Beth Mouser

Hello everyone, you have all been so helpful to me and have many
creative ideas that aren't necessarily traditional ways of thinking, I
wondered if you would have some thoughts for my niece who just moved
in with me. I just wanted to introduce her and will let her take it
from here:

Hello,

My name is Danielle, and I just recently dropped out of High School. I
was not getting good grades, I was in my Senior year, and I just had
no desire to go anymore. I did enjoy some of the classes that I was
taking, but I knew that I did not have enough credits to graduate that
year. I had been going for a couple of months though just because I
liked some of the classes and I enjoyed being with my friends everyday.

Now that I am not in High School anymore, I am wondering what I should
do. I have heard people talk about how they had dropped out when they
were my age, or younger, and how it was very hard for them to get a
job, or how they had wished that they had just gotten their diploma.

Another thing that I am worried about is getting into college and
accomplishing the things I want to do with just a GED. I want to go to
a good school, but am worried about the financial aspect: Can I get a
job that will support me through college with just a GED?

I know that this is a rather long post, but I am really confused right
now, and I dont have any experience in supporting myself. I just
turned 18 four months ago, and I am new to just about everything.
It is scary, and I would really appreciate advice and wisdom from
people who have lived through this and are wiser than myself.

Thank you, your help is very much appreciated.

Joanne

Hi Danielle,

Have you read "The teenage liberation handbook"? Pick up a copy.

My advice would be that you don't have to figure it all out right
now. :-) Can you do some travelling? take a few classes at a
community college? So some volunteer work> Get a part time job?
There's lots of options if you're looking for something to be
involved in. What are your interests? What are you passionate about?
Start with that and see where it leads you. :-)

~ Joanne ~
Add your voice ~ Unschooling Voices
http://tinyurl.com/26pt6x





--- In [email protected], "Beth Mouser"
<mouser4@...> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone, you have all been so helpful to me and have many
> creative ideas that aren't necessarily traditional ways of
thinking, I
> wondered if you would have some thoughts for my niece who just
moved
> in with me. I just wanted to introduce her and will let her take
it
> from here:
>
> Hello,
>
> My name is Danielle, and I just recently dropped out of High
School. I
> was not getting good grades, I was in my Senior year, and I just
had
> no desire to go anymore. I did enjoy some of the classes that I
was
> taking, but I knew that I did not have enough credits to graduate
that
> year. I had been going for a couple of months though just because
I
> liked some of the classes and I enjoyed being with my friends
everyday.
>
> Now that I am not in High School anymore, I am wondering what I
should
> do. I have heard people talk about how they had dropped out when
they
> were my age, or younger, and how it was very hard for them to get
a
> job, or how they had wished that they had just gotten their
diploma.
>
> Another thing that I am worried about is getting into college and
> accomplishing the things I want to do with just a GED. I want to
go to
> a good school, but am worried about the financial aspect: Can I
get a
> job that will support me through college with just a GED?
>
> I know that this is a rather long post, but I am really confused
right
> now, and I dont have any experience in supporting myself. I just
> turned 18 four months ago, and I am new to just about everything.
> It is scary, and I would really appreciate advice and wisdom from
> people who have lived through this and are wiser than myself.
>
> Thank you, your help is very much appreciated.
>

Meredith

"Joanne" <billyandjoanne@...> wrote:
> My advice would be that you don't have to figure it all out right
> now. :-)

I want to second this! Think about taking a year "off" to find out
who you are outside of school. If you want to take some classes, let
them be fun classes. If you want to work, pick something you'll
enjoy. If you want to stay home and learn how to do needlepoint for
the heck of it, go for it.

Danielle wrote:
> >I want to go to
> > a good school, but am worried about the financial aspect: Can I
> get a
> > job that will support me through college with just a GED?

Think need-based scholarships. Think loans. You may not *have* to
work your way through college - but you may need to take a few years
off to establish financial independence.

Rather than looking for a job that might support you through
college, look for something related to your goals, even if it pays
nothing at all. That experience on a college ap will look better
than any test score. Its also a way to find out if the reality of
what you want to do is anything at all like you imagine. That's
important. *And* you may discover other career paths that you hadn't
considered or don't even know about.

---Meredith (Mo 5.5, Ray 13)

pjhaenny

I also suggest you not try and figure it out right now. There is so
much out there. Think about what you love to do and then go talk to
people to get ideas about how to make money doing just that. It may
involve college but it may not. My brother is a Vice President for
Chase Bank working in their database management group and he never
went to college - taught himself programming through self study and
jobs he worked. I started out going to college to be a forest ranger
when I was fresh out of high school, became disenchanted because I
really wanted to pursue art, and ended up become a civil engineer 20
years later. I've quit engineering now because its not fun and am now
back to really looking at what I enjoy doing and how I can do it for
a living. I wish I would have had someone point out to me way back
when that art was obviously my passion and suggest that I look for a
way to pursue it. Here I am almost 50 and just figuring it out!:)

PS Hello everyone, I'm a newbie in Arizona and can see that I have
found the community I was looking for to support our new paradigm, we
just began unschooling this past January.

