Homeschooled 15-year-old does math at a 5th-grade level, mom refuses to put her in public school, no matter how much she begs: 'I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO!'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Oct 30, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

She just wants some guidance, and all the adults in her life have failed to give it to her.

I believe that on a very primal level, all humans desire to learn and acquire an education. There's a lot of speculation about how AI might eliminate the need for teachers and traditional methods of schooling, as teaching and homework might eventually be automated with AI. However, I really doubt that every kid in every school in the world actually desires to let a robot do their homework for them. There's a guilty feeling that comes with cheating in school, and there's a sense of accomplishment when you do the work you're supposed to do using just your noggin. 

I really doubt that AI will eliminate the need for teachers, because kids can't learn without proper guidance. It's never enough to simply put a kid in their room with some textbooks and expect them to figure it out on their own. If it were, everyone would do that, and it'd be a lot less expensive than schooling. Learning is a collaborative process, and while there are some exceptional individuals who don't require a teacher and can be self-sufficient, they are very few and far between.

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  • One young Caucasian woman female student sitting home writing and reading in her notebook
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The young woman in this story is ready and eager to learn, but she lacks the necessary tools to succeed. She has been homeschooling since the 4th grade and desperately wants to attend public school, but her mother won't let her.

  • I'm a homeschooled 15 year old stuck at a 5th grade math level

    I've made a previous post about my struggles with keeping up with focusing in my regular day of school, but this week my struggles in math are catching up to me, and I dont know what to do.
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • I'm 15 years old, and I've been homeschooled since the beginning of covid, and my mom won't and REFUSES to put me back into public school, no matter how much I beg. When I was in 4th grade when covid started, I had a basic understanding and was actually pretty caught up and
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • farther in math than others, then bam, after covid happened and suddenly im sitting at the kitchen table at 12 years old in 6th grade, forgetting everything ive learned and at a 2nd grade level.
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • Toddler writing indoors
    via Annie Spratt

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I went to an in-person tutoring place (kumon) and they completely screwed me over. They had me restart from the beginning with questions like 5+1 and stuff like that, and neglected my complaints about me trying to get them to understand that this is NOT what I needed to learn
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • and I already knew all of this. The tutors thought I was old enough and cursed around me, treated me like an adult, and when I told my parents the main lady tried to tell them I was a liar, so obviously I left. (Many other things were wrong with that place but thats besides the point)
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • A portrait of young geography teacher looking at camera in classroom
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • So, going into my 7th grade year, screwed over and now EVEN FARTHER behind, I was still at a 2nd grade math level. I'm now in 10th grade, at a 5th grade math level, and I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO! I do 3 lessons of math every day on an online website, which is getting me through 2 grades a year currently. My goal
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • is 9th 10th grade understanding - by my senior year, but at this rate i dont know if its possible. So what do I do? I feel like a total loser and like a failure. Talking to people in public school is humiliating when they bring up homework or whatever and they get suspicious when I say "whats that?" And they look at me like I'm not even in 10th grade. I
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • succeed in so many other things but math is the only think I truly care for but cant find the strength to keep going. I started watching algebra 1 videos on my own time to get an understanding for when I actually start it, but it's so brain numbing and it makes me realize how little I really know. The whole thing is so discouraging and ive been trying to make it work since
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • before I was in middle school but I dont understand how I'm going to graduate college let alone get INTO a college, when everything ive ever wanted to have as a job has to do with law. I literally need college for my future if I want a chance.
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • VenorraTheBarbarian I'm so sorry that the adults around you have let you down so hard! Do your best to keep up and remember that adult education classes are a thing. If you're in the US then you hopefully have a local community college and they will bring you up to speed from where ever your education ends up. Just learn as much as you can til then.
    via u/VenorraTheBarbarian
  • IndependentFee820 Try watching pre-algebra instead. By the time kids start algebra one in the 9th grade they have been "solving for x” on some level since the 5th grade. I would go back and find videos that discuss angles of right and isosceles triangles, and then do the practice questions about finding the answer for the missing angle. Then move on to finding the areas of rectangles where they don't give you the length of one side. It's the most concrete example of algebra. Also, many 4th and 5
    via u/IndependentFee820
  • Bubbly_Elk8381 OP Im actually pretty good with division already, It was my main focus at the beginning of the year, and my lessons are starting to do a small review on it aswell, and I already know the right and isosceles, I just had no idea it was similar that which makes it feel way easier to understand LOL. thank you for the advice
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381
  • IndependentFee820 That's great to hear! Division is hard for a lot of people even with a teacher.
    via u/IndependentFee820
  • shiverypeaks You will be happier if you forget about having specific plans for the future (like having a career in law, or even going to college at the normal age) and just study as much as you can without losing motivation. If you just focus on studying then time will pass and one day you will be 18 or 20 and can figure out what the next step is actually supposed to be. You probably aren't going to get to college at a normal time or have a splashy career at this point (unless you are very ambit
    via u/shiverypeaks
  • ComplexPatient4872 Kumon is pure torture for children and the best way to get them to hate math. When you get to college you'll take a placement test. The developmental classes will help you get caught up.
    via u/ComplexPatient4872
  • Bubbly_Elk8381 OP Absolutely agree on kumon, it was the worst 4 months of my life and got me nowhere, the classrooms were always overfilled with little kids not listening so some days I would have to stay about 30 minutes over time just to do one packet
    via u/Bubbly_Elk8381

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mathematics school teenager teenagers learning bad parenting bad parents parenting raising teens homeschooling homeschool math Parenting Fail Parenting FAILS
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