and the district never contacted any of their parents. And I sure didn't have another spare $150 laying around with ds in college at that time.


I'm only about an hour away!


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## Terri

Can you call the school board and ask if community college is accaptable? And, I suppose you could e-mail the college and ask if their math and english teachers are certified!


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## DocM

Don't you wonder how kids are able to "drop out" at an age younger than compulsory age for schooling? They simply fill out a form at their local administrative office or educational service area office, signed by their parents. Call your local high school and ask them the procedure for a child to "drop out" and then go the same route. It isn't something that's going to be recorded and follow her around, especially if she's planning on continuing her education. There must be some provision in your district for just this scenario. How about kids who graduate early because they've earned enough credits? Far better you call your local district office and find out what they require. Lots of 16 yr olds aren't in school legally.


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## Danaus29

"Dropping out" is not an option for home schooled children, I checked when my kids were school age. You would have to enroll them in school in order to withdrawal them. Stupid, but that is the law. And yes, they can graduate from high school at 15 and not fall under the state mandated compulsory attendance age but home schoolers are still required to fill out the paperwork until the child turns 18. I have checked, even with an attorney. There is no legal way around the 18 year requirement. Even the Mennonites and Amish that have their own schools can graduate students that are as young as 12, but home school paperwork is required until the age of 18. 

Community college is acceptable. All you have to do is list the course and the book on the cirriculum that you submit to your district when you file your papers at the beginning of the school year. And even with the grade card from college, you still have to have the certified teacher review and accept your child's work from the past year. No way around it, unless you get a work release for a child 16 or older.

Another way to get around the certification requirement is to post an ad at a local college where they offer teaching courses. You would probably get newly certified teachers to review the work with very few problems. My step sister would have jumped at the chance to get a little extra cash between being certified and landing an actual teaching job. Unfortunately for me, she took a couple years too long to get her certification.

country_wife, an hour in which direction?


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## country_wife

Danaus29 said:


> "Dropping out" is not an option for home schooled children, I checked when my kids were school age. You would have to enroll them in school in order to withdrawal them. Stupid, but that is the law. And yes, they can graduate from high school at 15 and not fall under the state mandated compulsory attendance age but home schoolers are still required to fill out the paperwork until the child turns 18. I have checked, even with an attorney. There is no legal way around the 18 year requirement. Even the Mennonites and Amish that have their own schools can graduate students that are as young as 12, but home school paperwork is required until the age of 18. ...
> .
> country_wife, an hour in which direction?


This is pretty much the same answer I'm getting everywhere. We can graduate her now, but we'll still have to do assessments until the year she turns 18. As it works out, it's only an extra year, so we'll probably just keep up what we've been doing. She's working her way through college textbooks this year, so next year will most likely be more of the same, along with a part time job. She was hoping to work full time, but because of the required work permit for students, she'll be stuck with part time during the school year. 

We're 45 minutes north of Polaris.

Thanks, everyone, for the input!


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## Danaus29

Wow! You are pretty close. I probably went close to your place when I went to Greenwich on Tuesday. I'm actually off I-71, exit 97, down in Darbydale.


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## lyceum

My brother was 16 when he finished home school. He went to community College for a year before transferring to Purdue without any problems at all.

Carisa


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