From Alina Adams: When my son, Gregory Wickham, convinced me to let him drop out of Stuyvesant High School and homeschool himself, one of my major conditions was that he do all of the work himself. Since then, due to both changes in the NYC public gifted, middle, and high school admissions system, and families’ general distrust of the education their children were getting thanks to so many of its failings going uncovered by the pandemic and remote/hybrid learning, parents have come to me asking for help with withdrawing their own kids and developing an alternative educational plan. I have to admit that I know very little about it, and refer them to Gregory. Gregory, however, is of the mind that an alternative educational path should be student rather than parent directed. He is rather opinionated and strong-willed – in case that hadn’t come through in my earlier writings. To that end, Gregory is happy to help advise on the transition from traditional schooling to alternative/homeschooling… as long as the impetus comes from the child and not the parent. He explains further, below:

First, a message for parents: I am not going to help you make educational decisions for your child, even though I could. Instead, I will help your students to achieve their goals, and I will expect you to support them to the best of your ability.

Now, a message for students: If you want guidance to help you to create your own educational path, I’m here to help. I’ve voyaged on a strange odyssey through the education system of New York City and returned with plenty of experiences to share. I’ve attended private school and public school. I’ve homeschooled and I’ve earned a high school equivalency diploma. I’ve taken more standardized tests than anybody should, and for every decision I made, I thoroughly researched dozens of alternatives.

So, if you have any questions that I may be able to answer, please comment on this article or email alinaadams@gmail.com. Explain your situation. Tell me what grade you’re in and what kind of school you go to. Then explain what you want for your future and for your education. I won’t share any of your personal information online, but I will publish my answers to you on this blog, so that anybody with similar questions in the future will be able to easily find my answers.

I only know about the rules in New York City, so if you live anywhere else, I probably won’t be able to help you very much. But, if you do live here, you can ask questions about how to homeschool or how to get ahead in public schools. You can ask about the application processes for Specialized High Schools like Stuyvesant or LaGuardia. You can even ask about college applications. (Though I’m less of an expert on that.)

I will answer every question I am asked. Even if I don’t know the answer, I can probably find out where you need to look for the answers you need.

I recommend looking through some of my past writing before asking a question, to see if I’ve already written anything that can help you. I’ve written about how to homeschool and register for AP exams, how to start taking college courses in high school, and how to earn a high school equivalency diploma, among other topics.

I look forward to answering all the questions I am asked. So, ask away.