Homeschool Grad Becomes Entrepreneur, Interview with Suzanna Fitzgerald

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.
March 21, 2023 by Leave a Comment

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschool Grad Becomes Entrepreneur, Interview with Suzanna Fitzgerald.

Homeschool Grad Becomes Entrepreneur, Interview with Suzanna Fitzgerald

Homeschool Grad Becomes Entrepreneur, Interview with Suzanna Fitzgerald

One of our favorite things to do is interview homeschool graduates to see what they are doing with life in the post-high-school world. Join us for a fun interview with entrepreneur Suzanna Fitzgerald!

As parents of a homeschooler, it can be nerve-wracking to watch your child graduate and have to step out into the world on their own. While there is no one answer to the question of what will become of your brilliant kiddo, one bright possibility is that they could choose to become a homeschool entrepreneur. 

With the right support and guidance, your soon-to-be homeschool grad can use their unique experience to create something totally new and go down a path that could lead to long-term success as a homeschool-grad-becomes-entrepreneur!

One example of a homeschool entrepreneur is Suzanna Fitzgerald with Fitz’n’Jammer Marketing By Listening. She has always been a driven and ambitious person, so it just made sense that after graduating homeschool high school at the age of sixteen, she chose to pursue her passion for entrepreneurship. Now, at the age of twenty, she is running a successful business alongside her sister and inspiring others with her story. 

In this exclusive interview with Suzanna, we explore her journey from homeschool graduate to successful entrepreneur!

About Suzanna Fitzgerald

Currently residing in Colorado, Suzanna runs a marketing business with her younger sister, Leia Joy. They connect all over the world online and, despite people telling them that they would not even know how to stand in line because they were homeschooled, they managed things anyway – better, even.  Not only can these two sisters stand in line with proper posture, they can also run a business after being homeschool graduates.

Their story is a little bit different than most people’s. Their parents were Arizona ranchers, and they lived miles outside of town on a dirt road, far from any local schools or communities.  Although her mother held a teaching degree, after moving to Arizona to become a rancher, she no longer taught anymore.

At least, not in an institutional fashion.

Instead, she continued to use her teaching skills on her children with their homeschool education. 

Homeschool Life

Suzanna recalls the days when they would gather around the dining room table to do schoolwork. She never spent one day in a ‘regular’ classroom. Instead, she was homeschooled from K through 12.

However, Suzanna and her siblings grew up around business people. When she could independently homeschool herself, she taught herself her business, such as copywriting, marketing, writing, and everything. She is a life-long learner, with a perpetual homeschooling lifestyle: always learning with no beginning or ending.

Suzanna believes all of life is education if we allow it to be. She implores everyone to just keep growing and learning, no matter their age. She adopted this from her mother, who was an awesome teacher because she made learning so much fun.

From the stories she told to the things they have heard from her family, her mom was the kind of teacher that made learning fun for a classroom of thirty students or a homeschool room of three kids. That was due to the fact that she was extremely hands-on and focused. Suzanna credits everything to her mother, who really encouraged them to pursue their dreams and pushed them to excel.

Discovering the Internet and Founding A Business

And then, all of a sudden, the internet happened. And the next thing you know, Suzanna was making a living online, even though she’s never been on a computer previously.

One year, she was asking what a blog and email was. And then the next year, she and her sister were founding an online marketing business. The whole world seemed to open up for them, which was both scary and exciting.

Breaking Into Marketing

Suzanna was initially trying to be a fantasy novelist. When she was seventeen, she had a book published. Then she realized she did not know how to sell nor how to market anything. This became a high priority for her, especially if she wanted to be a successful writer and not a starving writer. 

Although Suzanna tried to pursue her marketing education at a community college, it turned out to not be a good fit due to health limitations. However, she found an advertisement from a company called American Writers and Artists out of Florida who taught copywriting and online marketing, among other things. Their ad fit the homeschool model since you can pay for the courses and do it at home at your own speed. Suzanna figured she could learn about marketing for a while and then go back to writing books.

However, she discovered that she loved marketing just as much as she loved writing books.

(BTW- Suzanna’s creative writing and marketing experiences make excellent electives for the homeschool transcript.)

Sisterly Business Partnership

Her sister, Leia, started working with Suzanna when she graduated homeschool high school, turning into a homeschool-grad-becomes-entrepreneur too, just like her sister.

Their business partnership began with a job that was supposed to only be a summer job that turned into a year-long job, which eventually led to their business partnership. This turned Leia into a homeschool entrepreneur as well. And now she makes custom graphics and custom logos, high-end video editing projects and creative, detailed work for clients. (BTW- more great Career Exploration elective credits!)

Both sisters have different skillsets that dovetail well together for their business. By learning to work together during their homeschooling adventures, it transpired into working well in ‘real life.’ 

Suzanna’s Advice About Homeschooling High School

For Suzanna, the best part of her high school years was when she became more independent. In about sixth or seventh grade, her amazing mom allowed her to pick lots of elements of her own homeschool curriculum. Her mom would show her the magazine she was ordering from. Then they would discuss each type of program, such as which type of grammar she wanted to do and what was next for math.

When Suzanna started homeschooling high school, she was pursuing her writing dreams, so her mom allowed Suzanna to set her own schedule. And as long as she got the work done on time, her mom did not care when she did it. Suzanna learned excellent goal setting and time management in a hands-on way.

Her time in high school was such an adventure. She was able to choose courses and curriculum that helped pursue her dreams and discover what she wanted out of life. For example, Suzanna chose high-end writing courses instead of more science courses. 

Suzanna’s best part of homeschooling as well as her best tip for all parents of homeschool high schoolers and possible homeschool entrepreneur is: 

Just try to fulfill the needs that your children have instead of trying to fulfill something from your past.

The best part of her homeschooling was when that was true. On the other hand, the worst part was when, sometimes,  it would feel like she was trying to live up to her parents’ expectations from long ago.

One of the beauties of homeschooling is all the flexibility. Do what is best for your kids. 

Teens learning entrepreneurship can earn Career Exploration credit.

Fitz’n’Jammer Marketing By Listening

The reason Suzanna fell in love with marketing is because it is such an important key to success. One that many people often overlook. You might tend to think of it as something you can just do in your spare time. After all, there are a lucky few who do luck out with a natural gift for marketing that works for them right off the bat.

However, to the remaining most of us, we really struggle with marketing because it costs so much time, effort and energy. Unfortunately, it can make you think it is just sucking the life out of you, causing you to learn to hate your business and hate what you wanted to do and learn to hate your skills. 

