Life skills: Middle to high school
Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers
Author: Barbara Frank
Publisher: Cardamom Publishers
For more information or to order:
www.CardamomPublishers.com
"So much to do, so little time." Or, so much to instill so little time. That's the feeling that inspired Barbara Frank to write
Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers, a resource for teaching life skills to teenaged students. The author wished to reinforce family values and instill financial and worldview principles for her teenage children before they left home as adults.
The two components of
Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers are a reading list and a set of projects, designed to expose teens to principles, skills, and information needed by most adults.
The reading list consists of nineteen recommended books and other resources, covering living (life and worldview), financial freedom, investing, and the working world. Included are materials by respected secular authors such as Dale Carnegie, and Christian authors such as James Dobson and Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.
Life Prep also outlines twelve research projects involving credit, automobiles, health insurance, living expenses, budgeting, mortgages, and taxes. For the college-bound student, there is a project dealing with writing a college application essay. The projects are practical, hands-on exercises using real-life materials, and most of them involve active research by the student.
The lessons are designed to be used flexibly. The author suggests reading and projects for both work-bound and college-bound teenagers. She gives concrete suggestions for customizing Life Prep for your individual child, recommending books and projects for a "bare minimum" if you have very little homeschooling time left, or for greater depth if you plan to use it over the course of two or more years.
For most of the projects you will need Internet access, available at public libraries if you don't have access at home. Not every part of every lesson may be at your disposal (e.g., hospital or pharmacy bills to evaluate for the Health Insurance Project), but the students will still learn a great deal even if they skip an activity from the projects. Just as you can pick and choose projects for your student to complete, you can also choose which project activities you'll use.
High school students will likely find these projects meaningful and relevant, as they teach something students this age are eager to learn: what you need to know to live on your own.
P.S. - Many young (and not-so-young) adults may find this resource useful, too!
Making the grade: A
Price: $19.95
Value for your homeschool dollar: 9
Reviewed by Marcy Schaller, homeschool mom of 2
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