New Skills Faster with High School Homeschool Electives
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As a homeschooling parent, you want your teen to be prepared for whatever life might bring their way. You want to help them find success, but you are also bogged down by keeping up with Algebra II and navigating Spanish. How can you possibly do more? Electives for homeschoolers are your secret super tool for helping your teen learn life skills. Elective courses prepare them for their future career while earning credits toward graduation. Not only can you use electives for credit, but they can make an impression to last a lifetime. On a transcript, they can earn your high school student impressive attention from colleges and universities as well.
Knowing where to start is the big question. Some electives can cost a bundle, but the payoff could be huge for you student. Let’s look at some options and break down the choices and why you might start with one elective over another.
What is the best electives to take in high school?
Electives are a great way to explore topics not covered in core subjects in high school. Most high public and private schools require 20-25 elective credits applied toward graduation requirements. Often, these classes are used to fill the last two years of a students schedule as core class requirements are met. Electives are often overused as place fillers for real life learning. Homeschool families like you can create real life learning opportunities, building skills your teen can use forever.
Consider Building Life Skills a Top Priority
Personal Finance
Your student will be dealing with finances for the rest of their life. It is a clear winner for a subject that should be added to every student’s portfolio. Speaking of portfolio, adding a course about investing and how the stock market works is a great idea for an entrepreneurial minded student. The best part is that you can learn together.
We have enjoyed the writings of Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. He has several books written specifically for teens. His Guide to Investing is written in approachable language and would be a great addition to your teen. He also offers several online courses about investing for FREE on his site.
Computer Sciences
Computers are another area your child will always be coming in contact with. it would do them a great service to be familiar with the ins and outs of several standard operating programs. taking a class in Excel and Word should be standard for every high school student. I remember my dismay graduating from 2 years of graphic design school only to discover that I had no idea how to write a letter on my computer other than opening Adobe page maker the predecessor of Creative Cloud and building a document each time I wanted to type a simple talk on my computer.
Public Speaking
I’ve heard it said that public speaking ranks in the top five biggest fears. From that information I understand how important it is to give your child opportunities to speak in front of other people on a regular basis. Finding a co-op class that offers speech would be a great way to practice public speaking.
If you do not have a class nearby, be creative about identifying opportunities for public speaking. Our church holds Youth Sunday each quarter. Often members of the congregation have an opportunity to preach part of the sermon, share during communion meditation or offer prayers at the beginning of service. These are great ways to practice speaking in front of a group. Finding small opportunities with familiar audiences will help your student become fluent, and even comfortable in speaking situations.
Look to Groups You are Already Involved In
Giving presentations for their 4-H group or other organizations is a place to practice public speaking. If these opportunities can be found in regular intervals you could document these and create a class of your own. They can earn high school credits for speaking publicly in areas they are already involved in.
As homeschoolers we have the ability to assign credits to active learning opportunities, especially with electives. You may not need to create a formal class, but you can read the descriptions in your local high school course handbook to give you an idea of topics that are covered in the course to make sure you are giving your student good coverage as well.
Foreign Language
Foreign languages offer lifelong benefits for your students. Not only is learning a second language a worthwhile life skill, but vital in many trades today. Beginning foreign language in the primary years is the ideal time because neuro pathways are being created in the brain at a much higher rate. These networks will serve as pathways for learning throughout your child’s entire life. Learning a second language creates more of these pathways that are unique for NEW knowledge. The brain literally makes up more room to store this new material.
Even if the language moves out of that space and your 20 year old can’t even remember how to ask for “directions to the disco-tech” or “where the fat cat is,” he will still have this space to place newly acquired skills for his whole life.
Most colleges also require two years of foreign language as a prerequisite for their degree programs. Also, if your child is planning on pursuing a career in the medical field, many schools require four years of foreign language, high school credits before applying to their program. Spanish is a standard option and valuable in many job places, home and abroad. There are many languages to choose from. Your child’s intended career, or interest in certain topics could help narrow the selection process.
Look to Ancient Languages too!
An hour home our first group of students took Latin in junior high and continued that to complete the required two years of college required credits. We used Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek and enjoyed one semester of Greek intro for a credit. You can read my full review about raising smarter kids with foreign language here. Fellow blogger Ana Willis from Simply Blessed, offers a10-week online Hebrew course for students or for moms who would like to get some language training of their own.
