Life as a homeschooler is challenging at the high school level. You may require learning skills to become job-ready after the high school stage if further academics are not on your mind. That is why it is advisable to identify your natural calling and pursue the passion with a full heart. Electives can help you make the best of your homeschooling at the high school phase given the systematic approach these offers you in pursuing the subject of your interest.
High School Electives Ideas For Homeschoolers
We bring you here about 20 interesting homeschool electives that you may find fun, engaging, and truly contribute to developing a skill needed at work. Let’s take a look.
- Keyboarding: Office management jobs are incomplete without secretarial support. Secretarial jobs require you to be fast and flawless in your keyboarding skills. Use this elective to have additional skills added to your resume. You may easily be absorbed as a thesis writer or other data entry jobs where word per minute speed really counts!
- Livestock management: Born and brought up in the countryside? You can use the early exposure to animals and livestock in building a career in animal husbandry, poultry farming, etc. by taking up livestock management as a homeschool elective.
- Sales and Marketing: Do you love talking about products and services and managing people? Field sales is the core of the businesses based on consumer goods. Hone your skills in sales and marketing as a homeschool elective and be prepared for several jobs that may utilize your selling skills.
- Painting: Your interest in drawing your ideas onto the canvas can help you become a freelance artist or portrait artist. Explore this art at the high school stage and get the training you need to groom yourself into an accomplished painter. It is one of the best homeschool electives for the creative minds out there.
- Horticulture: Homeschoolers can find a refreshing delight in horticulture as an elective. Staying close to nature offers you a health-filled vent out for keeping depressing feelings at the bay. And, you also learn all about caring and maximizing the output from the house garden or farm and have an additional source of income in hand.
- Theater: Acting allows you to be anyone who you cannot possibly be in real life. The theater is an age-old art form and never goes out of fashion. Taking up theater is best suited for people who love telling stories and playing larger-than-life roles.
- Film-making: Does behind-the-scene action intrigue you? If yes, then film-making is the course for you! This homeschooling elective can help you learn everything about making films and bringing stories to life. You may be absorbed as a creative contributor in production houses or may start a YouTube channel of yours to showcase your work.
- Physical Education: PE is an elective for homeschoolers who want to bring their athletic side to the fore. You can have the required credits needed at college by following it at the high school level. Several clubs and sports recruiters look at the resume for credits in athletics to make a team. It may work as a stepping stone to a career in sports.
- Journalism: Writing, reporting, and exploring truth can be a cushion to a career after high school; journalism as a homeschooling elective provides you with the right opportunity. This elective allows you to get into the courses like journalism or mass media, or you can apply in the newspaper, and print media as a reporter where your earned credits work!
- Health & Wellness: Your interest in managing health and learning about wellness can earn you extra credits. Choose health & wellness as a homeschooling elective and earn in-depth knowledge of the right food, active life, and stress-free living. All these skills may help you start an independent venture as a wellness expert, too, if you want to start working right after high school.
- Foreign language: You may choose French, German, Spanish as an elective at high school stage to add more to homeschooling credits. The choices are not limited to these three languages only. You may enquire about the available options and prepare for the jobs as translator, trainer or teacher, etc.
- History: Are you a sucker for history and want to know what brought the world to its present form? History, as a homeschooling elective, offers you a suitable pretext to absorb all that you can about those events. Get your facts right and be prepared for higher studies by learning history as an elective.
- Coding: The present world belongs to coding. It is now not an option but a necessity if you want to make a career as a developer. Coding is available as an elective for homeschoolers who are programming ninjas and eye at a flourishing career in the IT industry. The extra credits earned at the homeschool level in coding can provide you with a strong base.
- Social Media Marketing: Almost everything is being searched upon, discussed, and shared on social media these days. Learn how to leverage its strengths to help businesses reach a wider audience and grow. Social media marketing tactics can keep you busy and engaged as a homeschooler. You can provide social media marketing consultancy or start a YouTube channel of your own to make it big as a freelancer after completing high school.
- Cooking: Baking, frying, sautéing, etc. – if these terms intrigue you, learn all about those by taking cooking as an elective. This elective is quite fit for those homeschoolers who know how to transform the ingredients into a delectable dish. Take this elective and impress others with your culinary skills!
- Entrepreneurship: If the idea of being your own boss interest you, this elective serves you with the right skill-development support. Learn all legalities attached, the requirements of starting entrepreneurship by doing projects, and reading about the journey of other trend-makers. This elective helps homeschoolers make the best of their free time and acquire the knowledge needed to start a venture.
- Photography: Life behind the camera is quite an interesting one. You can paint the best picture with your lens if you know all about cameras and their tricks. Photography elective acquaints you with technical knowledge. It makes learning more fun by offering you workshops and other learning resources needed for mastering this art.
- Personal Finance: Managing money is a must-know especially when you choose to live all by your own. As a high schooler, you are expected to go out, shop, and also manage a room or house, should you choose to stay alone. Budgeting, savings, and making money work can help you have an established life. All this can be learned by taking personal finance as a homeschooling elective.
- Life skills: Learning life skills comes with loads of advantages. These skills train learners at various levels. Right from covering topics of personal hygiene to developing social skills, you get to learn everything in the life-skill course as an elective. Other advanced skills like laundering, ironing, and taking care of the self or your vehicle allow you to be your best version always.
- Carpentry: Carpentry or woodwork is a practical skill available to homeschoolers for learning as an elective. This skill teaches creating marvels out of the logs and everything about seasoning the wood and other technicalities attached. You can have a repertoire of DIY methods by the end of the course or a diploma in woodwork can be the next thing to consider after high school.
Wrapping up,
Not feeling left out or lagging in skills is the first requirement to stay determined to become independent financially after high school. Also, the credits earned through electives can also help you get through the college degree programs. Research on yourself what interests you and acquire everything needed to be the master of that skill. Homeschooling electives help you hone those skills the way you want and may prepare you for the life journey ahead.
Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.
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