High School Diploma from Home

When you think of homeschooled High Schoolers the first question that comes most peoples minds is “How do you graduate?” Many students take the GED and go on to college at age 16. Our two oldest already have and the younger ones are preping for early college as well. By the time their public school friends are graduating they already have two years of college under their belts. Yep, we’re proud parents.

GED stands for General Education Development and is a series of tests that test that you have the knowledge to graduate. It is now accepted as an alternative to a High school Diploma by most Colleges. It just takes a few requirements and some simple steps.

Age Requirement- First off Oregon State law says you must be at least 16 to take the GED. State laws may be different where you live so the first step would be to call your local high school or community college and ask if they know the required age. You can also look it up online. There is a waiver obtainable as well in some states, so the first step would be figuring out age requirement.

ID- You are also going to need some form of state issued ID. This can be a driver’s license, permit, or ID card as long as it is issued from your states DMV.

Study- Just with any other test it is important to study. The GED consists of: 2 Language arts tests- one multiple choice and one an essay, 1 math test, 1 science test, 1 reading, and 1 in Social studies. All of the tests except for the Essay are multiple choice. You don’t need to attend classes to take these tests, you can study for them right at home. Your local library has books contain practice sheets and step by step lessons to help prepare you for the GED. The best ones I have found are the ones published by Steck-Vaughn and McGraw-Hill. They are even available in Spanish. Just make sure you get the most recent publication, there are some older publications that are confusing and not reliable for preparing to take the GED.

Location- Most community colleges offer the GED test. The cost is around $100.00 for all the tests, but it does vary between states and testing centers. You have about an hour and a half to take each test.

Just like graduating from High School it is not always easy to get your diploma from home, but with preparation anyone can do it. Just call around, research, study, but most importantly relax. You will do fine.

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!