There are many apps that your child can manage on their phone if they are already tech savvy. We have used Babel and Rosetta Stone over the years. My youngest love the game based app called Chineasy, which teaches Chinese character recognition. Sometimes, finding a fun introduction can lead to a desire to learn more. Never fear giving your kids small bites of subjects to explore.
Business Writing
Communication is the number one skill we are trying to get our children to understand before they finish the high school years. How often will they need to fill out a resume with a cover letter, write a letter to a business associate or fill out an essay for a college application. All of these take and understanding of formal business writing. It is a great idea to make sure our children understand how formal letters are formatted and how business communications are expected to be handled. Give them the professional edge by making sure they take some form of business writing course during their high school years.
Need some more ideas? Here is a list of 100 Homeschool Elective Ideas from Homeschool Hideout to check out when you are done reading this article.
Don’t Miss the Chance to add Active & Fun Electives
Electives can spark creativity and challenge the mind as well as the body. It is a good idea to sign up for an art class at a community center, join a YMCA challenge or train for a marathon. I joined NaNoWriMo with my teen daughter and we both wrote 50 thousand words in November of 2016 and completed our novels!
Follow the spark of interest when choosing new elective choices or throw out a series of new concepts. Where electives are concerned, anything goes!
What’s the easiest elective in high school?
Are you looking for some easy high school electives for homeschoolers that will help build independence or add some fun to their school year, here are some ideas.
Learn an Instrument
If I could give my eighteen year old self one piece of advice it would be to learn guitar. As a busy mom of ten, there is little time for learning an instrument. It takes a great deal of time to practice. Something teens have an abundance of in comparison to a working homeschool mom. Learning an instrument as a high school electives can be a great way to fill the margin hours with purpose.
Graphic Design
I was surprised when I attended the local community college for graphic design. The world was turning to digital fast and computers were accessible to everyone. While I was in design classes, I couldn’t help but laugh at the projects we were asked to create as students. My little sisters had been using the homeschool computer for years and were turning out amazing design work for their thirteenth birthday party cards. You child can learn graphic design and be very successful. Adobe offers so many free courses in the Adobe Education Program which can be accessed by homeschool parents.
Creative Writing
Depending on your stand on technologie, there are a million places to read great writing. My daughter started writing short stories on WattPad. She found some writing friends to share her work. I am not recommending this site and we did A LOT of patrolling of communications, but her goal was to write so we found where young writers were. You could create a writing group or check with your local library to see if there is a teen group in your area.
Check out the Community Theater
Public speaking, music, community action all rolled into one big show! Could there be a more fun way to earn school credit than to be on the stage as an elective for young homeschoolers?
Physical Education
What if your teen isn’t into sports? They can do personal strength and conditioning. You students can lead games at VBS and the after school program or kids church. Trust me, as a leader in each of those programs, I would have LOVED for anyone to lead games! It is a huge energy burner and directors could use their energy to run the rest of the events programming.
Religion
Is faith a regular part of your homeschool? We gave regular high school credits for the Bible portion of our curriculum and devotional studies the kids did throughout the week. Do your kids complete studies for FCA, Awanas, Youth Group or other outside of school activities. You can treat these as an elective course too.
Personal Health and Early Child Development
These courses are a life skill builder for sure. Learning about healthy habits, life skills and how to care for others is a great way to earn elective or high school credits for your student’s homeschool transcript. How you apply the credits can depend on what credits you need to satisfy your state science requirement.
Taking a CPR or Babysitter Training Course can also be a great resource for health class hours. For more ideas about Health Courses read this great article about electives for homeschoolers from Kim Sorgius at Not Consumed. She covers the difference between an elective and an extracurricular activity.
What kinds of elective subjects should be taught in homeschool?
In your electives for your homeschool should achieve several goals.
Electives for Homeschoolers Should Foster Creativity
An elective can offer the opportunity to explore a topic with little risk. Let the child who says they have no art talent try an online class in Zentangle of speed sketching to stretch their limiting view of their ability.
Explore other worlds, real and imagined. Is your child a reader? Take a Novel Class and dig deep in a specific genre that you never have enough time for. Read all about Viking culture or Greek Mythology and spark their minds with great story telling.
Electives Should Develop Confidence
Do you students like to dabble in software design? Are they always on their tablet doodling in Procreate? One of the best things about high school electives is that you can invest in some top level courses and give them real life skills to use to do what they love even better!