Either you know what you are doing or you work with somebody who knows what they are doing and who is trained to do it right. When you find the right fit (on your own work or marketing with an expert) you will look forward to working in your business. You will see money coming in and you will have communication going out.

And that’s the whole reason for Fitz’n’Jammer Marketing By Listening brand. They try to teach people how to genuinely connect with their audiences and listen to what consumers are saying. They help you do marketing the easy way instead of the hard way!

You have to create loyal customers. It is such a wonderful feeling when you have the right message going out and the right customers coming in. Listening is such a high value.

Connect with Suzanna at Fitz’n’Jammer Marketing By Listening

You can find Suzanna on her Fitz’n’Jammer Marketing website at fitsnjammer.com and connect with her on their contact page. Or you can email her at suzannafitznjammer.com. She is also on LinkedIn as Susanna the Challenge Queen Fitzgerald. 

Ending tip from Suzanna:

Homeschooling is not perfect, but it is the most perfect thing you are going to find in an imperfect world. It is the best option that you can have for your kids, and it is the best way to build a relationship with them in the future. 

If you want to be friends with your kids when they are in their twenties and thirties and later, if you want to know your grandkids, if you want to know that your kids are going to have your values or any values, if you want to know that they can continue learning as human beings, no matter what  unpredictable course their life takes, homeschooling is the best thing you can do for your kids. So definitely, definitely do it. It is worth the effort. It is worth the sacrifice. And it is a lot of fun.

Join Vicki and Suzanna for an encouraging discussion on homeschooling and her journey to entrepreneurship.

For more on entrepreneurship for teens, check out these podcast episodes:

Thank you to Richie Soares with Homeschool and Humor for writing this blog post!

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Career Exploration for Non-College-Bound Teens

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November 29, 2022 by Leave a Comment

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Career Exploration for Non-College-Bound Teens.

Career Exploration for Non-College-Bound Teens

Career Exploration for Non-College-Bound Teens

Not all teens should go to college! That’s a fact. So, for teens who are career bound, how do they handle career exploration? There are so many choices and directions they could go. Vicki shares the guidance she gives career-bound teens when she is wearing her experience in her career coaching hat in this episode.

As you know there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school. There’s not ONE kind of teen. And there’s not ONE right kind of career path. For the many teens who do not need to go to college, that’s cool! You need to do what is right for you to develop your:

  • Interests
  • Talents
  • Opportunities

It is wise to have some intentionality with career exploration during high school (especially by eleventh and twelfth grades). That way when the never-ending question: “So, what are you going to do AFTER high school?” happens, they have some kind of answer.

Even if this is not their only career option, it gives teens confidence to say, “I’m thinking about…”.

What opportunities are there to explore so your teen can be employment ready after high school?

There are so many different kinds of teens and so many different interests and needs. That means, there’s not ONE right way to handle career exploration for non-college-bound teens. That’s okay! Let’s look at some options:

For teens who already are pretty certain they know what they want to do

For instance, perhaps your teen has always wanted to be a cosmetologist, firefighter, join the military, or become a plumber. They are free to start jumping in on the process during their homeschool high school years.

You can start as soon as possible to help your teen gain experience in that area:

  • volunteering
  • apprenticing or
  • paid entry-level, related job

If your teen was interested in cosmetology, she could offer to do one of those three (volunteer, apprentice or simple job) in positions such as: floor sweeper, receptionist, etc. This gives her a feel for the industry. Also, find out the state requirements for training. Can she start a cosmetology school during high school?

Or if you have teens interested in a trade, high schoolers can often start taking training courses during high school at trade schools, community colleges or unions. After a few hands-on training classes, teens will find they love the job (or not). They will also be networking and finding opportunities that will open for them either before or after graduation.

Career Exploration: It gives teens confidence to say, "I'm thinking about...".

For teens who know they do not want to go to college but do not have a clue what they want to do

Many teens do not have any idea what they want to do after graduation. That is okay. They do not need to know everything about the future during high school. However, it is wise to help them explore. Here are some ideas:

  • Give them rich experiences
    • Many times teens do not know what they want to do because they have not experienced it yet. One kind of rich experience is field trips. Hey, the good thing about homeschooling is that we homeschool moms tend to value field trips (although sometimes at high school level, it is harder to squeeze them in to our teens’ busy schedules).
    • However, if you create a Career Exploration elective credit for their transcript, you can log many field trips towards that credit. That is because, any trip gives a little more life experience. Any life experience helps build the ability to make decisions- especially career decisions.
    • For instance: ranger-led nature walks at state parks, cooking demonstrations at special events, car shows or museum exhibits. Sometimes, a teen will get inspired by a watching the person in charge of whatever event they are experiencing. They think: “Hmmm, this might be a cool job!” Or, on the other hand, they might think, “Ugh, I would NEVER want to do that!” Either way is valuable career exploration.
  • Show them role models
    • Movies based on careers
    • Biographies of interesting jobs
    • FB Watches or YouTubes about interesting jobs
  • Volunteer work
    • Teens need to do volunteer work. It is good for transcript and the soul. Service work is SO important for personal knowledge and development, as well as making the world a better place.
    • Some volunteer opportunities our teens have done:
      • Church (worship, set up, digital team, nursery, office)
      • Digital volunteer opportunities
      • Food bank
      • State park volunteer events
      • Library volunteers

For teens, whether they have a clue about career or not, try a career exploration course

A good career exploration course is very helpful. For non-college-bound teens, 7SistersHomeschool has a simple Career Exploration Workbook. Even if you choose something else, think about looking for curriculum that includes (like our workbook):

  • What is God’s will?
    • Teens who are believers sometimes feel anxious about choosing a career that will please God. A good curriculum helps them trust God to direct their paths.
  • Past experiences
    • What have teens already done that help them find strengths or interests
  • What other people see in them
    • Get some feedback from people who know them
  • Can they identify interests?
    • IF the power went out for the day, what would you do for fun? If you had a day to yourself with no chores or schoolwork, what would you do?
  • Define career values
    • Career values help teens choose a career field by defining what is important to them: Work hours, desire for involvement in things after work, level of income desired, etc. (Rabbit trail, all teens will benefit from taking a Financial Literacy course that helps them understand and plan for financial responsibilities coming their way in adulthood.)

Explore careers

Check out career descriptions and information at CareerOneStop.org.

Join a club or interest group

Sometimes a group experience will help them explore an interest or strength, network or lead to the next interesting experience. Even if it does not turn out to be fun, no experience is wasted. All experiences are growth, one way or the other.

