It would be lovely if every child wanted to specialize in something reasonable.  Something that made money, provided income, or was valuable for family harmony.  Sadly, most teenagers are still children, at least some of the time, and they may want to specialize in the most unusual things!  Instead of worrying, try to translate their interests into something reasonable.  In other words, if they DID specialize in that one seemingly – bizarre thing, what would that look like?

Loralee wrote to me because her child loves only legos.  If you took that interest and added a few years, what would it look like?

I just read one of your articles about encouraging your child’s passions. I wish my 15 yr old son had a passion like chess or piano or fiddle playing! While he does read a lot (like your son, I assume), and has hobbies such as leathercraft, and biking, the thing he’s passionate about is LEGOs! He loves them and wants to be a LEGO designer. My husband feels that’s a childish thing to be doing all the time (and so do I to a lesser degree). He’s has upper average grades, and we don’t live in Sweden, and there are a million other kids who want to do the same thing, so it doesn’t seem likely he’ll get very far in his desired field.  So, how do I encourage his passion when I feel he should be growing out of it?  Thank you very much for your time! ~ Loralee

Lego needs engineers. Engineers begin their careers with Legos. Legos are the cornerstone of many science and engineering programs, leagues, and clubs.  For that reason, it looks like Legos are a GREAT way to ignite passion!  Check out these links for more information:

Perhaps your child would like to compete in a science and engineering fair. To find one in your area, Google Science & Engineering Fair with the name of your state, or start by look at  ISEF: Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

For a “degree in Legos” working at the LEGO company, to create something knew a person might need a chemical or mechanical engineering degree. If you urge your child in that direction, you can’t go wrong. He’ll be prepared for anything! During high school, he’ll need math each year, plus biology, chemistry, and physics. By the time he is done with high school, he may have modified his goals slightly, but this preparation will give him maximum flexibility.

How can a Christian find a good engineering school that is also a conservative Christian university?

We looked at local Christian schools that offer an engineering degree. We loved Seattle Pacific University in Washington, and George Fox University in Oregon. But I had a client who lives on the other side of the country, and she wanted some suggestions about engineering schools in other parts of the country.

I have a friend at church who is a professor of engineering, and he gave me some helpful suggestions for a client. He gave his opinion based on the quality of the engineering programs quality and the conservative theological stance. Here is what my engineering professor friend suggested:

Cedarville University in Ohio

Grove City in Pennsylvania

Calvin College in Michigan

Seattle Pacific University in Washington

George Fox University in Oregon

LeTourneau University in Texas

Messiah College in Pennsylvania

Geneva in Pennsylvania

Olivet Nazarene in Illinois

Andrews University in Michigan

No single list can help every parent, of course, and I have only visited two of the colleges on this list. But if you how to even begin looking, this list can provide a starting place!

The most important thing is to make sure your school, and the engineering major in the school, are ABET accredited. Many engineering companies will not hire an applicant with a degree that is not ABET accredited. It’s a VERY big deal.

Do your homework, to make sure a college is a good fit for your child, of course. And I hope this list can help you start your college search.

My husband and I are so proud of our daughter, Katelynn.  Katelynn has been homeschooled since the third grade.  We are so proud of all her accomplishments, and we can’t believe she just graduated from high school.  Katelynn has been accepted to the University of Montana where she will major in Wildlife Biology.  Katelynn was awarded the WUE Scholarship of $12,000 per year.  She was also awarded three other scholarships worth $3,700.  Katelynn is a beautiful young lady inside and out.  She has an amazing heart and love for God.  We are truly proud of her, and we are so very blessed by her.
~ Paula

You can tell right away that Katelynn has a passion for horses and animals.  Highlighting the unique passions of your student can help them get scholarships!   So focus on the love of learning, encourage your children to pursue their interests while covering core subjects.  These successes can happen to you, too!

Isn’t it thrilling to watch other homeschoolers share their success?

Featured resource: Getting the BIG Scholarships

Parent Training A la Carte – parent training on homeschool high school issues.  Enjoy 10% off today by using coupon code “easy10″.

Nurses are in high demand.  With the population growing older, there are fewer nurses and the need is great.  There are a huge variety of careers within nursing, not just hospital care.  The hours can be long, but they don’t have to be.  The job can be physically taxing, but not always.  It’s an extremely flexible career that easily adapts for parents with young children.  It’s a great field for missionaries, and a great “foot in the door” as a great skill that can benefit any country.

Nursing requires math and science.  I used algebra every day when I worked as a nurse, calculating medication and IV fluids.  One small math mistake could cause a serious medication error, so the pressure was intense.  In high school I completed pre-calculus, and calculus was required in college. As with any medical or science field, it’s helpful to keep to the standard science courses:  biology, chemistry, and physics.

Teens who are interested in medical careers can search for volunteer opportunities to research careers.  I worked as a volunteer at a hospital from the age of 14.  Often called Candy Stripers, hospital volunteers provide a valuable function.  You can read an example in one hospital in Florida here.

