People assume that parents who choose home education are keeping their children from the REAL WORLD. But it's in the REAL WORLD that my daughters have been and are still getting their education while under the protection of their father and mother. Even some homeschoolers aren't comfortable with those who choose this route. Now that they have graduated, people continue to try to convince them that a certain career or college or "real job" would be a good choice for them. There seems to be an assumption that those who choose not to go away to college are doing nothing but wasting their time.

My daughters are choosing to continue their education from home and love building websites that offer resources for sale to help homeschoolers. As entrepreneurs they are creating multiple streams of income that hopefully will allow them to be stay-at-home wives and mothers in the future and still be able to add to the family income.
Our family values their help with running our household as they take on even more responsibilities helping with grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry and gardening. Our extended family, in all four generations, benefits from their help when needed. They babysit their nieces and help their grandparents with projects. We have two family businesses which they are involved with, filling in as receptionist when needed for their Dad's office and doing the cleaning service for the new company their oldest brother runs as well as the adjoining office in that building. In our community they've helped out at the polls and both voted for the first time in local elections this past fall.
Weekday routines are essentially the same as high school. They are continuing their studies in consumer math, reading, history, piano, art and attending weekly computer training sessions along with occasional entrepreneur conferences. They take turns providing a structured childcare and playtime every Wednesday during each other's piano lessons for the piano teacher's children along with one and sometimes more of their six nieces. They are volunteering with a ballet class, a children's drama class and teaching sign language. They enjoy the deaf ministry at church and love volunteering in our church library on Thursdays making it available to homeschoolers.
We enjoy reading aloud as a family, spending time together outdoors and traveling, especially with our camper (we have been to all 50 states and 5 countries). See some of their trip journals at the links section of this lens.
Being available to our family, church and community like this is so valuable to them and us. It's sort of like short apprenticeships and they learn so much more than they could learn in any classroom about becoming the homemakers they really want to be in the future.
All of this allows them to remain under the protection of their father's household while learning and practicing the things they'll need for running their own household in the future. They learn how to face worldly issues alongside like minded people that they can trust. This IS the REAL WORLD!
updated 3-25-08

It was hard not to conform to the pattern of the world and yet convince friends and family that homeschool education HAS prepared us and will continue to prepare us for "the real world" even after high school graduation. But why change a good thing? Real life learning at home is fun and it works!

Back in our high school years, Mom asked us what we would like to be doing in 10 years, then 5 years.
Then she helped us plan what to do the NEXT year in order to start preparing for those goals and dreams.
Everyone may have different goals and dreams, therefore it makes sense that college is not always the right path to prepare to attain them. Just as public or private school wasn't the right path for us 13 years ago.
Our answer to Mom was that we want to be godly wives and mothers in 10 years and at least preparing for it in 5 years. Then Mom asked if that includes a career. We were both absolutely sure that we want to stay home to be homemakers and raise any children that God may bless us with. We would like to serve the Lord in our family, church and community, whether we marry or not.
We then discussed if college would help us gain any of the skills we will need. The answer was, no; going away to college might even get in the way of our dream, giving us feminist attitudes. We know women and mothers who are working outside their homes because they "can't afford to give up their income". We also know that many young women lose their purity when they leave home and are not under the protection of their fathers. We also know that paying off college loans can be a burdensome expense that young married couples may have to take on. We know there are many ways to earn a living or help contribute to the family income without having a college degree.
With these things in mind we thought about other ways to continue our education and the benefits of continuing our education at home. While continuing to study subjects we need practice in (like consumer math), we focus on interests like piano, handicrafts, child care, building websites, buying and reselling, mother/daughter Bible studies, serving in the church library, reading and sign language and find ways to use these interests in serving the Lord. We also practice homemaking skills by taking on more duties at home and helping extended family when there is a need. We also enjoy typing, filing and answering phones at our father's office when needed and providing cleaning service for our brother's office along with the adjoining office.
We are choosing to remain under the authority and protection of our father's house, continuing to learn, serving and helping keep an orderly home, until he gives us to our future husbands in marriage.
Being around people of all ages and never confined to same age group peers for long periods of time HAS prepared us for the REAL WORLD. It IS the REAL WORLD!

Yes, for my family they are, and I hope you'll consider apprenticeships for your own high school homeschooled students.

We tend to think that apprenticeships have gone the way of covered wagons and oil lamps, but that isn't true. If you've heard of on-the-job training or volunteering, then you already know something about apprenticing. Until formal classrooms came into being, this was how everyone learned to get along & to be productive as adults in their societies, and is still strong in many communities around the world. But, how does this apply to homeschooled high school students?

First, change your perspective of high school from an extension of childhood into one of *preparing for adulthood.* Of course, we want them serving the Lord in the manner He has planned for them. One way to discover this purpose is through Apprenticeships.

