Finish up high school diploma at community college or get GED

[Only me]

My 17 year old daughter has a bit of a complicated high school history. She was homeschooled through 8th grade. We planned on sending her to private high school her freshman year but had to bring her home after about 6 weeks due to medical reasons. The following year we knew she would be facing some major leg surgery and would have probably missed at least 2 months of school so we kept her home that year too. This year we decided to send her back to the private school but due to her severe insomnia she has a late start and only takes 5 classes. Due to the fact that she had two tough years we also decided to put her back as a sophomore. She is doing great academically this year but we are no longer happy with the school. We can't justify the kind of money we are spending and having to deal with a lot of the things that are going on at the school.

 

Sending her to public school is not an option (they won't accept her homeschool credits) so we are left with the following options:

 

Option 1) She is allowed to take 2 classes per semester at the local community college. She could take two classes a semester and she would do the remaining classes at home. We had been signed up with Homelife Academy so she would be able to get a diploma through them. (If you are unfamiliar with them I believe they offer some onsite options but they also offer a record keeping/diploma/transcript service). She probably has enough credits to be able to graduate from high school next year. My main concern is that she hasn't had math for two years-last year due to her health and this year because of scheduling issues. She has only had algebra 1 and geometry. I had her do some review of both last year but she hasn't had any this year so I'm not sure where she would place at the college. I'm also not sure what science she would take there. If she were in high school she would be taking chemistry but I doubt she would be ready for college chemistry without having high school chemistry. The only remaining core credits she would need are American History and an english class, which I feel should be fairly easy for her to do at home. She would probably finish the classes she needed for her high school diploma and then also go the following year to finish some of her general ed classes for college.

 

Option 2: The local community college offers a GED program but I'm not really sure how it works. I plan on calling them sometime this week but I know that the classes would be free and they would prepare her to take the GED.

 

I also spoke to the 4 year university where her older sister is attending just to get their input as to how they would handle this situation. She isn't necessarily planning on attending that school but I just wanted to get their input and to see if she would have trouble being admitted to their school with such a messed up high school history. They said that once she has taken 15 credits at the community college that they wouldn't even look at her high school work. So it doesn't seem to matter if she has a GED or the high school diploma. I'm not sure if it is that way at most schools.

 

My health has not been good for the past few years and I also don't feel that I am qualified to teach her chemistry and advanced math so I feel that I would need to outsource at least those two classes. Which option do you think would be best for her future?

[Teachin'Mine]

Option 1 looks much better to me. I wouldn't worry so much about where she'll place in math and science since she'll be taking those classes as part of her high school and doesn't need to worry about the college credits so much. They offer lower level classes in math and chemistry. I would check with you cc about what she'll need in order to take the classes there. If she needs to pass their placement test, then where she's at in math becomes more important. But if they'll allow her to take lower level math classes, then she should be fine. I would ask your daughter what she'd like to do. If she wants to do cc, then I'd suggest talking with the dual enrollment office for requirements and speaking with an academic adviser for course selection.

[Nan in Mass]

I haven't been there and done that, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

Is there any possibility of her health problems returning? How academically inclined is she? How motivated is she? I think if there is a possibility that her problems will return or that your own health problems will cause problems, I would consider doing the GED course and then having her start community college classes immediately after that with a view to transfering later. This would make sure that she had something documented in hand at all times so that if her education were interrupted, she wouldn't be left with nothing. Our community college advisor didn't think there were any disadvantages to taking the GED. (That doesn't mean there aren't, just that he hasn't run into any cases. He works for a community college and I suspect that they love students who show up with a GED because it is a good deal easier to deal with than a half-finished high school degree or an unknown high school degree from an country on the other side of the world.

 

If she is academically inclined, motivated, unlikely to have her education interrupted again, and she is hoping for freshman scholarships or hoping to go to a highly selective college which only admits a few transfer students a year, then I would be inclined to keep her in high school until she is ready to apply to her "real" college and just use the community college for the classes I didn't want to teach (like chemistry).

