We were sitting at the dining table, filling out college applications and came to the part that said “What is your major?” My son panicked.
It’s rare to have a teenager know exactly what they want to do in life. Very few high school seniors can confidently say what their major will be. One step in the right direction is to do some career planning in your home. Here are some resources that may help. Don’t expect a book or website to solve your problem, because learning your purpose in life happens over time, not in an instant. Still, these resources can begin the process of thoughtful reflection.
Books
What Color is Your Parachute
What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens, 2nd Edition: Discovering Yourself, Defining Your Future Get the teen version because I have heard the adult version may have inappropriate content
Finding the Career that Fits You Workbook by Larry Burkett is a Christian classic for career exploration
Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Tieger and Barron I haven’t read it myself, but others have recommended it.
www.thecallonline.com The Call Vocational and Life Purpose Guide from Focus on the Family (Approximately $79)
www.careerdirectonline.org Career Direct assessment from Crown Financial Ministries founded by Larry Burkett ($80)
Mostly, just pick a major – anything! If you’re stuck, pick the hardest major considered, not the easiest major. It’s a LOT easier to go from Engineering to Business than to go from Business to Engineering. The harder degrees will often have harder math and harder science. Meeting those strict requirements will certainly meet requirements for the easier degrees. On the other hand, when you choose an easy major, the prerequisites are easy. Those easy science and easy math classes will NOT meet the requirements of a harder degree, so it could lengthen the amount of time spent in college.
It’s our son’s wedding day! Congratulations Kevin and Liz!!!
Has anyone homeschooled college using things such as MIT’s Open Courseware, and would completing courses through this be an acceptable path?
~Stephanie on Facebook
To get college credit while you homeschool (“homeschooling college”) requires credits to be accredited by some organization (like CLEP) or some college (like Thomas Edison.) While MIT’s Open Courseware classes are extremely cool, they aren’t accredited. You would probably need to find a test to measure knowledge gained from the Open Courseware and then a college to grant credit based on that test. Sounds like a job for superman – I mean CollegePlus!
What exactly does one need in order for a home school child to enter college? I have heard many different things..like a home school diploma will not be sufficient or you have to have transcripts or a portfolio…it is very intimidating to say the least. Any advice???
As homeschoolers, our job is to teach our children at their level, in every subject, all the time. It’s difficult to determine what “at their level” means, because even if they have finished their math book, that doesn’t mean they are ready for the next level. What if they missed a critical concept? What if it was so easy for them they should really skip the next level?
Colleges feel the same way. They want to teach young people at their level in every subject all the time. Unfortunately, they can’t determine “at their level” based on SAT scores or transcripts. With so many public and private schools having their own standards and sequences, kids with the same-looking transcripts can have widely varying skills. Some kids come to college with stellar records but lack-luster preparation in reading, writing, math, etc.
What to do, what to do? Often, colleges may start the year with a placement test to solve this problem. College placement tests are usually quite different than CLEP or AP. They were developed for this generation of students entering college with an accredited high school transcript but without the ability to do college level work.
These placement tests are often given during or before the first week of college to decide whether students need remedial help in reading, writing, or math. They will help the college in placing children in the proper level of foreign language, science, or other subject area. Those placement tests usually do not include college credit or the financial benefit of speeding the college degree. On the other hand, extremely poor performance may lengthen the time in college if remedial help is required. Again, these tests have become common as the result of the poor quality of high schools in general. If your child is reasonably well-educated, I don’t think you will need to worry about that.
At some colleges, these tests are required by every freshman. Other colleges will use SAT or ACT scores for a portion of the placement. One common college placement test is the COMPASS placement test. Some college and professors will create their own placement tests, and require a passing grade to register for their class.
Florida recently enacted such a state-wide placement test. Their press release says, “New Placement Test Designed to Help Florida Increase College Graduation Rates: Florida postsecondary readiness test to better measure college readiness skills and placement.”
This highlights the fact that a placement test may be a better measurement of college readiness than an accredited transcript from a public or private school. For more about that, please see my article on accreditation.
