Career Assessment and Awareness in Homeschool Curriculum

Homeschooling can help students decide the career path they want to take as an adult. While a career education curriculum may seem difficult to prepare, it can actually be quite simple. Parents can take several simple steps to help their children explore the professional options that are available for their future.

If you notice your child is taking a strong liking to a particular subject, such as English, then you can create lessons that show your child how professionals use English skills everyday in the work force. This could be specific professions such as journalism and publishing, or general careers that utilize English but not as their main focus. You and your child can research these careers together at your local library or even online. Introducing your child to these possible careers will help serve as a motivator for them to succeed in specific subjects. Additionally, when teaching your child about different professions, it is helpful to introduce them to skills such as writing resumes, cover letters, memos, and business letters.

There are many career aptitude tests that are available for students to complete. The questions on the tests indicate which areas a person would be most interested in working. Such tests are now readily available online for free or for a nominal charge. You can contact a local employment center to see if there are any other tests or career resources they would recommend for students.

Once your child has begun to narrow their career interests, you can arrange for your them to do a job shadow with a local company. A job shadow is when a student spends the work day with a professional. This gives children the opportunity to ask adults about their career, what type of schooling they needed to get where they are, what duties and skills they have to perform, and any other questions that your child has been wondering about.

Many companies allow students to do a job shadow but require scheduled appointments. Ask your child which local companies they would be interested in visiting and ask that corporation about their job shadow policies. Help your child get the most out of the job shadow by creating a questionnaire with them ahead of their appointment. By having all of the questions they want to ask in writing, then they will remember to ask all of their questions. Sometimes you can also send these questions to the company in advance. When you or your child schedule a job shadow appointment remember to ask about dress codes and any other policies your student will need to remember when visiting the job place.

Many communities and universities also have job fairs that community members can attend for free. These fairs showcase various companies from the area. Each company has a representative available to answer people's questions. You and your student can visit these fairs to get an education in the various industries that are available locally. This is also a great time to teach your child to create a resume. Your student can bring copies of their resume with them to the fair and ask various representatives to give them a critique.