How This Homeschool Career Training Course Helps Your Students Explore Interests & More
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A homeschool career training course is an excellent way to help your student explore interests and learn new skills.
With the right curriculum and powerful resources, your student will have the opportunity to go on creative learning adventures and earn high school credit.
Find out what course my homeschool high schooler is studying and how it's helping him make smart decisions for his future.
Disclaimer: I received this product for free and was compensated for my time. As always, I’m sharing my honest opinions and was not required to provide a positive review.
Career Pathways from Edison Learning has a variety of courses that your student can enjoy. I'm sharing our experiences with Introduction to Education & Teaching. As you read our review, I encourage you to think about your student's interests and explore which course would be the best fit for career exploration.
A Smart Way to Help Your High Schooler Explore Career Options
Is your teen having a hard time deciding what they want to do after high school?
If so, they're definitely not alone.
It's a tough time. Life is full of classes, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and trying to squeak in a social life. So many things to keep track of and think about!
Career paths aren't alway on the forefront of a teenager's mind. They're focused more on the here-and-now. Like, what's for lunch? And can I borrow the car this weekend?
One of the toughest parts of being a high schooler is getting asked the big question: "What to do you want to be when you grow up?" (a.k.a. what do you want to major in college? or trade school? or pick as a career?)
High schoolers are already unsure about so many things. That big question can send them into a tailspin.
They might have an idea or two about what they want to study. Maybe that idea is based on what others are telling them is a good field to get into? Or perhaps it's a spark from an interest they have?
Either way, high schoolers can feel overwhelmed with how to decide what to choose as a college major (or trade school path or career path).
I've found a brilliant way to reduce that overwhelm for your teen AND help them earn high school credits!
Why My Teen Is Taking This Homeschool Career Training Course
Last Spring, my second boy (Professor) had a teenage meltdown. And those are not pretty!
We were registering him to take the ACT. He'd been working on ACT prep for a while and I thought everything was honky dory.
Until it wasn't.
A seemingly mild question popped up during the registration process: What do you think you want your major to be in college?
Oh my stars! I thought his head was going to explode! 🤯
Luckily, I picked up on his overwhelm and helped him calm down. We did our "process" thing (that's our family term for talking out things with mom, a former mental health therapist).
Professor knew that he was passionate about History but had no idea what he wanted to do with it. He didn't know what type of careers you could do with a History major - and if those careers would be something that he'd even be interested in. And he felt paralyzed because what if he made the wrong choice of a major.
So, we started to research and list out options. Then, we began to narrow down his choices. Professor knew that he wanted to share his passion with others and help them appreciate history in different ways.
Much to my surprise, Professor narrowed it down to one option: teacher.
I guess with a nickname like Professor I shouldn't be that surprised 😉
But, he's been homeschooling since second grade. It's been quite some time since he's been a part of a classroom. Professor pointed out, however, that he enjoyed helping me teach his younger brothers and loves coming up with creative activities to do with them.
After I got over my initial shock, I realized this career choice could be perfect for him. When I found out about this Introduction to Education & Teaching homeschool career training course, I knew it would be an excellent elective for his Senior year of homeschool high school. AND a fantastic way to help him figure out if teaching was something that would work for him.
Help Your Future Educator Prepare Now
If you have a high schooler who is considering a future in education, you can give them a jumpstart on their prep and training.
Career Pathways from Edison Learning has online, self-paced course options for your student interested in becoming an educator, including:
- Early Childhood Education I
- Early Childhood Education II
- Child Development Associate (CDA) - (certification course - learn more about this terrific option at Edison Learning)
- Introduction to Education & Teaching
Professor has been learning so much in his Introduction to Education & Teaching course. This curriculum has opened his eyes to the history of education in the United States, our current education system, and the future of education in our country. He's been fascinated by the role of technology in education, especially by the module on Robots in Education!
Course modules in Introduction to Education & Teaching include:
- The History of Education in the United States
- An Introduction to Distance Learning
- Blended, Personalized, and Adaptive Learning
- Augmented and Virtual Reality in Education
- Robots at School
- Wearable Technology in Education
- Careers in Education
- Future of Education
Lessons are presented with a mix of videos and online text to read. Find out more about the flexibility and adaptations of these online lessons below!
Professor appreciates the variety of projects in the course to demonstrate understanding. He enjoys the challenges of Discussion (or Reflection) questions, Short Answer Assignments, Projects (like creating a newspaper article, Powerpoint presentation, essay or video), and quizzes.
Outstanding Options for Helping High School Students with Special Needs
I was absolutely thrilled to see that Career Pathways has so many cool built-in adaptations in their courses for students!
My oldest (now a homeschool high school graduate) only has vision in one eye due to a congenital condition. His struggle with vision issues and migraines in public school was one of the major reasons that we started homeschooling. I LOVE finding homeschool resources that include adaptations for students with special needs (or that have different learning styles).
In these Career Pathways courses, your student has the ability to:
- Watch or listen to videos
- Read the video transcript
- Have text read aloud
- Translation (from English to other language)
- Dictionary definition
- Picture dictionary definition (great for visual learners)
- Screen Mask (highlight specific areas of screen - fantastic for focusing)
- Enlarge text as it is read aloud
- Highlighting (in different colors and with option to "Collect Highlights" in new window to gather as notes)
- Settings (ability to choose voice read aloud speed, language of translation, screen tools)
One of our favorite parts is Highlighting. This tool makes it so easy to differentiate topics and create notes. Professor likes to copy and paste his collected highlights from the Content Tab of the course into the Notes Tab where he can add his thoughts and use to study.
Super Cool Online Homeschool Courses with Career Pathways
Here's some great news: Career Pathways has 40 courses full of hands-on learning and projects. And 18 courses that lead to certifications!
Your middle school and high school students can enjoy online, self-paced learning in courses like:
- Adobe InDesign Certification Course
- Adobe Illustrator Certification Course
- Adobe Photoshop Certification Course
- Aeronautics and Space Travel
- Augmented and Virtual Reality Applications
- Career Exploration in Dentistry
- Career Exploration in Finance
- Career Exploration in Healthcare
- Cloud Technologies and the Internet of Things
- Construction: Fundamentals and Careers
- Drones: Remote Pilot Certification Course
- Entrepreneurship & Small Business Certification Course
- Fundamentals of Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency
- Fundamentals to Blockchain & Cryptography
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
- Introduction to Education & Teaching
- LEED Green Associate Certification Course
- Robotics: Applications and Careers
- Smart Cities: Technology and Applications
- Startups and Innovation
- Transportation Technologies
- Wearable Technology Innovations
You can find out more about each of these homeschool career training courses over at Edison Learning.
Try a Career Pathways Course & Get a FREE Month!
WooHoo! Go ahead and give a Career Pathways course a test run and see if it's a good fit for your student.
You can provide your homeschooler with access to hands-on learning experiences and the opportunity to earn industry certifications before they graduate high school.
With Career Pathways from Edison Learning, you can help your teen identify interests for a career they'll love, gain in-demand employable skills, and develop technical knowledge to thrive in cutting-edge fields.
I'm so glad that my son has been able to explore the world of education and see if this career will be a good choice for him. And it's definitely relieved some of my stress as I try to help him navigate college options!
After taking a peek at all of these amazing online homeschool career training courses, I'd love to know which ones you think your high schooler would enjoy. Oh, and please let me know if you have any questions in the comments area below 🙂