The press release also underscores the benefits of teaching students at their level, citing improved college graduation rates. Homeschoolers can keep their students working at their level and also see wonderful benefits.
Keep your homeschool curriculum challenging but not overwhelming. Understand that college placement tests may be used to do the same thing at the university level.
Check out my new profile on The Old Schoolhouse’s Speakers Bureau, and then ask you conference coordinator to invite me to come speak to your conference in 2011!
Summer break is important. Homeschoolers don’t usually follow a regular school schedule, however. How do you know when to stop? When does being hardworking and persistent become harmful? At what point are you just hitting your head against on the wall?
I know that public schools do not finish textbooks so I am trying to decide what to do. I see that my son is burnt out. I think he is in summer mode now plus a lot is going on in May. Should I have him just stop for a while? I know he must get through the Algebra 1 before he moves on to Geometry. Should I have him complete the whole text? I know he is not going to want to work on this during summer. Since this is his first year being homeschooled summer for him is the time off he is used to. Do you know what I mean? I have a headache.
~Karen in Florida
I would certainly take a summer break. Although a couple of math problems for review might be helpful, it is vital to remember that a BREAK can be the most important part of summer.
About math, how far along in the book are you? I guess I would call the Teaching Textbooks support line, and ask them this question. Perhaps they will tell you exactly which chapters are “optional.” That would mean you don’t have as far to go as you think.
Have you tried putting math first? First in the day? First in priority, so that nothing else happens until it’s done? Have you tried cutting down the number of problems required each day? Have you tried doing a physically exhausting activity before AND after math? Boys do better that way. Bike rides – running – ANYTHING physical can help them buckle down and concentrate.
Most schools finish in June. You might want to find out what day the public school ends, and put that on the calendar. Until then, he might do a full lesson each day (first thing in the morning – no complaints allowed.) After school ends, then he might do just 5 problems per day “to keep your skills sharp over summer, honey, because we know how hard you worked to get those skills, and I don’t want you to lose it.”
You don’t have to complete the whole text. Set a goal of 80%. Try to eliminate the parts of the book that are less valuable (using feedback from the company and author.)
Some homeschoolers will just STOP in June, and pick up the book in the same place in September. That’s hard though, to pick up math midstream like that, but it’s an option to consider.
For right now, this moment, I suggest dropping the books and playing. You know, take a Tylenol, have a cup of coffee, go outside, do something physical, or take him for an ice cream.
Karen wrote back:
I like your advise in talking to the company and seeing what chapters are optional. I didn’t know any chapters in a text were optional. I just want to make sure he is ready for geometry in the Fall. I am going to go and get that coffee now or in my case a cup of tea.
We just looked on the teaching textbook website and he said “Hey let me just take the Algebra 2 placement test because that looks easy and then we will see what I know”. Calgon take me away. You got it kid.
Oh my goodness! He passed the algebra 2 placement with a 90%. Note to self: when your kids look frustrated it may be because they are just done and not because they don’t understand the information.
By the way the younger one said, “If he is testing out I only have two more tests left can I test out too”. Guess what? 95%. We are done with the books. Just reviewing in the summer.
~Karen
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Recently I was awarded the “Family Friendly” seal of approval from The Old Schoolhouse. I was so excited – and it’s a cute badge to put on my website, too!
It puts me in a bit of an awkward place, though. Sometimes the information I need to provide is NOT fit for general audiences. When I speak about community college, I have to choose my words very carefully, so that I can convey the “R-rated” nature of the environment in the most honest way I can, but without offending people. Still, wouldn’t you rather be shocked about what I say, than have your children shocked every day in a community college setting?
As you are making your plans for next year, please know that your local community college is probably NOT going to win the Family Friendly Emblem from The Old Schoolhouse.
I was at a college fair, greeting different colleges and asking them about their admission policy for homeschool students. One representative from a community college had a very serious message that she wanted me to give you.
“Please tell homeschoolers that their children are sitting next to adjudicated individuals in class. People who have been in prison for a variety of reasons are sitting next to their 16 year old daughter. Please warn them!”
