Leslie Montemayor

Hi,

This is the first time I've posted here so I'll let you know a little about
us. We have been un-schooling for almost 4 years now. I was brought to
this by my oldest 18yo ds. When he entered 9th grade he decided he was not
doing anything they told him to. No school work at all. I tried and tried
to work within the system and lo and behold discovered that the system was
all lip service. I pulled him out. He got his GED at 16, for which I had
to get special permission. He passed it the first time without studying
anything. (why waste 4 years in high school if you can do this?) Anyway
the next year my younger son came home and the next year my oldest daughter
and the next year my middle daughter. My youngest will never set foot in a
ps. I have a wonderfully supportive husband that I've been married to for
almost 21 years.

Now as to un-schooling high schoolers.........My oldest never understood
what I was trying to do with his education. He still feels like he is a
dropout instead of a drop in. It is hard to watch someone not be able to
see all the good things about himself because he can't see outside the
mold. We are still working on these things with him and trying to help
formulate a plan for his life. My oldest daughter 14, is returning to ps
this fall. I am very against this and she knows it. We live in Conyers,
GA where the school shooting was. She is doing a project on school
violence and social hierarchy(sp) of high schools this summer so maybe she
will be more prepared for what she is getting into. There are very few
older home-schoolers in our area and as she put it the ones she has met are
weird(her word not mine). She is VERY social and that is why she wants to
go back. She tried to attend an eighth grade dance with a friend at a
local middle school and was asked to leave. I don't want her in ps but I
have made her in charge of her education and this is how she wants to get
it. I may have to pull her out if things get too bad but right now we are
going there.

The other three 12yo ds, 8yo dd, 4yo dd are happy at home. They love
un-schooling and are happy to not be in ps. I am the co-leader of an
inclusive support group and we are actively recruiting new members,
hopefully some will be older. However, we live right outside Atlanta and
there are several groups that have teen activities that we can participate
in if we choose. We pick and choose as the activities are open to all not
just the group that sponsors them. That seems to be the best way to get
the teens together around here.

Our local school system does not allow home-schoolers on campus or to
participate in any school function. It seems to me that most of the
pschoolers I talk to don't enjoy these things anyway. They are forced to
be in band etc.. so it is not enjoyable to them.

Well anyway that is my .02 cents on the subject. I do think that
un-schooling high schoolers that have ps ingrained into them and haven't
properly de-schooled is a hard thing to do.

Thanks for reading.

Leslie

[email protected]

>>>> He got his GED at 16, for which I had
to get special permission. He passed it the first time without studying
anything. <<<<

So did I.
Well, I was 17, but I had spent more time out of school than in for the few
years before that. My home life was nuts and I wanted to start earning a
living. :)

I then went to community college, learned to love learning again, became the
youngest manager ever at the retail store I worked in, and supported myself.
I regret not pushing through to finish my bachelor's degree right then and
there since I'm still working on it at a snail's pace, but I don't regret
bypassing those highschool years at all.

Funny that I mentioned this to dh last night. I didn't study at all. I
didn't even get stressed out over it or *try.* I just knew how to take
tests.

I do tend to like the idea of kids learning to take tests somewhere during
the course of their schooling. I know many don't, and I understand why they
don't, but I have found it to be a rather valuable skill-albeit a deceptive
one. ;-)

I also would hope that my kids won't be in such a hurry to leave the house.
I hope they take their time deciding how they want to achieve their dreams.
Dh and I work hard to create an environment where I pray that they'll be
nurtured, mentally stimulated, supported, and somewhat contented~so I expect
that this will be the case~but we'll see won't we. LOL

Steph