Try some apprenticeships

We cannot recommend this enough. See if you can help your teen find something that can count as apprenticeship.

Be sure to log everything!

Those Career Exploration electives are SO valuable and look great on the transcript!

For more on this topic

Join Vicki for a quick discussion to help non-college-bound teens get their career exploration underway!

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Career Exploration with Pathway

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October 25, 2022 by Leave a Comment

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Career Exploration with Pathway.

Career Exploration with Pathway

Career Exploration with Pathway

It gets so exciting learning about a new, solid resource for your homeschool, doesn’t it? And we just discovered Pathway by Folderwave! If you are wondering what on Earth Folderwave is, read on to learn more about it from Ann McClure and Pamela Brennan, the experts on how it can help with career exploration for students.

About Anne McClure and Pamela Brennan

Ann McClure

Anne is a homeschool mom of 5, starting with a high schooler at 15, all the way down to a toddler at 2. She began homeschooling when her now-15 year old was starting kindergarten. 

Anne has a background in education, previously being a teacher in all different kinds of settings. This background helped instigate her thoughts on what to do next after her firstborn graduates from homeschool high school. 

Therefore, she started her research journey to learn more about what to do in high school and how to prepare her son for college and a career and beyond. This pivotal moment is when Folderwave came into the picture.

Pamela Brennan

Pamela has a background of 20 years in college admissions, counseling, recruiting, and mostly in operations management. She was a Director of Operations at a selective university in Boston and worked very closely with high school counselors, parents, homeschool parents, and the students (the applicants).

As she was working at the university, she was also working with Folderwave to improve their business process for application processing. But, after 20 years at the university, Pamela wanted a change. She could see the direction that Folderwave was headed and wanted to be a part of their evolution, so she began to work with them full-time and left the university. And now, she’s going on 10 years with Folderwave.

How Anne and Pamela Connected

When Anne was on a parent panel at a homeschooling conference, the moderator of the panel happened to introduce Anne to the president of Folderwave, Bob. He was seeking some feedback from a homeschool parent perspective about the market itself. 

After discussing different ideas together, they decided to start running focus groups and start developing additional content that would be a bit more geared towards the homeschool market. 

About Pathway by Folderwave

Folderwave is an evolving company. They went from college admissions to the high school space and then into the career and college counseling space. To Anne and Pamela, Folderwave is all about exploration and getting the kids to explore at an earlier age instead of waiting to the last minute when they’re about to graduate high school.

Pathway is a product by Folderwave, and it is a college and career exploration tool meant for students to begin using it as young as 12 years old or 6th grade. Students can access Pathway online and use their tools to discover more about their interests.

And it’s all about self-discovery 

They have assessment personality tests to help get kids to start thinking about things new to them and peak their interest levels. Then, it ties that interest to different possibilities for careers out there. It’s a nonabrasive approach for kids to discover new interests. 

Kids can save activities of interest throughout their time with it. They can reflect on their interests or activities with journaling or even with a reflections piece just to see how much they have changed or their growth over the years.

Investigate Your Future With Career Planning

Pathway has a state of the art, up to date, up to the minute program called Investigate Your Future With Career Planning that helps analyze certain aspects of jobs they might be interested in, job markets, future trends, and so many more amazing investigative tools kids can use to research more about their interests. 

Resume Builder

Pathway recently updated its resume builder for students to use for all sorts of scenarios, such as for college applications or even for applying for jobs while going to school. The resume builder walks students through each section to help the student make the most of their details.

Everything In One Digital Location

One of the exciting things parents within the focus groups pointed out was that they were so happy to see everything within Pathway was all in one place. 

Searching for what to do pre- and post-high school can be overwhelming since tons of research has to be done on top of the work you’re already doing. And so to have all those up-to-date tools all in one digital location in such a timely fashion is exactly what’s getting everyone thrilled about this product. 

How Pathway Can Help You

As we all know, there aren’t many resources available for career exploration for students. There are books, but nothing like Pathway, where everything you need is all in one spot.

Pathway has college counselors and digital portfolios for students to use in their career exploration. It can also be used to:

  •  Collect data and save it for future referencing
  • Be a course planner
  • Do life skills activities
  • Help create a resume. 
  • How-to guide
  • And more!

Some of their favorite tools within Pathway are the ones that show the stepping stones a child can take to a specific career. 

One such tool helps students how to get to a career goal. For example, if the student wants to be an attorney or a nurse, Pathway will show them some lateral careers or some stepping stone careers that you can take to get there.

Another great tool is the one that reveals the projected growth of different professions.It shows where in the world or country it is expected to have a growth or a decrease in need for those specific jobs.

There is such a wide range of tools in Pathway that it’s practical for all kids at different stages and ages. It can help reframe the way you think about college and career planning while educating you at the same time. 

How To Connect

Interested In Trying Pathway?

Anne and Pamela’s short term goal is to have a small group of homeschool parents who want to dig into Pathway and then give back constructive feedback to help further develop it, like beta testers.

If you are interested in learning more about Pathway, Anne and Pamela would love to connect with you. Simply email them, letting them know you would love to play around with it. 

For more information on Career Exploration check out these Homeschool Highschool Podcast episodes:

Thanks to Richie Soares with Homeschool and Humor for transcribing this episode.

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How to Get Teens Interested in Career Exploration

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May 3, 2022 by Leave a Comment

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to Get Teens Interested in Career Exploration

How to Get Teens Interested in Career Exploration

How to Get Teens Interested in Career Exploration

Teens have a lot of pressure on them:

  • Building a strong transcript for college, military and/or career
  • Developing strong adulting skills to help them live life successfully
  • Experiencing the things teens need as part of adolescent development:
    • Friendships
    • Field trips
    • Service
    • Community
    • Fun

However, it would be a shame for them to graduate from their wonderful homeschool high school and not have a clue about what careers or plans they need to have for the future. It is challenging how to figure out ways to help them prepare for a career.

So, let’s talk about how to get teens interested in Career Exploration!

Vicki always tells teens that it is not likely that they will know their entire future when they graduate high school. However, they will feel better if they have a clue about what comes next career-wise. After all, it is easier to turn a moving vehicle than a parked one. And it is easier to pivot career-orientation when they are working towards SOMETHING than it is to churn up some momentum if they are simply stuck.

On the other hand, we do not want to put too much pressure or too many guilt trips on them. It is a balance for us homeschooling parents!

Here are some tips to spark interest in Career Exploration

There’s not ONE right way to get teens oriented towards a career mindset. However, here are some ways to create a fertile environment for growth in that direction.

