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Take the tests for GED if you want to, otherwise, forget it.

Go straight to college. Find a Community College that offers courses near you and take some classes. Doesn't matter what.

Once you're a college student, who cares if you have a High-School Diploma?

When my wife and I were first married, a couple-friend had a young girl who stayed with them to help with the couple's young children. The current word for this seems to be "Au pair."

We called her Cathy. As in, "We really ought to get ourselves a Cathy." She played with the children, helped with meals, relieved the mother of much tedium as well as boredom. She also learned a lot for herself about kids and the responsibilities of adulthood.

Eventually, we got us a Cathy, only her name was Christine, and she ended up marrying my wife's brother. But she did for us what Cathy had been doing, and everybody involved has turned out better for all of it.

I'm inclined to think it should be a National Program.

People who get stuck in institutions, even though they shouldn't be, learn to behave like the others. It isn't healthy. Learned dependency. They can even forget how to tie shoelaces.

Some Volunteer Healthwatch agencies call around to elderly and invalid people living at home, on a daily basis. This serves to make sure the people are getting their medicines and such, and that they are not in trouble.

I'm sure they could use help with the program. It might even offer some reimbursement. Eventually, you might be able to help with the transportation vans which deliver these same people to medical appointments.

If you made yourself available to them, I am sure that they would in turn, assist you in getting certificates, drivers license, study materials, and so forth.

If you are interested in helping others, and willing to do so, it becomes much easier to find the things you need as well.

For me, it does matter what classes I'd take.
OCCC has no classes I'd dare set foot in...
evolution, I'd be asked to leave on the first day.

I'm not good with kids. I really don't know what to
do with them. I'm not accustomed to them, not to
mention I've known very few children as advanced as
the ones from my family. So I'm used to kids like my
niece who has been walking since she was 7 months &
was holding her own head up by the time she left the
hospital. I don't know what to do with kids that aren't
like that, to be exact, I can't handle kids that aren't
like that. I can't make a connection.

I've known people who worked as aids to the elderly.
They'd get attached & then the person would die &
they'd feel awful. I have a very hard time coping with
loss. I don't think I could work along side it everyday.

I honestly don't believe I'm cut out for jobs that
deal with a lot of people a lot of the time.

Most states have programs for "aides" (being called other names of course, such as "helpers" or "providers") and the requirements differ from state to state. Some require as much as six months of school, and others require only basic training.

Most are not live-in, but the experience can be good (or not) depending on the person one is assigned to. The most important thing is to get a GED, and, if you later decide you want or need it, you can always get your diploma.

With either one, you should be eligible for many kinds of financial aid if you want to get into a technical school or go to a regular college. And there are always people who would be willing to take in a student for a little extra help around the house once in a while.

Of course, I'm just offering what I know...;)