For our family this has taken the form of short-term apprenticeships.

It's what the modern world likes to call a *win-win* situation. The employer gets a chance to share his career love with a young, eager learner, and gets some free labor, while my homeschooled high schooler gets some free training in a real-world work situation. As those of us who were institutionally educated know, the real world isn't like the classroom and I'd hate to put my kid through a training program in a classroom only to find out later that they hate the real world work situation! (For instance, just because my daughter likes to use the computer at home, does NOT mean she should work in an office!)

Real work situations, apprenticeships, also provide the student with (1) respected references, (2) work experience to put on a resume', (3) time in the adult world which facilitates maturity. While on some level we'd all like to keep our kids with us awhile longer, we really DON'T want them still in our homes when they're 30 or 40, so we really DO have the same goal they do...get grown up & able to be on their own. Apprenticeships allow them a taste of the the real-life work-a-day world while still under our roof & control, and we can still provide that safety net for failures & disappointments. It also gives us, as their parents, a taste of life without them in it every minute. [If you're like me, you've grown way more dependent on your oldest child still at home than you realize! LOL

Another note: You have great flexibility & control over just who your children apprenticeship with. Many work situations are not places where you may want your teen spending time (bad language, shady dealings, etc), so don't apprentice them there. If you sit down & really think about it, you'll realize you know someone (& probably several someones) who either own or manage a small business. Even if the field is something your child doesn't think he's interested in doing, he might actually be surprised to find out he likes it. You don't know until you try. And an apprenticeship is typically of quite short duration in our experience. [When my daughter apprenticed in an office, she went once weekly for 3 months...about 12 days work.]

There are also longer apprenticeships. For instance, our children work many hours over the course of a year with a local farmer...their dad. They also learn Landscaping work as they help take care of the grounds of a local church & cemetery, and take care of the yard for some elderly neighbors. (In our case, their dad is the Caretaker for the church & cemetery, and the elderly are their grandparents, but the work experience is just as valid.)

One concern is how to fit all this in time-wise. Since we consider it part of their homeschool experience, we include it as part of their typcial school day, and it is counted on their transcripts. All that farm work was listed as Homesteading I, II, III, & IV. For our current high schooler, most of her apprenticeship work is at Stables. She is learning about Boarding horses, about Training horses, about training Riders, about keeping Training Records for the horses and for the riders. She is learning about Equine health & care, and through her many different tutors, she is meeting people from many areas of Equine care...farriers, dentists, veterinarians, trainers, and vendors. She is also learning to set goals for own stable someday.

How does this apply toward college? I think it is important to find out whether college is even necessary for the calling on your son's life or on your daughter's life. You are already out of the mainstream by homeschooling anyway, don't be afraid of this "high place" either. It turns out that for my older daughter (2003 CHEWV grad), college was the right route for her to take after her high school years. She is currently enrolled at one of WV's top private colleges and is making many contacts within her chosen area of interest...Appalachian culture & history.

For my next daughter, horses are her passion. It turns out that the top horse college in America is right here in WV, Meredith Manor. Will she go? We don't know yet, but her own trainer is a graduate of that school. In the meantime, she'll continue to apprentice with various stables & private horse owners, she'll pick up occasional students of her own (for we all know that you learn best when you try to teach others), and she'll find ways to earn the money to increase her own herd & facilities. She will read extensively on the subject, she'll visit equine conventions, and she'll try what she learns on her own horse.

For your high schoolers, begin to think about some skills they need simply to operate in the adult world. Then think about how they can get some experience. They don't need to get paid to learn these skills, nor do you need to pay anyone else to teach them. Short-term apprenticeships are an ideal solution. .

Many teens like to have an outside job for extra pocket money. I urge caution in that since there are so many nuances in a work environment that I believe are best learnt under an apprenticeship situation. A part-time job is often an entry-level position, and while this is honorable, an apprenticeship can allow our students to work with *the boss* and to see the larger picture of the business. They get a different perspective on business situations if they've been on the "inside." With the freedom of choices on what to study in homeschooling your son can pursue any special interest he might discover while working in the "real" world.

The season will come someday for a full-time job, but while they are still under our roof, influence, & control, I strongly urge short-term apprenticeship positions that will give our teens a larger view of the work world than punching a time card. TW

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Teresa & John Ward have been part of the homeschooling world since 1985. One daughter graduated college with two BA degrees after being homeschooled her entire life The equine daughter is enrolled in a (human) Beauty Academy, and will be a licensed Cosmetologist in November 2008. The younger two are still being homeschooled on the family farm in Barbour Co, WV.

Teresa also assists the worldwide ministry of HomeschoolOasis.com

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