At What Point Did You Begin to Suspect

[HollyinNNV]

What you or your child would do for a vocation? Were you right? Or were you wrong?

 

I find it interesting when people say that they know their child will go into this or that field and then choose curriculum accordingly. And I say "interesting" in a purely academic sense-not in a judgmental one.

 

I thought I would be a lawyer until my senior year in high school. Then I changed to a music major.

 

Did any of you change from a math/science field to humanities (or the opposite)?

 

And did any of you find that you actually needed more humanities skills within your math/science major (or the opposite)?

 

I'd love to hear anecdotal evidence!

Holly

[Jenny in Florida]

The path was so clear that, even in public school, as early as 6th grade, I was given a free pass to opt out of certain assignments on the condition that I write a novel. (I didn't finish it.)

 

In middle school and high school, I was never pushed to excel in math or science, because . . . well, you know.

 

In college, it never occured to me to major in anything other than English (although I did flirt one year with getting an education degree, too).

 

I graduated, went out into the world, spent the next 10 years working in either editing/tech writing or book retailing (mostly as management). And, you know what? I absolutely HATED the jobs for which my English degree qualified me. The things I liked best were managing bookstores (where I learned that, without a management degree, I'd never get beyond the local level) and programming computer-based training tutorials (where I learned exactly how much math I didn't know). And I had to fight like crazy to convince anyone that little old English major me was actually capable of understanding enough technical material to give me a job that paid the bills.

 

So, although both of my kids have shown both passion and ability in certain areas since they were tiny, we've always demanded that they get a well-rounded education that will provide a good foundation for anything they choose to do down the line.

 

(And, by the way, the daughter who spent years being absolutely sure she wanted to work in forensic anthropology/Egyptology is now finishing her first year of college as a theatre/music major.)

[Gwen in VA]

Dd thought she would be a history major for years and years...and then she took physics in 11th grade and LOVED it. She also took calculus and fell in love with it!

 

She is now double-majoring in art history and chemistry in order to go into art conservation. So in a weird way she has stayed with the history interest, but she has certainly switched from being "pure" humanities to being more of a science person.

 

(When we were looking at colleges, we were amazed at how many schools require the student to apply to a particular "school" and then limit the number of classes you can take outside of that school. She didn't apply to any schools that did that -- she is too much of a "renassance woman" to be limited in that way!

[Gwen in VA]

And I started out my college career as a French major at a LAC and ended up as a matrials science & engineering major at an engineering school!

 

But my dh knew from the tender age of 7 that he wanted to be an engineer who worked with airplanes! And that's what he does.....

[Nan in Mass]

They are constantly making something and constantly interested in how things are made. We push them into engineering because that is a college major that is economically viable and will let them continue to create. Art or architecture would be the other choices, probably, but aren't as easy to make a living with. Art is encouraged as a hobby but discouraged as a career. If the child doesn't want to go to college, they are steered towards the trade. These children are totally delighted to discover that if they go to engineering school, someone will PAY them to do what they've been doing for fun all the way along. It is usually obvious by the time the child is 3 if they are headed for engineering, at least in our family. If you aren't born an engineer, then you are left to decide on your own what you want to do. Liberal Arts is considered a good option if you can't decide. You are supposed to begin thinking about it when you are in high school, so you know or know you don't know by the time you apply to college. That is the way my family and families on my husband's side work, anyway. Engineering has run in both families for generations.

-Nan

[yslek]

My brother started at the U with the plan of eventually going to Med. school and doing genetic engineering. After his first Chem class he changed his mind. In June he will graduate as an art major, specializing in drawing and painting! I don't think we predicted any kind of career for him when he was a little boy (or even an older boy) though.

 

Kelsy

[Emmy]

I assumed most of my life post elementary school that I would be a singer. I took voice lessons weekly from age 9 till I left for college. My senior year in high school I took a home ec sewing course just because I had time and didn't want to take anything hard :tongue_smilie: and I left it thinking I loved apparel design and that maybe I should consider changing my plans. I didn't because it honestly seemed like too much of a whim to even consider - after all I had been doing vocal training for 9 years by that point. I went to college and majored in vocal performance for 2 years. *THEN* I had the initiative and confidence in myself to switch over to apparel design. Crazy, no?

