Homeschooling And Career Planning - Helping Your Child with Future Goals
Friday, March 31st, 2006By Mimi Rothschild
As you and your child take steps forward in homeschooling, it is always a good idea to stay aware of your child’s interests. In most public school systems, career planning and counseling usually don’t become important issues until high school. Homeschooling has an advantage in that you and your child can focus on his or her unique interests much earlier. This gives you the time to research possible career options in unique and positive ways. The homeschool environment is flexible, and as your child enters the middle school years, or even before that, you and he or she can adapt part of your homeschooling curriculum to include career counseling and investigation.
One of the ways that you and your child can start integrating career planning into your homeschooling curriculum is to set aside one day per week as “career day”. On this day, you can use career counseling software to help your child match her interests with different career options, as well as use the Internet to do research on different careers. You can also take part of the day to visit professionals who work in fields that your child is interested. Or, you could visit companies that specialize in areas that interest your child. Most companies are happy to help homeschooling parents in this way, as long as they receive sufficient notice. The flexibility of homeschooling helps encourage your child to engage in careful planning to find the career that will fit him or her best. As your child enters high school age, your homeschooling curriculum can begin to include college planning, and you can incorporate homeschooling courses that are geared specifically toward your child’s career interests.
Homeschooling provides an optimum environment for developing your child’s interests, and for helping him or her gain the confidence to attain his or her life goals.