Show her some of the material written by Gatto, Ivan Illich, Paul Goodman, and John Holt and others. They aren't advocating just sitting around in your underwear playing computer games instead of being in class. Develop a clear education plan and objectives for yourself.

Get her to realize that "schooling" and "education" are two very different things, and it's only the latter that is desirable.

But the most important thing is for her to see that graduating nd getting good grades simply does *not* guarantee a good job afterward. On the contrary, the only way to land a fulfilling job is to have talents and skills that other people don't have. If you want to be a scientist, you have to do some real scientific work. If you want to write articles for magazines, the sooner you start developing that skill, the easier it will be to transition into that. If you want to drive trucks for a living, well you can do that too. Whatever you want to do, check it out now, find out what it entails now, while you're still young. The sooner you start doing this, the more you can cross things off your list if they turn out to be not what you expected, or focus on things that really did grab your interest. How many millions end up paying huge tuitions to earn degrees in fields they end up not even liking? They could have saved all that time and money if they'd been able to do what Gatto's kids did, using the class time to find out real information about real jobs.

But as Gatto so rightly noted, most kids already know what their interests are by the time they're 12, 13. And if they don't, it's time to start finding out in earnest. Yet school is arranged to prevent or delay any significant learning experiences till one is far too old. We don't put endless delays in the path of would-be professional athletes, because we all know that there's a brief window of time for an athlete, and if they don't achieve their goal by a certain age they never will. Yet for some bizarre reason, we don't seem to realize the same is true for most careers - the earlier you start forging a specific and precise path, the greater your chances for success. And success likely is not going to come at all if you just do randomly assigned, time-wasting, "busy work" school assignments.

Your mother is looking out for you, but like most mothers, she hasn't really thought through the consequences of what she's demanding. The road to hell (or at least purgatory) really is paved with good intentions.

Read www.learninfreedom.org. There is good information you can print to show your mom. I gave some of the info to my mom who was against us homeschooling our kids. Your mom is likely afraid that your life will be ruined if you don't go to a school.
Have you checked into your states' regulations . Some states offer a correspondence type of schools where you can also attend classes, and get a government diploma. This may satisfy your mom, diplomas are very important to people who think that is the only way to succeed.

Hope this makes sense.

I'm sorry your mom won't at least consider other options.

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My mom is too brainwashed. I've tried twice talking with her to convince her to homeschool me but it hasn't worked. Based on our last conversation I don't think she'll ever open to the possibility. I've now got to prepare myself for dealing four years of high school. If anyone has any advice or helpful information it would be greatly appreciated. I've considered a number of possibilities as to what I'm going to do. So far, I'm tempted to drop out when I'm 16 and get a job since I will need money. If I can't drop out I'm going to try and get into classes that I feel will help with what I want to do in the future. As I said any help will be appreciated.

www.laurelsprings.com

You could distance learn and earn! Oh, the wonders of the free market.

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Replying to:

My mom is too brainwashed. I've tried twice talking with her to convince her to homeschool me but it hasn't worked. Based on our last conversation I don't think she'll ever open to the possibility. I've now got to prepare myself for dealing four years of high school. If anyone has any advice or helpful information it would be greatly appreciated. I've considered a number of possibilities as to what I'm going to do. So far, I'm tempted to drop out when I'm 16 and get a job since I will need money. If I can't drop out I'm going to try and get into classes that I feel will help with what I want to do in the future. As I said any help will be appreciated.

To be capable of respect is almost as rare as to be worthy of it.

Have to go outside and get a few more logs for the fire.

"to be capable of respect is almost as rare as to be worthy of it?"

Thanks for the quote :-)

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To be capable of respect is almost as rare as to be worthy of it.