She was very concerned, but felt that she couldn’t be more explicit than that. It was obvious that registered offenders were her primary concern. I suppose that make sense. In an effort to provide job training, community college is often the next step. Still, she asked me to warn you, and there you have it!
Community college is a serious decision for parents to make. It’s not a “Rated G” Family Friendly place. There are some moments it is “Rated PG.” Indeed, “Rated R” material is not appropriate for every family. Parents, I encourage you to make a decision carefully.
“Hi Lee. I heard you speak at the Midwest Homeschool Convention. I really appreciated all your information. I need to ask you a question. Can I count a computer graphics class or video editing class for fine arts credit on the homeschool transcript?”
~ Trina on Facebook
Sure, Trina! You can use those classes for fine arts on your homeschool transcript. Some parents use classes like that for a technology credit, and others will use it as a way to get art into a techie kid. Either way is just fine. Remember when we were in high school and we could take photography for art? It’s the same sort of thing, only now we have computers.
The fine arts include music, art, theater, and dance. Graphics are an art, and video is like theater. You can get an art degree in “Graphic Arts”, so I suppose that might be my “go-to” title for that course. For more class titles, look at a community college or university catalog, and see how they name their classes.
Technology credits are sometimes used as electives, and other times they are put into the science category. It depends on which way will make your child look the best to the college of their choice.
Click here to read more about why teaching your high schooler is highly overrated.
What are you fussing about today? I remember having conflict specifically about “showing your work” in math. Exactly how do you know when it is important? And when is it not important at all?
I am wondering how to determine if my 13 yr old is showing her work well enough in math. She’s doing Saxon Algebra II and I’ve given up teaching it, but do correct it in that I look for the right final answer. Is there any reason for her to be meticulous with showing steps? Will it be to her advantage in any way to improve? How do I police this when there are many different paths to the answer and the key shows only one option? Thank you for your help, ~ Rebecca in Washington
Ah yes…. showing your work. I hated fighting with my kids about that.
Some will say “always show your work” and others will say “why show work, anyway?” I think we should take a step back and think about it from a different perspective. Your job is not to make her show her work or not. Your job is to make sure she LEARNS, right? Some children will learn best by showing all their work, and others find the work too repetitive or boring, so giving an oral answer makes sense (like we did for elementary level math.) So maybe our best strategy is to make her show as many answers as she needs to in order to learn.
That’s all very well and good, but here is what you might do in concrete terms. If she shows all of her work and gets a 90% or above on her homework, then she is learning her math and has learned how to show her work. Perhaps for the rest of the week she can show her work on just two or three problems. The other problems she can simply right the answer. If she scores less than 90% on that homework, then the following day she has to show all her work again. That will give her an incentive to get the answers correct. It will help her learn to show her work, but also show her that the learning is more important.
If answers don’t match the answer key, don’t assume your child got it wrong. I’ve been proven wrong that way MANY times! Math book answer keys are notorious for getting the answers wrong – in EVERY math curriculum, not just Saxon. Try to track down the Saxon website for updates on their answer key, or corrections. They may have a published list. Make use of their 800 number, and call them if you have a concern.
Again, that’s all very well and good, but how do you handle it in real life? When my child’s answer didn’t match the answer in the answer key, I made *them* call the company and get the explanation (most of the time, anyway.) I was so busy with everything else, I just didn’t have time, so I told me kids it was going to be marked as wrong unless they called the textbook company and got their approval that the answer key was wrong. The only exceptions was when they talked my husband into helping them
If her answer is right but she found a different path to get the answer, that’s fine. It’s important to know there are options to getting the answer. I would only be concerned when the answer is wrong.
I hope that helps!
If you are curious about providing a great homeschool education for your gifted child, check out my audio training, “Gifted Education at Home.“
Lee, I know your boys did the “CLEP route” before going to college. Did this shorten the number of credits they had to take in college? And, are you familiar with the program College Plus? Do you have any thoughts on this company? Thanks,
~ Kitty in Washington
We did use CLEP to achieve one year of college by exam. The biggest deal is to make sure the university you want to go to will accept those credits. The college my children attend, Seattle Pacific University, accepts one year of credit by exam. We also had one year of community college, so they both ended up beginning the university as a junior.
