Customizing coursework for careers without college is relatively simple. Since you have already decided that college isn’t in your child’s future, you don’t have to worry about jumping through those hoops. Transcripts become unimportant. You have the freedom to take your child’s interests into account as you plan his coursework. It literally opens up a whole new homeschool world.
Once we decided that Logan would take a gap year to shore up some deficiencies, we were able to relax quite a bit. I encouraged Logan to really think about his interests. What does he envision himself doing for a career? What has God placed on his heart as a calling? If he didn’t know the answer to that then I encouraged him to pray for God to reveal the answer. He pretty much knew what he wanted to do. It was just a matter of putting it into academic form for him.
Although Logan may indeed go to college on a limited basis for a time to adjust, we have adjusted his coursework to include some non college ideas. Perhaps he could use his knowledge of reptiles to start his own business. A career in horticulture may be in order. I certainly want him to know the intricacies of entrepreneurship. It is a definite option for anyone in this day and age.
We have been able to explore this option by allowing him to have snakes at home to breed for expos. I am not a fan of snakes. Blech! I am a fan of encouraging my child to pursue his passions. I am a fan of finding something for him to be successful at in order to live as independent life as possible. By putting college on hold, we have been able to spend some time learning about snake behavior. We’ve learned how to properly identify snakes, how to care for them , and my absolute favorite (NOT!) , how to successfully breed them. All of this would not have been possible if we had focused solely on college.
For our kids with autism, we have to think outside of the box. We have to come up with alternate ideas for them to make a living. Is your child a great artist? Can your child play piano or another musical instrument? Look at your child’s strengths to find out what career would work for them. Use this time in high school to explore those skills . Don’t be afraid to do something revolutionary. You may make a world changer.