Janice (Parker 7)

--- In [email protected], "Meredith" <meredith@...>
wrote:
>
> "Joanne" <billyandjoanne@> wrote:
> > My advice would be that you don't have to figure it all out right
> > now. :-)
>
> I want to second this! Think about taking a year "off" to find out
> who you are outside of school. If you want to take some classes,
let
> them be fun classes. If you want to work, pick something you'll
> enjoy. If you want to stay home and learn how to do needlepoint for
> the heck of it, go for it.
>
> Danielle wrote:
> > >I want to go to
> > > a good school, but am worried about the financial aspect: Can I
> > get a
> > > job that will support me through college with just a GED?
>
> Think need-based scholarships. Think loans. You may not *have* to
> work your way through college - but you may need to take a few
years
> off to establish financial independence.
>
> Rather than looking for a job that might support you through
> college, look for something related to your goals, even if it pays
> nothing at all. That experience on a college ap will look better
> than any test score. Its also a way to find out if the reality of
> what you want to do is anything at all like you imagine. That's
> important. *And* you may discover other career paths that you
hadn't
> considered or don't even know about.
>
> ---Meredith (Mo 5.5, Ray 13)
>

pjhaenny

One more thing, check out the May EOE Journal (800-396-3373) its
published here in AZ so I don't know how available it is but you
could call and find out, has a great article on How To Do What you
Love. Also careerwomen.com could be a great resource. Good Luck!

Janice (Parker 7)

--- In [email protected], "pjhaenny" <janice@...>
wrote:
>
> I also suggest you not try and figure it out right now. There is so
> much out there. Think about what you love to do and then go talk to
> people to get ideas about how to make money doing just that. It may
> involve college but it may not. My brother is a Vice President for
> Chase Bank working in their database management group and he never
> went to college - taught himself programming through self study and
> jobs he worked. I started out going to college to be a forest
ranger
> when I was fresh out of high school, became disenchanted because I
> really wanted to pursue art, and ended up become a civil engineer
20
> years later. I've quit engineering now because its not fun and am
now
> back to really looking at what I enjoy doing and how I can do it
for
> a living. I wish I would have had someone point out to me way back
> when that art was obviously my passion and suggest that I look for
a
> way to pursue it. Here I am almost 50 and just figuring it out!:)
>
> PS Hello everyone, I'm a newbie in Arizona and can see that I have
> found the community I was looking for to support our new paradigm,
we
> just began unschooling this past January.
>
> Janice (Parker 7)
>
> --- In [email protected], "Meredith" <meredith@>
> wrote:
> >
> > "Joanne" <billyandjoanne@> wrote:
> > > My advice would be that you don't have to figure it all out
right
> > > now. :-)
> >
> > I want to second this! Think about taking a year "off" to find
out
> > who you are outside of school. If you want to take some classes,
> let
> > them be fun classes. If you want to work, pick something you'll
> > enjoy. If you want to stay home and learn how to do needlepoint
for
> > the heck of it, go for it.
> >
> > Danielle wrote:
> > > >I want to go to
> > > > a good school, but am worried about the financial aspect: Can
I
> > > get a
> > > > job that will support me through college with just a GED?
> >
> > Think need-based scholarships. Think loans. You may not *have* to
> > work your way through college - but you may need to take a few
> years
> > off to establish financial independence.
> >
> > Rather than looking for a job that might support you through
> > college, look for something related to your goals, even if it
pays
> > nothing at all. That experience on a college ap will look better
> > than any test score. Its also a way to find out if the reality of
> > what you want to do is anything at all like you imagine. That's
> > important. *And* you may discover other career paths that you
> hadn't
> > considered or don't even know about.
> >
> > ---Meredith (Mo 5.5, Ray 13)
> >
>

Robin Bentley

Hi Danielle,

While you are taking a deep breath (or lots of them, since this is probably
a bit of a scary time for you), here's a good book to read before doing
anything else: "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" subtitled "How to Quit
School and Get a Real Life and Education" by Grace Llewellyn. You'll
probably find it will help answer some of the questions you have at this
stage of your life and give you some alternatives.

Grace has also written "Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go to School"
which may give you some ideas and some comfort that all is not lost if you
don't go to school.

Here's a link if you want to buy them, otherwise I think they may be
available at your library:

http://fun-books.com/authors/Grace_Llewellyn.htm

Robin B.