Build some extra enrichment into homeschooling high school

We know this can be a challenge for families with multiple kids and/or working parents. However, when you frame enrichment as experiences that help build lifelong bonds and healthy mindsets, it is easier to view the short-term busyness as long-term investment.

Enrichment that actually helps build a career-exploration orientation include:

Field trips for the family (co-op field trips count, too)

Plan for field trips to:

  • Favorite family locations
  • Brand-new places or events
  • Places or events that co-ordinate with History, Literature or Science class

The point of field trips is not to define a career at the moment. Rather, it is to get the creative and future-oriented parts of the brain activated. When we have too much routine, routine, routine, those parts of the brain do not work well. When that part of the brain does not work well, it is hard to imagine a future career and healthy lifestyle.

Not only that, but you can log all those hours for credit on the transcript. (Here is a post about logging hours for credit.)

Tips to remember about field trips:

  • Freebie events count!
  • It does not have to be interesting to be useful
    • (a rotten field trip gives teens something to talk about AND knocks that off the potential career list- both are valuable)

Watch movies about interesting people

Watching stories about people in different careers helps exercise the creative and future-oriented parts of the brain. This helps teens imagine and think about their own futures, even when they have no wish or talent to go into the career that is shown on the movie. This kind of enrichment is not only interesting but can be inspiring, also.

A few movies about people with various careers:

Not only that, but you can log all those hours for credit on the transcript. (Here is another post about logging Career Exploration hours for credit.)

Do volunteer work in various areas

Explore various one-off and long-period volunteer and service opportunities. Think about:

  • Joining the church worship teen
  • Helping with sound system or nursery at church
  • Give time at the local food bank or church food pantry
  • Visit folks at the local nursing home
  • Volunteer at a local ministry or non-profit
  • Join a local park clean-up day
  • Rake leaves or weed for the elderly folks nearby
  • Do repair work or babysit for single moms
  • Raising service dogs
  • More ideas in this interview about volunteer opportunities with Ticia Messing

Volunteering also helps exercise the creative and future-oriented parts of the brain! Not only that, but you can log all those service hours on the transcript. (Here is a post explaining how to record service on the transcript.)

When possible, arrange for teens to have a chat with various folks about different jobs

You can make this a formal part of Career Exploration credit on the transcript. (Remember to log the time.)

Give teens job descriptions for the various jobs you have had or had

At family gatherings, ask grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for job descriptions (along with what they like and do not like about their jobs)

If there are friends or folks at church who are willing, ask for a fifteen-minute interview where they share their job descriptions (along with what they like and do not like about their jobs)

Be sure to have your teen write a thank you note and maybe take some cookies as a thank you!

Again, these are not locking teens into a career but giving them career experiences. These will help give teens a realistic look at the job-lifestyle.

Take a Career Exploration course

There are lots of them around. Of course, we are partial to 7Sisters Career Exploration Bundle where teens learn about the importance of their:

  • Life experiences
  • Role models
  • Gifts/talents
  • Values
  • Interests
  • Resources

Once teens get started on Career Exploration as a course, they often begin to get bought into getting interested and involved.

Find an apprenticeship

Apprenticeships look powerful on the transcript and give teens a solid look at a career interest. Some apprenticeships our teens have done:

Apprenticeships often eliminate job interests (which is a good idea) OR open doors for networking and building the next career experience.

Usually parents need to make apprenticeships happen: networking and arranging. This is because teens do not at first have the experience or interests on creating first job experiences. However, they often start taking on the next steps once they get started.

Take a course that counts as Career Exploration

For instance, if your homeschool high schooler is interested in Psychology, a Psych course counts as Career Exploration! Here’s a list of courses that count as Career Exploration.

Get more ideas is our 7SistersHomeschool Facebook group!

You can do this! Join Vicki for a discussion on how to get teens interested in Career Exploration.

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Helping Teens Discover Their Star, Interview with Anita Gibson

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.
February 22, 2022 by Leave a Comment

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Helping Teens Discover Their Star, Interview with Anita Gibson.

Helping Teens Discover Their Star, Interview with Anita Gibson

Helping Teens Discover Their Star, Interview with Anita Gibson

We love having our dear friend, Anita Gibson, on the podcast. When Vicki first read her book, Starfinder, she knew she found a kindred spirit. SO she loves connecting with her again.

Anita and her husband homeschooled their children all the way to graduation. That was over twenty years of homeschooling! She is now a Titus 2 woman- a woman who invests in the next generation of homeschooling families to give them confidence and success. Anita is now serving with encouragement in her:

Anita believes in holding hands and calming hearts and helping moms know they CAN homeschool high school!

Vicki asked Anita to discuss her wonderful book, Starfinder, with us so that we can help teens discover their stars. The book came out of her experience homeschooling one of her kids. Her daughter was experiencing difficulties learning so Anita wanted to figure out what to do with that.

As she prayed and watched her daughter, she found that even the things that we slow or irritating about her personality and learning style were actually little nuggets of the giftings that God had placed in her.

Anita decided that she needed to become a star finder for her daughter.

In fact, every child has a star! Homeschooling parents’ most wonderful job is becoming star finders!

STAR is actually an acronym for:

  • S: Strengths
  • T: Talents
  • A: Abilities
  • R: Resources

Every child has those four things. As parents discover their own ability to be their child’s advocate and champion, they can help their kids discover their STARS! Anita’s book, therefore, helps parents get themselves into the right position mentally, emotionally and spiritually so they can lead that child into their STAR-ness.

Anita has this advice for parents:

It’s not about perfection… It’s about perspective!

It's not about perfection... It's about perspective!

In order to help teens find their stars, parents need to be aware of themselves, too!

For instance, it is easy for us to feel inadequate as homeschooling parents when we look at how other parents homeschool their teens. When we start comparing ourselves to others we forget that:

All we are and all we are not, is exactly what is needed for our teen in this season. There is nothing else that you need to be in order to homeschool your teens!

So, as you plan your homeschool high school, remember that your homeschool is a blending of who you are as a parent and who your teens are. The blending together makes your homeschool look exactly what it should be. (Thus, if you try to do what others are doing, you are missing the beauty of what God has created your homeschool to be.)

Remember: There’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school!

Therefore, we should not try to have someone else’s “perfect homeschool”. In fact, there is no such thing as a perfect homeschool!

How do we go about helping our teens find their star?

Start with a Scripture. Anita has a guiding Scripture in Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice.

