Unmotivated homeschooling teenager, parent dreading the next year around?

At what age can she start work where you live? Maybe she needs to see what it is like to work with no education or there might be some sort of traineeship that she could do to get her motivated. What hobbies does she have? Try gardening, photography, video games(with the guide books to read about the games), beading, crochet or knitting. With any of these there are books or patterns that are available to assist with these hobbies. Any hobby she has will probably have a series of books or magazines that will encourage her to read more to learn about it. Knitting is also said to be good for maths skills. What does she do every day? Good luck.

Personally, I'd put the regular curriculum on the back burner for a while--or at least downplay it for a while. Try getting some books on careers to have her read through. Have her take a career interest inventory, to help her figure out what sorts of careers she might be interested in and what she'd need to learn in order to get there. Perhaps also some counseling or self-help books to help her figure out that she doesn't have to follow in her mother's footsteps, and she isn't to blame for her mom's problems. Also to help her realize that she's deciding now what her future will be like, whether it will be comfortable or tough. In other words, try to get her to set some goals for herself. Also, if she's not interested in anything, try to find some things that she might be likely to enjoy. You might have to force her to do them at first (whether a hobby, or a charitable cause to work for, or a club to participate in), but getting her interested in something will pay off big time if you can manage it. Definitely don't give up. But you might want to quit spenting big bucks on some accredited program. Instead, let her play a part in deciding what she'll study. Let her play a role in deciding the courses and she might really surprise you. (I'm not pushing unschooling, but you might find that if you say, you can use this textbook or that one or you design something else to cover this subject, she might run with it. If she doesn't, use whatever you want. And if she isn't interested, quit using a special curriculum for her and try using more group projects, where all the kids work together on science or history topics. Then you won't feel that you are wasting a lot of time on her....) Good luck. Apathy is common at this age. And it is very common with children who've become stepchildren. In fact, you might want to get her some serious counseling to deal with her issues.... But the time you are spending on her will eventually pay off; keep trying your best....

There are several low-cost homeschool academies that specialize in helping parents homeschool their children who have special needs. It sounds like that may be the way to go. Usually they require either online or paper testing before placing a student into curriculum. Usually with an unmotivated student having a list of assignments that need to be worked on helps, especially if they can cross them off as they go and can see the list getting shorter.

my guess is she really doesn't have any reason to learn multiplication tables. She's 14 and they are probably not high on her list of 'things to learn'. You might want to build a curriculum that fits her, not vice-versa. What is she interested in? what does she want to learn about? Take her to the library and see what she checks out on her own. Meanwhile, check out Grace Llewellyn's Teenage Liberation Handbook, how to Quit School and Get a LIfe. And throw away the labels. She's a person, unique and individual. Find out what she wants to learn about and feed that interest and you'll both be fine. Sounds like she's unique enough not to fit into a curriculum-in-a-box and that's a good thing.