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My story is similar to that of the parent comment and I would say the most important thing is to be supportive of the activities and interests that your future

by xtagon 6y ago

My story is similar to that of the parent comment and I would say the most important thing is to be supportive of the activities and interests that your future children are driven towards. If they're into computers, let them tinker with computers. If they like to take things apart, give them your old electrical components and teach them about electrical safety and soldering. If they like making things, show them some cool DIY videos on YouTube. Whatever it is, if they're into it and you support them, then all that time spent is practice doing something they love, regardless of whether or not it ends up being a career.

hereme888 6y ago
Thanks. May I ask what its like for job interviews?
- lostcolony 6y ago
  What do you mean? If you mean for entry level service level stuff, like high schoolers would take, I can't speak to it (I couldn't really find anything when I looked, but I think that was attributable to the general difficulty of finding a first job. No one asked me what high school I was attending/had attended), but for post-college, no one ever asked me about high school. As to getting into college, I had to take the SATs, same as everyone. I did better than most. I started at community college (which I believe everyone should do, both because financially it makes sense, and because it helps acclimate you to the realities involved. For home/unschoolers, having deadlines and having to learn to 'work the system' are both necessary), then went to university. Graduated highest honors.
  - hereme888 6y ago
    Ok, I was assuming the entire education was self-taught/unschooled. But in this case it was unschooled until the person chose to go to traditional college and get a certifiable degree. I was wondering about someone who went the whole way without traditional schooling.
    - lostcolony 6y ago
      Ah, can't speak to that. Certainly, there are fields you can not work in without a degree, certification, or licensing, even if self-taught. But there are also plenty you can enter with only the knowledge you've learned on your own. Software is a good one; there are plenty of places that will hire a developer even without a degree.
- xtagon 6y ago
  Nerve-wracking because homeschooling teaches you nothing about career readiness without experience, but that's basically true whether or not you got to spend most of your childhood experimenting with things you actually end up enjoying. For me part of it was luck (lucky that someone took a chance on me and I grew into it from there), but looking back I think putting yourself into a position where you get to practice doing something you're actually passionate about will end up bleeding through into a natural progression/networking. For example, if programming is your hobby before it's your job, by the time you're wanting to interview for a job you will probably already be in some kind of club/group, local makerspace, have friends online who are into game mods, etc. to help get your foot in the door and that's all before you're even college-aged.
  - geomark 6y ago
    "...homeschooling teaches you nothing about career readiness without experience..." But homeschooling gives you the flexibility to pursue experiences that would be hard to manage if on a traditional school schedule.
TaupeRanger 6y ago
It's not that simple for the parent-teacher. For 90% of kids, their "interests" are video games, playing with toys, and TikTok if they're older. The hard part is getting your kids interested in things that can lead to an actual education. If you are waiting for your kids to become interested in History in order to teach it to them, most of them would never learn it. You have to do the hard work of making it interesting in the first place.
- xtagon 6y ago
  You're right that it's not that simple, but to be clear, my parents did teach me stuff like history and they did their best to make it interesting. It just so happened that I enjoyed some topics and activities more than others, and homeschooling can allow for more freedom to adjust to that than would be the case with a strict curriculum.

by xtagon 6y ago

hereme888 6y ago

Thanks. May I ask what its like for job interviews?

lostcolony 6y ago
What do you mean? If you mean for entry level service level stuff, like high schoolers would take, I can't speak to it (I couldn't really find anything when I looked, but I think that was attributable to the general difficulty of finding a first job. No one asked me what high school I was attending/had attended), but for post-college, no one ever asked me about high school. As to getting into college, I had to take the SATs, same as everyone. I did better than most. I started at community college (which I believe everyone should do, both because financially it makes sense, and because it helps acclimate you to the realities involved. For home/unschoolers, having deadlines and having to learn to 'work the system' are both necessary), then went to university. Graduated highest honors.
- hereme888 6y ago
  Ok, I was assuming the entire education was self-taught/unschooled. But in this case it was unschooled until the person chose to go to traditional college and get a certifiable degree. I was wondering about someone who went the whole way without traditional schooling.
  - lostcolony 6y ago
    Ah, can't speak to that. Certainly, there are fields you can not work in without a degree, certification, or licensing, even if self-taught. But there are also plenty you can enter with only the knowledge you've learned on your own. Software is a good one; there are plenty of places that will hire a developer even without a degree.
xtagon 6y ago
Nerve-wracking because homeschooling teaches you nothing about career readiness without experience, but that's basically true whether or not you got to spend most of your childhood experimenting with things you actually end up enjoying. For me part of it was luck (lucky that someone took a chance on me and I grew into it from there), but looking back I think putting yourself into a position where you get to practice doing something you're actually passionate about will end up bleeding through into a natural progression/networking. For example, if programming is your hobby before it's your job, by the time you're wanting to interview for a job you will probably already be in some kind of club/group, local makerspace, have friends online who are into game mods, etc. to help get your foot in the door and that's all before you're even college-aged.
- geomark 6y ago
  "...homeschooling teaches you nothing about career readiness without experience..." But homeschooling gives you the flexibility to pursue experiences that would be hard to manage if on a traditional school schedule.

TaupeRanger 6y ago

It's not that simple for the parent-teacher. For 90% of kids, their "interests" are video games, playing with toys, and TikTok if they're older. The hard part is getting your kids interested in things that can lead to an actual education. If you are waiting for your kids to become interested in History in order to teach it to them, most of them would never learn it. You have to do the hard work of making it interesting in the first place.

xtagon 6y ago
You're right that it's not that simple, but to be clear, my parents did teach me stuff like history and they did their best to make it interesting. It just so happened that I enjoyed some topics and activities more than others, and homeschooling can allow for more freedom to adjust to that than would be the case with a strict curriculum.