While providing a service to the community, young people are also learning skills critical for medical fields.  They learn about the daily sights and smells, so they aren’t shocked their first day of nursing practicum.  They learn basic skills, like bed-making.  They learn about caring for ill people, critical for determining a career in care-giving.  Finally, they can learn about the wide array of careers available in the medical field, so they can know which  specific medical field is right for them.

I loved being a nurse.  When my son was born I continued to work one  weekend a month.  That allowed my husband regular experience as a primary caregiver for our baby, which was great for our marriage.  When my son started little league, I couldn’t bear to miss a single baseball game, so I quit working as a nurse.  I loved my job as a homeschooler as much as I had loved being a nurse. When my children graduated, it was difficult to decide what to do!

Ultimately, I loved my job as a home educator more, and my skills homeschooling high school were “fresh.”  Still, I loved being a nurse, and I think it’s a great career for young people who like taking care of others.

Do you Twitter? Follow me here!

Spencer, who is home schooled, admits he’s got plenty of growing up to do. He has to fight the urge to slam a club into the turf when a shot doesn’t follow the planned trajectory.  “He’s a perfectionist,” his father observed.
Seattle Times “Local golfer, 10, is hitting it big”

But it wasn’t the lovely column that made me start laughing.  It was this comment from the father:

Steve Tibbits enjoys watching golf but said he hasn’t played much and never played well.  “I’m just so bad at it, it’s frustrating to me,” the elder Tibbits said.

That comment reminded me SO much of my experience with my son and his love of Chess!  You know, I was consulting with a mother today who made a comment about how her children didn’t have a cool interest like my children in chess, but her son was merely interested in boring old computers.  I wonder if Mr. Tibbets ever wishes his son would have a different interest other than golf?

I will say, it does seem like the Lord’s sense of humor sometimes.  The things our children love can be the most frustrating an annoying to parents.  Have you read my article called “Use Your Annoy-O-Meter Skillfully“?  I almost called it “The Joy of Annoyance” but I was too frustrated to feel joyful about it.

Here are some take-aways:

• If you are annoyed, welcome to the club.
• Specialization doesn’t always appear heaven-sent
• The specialization-grass always looks greener in some other parent’s yard

Are you ready to get serious about homeschooling high school?  Send me an email and let’s talk!

Hi Lee, What if your 13 year old daughter  isn’t interested in anything….or so she says. Loves to read but says she’s not interested in reading anything “educational”. Seems uninterested in most things the last year or two. Help?

Dear Kim,
It’s extremely common for kids that age to not be interested in anything.  I have talked to quite a few people that have really complained about this problem – and then they call me the next year to explain that their child suddenly “caught fire!”   I think there are some things you can do that will help.

First, expose them to a wide variety of different experiences and subjects. That’s why colleges like to see core subject covered – to make sure kids have caught an area of interest!  So make sure you have all the usual subjects covered.

Second, look for an area of passion where you least expect it. What I notice is that often kids will have an interest, but neither the student or the parent recognizes it as “passion.”  Instead they may label it as “annoying” or “just fun.”  We actually made a funny video of how annoying it was to have chess and piano as interests of my children.  Here is an article about how you can find areas of interest using your own “annoy-0-meter”.  Use Your Annoy-O-Meter Skillfully.  Here is a video of when passions became too much for one annoyed mom!

Third, think about passion as something you encourage in your children over four years of high school, not as something they START high school with.  My husband has written a series of articles called Raising Your Own Superheroes on developing interests in children.

Raising Your Own Superheroes: Step One – Observing Passion

Raising Your Own Superheroes: Step Two – Catching Fire

Raising Your Own Superheroes: Step Three – Providing Opportunity

Finally, when you are thinking about passion, remember to look outside of academics.  Some kids don’t “love” books, but they love “doing” something.  That can be a passion too! So if your daughter loves babysitting, or baseball or beach combing, those things may end up being a passion too.  Look beyond school work and academics, but at the whole person.

Let’s be friends on Facebook!  http://www.facebook.com/Lee.TheHomeScholar

The person giving her assessment told my daughter to go ahead with her plan to get an RN, but not to stop there with her “educational potential” as he called it.
~Cam in Washington

As a nurse, I’m a little offended by the psychologist’s perspective that an RN is for those with less educational potential!  (I’m not offended by your comments at all, just the psychologist’s comments!)  Here is what I suggest.  If your daughter LOVES science and math, and ENJOYS taking care of people, then she might be a great doctor.  If your daughter LOVES taking care of people and ENJOYS math and science, then she might be a great nurse.  Because, in general, doctors TREAT patients – nurses take care of patients.  Doctors diagnose, write orders and then leave.  It’s a completely different job – not related to educational potential at all.

