Homeschooled and Ready to Quit

His parents are still most likely decent human beings who love him and want the best for him, you know. Going on a rant about their choices and making assumptions that he's not learning anything at all (which isn't true, because he's got a great math curriculum, at least) is not going to make OP feel very supported.

I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but basically, when a child talks about their problems with parents, what you want to do is to support the child and acknowledge their feelings without directly attacking their parents. Because the child comes from the parents at the end of the day, will most likely support their parents even if they are unhappy with their choices. Because they feel the need to defend their parents, they will then feel that they have to reject what you say and will end up back at square one, with parents they have problems with and no one to listen without judging either side. Please don't take it badly, I know you didn't mean it to come off as unsupportive (quite the contrary, I'm sure!), I just felt I needed to say something because I see this happening all the time when people give advice and I fear that it does more harm than good. </counseling techniques lesson>

OP, as I said before in the thread, I encourage you to work with your parents to find something that all of you can agree on. Being a creationist doesn't mean you can't be well educated, my friend was homeschooled in the Christian way and wound up with an education that has taken him all the way to the PhD level. Sure, his views changed over time, but the fact of the matter is that the creation/evolution debate is only a minuscule and rather irrelevant part of high school science which you can make your opinion about when you take intro bio in college. You don't need to understand evolution to know about how plants reproduce, or to understand how a cell replicates DNA. Focus on those things and forget about Darwin.

 

Don't fret friend. You've just gotta hold out until college that's all. Once you get into college you can catch up on anything you've fallen behind in. Don't let anything in this world hold you back from your potential

bum rap about the Young Earth Creationist thing though

---------- Post added 12th Mar 2014 at 08:36 PM ----------

I'm sorry, but if he wants to be educated. With a legitimate education...Young Earth Creationism is not going to help with that.

I get what you're saying. I agree, I don't think that his parents are bad people ( at least not intentionally ). The only reason I'm saying this is because of what Young Earth Creationism stands for. Which is in essence "The complete rejection of any scientific fact that conflicts with the bible regardless of it being valid or not". The core principle of Young Earth Creationism is that scientists are devil worshippers who are secretly plotting to corrupt the minds of the world by convincing kids that the earth is older than 6,000yrs. >.>

It's about the rejection of basic scientific information, not the inclusion of it.

You say it won't interfere with his academic life...I say if he wants to get into anything scientific odds are it will -.-'

If he wants to explore geology, that will be in his way

If he wants to explore medicine, that will be in his way

if he wants to explore physics...well you see where this is going -.-'

No matter what scientific field you explore they all seem to agree that the earth is billions of years old, which is against the core principle of Young Earth Creationism...

The education he's getting from them trying to cram that mentality in his mind is going to not only ignore things like: Modern Geology, Modern astrology, ect...it's going to try and suggest that it's all evil and the scientists are part of a giant conspiracy by the devil to take people away from their faith. -.-'

 

I was homeschooled from 7th grade until I graduated but I went through an at home curriculum for a little while then finally found a local homeschool organization (it was Christian based). The classes really helped me with college classes and their structure, the classes I took were 1-2 days a week and I had to do the work for my classes on my own time. So maybe try and see if there are some local homeschooling organizations near you you can join and try that.

It sounds like you just said that the education I recieved was not legitimate and this diploma I have was not received or earned legitimately? I was taught by christian teachers and such but it was not forced, and yes I was taught with creationism as a base. But with all education parts are forged, biased, and some true and some false it is still a valid education. It shouldn't matter what education he received as long as its valid and approved, it doesn't matter what profession he decides to go into.

OK I'm done sorry for interrupting your thread hope my advice helped.
ThePhoenix

 

I would just like to mention that you don't need to be taught in order to learn. My parents unschooled me (though they didn't know that's what they were doing).

OP, you clearly have internet access, since you've posted on this site. You can use this internet access to educate yourself. Look up stuff on the internet about the topics your parents don't want to teach you. If you're good at researching, you can get a far better education online than you'd get if you went to school.

 

@Simple Thoughts:

How much does one really learn about evolution in high school science that it would be a career killer to skip it? Almost nothing. Like, one chapter. One chapter in one class out of what, 21-24 classes total? Biiiig deal.

He doesn't need to know evolution to know how moss reproduces. To balance equations. Or to calculatethe speed of a moving object. Come college time, he'll start from scratch anyway.

So I really don't think that slamming his parents for this is justified.

 

Not my intention. -.-'

Look, if you're being taught 'Young Earth Creationism' specifically you're being told things like: Dinosaurs and humans lived together in harmony ( completely nonsense ). Things like all scientific dating methods are untrue ( because they all date materials on earth way older than 6,000 years ), you're being told that things aren't true just because the people teaching you don't want them to be and you should plug your ears and go "la la la la la" and ignore it all.

I get that what you learn about science in Highschool is pretty basic. The problem in Young Earth Creationism is that it tries to instill and automatic 'rejection' of information that doesn't fit into its interpretation of how things work. Basically it teaches you to be close-minded.

It doesn't affect everyone, but a lot of people get that mentality stuck in their heads and refuse to even try to learn. -.-'

---------- Post added 15th Mar 2014 at 11:44 PM ----------

I'm not slamming his parents. I'm slamming a disgrace to education that so many children are forced into effectively making them passive in the scientific world and useless for anything besides voting republican and hating gays.

 

As apostrophied said there are some Christian homeschooling programs that do provide very good educational materials. Yes, you do have to skim over some dogma here and there but the core of the material is worthwhile and because it is Christian based your parents might allow you to use it. I would add Memoria Press to the list. They have a lot of programs for languages (their Latin program is great) and other programs that we have used. There are other companies that are not necessarily made from Christian viewpoint but might pass approval by your parents as well. Do a bit of research into subjects you are interested in studying and see if you can find a program that looks promising. Try to make the best of your education. Do follow your interests on your own time. Reading and watching videos online might not be equal to lab time or field trips but it is a good way to get at least an overview of some subjects you might not be exposed to otherwise. If you go looking you can find a lot of free ebooks on various subjects and also MIT has a lot of free online courses: Highlights for High School | MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials

The most important thing of all is that at 15 you should not be thinking of leaving home and going out on your own. I know it is frustrating as hell to be stuck somewhere when you are unhappy but you really have to think about your safety as well. Fifteen and alone on the streets is not a safe option. If you have family that you might talk your parents into letting you stay with for a time you might try that if you are very unhappy but other than that you really, really need to stay where you are safe, warm and fed until you can legally make your own way in the world. In the meantime try to make the best of your situation. If you can get a part time job start saving money for your future. If you are unhappy with your education make the best of it while studying your interests on your own time. Plan for the day when you can lead your life your way and think what you will need to have to make it happen. A high school degree or GED really does help. Try to think long term happiness and then work towards that.

Good luck to you.