Start with a perspective of rejoicing in the Lord. When you are calibrated to looking to God for joy, you will have more strength to see the stars in your life and your teens’ lives.

Philippians 4:6,7

Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus.

When you find yourself anxious about your ability to homeschool high school, make the request for help known to God. It is okay to be honest with Him. Over time, we will start to see that peace in our hearts. That makes us more available to our teens to find their stars.

As we step into the process of Star Finding, we find that we are stepping into the process of developing who WE are created to be.

Then we discover that we can help our teens through the process of finding their star. You will grow together. God’s grace in and you will grow, also.

Know the thing that irritates you most about your teens is probably part of STAR

Spot what is the nugget inside those behaviors. For instance, a teen who talks ALL the time, may be called to be a speaker. Or a child that takes everything apart, might become an engineer. Therefore, give them opportunities to channel and challenge those “skills”!

For instance, Anita has a daughter that talked ALL the time. Anita recognized that as a star so began to give her opportunities to develop her speaking skills through drama programs, Toastmasters, training in several world languages, and family “talk time”. That daughter is now in the diplomatic corps in the State Department.

Go on LOTS of field trips

The field trips do not always need to be interesting. However, in experiencing lots of field trips, teens often discover interests and even, abilities.

Try on some different lessons, even if they do not stick with it:

  • Piano or other music lessons
  • Art lessons
  • An unusual sport

Look ways to connect or learn about other cultures

You can do this with:

  • Field trips
  • Books
  • Movies
  • Restaurants

Here are some tools to help:

Clifton Strengthsfinder (for teens and for parents)

Check out our other discussions with Anita Gibson:

Join Vicki and Anita for an encouraging discussion on helping teens find their star!

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How to Help Teens Explore Interests, Interview with Samantha Shank

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.
February 25, 2020 by Leave a Comment

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to Help Teens Explore Interests.

How to Help Teens Explore Interests. Samantha Shank of LearnInColor.com shares her story of developing her interests and goals in homeschool high school. #HomeschoolHighSchool #CareerExploration #SamanthaShank #LearnInColor #ExploringInterestsForTeens

How to Help Teens Explore Interests

One of the most important tasks for homeschool high schoolers is learning about themselves so that they can fulfill who God created them to be. Vicki is joined by our friend, Samantha Shank of Learn in Color and the Learn in Color Podcast  for a lively discussion about the ways she explored her interests and learned to be an entrepreneur while homeschooling. You don’t want to miss this episode!

Samantha is the oldest of her six siblings, all homeschooled for at least part of their educations. Her parents were working parents who allowed and encouraged Samantha to explore interests. One of her earliest interests was history. As early as fourth grade, Samantha was impacted by the tragedies of the Holocaust. The more she learned about it, the more she wanted to share with others.

She started blogging when she was 14 years old and developed an audience among homeschooling families. She began sharing resources and ideas for teaching World War II, the Holocaust and other history topics.

While still in high school, Samantha started exploring the ideas of entrepreneurship. During her mornings, she would attend community networking meetings and learned about business from business people.

Today, Samantha is a college graduate who is a full-time entrepreneur. She creates curriculum supplements at LearnInColor.com such as:

Make time for teens to explore interests and ideas. It's good education. #HomeschoolHighSchool #CareerExploration #InterestDevelopmentForTeens #HealthyAdolescence

During her homeschool high years, Samantha learned how to explore interests by:

Exploring rabbit trails

When Samantha had a random thought or was curious about something that was inspired by what was learning, her parents encouraged her to stop and explore that idea. This required the courage to set aside curriculum for a while and allow her to research these interests.

*Advice for Homeschool Moms: Try not to be overly bound to the curriculum and syllabus. We all know our homeschool high schoolers must complete their credits for graduation, but we also want to them discover who God made them to be. That often comes in the off-curriculum explorations in life.

Asking questions

Do not be afraid of questions. Take time to research the questions, explore options and idea. This takes time, but finding some answers gave Samantha the ability to take next steps as she explored her interests.

This might take the form of doing interviews. Samantha frequently met with business owners and interviewed them for their entrepreneurial stories.

Sharing what she learned

Samantha shared on her blog. Homeschool high schoolers can share what they learn as they explore their interests on their own blogs or with co-op, family and friends.

*Advice: Trust your trustworthy teens. Samantha’s parents were trusting of Samantha to get her work done.

*Advice: Prepare to be busy. Samantha’s parents were willing to drive Samantha to interviews and experiences. They believed in her and God’s plans for her.

*Advice: Avoided helicopter parenting. Don’t run the show for your homeschool high schoolers. Let them do the exploring. (Check out this HSHSP episode on Heavy Equipment Mothering.)

Finding networks

Samantha found KidBlogger network which also helped her grow her blogging skills and influence.

Learning to set goals

Samantha developed the goal to graduate from college debt free. She realized her blogging business could help with that but that she should diversify her income streams. She looked into college scholarships for her academics (she had good SAT scores) and also found beauty pageants (we’ll talk about that on another podcast interview later).

Showing interests on the transcript

Her advice: Take college choice seriously. Look into college search and majors and spend some time on it. (Download this freebie from Vicki’s Coaching website about choosing college majors and check out our blogpost on starting college search.)

Working hard

Samantha graduated college in two and a half years. She pushed because she wanted to stay debt-free taking 17-24 credits at a time, with some of those online at another college. She kept her goals in mind and worked hard.

In her homeschooling high school years, Samantha also worked hard doing several things:

  • Managed Pinterest accounts for bloggers (Samantha began doing this at 15 years old)
  • Create content for other bloggers (Samantha designed products and wrote for other bloggers from high school and through college)
  • Kept up her blogging and networking

Building relationships

Samantha chose well for her goals with her small college. She was able to communicate with her professors and had good mentoring relationships with them. She was open about her goals and work schedule. Often, they could work with her to help her achieve her goals.

Join Vicki and Samantha Shank for a fun episode on helping teens explore their interests.

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How to Help Teens Explore Interests

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HSHSP Ep 186: Careers that Don’t Require College, Interview with Susan Stewart

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.
November 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment

This week on HSHSP Ep 186: Careers that Don’t Require College, Interview with Susan Stewart.

HSHSP Ep 186: Careers that Don't Require College, Interview with Susan Stewart. Some teens are not college-bound. Help them make the most of career exploration with this discussion of careers that don't require college. #HomeschoolHighSchoolPodcast #CareerExploration #CareersThatDontRequireCollege #NonCollegeBoundTeens #SusanStewart

HSHSP Ep 186: Careers that Don’t Require College, Interview with Susan Stewart

God creates all kinds of children. All kinds of children develop all kinds of interests and giftings. We need to make sure that teens are not pressured into going to college if their callings include careers that do not need a college degree. Why waste talent, time and money on that?

