a careers exploration course

[Teresa Hope]

For ds 9th grade year I want to do a course on careers exploration, so we can at least slightly narrow the path toward what college/s he wants to be accepted into. Has anyone used a resource, or resources, or self-created something like this?

 

If so, would you share your ideas?

 

Thanks!

 

Teresa W

[Hunter]

I hope you get a lot of input from others, as my suggestion is a narrow one, but...

 

When I was doing this with my younger son, there were books at the library about careers that only required 2 year degrees and certificates. I think it is important to include these. There were many jobs that are so in demand, that most people holding them, went to college for something else. I remember one of them was a waste management plant manager.

[regentrude]

If you have a university nearby: many universities have outreach programs geared towards Middle school/ Jr high students. Students can visit campus, tour labs, do activities. Different schools handle this differently. Check out their website for pre-college programs.

[TechWife]

I am getting ready to teach one in our co-op for the spring semester. I am going to have them use The Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S. Department of Labor.

 

They will have the Career Aisle web site as a resource as well.

 

The My Road assessments and information on the College Plus web site is reputed to be outstanding, I am going to explore it more over the next couple of days to decide if I want them to purchase a one year subscription.

 

I am also looking at the resources from Crown Financial Ministries (Christian content). They have a free personality assessment and some other resources that are available for a cost.

 

The class is 13 weeks long. During this time I hope to have at least six guest speakers from a variety of careers. The students will complete four one page summaries on different careers. We will make copies of all summaries for each student so that they will have a mini-book at the end of the course. In addition, each student will complete their own career summary for each of the guests. There will be a "final" project which will include making a display for our Family Night presentation.

 

I'd love to hear what ideas you have so far.

[lakotajm]

:bigear::lurk5:

I am also wanting to do career exploration with my 8th grader. Can homeschoolers take the ASVAB? What else is there?

Lakota

[Teresa Hope]

Really appreciate your input. I was thinking I might try to identify some people from church who have jobs in fields he is interested in, have him interview them and do a short profile on each.

 

I found a series at the library that profiles very specific careers in a short booklet, but very thorough. Put out by Institute for Career Research.

 

Those were the only ideas I had so far.

 

Teresa

[Hunter]

I just remember so many jobs dealing with power and the environment and keeping a town or city functioning, that I had never heard of. Decent paying, steady jobs, in high demand, that didn't require attending a prestigious 4 year college and 4 years before that devoted to prepping for SATs and APs. Jobs that would allow a better quality of life for the preceding 8 years. And then I saw the local community colleges offering all the prerequisites for these jobs, and much easier entrance requirements.

[TechWife]

I just found a new jewel - our library has an online database called "career library" that includes interest assessments and a ton of information about various careers. Check your library to see if they have something similar. My students will not need the Occupational Outlook Handbook after all!

[TechWife]

The My Road assessments and information on the College Plus web site is reputed to be outstanding, I am going to explore it more over the next couple of days to decide if I want them to purchase a one year subscription.

 

Just wanted to follow up on this. After looking at the site I have decided not to have my students purchase a subscription. It is specific to preparing for college, with career choice being secondary. We will be emphasizing career choices in our class so this tool won't be appropriate.

 

If you know someone who is in the college hunt/application process, it is a good tool to assist in that task.

[Lori D.]

Here's a past thread in which I posted a lot of online links that may be of help; Choirfam's post suggests the Sonlight career elective course; and Kareni's post has a link to a past thread that may be of help.

 

 

Just as a side note, and NOT trying to discourage you -- our DSs have been completely clueless about what they wanted to do through high school. Older DS is a senior and 18yo, and is just now deciding to try a Digital Arts associates degree next year at the local community college to check out his interest in film/video production and post-production. Younger DS turns 17 in a few weeks and really has NO idea what he'd like to do.

 

I plan to pay to have them each take what used to be called the Campbell-Strong Interest Survey (Campbell and Strong each have their own test now) -- I took that over 20 years ago and it was EXTREMELY helpful in showing me the ways in which I like to work, so I can look at ANY job and determine how much (or how little!) it would match up with my work preferences (ex: prefer to work with people or with things; regular schedule or irregular hours; prefer to work with hands or with ideas; indoor/outdoor; etc.). I'm hoping by doing this in each DS's senior year, it will give them a little bit of direction, or at least narrow things down for them!

 

I didn't really figure out what I wanted to do until I was over 21 and had been in college for 2-3 years; I switched majors 3 times, and graduated in 5 years rather than 4 -- but I really don't think I would have figured it out sooner... sometimes it just takes TIME and actually doing/trying different things to actually see what you like and don't like.

 

In addition, from the reading I've done, most people change CAREERS (not just jobs, but change entire fields of work) on average 8 times over their 40-50 years of work. So, our interests and skills change over time, too!

 

At any rate, BEST of luck in putting together resources for self-discovery! Warmest regards, Lori D.