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Greetings!

Deborah Wuehler  and family

When preparing your children for life after homeschool, there are so many options to think through. You may be helping them to consider things such as trade schools, college, apprenticeships, entrepreneurial ventures, or just plain preparation for life.

Our first graduate took a year off after high school to consider his possibilities. He decided that would be a good time for extended mission trips and trying out future job possibilities in the form of volunteer work in those areas. He eventually decided he needed a BA to proceed in the direction of his life goals.

Even if you don't have older children, what should you add to your teaching now to prepare your children for life after homeschool? Whether it is college life or marriage life or employment, there are ways that we can help our children prepare. In answering three questions, we will gain insight into what is necessary: what will they need to be ready to do, what will they need to be ready to face; and what is most important for life?

Ready to Do:

Do they have good study skills?

Do they know how to research information?

Can they write an essay?

Do they communicate clearly?

Can they balance a checkbook or know how to use an online program?

Can they cook a meal?

Do they know how to clean and organize a household?

Do they know how to care for young children?

Are they teachable?

Ready to Face:

Do they have a Biblical worldview?

Are they strong in their faith?

Can they articulate their convictions?

Have they read the Bible through?

Are they influenced by peer pressure?

Do they know how to handle stressful situations?

Are they fervent in prayer?

Are they serving the Lord with the gifts and abilities He's given them?

Most Important:

Do they love God?

Do they love others?

These are definitely not comprehensive lists as I am sure I have overlooked something, so ask God for wisdom for your child. Don't be anxious; pray.

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7

~Deborah

TOS Senior Editor

 SeniorEditor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com   

Hal & Melanie Young

Raising Real Men

www.RaisingRealMen.com  

Sometimes You Do Have To Go To College

I had been speaking to a leadership conference when a mother came up and introduced herself and her teen-aged sons.

"You mentioned you are a consulting engineer," she said. "We are really interested in entrepreneurship and we'd like to avoid the whole college thing, so we were wondering if you ever take on apprentices?"

I shook my head sadly and told her, "I'm sorry, but no. You can't do it that way in my field."

I explained that to be an independent engineering consultant, you had to earn a professional license from the state. It requires successfully passing an eight-hour exam, then completing five years of supervised experience under the direction of a licensed engineer, and then a second eight-hour exam. And the first step of all is earning a four-year degree from a certified engineering college.

It's true that in many jobs, you will learn more on the job than you did in college. Many jobs are over-specified, requiring a bachelor's degree for tasks which a well-educated high school graduate can grow into with great success. Many of today's college graduates, lacking realistic guidance in their studies, find themselves with prestigious degrees and large student loans but few career prospects.

But there is a place for college and sometimes there is no substitute. In fields like engineering, the knowledge is so specialized that your average well-educated customer really can't evaluate whether a professional is competent or not. When you're building a dam or managing a chemical process, the consequence of bad design workmanship can be a risk to the environment, health, or safety of large numbers of people. So to protect the public, state laws are put in place to require certain professionals--engineers, doctors, lawyers, and accountants, for instance--to meet standards of training and experience before they can offer their services to the public. In most cases, that started with a college education.

Now most engineers don't take the extra step to secure a professional license, and usually it's not necessary. When you work in a manufacturing company, as I did for many years, the company takes on the risk and liability for your work. The state assumes your employer has the know-how to pick competent staff, and any risk or damage is most likely to fall on the company rather than the unsuspecting public. And many engineering tasks can be performed by technicians without degrees--as long as they do not represent themselves as "engineers" in a regulated professional sense. There are many levels in these professions, and a student who doesn't want to go the entire route might study to become an engineering technician, a physician's assistant, or a paralegal.

But for some professions, and for certain ways of pursuing them--like my young, entrepreneurial friends--you may just have no other option. Sometimes, you just do have to plan on going to college. 

Hal & Melanie Young

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