 

BTW - I still graduated in 4 years. :thumbup:

 

Of course the funniest part of the whole story is that at the end of of the day I do neither.......I worked in the apparel industry for 7 years, but now I am a SAHM and homeschool my boys. Still, it was all a great experience and I wouldn't change it. My two different majors gave me a lot of exposure and experience to different facets of life and my career years were great.

 

As for my kids - they really are too young to target towards any one thing but I see qualities in them that would lend themselves to certain careers. I try not to teach based on that though - they are too young to specialize or assume they will be interested in this or that.

[Stacy in NJ]

..She is now double-majoring in art history and chemistry in order to go into art conservation

 

I think that's the coolest double major evah! What fun.

[Christine]

So, although both of my kids have shown both passion and ability in certain areas since they were tiny, we've always demanded that they get a well-rounded education that will provide a good foundation for anything they choose to do down the line.

 

I have to agree with this.

 

I have friends that have been "quite sure" of their children's preferences and "ensured the path was laid for them". . .and now the kids are in a rut that will really take a lot for them to get out of. . .and for some of them it's hurting in so many ways (including family relations).

 

However, one could certainly encourage an interest whilst maintaining the "well-rounded-ness" of an education.

 

And I don't think I'd discourage something because it's "difficult" to survive (earn money) that way -- but at this point one of those fields hasn't been mentioned by any of the kids, so I don't truly know how I'd reacte.

[In The Great White North]

I wanted to go into aeronautic engineering and looked mostly at engineering schools. Fortunately, I went to a school that believes in "well-rounded" individuals because I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering with a major in German and Russian.

 

I'm doing the "well-rounded" thing with my dc too.

[LadyAberlin]

I changed my major in college a million times. I ended up with a BS in History and one in Business, but I have 15 elective hours in education and 22 elective hours in upper level math I also have elective hours in Chemistry. I've used my elective hours more than my degrees LOL. I would have stuck with the math major had I not gotten married, knew I was going to be SAHM. I decided after Calc 2 and Prob and Stats that I didn't feel like putting the effort into studying like I did before since I was a newly wed. So I changed majors:)

[Blue Hen]

I was positive I would be a Phys Ed teacher, aka gym teacher, from my early days. I loved gym. I also excelled in math and science but my folks told me that girls couldn't do anything with them other than teach and I did not want to teach either of those subjects. Teaching gym would be much more fun.

 

Fast forward to Senior year where I signed up for anything that would get me out of school for a day or a week. Passing the counselor's office one day I saw a sign for 'Go be an Engineer for a Day'. I walked in and signed-up for it since it meant I could get out of school for the day. The counselor, btw, told me that it was only open to boys but since the sign-up sheet didn't say that I insisted on being permitted to go. I really didn't want anything to do with being an engineer, except that on that day trip I discovered that I really did like engineering and THAT would be one way I could use my math and science without teaching it. Thankfully I had 6 high school credits in science and 5 in math including Intro to Calculus so I had no trouble going into that in college. I really cannot count the number of times folks told me that girls are not engineers; mid-70's.

 

Oh, I still love gym, love teaching math, and had twenty fun years as a Ceramic Engineer.

[Krista in LA]

Probably because everyone told me it was a hard major - after being bored to death in school for 13 years, I wanted a challenge. I did discover after 4 years of studying it that I didn't really like it and changed to MIS. The fact that it was a computer field left me satisfied but I did enjoy the easier business classes that I was required to take.

 

My dd is only in 7th grade. She wanted to be a "cooker" at McDonalds for the longest time. :lol: Now she is contemplating being a psychiatrist or a physicians' assistant. She is really good at math and science but has a definite creative side to her so who knows what she will end up doing.

