claudianunes
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@claudianunes: The poster was not upset about your question but by my answer. Specifically, s/he thought I was criticizing homeschooling when I was just trying to answer your questions.
The simple and quick answer to your question is that usually potential employers and college admissions will require more than a parent’s word that a student has “graduated.” What they will accept as proof varies.
Regarding a graduation ceremony, I don’t know of any public school that allows students who were not enrolled in that school to graduate with those who were. And you cannot get a highschool diploma from an institution in which you were not enrolled.
However, a lot of homeschoolers are enrolled in distance learning or mail-order curricula offered by private schools (sometimes called “umbrella schools”. They might attend graduation ceremonies organized by these schools. Other homeschoolers will have graduation ceremonies organized by homeschooler associations.
Back to college admissions, many colleges admit students as “non-degree seeking students” even if the students don’t qualify for regular admissions. At the community college level, you can sometimes just sign up for a couple of courses without having documentation of finishing high school. In a couple of cases that I know of, homeschoolers have signed up to take community college courses as part of their “highschool education.”
The goal of community colleges is to provide what students in a community may need. Therefore it is usually very easy to take classes at a community college. Not all these classes “count” towards a degree, but some do.
A student who was underprepared might take a few classes as a “special student” and eventually gain admission to a degree program.
A community college would grant an “associate degree” which would combine “general education” (writing, math, some history, some science, public speaking/communications, maybe computer literacy) with a specialty of some sort. Some associate degrees are stepping stones to a four year degree. A student may transfer most courses to the university program. Some associate degrees, especially in technical fields, provide enough credentials to get a job.
I speculate that the muddled Turpin plan was for the son to earn an associate degree in some technical field. But that was before things got really bad.
Thanks! This whole thing was making my head spin, I get it now.