In 1995, I quit high school - twice - once at the end of my junior year and then again after re-enrolling at the beginning of my senior year. I was miserable in school and at the time, it was the right decision for me and I don't regret it - to this day (shh.., don't tell any current high school kids I said that). If my mother had had the opportunity and ability to home school me, I know she would have. School was not a fun place for me and any real education I received was in classes where I was able to control where I sat and who sat around me. My priorities were definitely not academics, my brain was on making money to pay my bills and still have enough left over to go dancing and have fun with my friends.
As soon as I turned 18, I scheduled a time to go take the pre-test for the GED at Central Piedmont Community College. The lady took one look at my scores and said, "Why on earth did you quit high school? These are the highest scores I have ever seen!" And she scheduled my GED test for the following week. I went and scored super high on the whole test. I could have passed the test with those scores when I was in 8th grade and had no clue why the lady was so impressed.
I went on to take the placement tests for community college and even took Band and an English Composition course. I had a job as a technical writer and felt I had reached some personal goals for a career. My priorities now were getting married, settling down and having children. I was ready for all of that and only briefly pondered going back to school to get a degree. I didn't see a need at the time.
Over the past 12 years of married life, I have pondered college several times. I've gone as far as looking at courses of study, checking into accredited online schools, and seeing what it would take to be able to go. Then I would want to have another baby and honestly, it has always been more important to me to raise my family than it has been to go back to school.
After 12 years of marriage, 11 years of motherhood, and 7 years of homeschooling - I wonder if it is time for me to take the plunge and go back to school for at least a little bit of further education. I don't know if it is the right time or if it makes the most sense right now, but I have a longing to get an 'academic education' instead of just the education that life has given me. Why? Why not? Hmm...
My oldest son is now taking Algebra 1 and is doing really well with it. The furthest I have been in math is high school Geometry. My math skills are really lacking and I fear that if I do not further my knowledge in math, I will not be able to teach him past next school year. If I am going to have to learn the material to teach him, why not receive college credit for it?
Someday, after my kids are a little more grown, I would love to start my own business - what my town needs is a little cafe' and coffee shop that serves really high quality coffee, smoothies, and Jones Soda (because who doesn't love Jones Soda) desserts, pastries, doughnuts, breads, salads, sandwiches and (on cold days) soups. Right now, we only have places that serve home style cooked food and while this is great, I think something that is not 'fast food' or 'greasy spoon' would be so wonderful (and popular). This is my dream, but I have no idea how to make my own business happen - I don't know where to start or how to do it. I wonder if a diploma or associate course of study would give me at least some of that knowledge.
I also wonder sometimes if my lack of a 'real' high school diploma or degree could hurt our future possible familial goals. Having a GED puts me in a 'lower class' in all reality. A lot of people do not respect it - even though the only thing I feel a high school diploma symbolizes is your ability to sit in a class room with people your own age who more often than not treat you like crap 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 13 years. The world values your ability to endure that kind of thing and definitely does not see it my way. No university in the world would have accepted me as an 18 year old GED recipient no matter what my test scores said - even though I was probably as smart if not smarter than over half the kids I knew in high school. I didn't have the proof that I was able to endure that special kind of torture that is traditional school. The world sees a diploma/degree as proof of "education" and if my family situation ever changes or I have to go back to work, my current skill set will not be seen as marketable or valuable. (Don't get me started on how the management skills you obtain as a homeschooling mom are seen as completely inferior and useless in the professional world.) The best job I'll be able to get will be a minimum wage job that would never be able to properly support my big family.
So, I'm pondering college again. I don't know if it is the right time. I would probably have to take online classes and sacrifice some of our other activities to make it happen. I don't know if my husband's work schedule would even allow it - considering he works 50-80 hour work weeks right now and I am pretty much with the kids most of the time because of this. I don't know if I would receive the support from those around me I would definitely need to be able to make it through a year or two of full time community college. I don't even know exactly what course of study I would want to take. I still have at least 16 years of educating my children ahead of me. Any degree I get now would not be used for at least a couple of years. Then, any business I started would be one flexible enough so I could still provide my children with their basic education. But wouldn't getting the degree and starting my own business be a good educational exercise for my children to witness?
2 comments:
we have much in common. You may want to look in to some classes at CPCC on starting your own business. That is my plan, any way...
Steph,
I have always considered you much smarter than me. Here is a question you must ask yourself: Ten years from now, would you rather regret not starting school right now, or the loss of time (and quality of tiME) with your kids?
That decision was easy for me, and I dropped out of school. I realize you face other familial issues as well. The thing is, Steph, you are a self-educated woman, just as Thomas Edison was a self-educated man.
Susan
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