[Raders Fan]

I began studying Russian as a sophomore in college to fulfill graduation requirements (we could either complete calculus or two years of a foreign language), and gradually realized that I just loved it. Because the Russian department recognized that those with a degree in Russian alone were not highly employable, Russian majors were required to complete at least a minor in another field, and preferably a major. So I completed my Zoology degree at the same time, and upon graduation began doing freelance work, translating primarily for the government. The hardest part about completing the Russian degree was all the literature classes, because I had been pegged as a math/science type. I had never had any exposure to good literature. I understood nothing of how to read a book, symbolism, anything like that.

 

After I had two boys, I came to the realization that I couldn't translate for the government at the same time as raising my sons. Unfortunately, we still needed some money and we still wanted me to be home with our sons.

 

Because we were too poor to buy play dough, bubbles, and such, I had been looking for recipes for these items. I couldn't locate a book anywhere. I decided to write one. It was published by a major house. Obviously, such a book had nothing to do with majors in Russian or zoology.

 

Because of my experiences, I want my children to have a solid foundation so that they can study whatever they would like to. Though my first ds had no desire nor inclination to study sciences, he still had to take biology and chemistry. Though ds #2 loathes novels and poems, he will still study them and learn how to read a book. His history studies will encompass more of the study of wars and battles, whereas dd #1 would absolutely die if I did that to her. No matter what I think they will do, or what they think they will do, they will learn how to write well. I suppose everything else could be up for discussion.

 

Since ds #1 is still a freshman in college, it will be a while before we know whether we were right. We have thought since he was about six or seven that he would be a college professor; we just didn't know what field he would enjoy. It's still a toss-up whether he will major in a foreign language or some kind of history, but I have no doubt that he will end up teaching at the college level. He loves discussing ideas and sharing his knowledge with others in an educational environment. He absolutely loved participating in Chautauqua (Holly might be the only one who knows what this is), and not just performing, but also leading groups and mentoring the younger members.

 

Jennifer

[ereks mom]

...that he wanted to be "an artist, a preacher, and a drummer".

 

By the time he was 11 or 12, he wanted to be a robotics engineer; he wanted to design equipment for NASA.

 

Then around age 15 or 16, he decided that he wanted to be a musician (vocals, keyboard & guitar) and a minister (worship leader). That's not so far from the artist/preacher/drummer career he first considered!

[HollyinNNV]

Jennifer,

My db received a PHD in math. He studied Russian for several years and was impressed by how difficult it was. We all kind of wondered why he chose Russian. However, he recently adopted a Russian child (pre-teen age) and its pretty cool to see how the work in Russian came to fruition in a special way.

Holly

[Laurie4b]

I did know by high school what my fields of study would be in college, and am still happy in those fields decades later.

Dh on the other hand, wishes that he had had some guidance from parents as to what would be a good match with his gifts and also what he enjoys and a career. (He earns a living doing something different from his major in college and grad school and thinks he would have been happier in still another career.) So we've tried to make this a topic with our kids, while at the same time, not limiting them. I think it's my job as a homeschool mother to keep their options open for them through high school, however much they complain. When they hit college, they can start pruning off some options by their own selections.

 

Ds #2 and Ds #4 look a lot like engineers to us (and both gf's are engineers). Ds #2 is accelerated in math, but we also work hard in writing (I tell him an engineer who can write has got it made!) and in the humanities in general. Ds #4 is still a little guy, too young to specialize.

 

Ds #1 is an excellent writer, has more trouble with math and science. We've not shied away from hard math and science courses with him, even though my guess is that he'll take the minimum in college and that will be the end of those subjects. BUT, he is only 15 and I don't think it's the time for "pruning off" those choices yet. We're trying to give him help with exploring possibilities of where to go with writing, reading, and good thinking/analytical ability as well as music. ( While he may double-major in music, we've counseled him to also pursue a major that will enable him to "get a day job" and let the music be avocational. He's not cut out to be a teacher, and doesn't want to travel as a performer.)

Ds #3 has some real gifts, but also some areas of weakness, so we'll need to work hardest with him to make sure that he's ready for a career he'll be able to be successful in.

[gardenschooler]

I always knew I'd be a teacher in some capacity. I used to line my dolls and teddy bears up when I was three, and give them lessons. :) I never stopped, although I did eventually move on to live people.