Sites like Udemy and Skillshare (my favorite) are great places to subscribe to and find high quality courses. Adobe offers many student challenges through their Adobe Education Program. Taking a college course is a great option, but will still cost hundreds of dollars. Why not invest in a course and give your child credit for it now as an elective.
Online classes are a great way to outsource the teaching of a subject beyond your scope or abilities. I’ve used SkillShare to learn Hand Lettering, Water Color, Urban Sketching, Business Letter Writing, Cell Phone Photography and more. They have so many classes for a LOW monthly price.
Electives for Homeschoolers Should Promote Independence
By the last two years of high school our students are working independently. One of the ways we achieved this is by giving control of their schedule over to them in middle school. A great place to work on this hand-off of power is in elective class work. There is less risk of your child falling irreparably behind in an elective. They usually have less course hours and can be scheduled weekly. This means fewer check in times for you and a manageable workload load for your student to handle. This means introducing new things without sacrificing learning experiences.
Electives for Homeschoolers – Allow Failure without Risk
You don’t HAVE to give school credit for all of the extra-curricular activities your child does in their homeschool. You can choose to take a challenge, and not fear failing. My son took a welding course at the local high school, his senior year. All his life he thought he would be a blacksmith. He was looking forward to welding and was intending on this class being his introduction to his life work. NOPE! Unfortunately, he discovered he hated welding. He could not get the knack for it. As he worked, he hated the helmet, the tools, and the heat. Although, he made me a pretty rad articulated scorpion, but that was all we both got out of the class.
He was disappointed, but I pointed out that we learned some significantly important information from this class. Had he not taken it, he might have taken a job or committed to an expensive program only to discover then that he hated welding. This “failure” saved him a lot of time and money!
What high school electives look good for college?
Colleges are looking for students that have a well rounded resume. Electives and extracurricular activities such as volunteer work are an excellent way to help your student stand out from the average student. Any kid can take a semester of coding classes, but did your child build a coding club and compete in a local challenge? These are the kind of outstanding actions that show a student can lead and rise to challenges.
Leadership experiences are not that difficult to come by.
Many of them are already part of your life and faith community activities. Our family served at an afterschool program for all the years of high school. This led to a huge quantity of volunteer hours as well as leadership skills. Not only were they able to list these activities on their applications as extracurricular activities, but we used them to create a leadership and citizenship course. The older kids lead volunteer teams and created activities. This helped them earn leadership and citizenship credits in an elective course I created to document the skills they were learning.
Does your child play an instrument?
You can give them credit for performing at local nursing homes and in the youth worship band. Wouldn’t a public school student receive credit for Choral Band and Swing Choir? Your students’ activities are no less valid. Actually, they hold even more weight because they are usually self organized, self directed and done on the students own time.
Do you have a student athlete?
Our sons went to college on academic and sport scholarships. To stand out, make sure they are more than a butt on the bench. Find ways for your student to give back to the next generation of players. They can lead as volunteers of a sport camp, umpire tournaments and co-coach youth leagues you may be involved in as a parent. These extra curricular activities help your teen to stand out.
Sports Management, Leadership, Health and Physical Health elective credits can be associated with these activities by adding some reading and parent led direction.
Look for special focuses offered by your student’s chosen school.
The University our oldest children attended offered an additional STEM scholarship of $5,000 for students with an ACT score of 26 or higher in this category. They offered additional scholarship monies for Arts, Music and Theater focused students as well. The students needed to submit their portfolio digitally and commit to the specific department or Degree program. Often this offers a significant saving to a program a student is already interested in. Be open to offers too.The University of Iowa is offering a generous scholarship for a student willing to Major in the organ while studying music. No experience required!
High School Elective Offer More Than You Can Imagine
Homeschool electives are a great way for high schoolers to explore new subjects. Adding these classes are more than a way to pad the last few years or fill credits for a transcript. Electives can be an intentional dive into life skills your students will use in their chosen career path.
By first, getting to know your child’s interests, you can choose High School Electives that help them hone their giftings and uncover underdeveloped talents. High school electives can also help your student gain independence as a student, but giving them low risk courses where they can learn time management skills.
Electives Help your Teen Stand Apart from the Crowd
Electives for homeschoolers can not only prepare your child for college, but can help the stand out as an excellent candidate on their application if you plan ahead and understand how to showcase their acquired skills on their high school transcript. You can also use homeschool high school electives to meet specific requirements set by individual colleges and universities.