One our of favorite topics at 7SistersHomeschool.com is Career Exploration (in fact, our Career Exploration Bundle is one of our top sellers), so Vicki was really excited to be joined for this HSHSP episode by Susan Stewart of Practical Inspirations. Susan serves the homeschool community as advisor and blogger (and now has a book: Harried Homeschoolers). She has three homeschool graduates who are all doing well careers and life. None of them have college degrees.

Here are thoughts from our discussion on careers that don’t require college.

Susan starts off with a little encouragement for homeschool moms:

  • Things aren’t perfect
  • Things fall apart sometimes
  • You are not a failure because of that
  • We are not God, he has simply given you the job of raising his kids
  • God has made you enough for what he has given you

Susan and her husband did not have the homeschool goal of raising kids who go to college. Their goal was training Godly adults. So they concentrated on life skills and teaching to their homeschoolers’ needs and interests.

Susan reminds us: Not all teens are called to go to college!

Redefine success. We can fall into the trap that in order to be successful, our teens must earn a four-year degree. That is not true. Success is growing and fulfilling God’s plans!

Susan reminds us that her three kids learned that their career callings did not need college degrees. Her husband is an electrician and so her kids knew by watching their dad that career satisfaction comes from a satisfactory career, not necessarily a college degree!

  • Her kids were tired of education so graduated and just “got a job”. Her daughter got a job with a tech company and is now in management, climbing the ladder.
  • One son had some learning difficulties. He tried photography but decided he loved repairing mechanical instruments. His trouble shooting skills have made him valuable to his company.
  • One son started out in the Marines. After his stint, he made the most of his love of travel by becoming an over-the-road truck driver. He loves earning a living by doing the thing he loves: seeing America.

Susan says: We homeschoolers need to remember not be snobs about jobs. If a job is honorable and fits a person’s needs, it is a good job.

We homeschoolers need to remember not be snobs about jobs. If a job is honorable and fits a person's needs, it is a good job.

Because her older homeschool high schoolers were not interested in college, Susan invested in her children with some life preparation skills and experiences which included:

  • Part-time jobs (watering plants at a local plan nursery). Began resume building
  • Service opportunities (they did Meals on Wheels, library volunteer)
  • Job application skills (resume, interview skills, filling out application- especially answering short essay questions)
  • Financial Literacy
  • Community involvement (they did theater and other community activities)

Susan’s homeschool graduates have found that these extracurricular activities on the high school transcript can be as important (or even more important) in early employment opportunities.

Sometimes there is some discussion on whether homeschooling families should bother with an official transcript and diploma. Susan felt like it was a good investment for her teens. Vicki pointed out that sometimes employers want to see the transcript and/or diploma. This is also true sometimes when getting a passport or college applications,  if they decide to go to college later.

What are some careers that don’t require college?

Careers that don’t require college: Trades

  • Training can include:
    • Union courses
    • Apprenticeships
    • Classes at local community college
  • Carpenter
  • Welders
  • Surveyors
  • HVAC
  • Mail carriers
  • Railroad workers
  • Masons
  • Heavy equipment operators
  • Truck drivers
  • Painters
  • Steel workers
  • Construction contractors
  • Line workers
  • Electricians

Careers that don’t require college: Service

  • Training can include
    • Apprenticeships
    • Special courses
    • Classes at local community college
  • Cosmetologists
  • Barbers
  • Dog groomers and trainers

Careers that don’t require college: Technology

This field is growing so quickly, there is no way to keep up with the job descriptions. Here’s a try:

  • Training can include
    • Apprenticeships
    • Special courses
    • Classes at local community college
  • Computer-user support
  • Junior data analyst
  • Digital marketer
  • Podcast and digital media editor
  • Web developer

Careers that don’t require college: Arts

  • Training can include
    • Apprenticeships
    • Classes at local community college
  • Photography
  • Local dance teachers

Careers that don’t require college: Retail, Food Service and Banking

  • Training can include:
    • Learning hands-on
    • Avail themselves of free training within the corporation
    • Taking courses on MOOCs such as EdX

Careers that don’t require college: Fitness and Personal Training

  • Training can include:
    • Training schools
    • Apprenticeships

Careers that don’t require college: Real Estate

  • Training can include:
    • Courses from various agencies

Careers that don’t require college: Law Enforcement

  • Training includes:
    • Specialized academies

Careers that don’t require college: Military

  • Here are Susan’s suggestions for the military:
    • Develop a military-attractive transcript like she did for her son who started out in the Marines:
    • Civil Air Patrol in high school.
    • Talk to recruiter. Take the ASVAB military career test (not a test that can be failed, simply identifies best-fits for military careers).
    • Susan suggests for teens who don’t have a clue what they want to do be sure to do after graduation take a GAP year:

Careers that don’t require college: Gap Year

Some teens need a year to transition from homeschooling high school before they settle into seriously thinking about a career. Here are some of Susan’s suggestions for a gap year:

  • Get an entry-level job
  • Travel
  • Do short-term missions
  • Volunteer in a local ministry or organization

Want some more ideas about homeschooling high schoolers who are not called to go to college? Check out these HSHSP episodes:

Join Vicki and Susan for this encouraging episode and check out Susan’s resources.

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HSHSP Ep 180: Integrating Career Exploration into High School Curriculum

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September 30, 2019 by 2 Comments

This week on HSHSP Ep 180: Integrating Career Exploration into High School Curriculum.

Integrating Career Exploration into High School Curriculum. Combine Career Exploration and Language Arts for a meaningful, life-changing English credit for the homeschool transcript. #HomeschoolHighSchool #CareerExploration #HomeschoolLanguageArts #HighSchoolEnglishCredit #HomeschoolHighschoolPodcast

 

HSHSP Ep 180: Integrating Career Exploration into High School Curriculum

In Vicki’s years as a homeschool advisor and career coach, one of the saddest things she has watched is the stress that 11th and 12th graders often feel if they are not settled on what they are going to do when they graduate. Do you have a teen like that? It’s okay. There are non-intimidating ways to help them explore.

High schoolers really need to do LOTS of career exploration. This is especially true when they are not sure what they want to do for a college major or career. The problem for many homeschool high schoolers is that their schedules are packed. Often their core academics and transcript-building extracurriculars leave them little time to squeeze in something as nebulous as official Career Exploration.

