Is your student overwhelmed with the thought of how to decide on a career? Do he struggle to know where his interests lie? Does she seem daunting by picking a single job for the rest of her life? A student who feels this way is not alone! For many high school students between the ripe ages of 14 and18, the thought of being asked to pick a college, then pick a major, then select a career can drive one to distraction. Thankfully, highschool is an excellent time to explore differentiated instruction and specialist curriculum for high school students. This will help students to have purposeful direction while in college. When a student knows what they want in a career before entering college they don’t feel the pressure to choose a major with which one knows little about and they feel prepared for their major, no matter how hard, by the classes they took in high school. Homeschool high school coursework, from core curriculum to high school electives, is the perfect place to help students discover their interests, provide instructional empowerment, build a firm academic foundation, and confidently choose a career path.
Often, one’s interests and enjoyments can be a helpful guide towards selecting a fulfilling career and classes which prioritize student centered instruction. Have your student take a moment to consider the activities he or she is interested in and what they enjoy doing. Is there an activity or topic which he finds particularly exciting? What do she enjoy talking about with others? When creating a list of interests, don’t be afraid to have your student look far and wide for inspiration. From baking bread to discussing theoretical physics, paying attention to one’s interests can offer some initial clues to a potential career.
The second step in picking a career is to consider a student’s skills or talents. Is the student good at writing? He could be anything from an English teacher to a museum curator. Is the student good at math? She could work in a lab or be a data analyst. Have your student take some time to list the skills they have: attention to detail, creative pursuits, entrepreneurship, etc. Knowing these can help you confidently choose classes which help to further develop these skills.
A few notes to keep in mind. First, just because some classes technically fall under the same subject doesn’t necessarily mean that all classes are the same. Just because a student doesn’t like chemistry doesn’t mean that biology won’t be a blast. While both are sciences, they are different subjects. In high school especially, it’s important to keep an open mind and take a wide variety of classes to give yourself a well-rounded education and help you discover your interests.
Secondly, there is a whole world of careers that students may know nothing about until reaching college. Students shouldn’t feel pressure to decide on a career immediately, as long as they have purposeful direction and know where their interests and strengths lie.
Finally, these methods are suitable even for students who don’t enjoy school. These students have activities they enjoy, and unique skill sets all their own. Student centered instruction (classes focused on a student’s interests) allows for a wide variety of classes such as entrepreneurship classes, electives, and independent study courses!
As your student begin to discover his or her areas of interest and personal aptitudes, it’s time to start making a list of potential careers.
After creating a list of potential careers, it is best to know something about a potential career field and the skills needed to succeed there. For well-known careers, such as engineering, teaching, medicine, etc. it will be fairly easy to find additional, well-researched information about the post-high school educational requirements for these career fields. It can also be immensely helpful to meet people who are already working in that field and talk to them about their experiences: how they got into college, what courses they took while in high school that prepared them, what they would do differently, and what skills have helped in their career field.
The answers to this research can help guide class choices.
Looking at the student’s lists, it’s now time to explore Excelsior’s course catalog. You’ll need some more paper here: make another list of all the classes your student is interested in. It’s okay if your list is rather long, or, if it’s rather short. The main goal here is to see which classes align well with the lists the student created previously.
With these interests and career goals in mind, it is most important to select core classes, especially classes that give a student the skills necessary for a specific career. Core classes, such as math, science, English, and history, are necessary to graduate from high school and for college admissions. Parents will need to research graduation requirements for their state of residence and admissions requirements for potential colleges. These two factors will be the primary guiding factor in selecting classes for a child to take throughout high school.
All students will have to take many of the same core classes, but homeschooling still allows for students to emphasize their interests even in core classes. If your student hopes to pursue a STEM career, then a robust set of rigorous math and science courses are a must. If your student wants to become a teacher, then classes in that subject are imperative.
It is also important to consider future goals. If a student hopes to travel or work abroad someday, then a language course would prove useful with the added benefit of those courses being attractive to college admission and future employers.
If a student is curious as to how to become a doctor, taking science courses and having a firm foundation in algebra is vital. If a student is interested in how to become an engineer, math courses especially physics and calculus courses, are imperative. Likewise, if one is interested in trades, math and entrepreneurship classes might come in handy. If one was interested in becoming an entrepreneur taking classes in that field would be a wise decision.
When choosing core classes, especially in the second half of high school as a student nears college, it may be beneficial to select college preparatory courses, advanced placement preparatory courses, dual enrollment courses, and other courses which will challenge students and prepare him or her for the rigor of college courses. These can help develop good study and time management skills before college starts and help students enter university with college credits, saving the student time and money over the course of a four-year degree. Classes which allow the student to take an AP exam or dual enrollment courses with an accredited university are usually cheaper than taking that same course in college, and help your student focus on major-specific classes once in college.
While core classes are vitally important, electives are where a student’s interests really come into play. Elective courses introduce students to the important concepts of that field and give the student an opportunity to work on projects related to that topic and see if he or she would enjoy that as a career. Excelsior offers a wide range of electives, from architecture or engineering, to film classes! In college, it is difficult to explore one’s interests without selecting that interest as a major or minor, which can cost a great deal of money and distract from completing one’s degree. High school electives allow students to dip their toes into a whole new world without having to commit to a college major.
Choosing a path for your future can be a daunting task. Yet, it is important to remember that not every decision is final and that there is a whole world of jobs and careers opportunities that you may not know about yet. High school gives students the opportunity to explore without pressure. Let the student’s interests guide course selection, focus on building a firm academic foundation, and seek to teach students important life skills. Doing so offers students an exciting world of possibilities and success in future endeavors.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the author and should not be taken to represent the views of Excelsior Classes, LLC or the consortium of teachers.