Because of their full tuition scholarships, we were not constrained by finances, and the kids were allowed to take 4 years to graduate anyway. For my son the engineer, it was imperative to take four years. For an engineering student, it’s extremely difficult to accelerate a four year degree. I’ve know kids with an A.A. degree from community college who STILL take four more years to get an engineering degree from a university. My guess is that most hard sciences are the same way – difficult to speed up. I do know one biology major who graduated in two years, I guess. But that’s only one.
My younger son the political science major has also gone to the university for 4 years, but in his case it was optional. As a social science major (politics and economics) it would have been easy for him to graduate within two years. Because he was young, we told him to take any classes that he wanted to and graduate in four years. He took additional French, Latin, Math, Piano, and Philosophy classes just for the love of learning. He is also graduating after four years, but he could have easily graduated in two years.
CLEP can shorten the number of credits you take in college. It depends on the college policy about CLEP, and it also depends on your major and whether it is possible to CLEP the classes that you need. We found that CLEP not only gave us college credits, documenting our homeschool and greatly strengthening their application, which helped them get great scholarships.
The unexpected benefit of CLEP was being able to afford four years of college after all!
I’m very familiar with CollegePlus! I think they are a great organization, with a great Christian worldview. They are most helpful with for degrees in the humanities, business and computers fields. There are fewer choices for engineering or the more technical fields of study. Here is a link to the degrees they can assist with. They also offer a wonderful mentoring program for students as they work through their college course of study.
If you only want to homeschool college for a year, or if you are highly organized and motivated to do it yourself, it’s completely possible to work
independently. I recommend that you read these two books on the subject: Accelerated Distance Learning and Bears’ Guide .
“All I want is a college prep DVD program that can reach out and shake them and pour the info into their brain.”~ Olga (Traveling Missionary)
College preparation can be challenging. College preparation while on the mission field is more challenging. While the options may seem woefully few or overwhelmingly prolific, keep on key in mind. The curriculum that works for YOUR child is the one that is college prep. If it doesn’t work for your child, it won’t prepare them for college. It doesn’t matter how glowingly it is reviewed, or how rigorous it is.
We have four children from Russia, one of whom is completing 8th grade now. Our schedule includes a lot of travel for ministry, so we need portable materials, and hopefully, as the children mature, a curriculum they can enjoy without us teaching them 24/7. So far, the only college prep DVD materials that we have found are from Bob Jones. Are these good? Do you have any suggestions? Thank you so much,
~ Olga
I know that Bob Jones material has DVDs available, but so do many other choices. DVDs are also not the only portable curriculum. You can use a standard curriculum when you are stationary, but bring a math book and reading material while you are traveling.
Some people find that putting their standard textbooks onto a KindleReader provide the perfect flexibility to use THEIR materials, rather than forcing their child to switch to something that may not work.
Robinson Curriculum may be one option to consider. It provides everything but math books on DVDs. You may also choose from a variety of math programs on DVD. Many homeschool math programs come in DVD format. For more information, see my blog post on Homeschool High School Math – Choosing Curriculum I am not a big fan of Bob Jones. I know that many homeschoolers use it and love it, so I think it is a perfect fit for some, and it was a complete mismatch for my family. Don’t consider that your only alternative. There is a world of possibilities for you.
Use what works. If something has been working for you, continue to use it and you’ll have continued success. Don’t change to a new curriculum just because you are beginning high school. Don’t change to college prep materials, just focus on keeping your children challenged by not overwhelmed.
Have fun enjoying different countries in your work! Make sure you learn about each country, and include that in your homeschool! So many of us would love to have the opportunity to travel and learn about the world like that, so enjoy!
The HomeScholar Gold Care Club will give you the comprehensive help you need tohomeschool high school.
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