So, let’s talk practical. One practical way of helping Career Exploration happen for your teens who are not sure about their future careers, is integrating it into their academic curriculum.

That’s right! Combine Career Exploration and academics and help your teens earn doubly useful credits.

Integrating Career Exploration into High School Curriculum

Let’s take Language Arts as an example of a great place to combine Career Exploration and a core academic. It is an interesting, useful (and maybe even fun) way to handle one year’s Language Arts.

Here is a way to combine the Career Exploration with the Literature and Writing components of the yearly Language Arts credit. (Want more information on what is included in a complete high school Language Arts credit? Check out this Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode.)

Combine Career Exploration and Language Arts for a life-changing homeschool transcript credit.

Language Arts and Career Exploration combined: Literature experiences

When combining Literature and Career Exploration, keep in mind this principle. Teens should be exposed to LOTS of different careers and role models, even those they wouldn’t be interested in at all. This broad understanding of the idea that there are lots of different opportunities helps prepare their brains for exploring career ideas.

Read some biographies. Any biography is good, even if it is not a career your teen will ever do. (For reluctant readers, think about audiobooks.)

Some of 7Sisters’ homeschool high schoolers’ favorites have been:

  • Joni
  • God’s Smuggler
  • Something Beautiful for God

Homeschool high schoolers are not usually called to be saints or Bible smugglers or evangelists with a disability but any biography a teen reads will expand their thoughts about the ways God uses extraordinary circumstances and ordinary people in those circumstances.

Read some books to help homeschool high schoolers understand themselves

Some good books on self understanding include:

  • What Color is my Parachute for Teens by Carol Christen and Richard Bolles (career interests)
  • Emotional Intelligence 2:0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves (emotional awareness)
  • The Road Back to You by Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile

Audiobook versions are good for books like these sometimes. Remember: Any book your homeschool high schoolers read can go on their booklist! (Ever wonder how many books your teens should read at different ages, goals and abilities? Here’s a post to help you decide.)

Language Arts and Career Exploration combined: Writing experiences

Homeschool high schoolers need to do a fair amount of writing each year, including at least one research paper and some essays. (For guidelines on how many papers teens should write according to age, interests and abilities, check out this post.)

First, have your homeschool high schoolers do some personality tests.

This will give them some good *research* on themselves! If you go to Vicki’s coaching website, you can download a freebie: Personal Discovery Links. These are free versions of a number of serious (and not so serious) personality tests. If your teens are limited in their time, have them do the first test (a free version of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Vicki’s favorite personality test) and the last two tests (both are career interest surveys). Find the links at VickiTillmanCoaching.com

Now, take the personality test results, use these in writing essays and a research paper.

Choose the research paper style that suits your teens needs. Here’s a post that will help you decide between

  • APA research paper
  • Chicago-style research paper
  • MLA research paper

You can also have your homeschool high schoolers visit these websites and investigate different careers.

  • They can choose four or five interesting-sounding careers and write a page or two on each for a research paper titled something like: Interesting Career Ideas.
  • Or a 5-paragraph essay on each career they looked at.
  • These are the websites:
  • CareerOneStop.org This is US Department of Labor’s website that tells:
    • Job descriptions
    • Videos
  • BigFuture at College Board

You can also have your homeschool high schoolers do career shadowing or interviews with people in different jobs.

  • Write a 5 paragraph essay about each.
  • Write an end of the year wrap-up essay about themselves.

You can all the course: Career Exploration Language Arts or Language Arts 9 (or 10 or 11 or 12)

HSHSP Ep 180: Integrating Career Exploration into High School Curriculum

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HSHSP Ep 179: Career Coaching with Homeschool High Schoolers, Interview with Jamie Beck

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.
September 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment

This week on HSHSP Ep 179: Career Coaching with Homeschool High Schoolers, Interview with Jamie Beck.

HSHSP Ep 179: Career Coaching with Homeschool High Schoolers, Interview with Jamie Beck. Informative Career Exploration interview with ideas for homeschool moms to help teens make realistic choices. #HomeschoolHighSchoolPodcast #HomeschoolCareerExploration #CareerCoachingIdeasForTeens #HomeschoolHighSchool

HSHSP Ep 179: Career Coaching with Homeschool High Schoolers, Interview with Jamie Beck

As many homeschool families know by now, 7Sister Vicki LOVES career exploration. She is joined today by Jamie Beck a homeschooling mom and career coach in California.

Jamie homeschools her 12 year old through a charter school in California. She also has an elementary-aged son in traditional school, which shows that there’s not ONE right way to homeschool…even if it is in a traditional school setting 😉

Jamie decided to homeschool and started teaching Career Education when her daughter was 2 and a half year old. She started by creating a children’s book, which did not do financially well. She felt it was a failure but she used the failure, not as defeat, but to give herself impetus to develop a Career Exploration program for young people. (See links at the end of the post.)

Jamie’s top piece of advice is to tweak how you teach your kids to talk about careers. Teach them to say:

  • “When I grow up I want to work with…” rather than “When I grow up I want to be a… ”
    • Children are conditioned by society to think that career is identity. Jamie feels this limits their options and creative thinking about career. “Working with” keeps options and creativity open.

She wants young people to explore LOTS of careers: Aou can never have a career you don’t know exists.

  • She teaches 5 jobs a day from childhood. She does this informally, through conversation and exposure to different careers.

For Career Exploration Jamie recommends that homeschooling parents help their homeschool high schoolers to be:

  • Involved in interests, at home and in classes or interest groups
  • Explore different practical skills (hands-on and other life skills)
  • Learn networking skills (Download Vicki’s Confidence for Meeting New People Skills freebie)
  • Learn advocacy skills (how to ask for what you want or need)
  • Learn financial and business skills (oh my, don’t miss this! Download 7Sisters popular Financial Literacy course)
  • Teaching teaching experiences, give them experiences in training younger siblings, friends, classes (think preschool at church)
  • Join various groups. (Jamie’s daughter is active in drama and 4H)
  • Volunteer with various career interests
  • Shadow and interview people in various careers
  • Discuss why teens are interested in various careers. Ie, if it is an interest in being a doctor, as you explore you might find that they hate blood but they like to help people. Maybe other helping professions like counseling will help.
  • Build an experiential resume starting 8th or 9th grade. Keep it ongoing. Download 7Sisters How to Write an Experiential Resume and keep it going.
  • Have LOTS of experiences!!
    • Experiences are truly one of the best ways to weed out or strengthen career interests. Jamie tells the story of her daughter wanting to be an archeologist until she spent the day with a group digging for sharks’ teeth. After a day of 101 degree heat, her daughter eliminated that career choice.