One easy way to decide what you want to do is to work in a hospital.  For younger students, I often recommend being a hospital volunteer.  That’s what I did!  You can volunteer usually from the age of 14.  For older students (18 years) you may be able to look into phlebotomy, or the drawing of blood.  That has the added benefit of being a paying job, and introducing you to actual physical intervention, all while getting you into the hospital setting.

I don’t recommend is choosing to be a doctor “because” of academics, anymore than I recommend being a nurse “because” of gender.

Learn how to translate all those great homeschool high school experiences into the words and numbers that colleges will understand with my ebook,  ”The Easy Truth About Homeschool Transcripts.”

Try having your student write about something they like.  Or give them the choice to write about *anything* that will match the writing assignment.  It doesn’t always work, and it certainly doesn’t completely eliminate bad attitudes, but if you let them write about what they love, sometimes it will make it easier.

I have to confess, though, that at the end of each year I wasn’t so easy-going.   I remember my son Alex was in love with American History.  His “Learn to Write the Novel Way” project was about American History and economics.  His history was about American History and economics.  His English papers were all about American History and economics.  Finally, in the spring, we had enough.  I carefully explained that he still had the choice to write about anything he wanted, but his papers could no longer include the words “Thomas,”  “Jefferson,” “Adam,” “Smith,” or “economics.”  We managed to get a little bit more variety that way.

Thank you everyone for helping us make yesterday’s launch of the Gold Care Club a great success.

A homeschool boy loves the show “Warriors” on The History Channel and just can’t get enough.  He read the hosts biography and has a desire to imitate his hero.  His mother wrote to me, looking for ways to translate this interest into “school.”  Here are the suggestions I gave her.

Dear [Gold Care Club Mom,]

I don’t think there has been a program written like that yet, so you’ll have to do it yourself!

But first, let’s think about it.  My son studied economics during every year of high school.  Beautiful Feet has their “History of Horses” program.  Let’s just assume that it CAN be done, and then brainstorm together.

Idea #1  How about the history of weapons?  There are certain “history of war” books that will provide a timeline of every war.  During each war, there could be some research, written reports, study the science of the times (tie it in to the history of science, for example, so that he studies that.)  He could draw each weapon as well.  Consider looking at the Teaching Company Lectures, because I believe they have some of the history of science topics.

Idea #2 Purchase a time period based curriculum (Sonlight, The Well Trained Mind, or Tapestry of Grace, for example.)  Instead of using their curriculum as written, substitute their writing suggestions for a more personalized assignment.  Spend additional research on your child’s interests, instead of the assigned research.  That would provide a little more structure than idea #2.

Idea #3 Model your high school after your son’s hero.  You and I both know that the hero’s resume’ is not what was required of him.  It was who he IS.  But to hold up your son to this ideal would really help in the long run.  By following this hero, your child will be motivates to learn math, science, etc.  Let’s look at his hero for a moment:

Terry Schappert: Terry began his military career 17 years ago with the 82nd Airborne Division. While assigned to a recon squad, he completed Ranger School. After serving in the Persian Gulf War, he moved on to his ultimate challenge, becoming a Green Beret.

This requires strong preparation in PE.

Since completing the Special Forces Qualification Course, Terry has been deployed on training and combat missions all over the world, most recently in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition to his military credentials; Terry is a licensed paramedic,

Biology and advanced biology are necessary for a paramedic.  Some experience with blood and/or hospitals are a help.  He might consider being a hospital volunteer.   Paramedics also need math, so they don’t kill someone by giving the wrong dose of a drug or the wrong volume of IV fluids.  Again, I’m a nurse, so trust me on this one.

has extensive martial arts training,

Excellent PE!  Marial arts can provide not only PE, but also a passionate interest that could last for 4-years, with the ability to develop leadership as his skills improve.

speaks several languages,

Ask your son what language he wants to speak, then follow that.

and holds a degree in anthropology.

Anthropology is a branch of social science (social studies.)  He would need to develop his history and comparative governments (US Government, etc.) as well as economics.  Anthropology requires a strong background in statistics, a branch of math.

Terry is the eyes and ears of the viewer, as he travels the globe to discover exactly what it takes to be a warrior.

Great opportunity to discover geography.  That might be a good “right now” course.  We used Runkle’s “Wonderful World of Geography” and my boys memorized the location of every country in the world (no kidding.)  It was great, because then as they learned more about history and current events, they could understand where they took place.  And as your son watches his hero on TV, he will know exactly where these places are located.

And by the way, the history channel is a GREAT way to get history!

So go for it!  Call me next Wednesday if you can, and we’ll talk about it more.

This is just an example of the great consulting that is available for free to my Gold Care Club members.  Members get a special email address to send me their toughest questions.  They even get 20 minutes of free phone consulting every week where we can talk over their concerns.  It is a great deal for parents who are homeschooling high school.  Interested?  A free month of the Gold Care Club is available for families who purchase my “Easy Truth About Homeschool Transcripts” e-book.  I will soon be offering the Gold Care Club to families who do not wish to purchase the ebook.  Stand by for details coming soon!