WOW! That sounds so wonderful-—and God bless you for what you are doing for each of these children and our nation. Really, every time a kid stays on track and becomes a solid citizen, and then passes that on to his family, it starts an upward instead of downward spiral.
I take it since 16 year olds can drop out of school, they can be homeschooled without the state saying boo about it? Do you / can you charge for this (just wondering if the state would be on your case if you did)?
I do charge, a pittance really. According to Mr.Blu, I should charge double....and some days I'm sure I should get 5 times what I do! Heck, daycare costs more than a private tutor. Whenever I worry about charging, I just remind myself that I'm tutoring, and I don't even advertise in the paper.
I also have a spare bedroom that is “the schoolroom”. It's like a very tiny one-room schoolhouse! I keep asking Mr.Blu to build me a real one-room schoolhouse in the backyard. So far, he has resisted my pleas.
One smart thing I did was keep the same books. That way, my lesson plans are pretty much the same, subject to subject. I don't belong to any of the local homeschool associations, as I'm not a "traditional" homeschool family. I didn't take that bit of news too kindly, but have managed to work around it.
All my students have had previous "socialization", which, in many cases, explains why they're with me, and not with their "posse"! Some of them come complete with their own rap sheets, or babies! But when they leave me, they have a high school diploma which they earned. And they are ready for college, and are a bit closer to being actual adults than when they started.
You should look into your state's laws (I use a Christian-based curriculum, just in case I ever need to use that section of the state education law). My students' parents have always been most grateful for the assist.
As much extra work and worry as it is, as little as it pays, as much of my time it takes up, I'd much rather be "schooling" than doing anything else.