Jamie is now a career coach who speaks in libraries doing workshops in libraries. She also gives Brain Sorting Assessment, it helps them sort out their TRUE interests from what they randomly think their interests might be. The Brain Sort asks things like:

  • What’s on internet browser history
  • If they say they want to be an engineer, but they never explore STEM information. It makes you interested?
  • What are the various interests about the setting, skills, training of careers of interest
  • Where would you donate a million dollars?
  • What does that tells your teen?
  • What do you save up money for?
  • What do you buy?
  • What do you collect?
  • What are your habits?

Jamie says: Teens are going to be working and sleeping for 50 years, so they need an amazing mattress and an amazing job.

Teens are going to be working and sleeping for 50 years, so they need an amazing mattress and an amazing job. Teens are going to be working and sleeping for 50 years, so they need an amazing mattress and an amazing job- Jamie Beck during interview on Homeschool Highschool Podcast. How parents can be career coaches for their teens' Career Exploration program.

Vicki was so excited to talk to Jamie because of their shared love of Career Exploration. Jamie’s passion for helping teens understand themselves and truly explore best-fits is a hallmark of a true Career Coach.

As you know, 7SistersHomeschool.com has lots of articles on Career Exploration for homeschool highschoolers as well as our popular Career Exploration course.

To find Jamie, CareerVisionByJamie.com. Check out her resources and her Brain Sort. She helps match teens and colleges. She also hosts Career Vision Minute on Facebook.

HSHSP Ep 179: Career Coaching with Homeschool High Schoolers, Interview with Jamie Beck

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Career Pathways for Homeschool High School

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August 13, 2019 by Leave a Comment

This week on HSHSP Ep 173: Career Pathways for Homeschool High School.

HSHSP Ep 173: Career Pathways for Homeschool High School. Career Exploration gets a boost with Career Pathways. Here's how to give your homeschool high schooler a head start on what comes after graduation. #HomeschoolHighSchoolPodcast #HomeschoolHighSchool #CareerExploration #CareerPathways #PreparationForLife

Career Pathways for Homeschool High School

How do you help your homeschool high schoolers be best prepared for what comes AFTER they graduate?

There are 2 career-related experiences they really should do:

  • Career Exploration: This is a course that helps teens explore their talents, strengths, interests, abilities, experiences and values to help them narrow down career possibilities.
  • Career Pathways: These are the courses that your homeschool high schooler will do that help prepare them for their future careers or college-majors.

Join Vicki and our wonderful guests: 7Sister Marilyn and our friend, Barb Varnell. You know them from our How to Get Started Homeschooling High School suite of episodes:

Barb has also given us great advice on homeschooling high school with intellectually gifted teens. She’s also a PhD chemist, so she and her daughter join Vicki for a fascinating discussion about whether you can be a scientist and a creationist at the same time.

Marilyn and Barb serve the local homeschool umbrella school as academic advisors. (Vicki retired from the academic advisor role there after 18 years.) They help homeschooling high schoolers have a successful high school experience and  prepare for what they’ll do after graduation. They meet several times a year with teens and their parents to set their goals for high school, career and life. An important part of their discussions are about what teens are doing for their Career Exploration until they clarify some goals (as much as a teen can know). Then they help teens develop their Career Pathways goals that will help you prepare for career or college major.

To get started on Career Exploration, check out this comprehensive post on getting started.

  • Log hours doing various *explorations* and a course to earn a credit for the homeschool transcript.

Career Pathways: These are the courses that your homeschool high schooler will do that help prepare them for their future careers or college-major. Build upon good Career Exploration for great transcripts and life-preparation experiences.

Today, we want to discuss, Career Pathways. Homeschool High Schoolers, here’s some great advice:

Insider tip from Barb: For college-bound teens, develop Career Pathways credits, extracurriculars, competitions and service to make you stand out from the crowd. You want colleges to not only like you, but like you enough to give you money to come.

Career-bound AND College-bound teens:

Want some wise advice, Homeschool Graduates? Don't lose your transcript and don't lose your diploma.

Special advice for 9th and 10th graders:

  • Start keeping track of things to put on your experiential resume because you’re going to forget by the time you get to senior year.
  • Think about what they need to be working on for their core academics (if they are interested in STEM but are behind in
  • Explore interests if they have no clue
  • If interested in military, try a quirky language for your World Language credits. That will make they stand out when they meet with recruiters.
  • Find a couple of extracurriculars you can do each year. Colleges often want to see an ability to stick to an interest, project or organization. (Some college applications only ask which extracurriculars you have been involved in for 2 years or more.)
  • Check out CareerOneStop.org and see what the employment outlook for that job (will there be jobs)
  • Take a class outside home when you can. (This gives you a person who can write an academic recommendation.) Barb notes that some colleges want this recommendation needs to come from a teacher at their *school*. One college has asked for a recommendation from an upperclassman English teacher, SO make sure you have explored the college’s requirements not just for entrance but for their major. Barb gives the example of an art student who got lots of scholarship money based on her portfolio
    • Show up to class on time
    • Do the work
    • Have a great attitude

Ninth graders sometimes don’t like to think about all this, so be gracious. By the time they are in 10th grade they really need to do some gentle thinking about the future.

Advice to parents:

Remember to allow your homeschool high schoolers to have TIME to do all this Career Pathways work.

  • Barb and Marilyn have found that sometimes parents avoid Career Pathways involvements for their teens because:
    • They are worried core academics won’t get done
    • They are exhausted and don’t have time or energy to drive their teens all over the place

Want some specific ideas for Career Pathways opportunities?

  • Engineering: Volunteer for an engineering professor
  • Business: Work in family business
  • Auto mechanics: Help in the office
  • Other trades: Talk to the local union, take some community courses, shadow someone in that area.
  • Counseling: Get HIPAA training, do some clerking
  • Pre-vet: Volunteer at non-profit clinics or vet office. Shadow a vet. (Barb’s daughter who is now a vet
  • Music education: Volunteer for a local music education teacher, give lessons, get involved in local college community music programs
  • Medical programs: Volunteer at the local hospital

Want more great ideas for developing your homeschool high schoolers’ Career Pathways credits. Listen to this HSHSP interview with Barb’s daughter, Sarah, who is now a large-animal veterinarian.

Join Vicki, Marilyn and Barb for an informative discussion on Career Pathways!

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HSHSP Ep 173: Career Pathways for Homeschool High School

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