 

Either way, our community college has two chemistry options: Introductory Chemistry for people who have not had high school chemistry and General Chemistry for people who are science or engineering majors and have already taken high school or introductory chemistry. Perhaps your community college also has these options?

 

Nan

[Only me]

Hopefully her health will improve from now on. She still suffers with severe insomnia but since she is able to start late at the high school this year has gone well. Freshman year she had severe insomnia and also got a concussion a few weeks before school started. It was a mild concussion but she still had a post-concussion syndrome. They think that the insomnia had put her in a weakened stated that made the concussion symptoms worse. At that time she was getting up at 6 am and only getting 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night. It was impossible for her to make it day after day like that so we pulled her out and brought her home. It took a few more months before she was really able to read something and remember it for more than 10 minutes but with a lot of hand holding she made it through freshman year at home. She did have a fairly light load though.

 

The following year she had major leg surgery followed by months of rehabilitation. She was on fairly strong pain medication and muscle relaxers for at least a month so she was unable to do a lot of school then either. Once she recovered she was able to finish her schoolwork but again I had her do a fairly light load. I think she had 12 credits between her freshman and sophomore year. Right now her leg is doing great so I don't foresee any more problems with it. The insomnia is an ongoing thing but as long as she is able to have a late start it is tolerable. She has trouble falling asleep at night and also wakes up (fully) several times a night but if she is able to sleep until 9 am at least she gets another sleep cycle or two. So besides having a late start I really don't think that health will be an issue next year.

 

I really think that it would be best for her to do her first year at college at a community college due to her circumstances. That way most colleges would just look at her college grades. Her grades were fine at home and this year at the private school she has mostly A's but she is still only taking 5 classes.

 

I basically just need to decide which would be better in a long run: a GED or a high school diploma that has such a mix of classes from home, private school and community college. I'm hoping that if she went to community college she would be able to get her high school diploma next year but it may take a bit longer. I don't know how it would look taking longer than 4 years to get her diploma. It also might look bad since she essentially did freshman and sophomore year at home, repeated sophomore year this year at the private high school but then next year will basically be considered a senior if she goes to the community college.

[CroppinIt]

If at all possible, I would avoid the GED. Many people, from general Joes on the street to college admissions officers and potential employers, see "GED" and think "couldn't cut it" or "dropout." I wouldn't want that stigma on my dd if there was any other way.

[GinaPagnato]

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

Avoid the GED if you can.

[ksr5377]

If at all possible, I would avoid the GED. Many people, from general Joes on the street to college admissions officers and potential employers, see "GED" and think "couldn't cut it" or "dropout." I wouldn't want that stigma on my dd if there was any other way.

.

:iagree:

 

ETA I also think most colleges offer two science options, one for those getting a B.S. and one for thost getting a B.A. I actually found my college chem class easier than my highschool one.

[Musicmom]

Option 1 looks much better to me. I wouldn't worry so much about where she'll place in math and science since she'll be taking those classes as part of her high school and doesn't need to worry about the college credits so much. They offer lower level classes in math and chemistry. I would check with you cc about what she'll need in order to take the classes there. If she needs to pass their placement test' date=' then where she's at in math becomes more important. But if they'll allow her to take lower level math classes, then she should be fine. I would ask your daughter what she'd like to do. If she wants to do cc, then I'd suggest talking with the dual enrollment office for requirements and speaking with an academic adviser for course selection.[/quote']

:iagree:

If at all possible, I would avoid the GED. Many people, from general Joes on the street to college admissions officers and potential employers, see "GED" and think "couldn't cut it" or "dropout." I wouldn't want that stigma on my dd if there was any other way.

:iagree:

I would definitely vote for Option 1. No matter how crazy the mix of high school courses seems, it can be sorted out and documented on her transcript. Having a high school diploma and having done dual enrollment courses at a CC paints a far better picture than the GED and will keep many more doors open for your dd down the road.