A gap year is a period of time, typically a year, between years of formal education. Some choose to take a gap year between high school and college, while others might take a break during the college years. During this time, students may travel, volunteer, or work, as they gain life experience and explore the world.
The concept of a gap year is not new; it goes back centuries to the European elites who would finish their schooling and then take a grand world tour, visiting a variety of places, learning about different cultures and languages, and making connections. It fell out of vogue during the Napoleonic Wars, but came back into play in the 20th century. During the 1960s, it became popular in America with the baby boomers. Their theory was that by travelling and learning about other cultures, they could foster world peace.
The gap year often provides flexibility to explore special interests, travel, do an exchange program, or volunteer. For students who may not have the same financial resources, it is also an opportunity to explore career options, work to earn money for college expenses, take a rest from academics, and explore special interests or take a trip. The common thread among nearly all gap years is that they are a time of self-discovery when students can gain practical life experiences that help them make those important future decisions.
Should you take a gap year?
Students looking for more independence will have an opportunity to make their own decisions, manage their own finances and schedule, and cultivate peer connections.
Students looking for cultural experiences and a broader worldview can travel, volunteer with travelling organizations, interact with other cultures, and face new life experiences.
Students who are undecided about their next steps can take some time to explore career opportunities, gain life experiences, explore various fields and interests, and make an informed decision about their future academic or career tracks.
Students looking to cover college expenses without major loans can mitigate those expenses by continuing to live at home and working full time. While this is the least “fun” of the gap year options, it still provides an opportunity for self-reflection, gaining life experiences, and laying a strong foundation for the future.
There are some drawbacks, however, to taking a gap year. Some students may feel left out, as their peers head into college and they do not. Without adequate planning for both the gap year and what happens afterward, students might stall or spend the entire year unwisely, not gaining the experiences they wanted. If there is a lot of travelling involved, there might be a large cost for the year. Finally, after taking a year off, it can be difficult to get back into the academic groove to finish out college, and students may not have the same resources they had (to assist with college planning) in high school.
Gap Year Pros and Cons
Pros Work Experiences Life Skills Cultural Experiences Self-Reflection & Growth Save / Earn Money Explore Interests Rest and Recharge
Cons Feeling Left Out / FOMO Stalling Cost Lack of Structure Difficult to Get Back Potential Lost Time Restricted Resources
One additional pro of taking a gap year is that students will have fodder for all those college and scholarship application essays! However, it is of the utmost importance to spend time responsibly planning the gap year. Map out experiences, break down the months into an ‘experience calendar,’ and research different gap year programs that provide travel, volunteering, and other life experiences. (Caveat – these can be expensive.)
Before heading into a gap year, remember to get copies of transcripts, letters of recommendation, references, and any other academic resources from the school that will be needed during the transition from gap year to a return to academics. If the plan is to return to college, remember to keep that end goal in sight, too. Bon voyage!
The transitional period from middle sets the tone for the high school years and strongly influences post-graduate life. I’ve always told my children that they can course correct, but setting the right course in the first place goes a long way toward a smoother path.
In the public schools, formal transitional planning is provided to all 8th graders entering 9th grade, including psychological, academic, social, and experiential preparations, so that they have an idea of what comes next and how to navigate it. If you’re interested in utilizing the resources schools are providing to students, or at least using them as a jumping-off point, you can download this six-page guide.
Strengthen Areas of Weakness
Every child has his own strengths and weaknesses, and these can be harnessed to form an individualized plan, but it’s also important to note areas of weakness and choose which ones to strengthen during these high school years. Perhaps your child is not as tech savvy as they’d like (or is that just me?) and wants to learn some additional skills. Or maybe they are still socially awkward and want more opportunities to explore friendships, events, and other social situations. Some kids need more experience with writing skills, and this is a good time to take additional writing courses or get one-on-one assistance and feedback to brush up those essays.
Special needs students who have not yet completed a formal IEP and set forth accommodations might undertake this paperwork with their parents, as it can help with standardized testing and other requirements for college entrance. For more specific information on teaching special needs teens, visit Teaching the Special Needs Child and Life Skills for Special Needs Teens.
All students should also take this opportunity to catalog their strengths. Where do they shine? What make them unique? Whether they plan to go to college, into the job market, or are undecided at this point, knowing your own strengths and weaknesses is an advantage…it provides a starting point and allows you to set mini-goals to get to your big goal!
Just because most ninth grade students take algebra, biology, world history, and composition doesn’t mean that your student is ready for those courses yet…or maybe they completed them in eighth grade. One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is that we can tailor each individual subject to our students’ strengths. Maybe they are fantastic at writing, but struggling with math. In this case, you can provide more advanced language arts classes and a slightly remedial math class. (Please remember that, especially with math and writing, it’s more important to master the basics before moving on than it is to academically try to ‘keep up with the Joneses.’)
If you have a student ready for a math challenge, then allow them to take that algebra class in early and count it for high school credit. Two caveats here – first, be sure to note on the transcript that the course was taken in eighth grade, and second, do not use it as a way to skip out of classes later in the high school years. If your student took algebra in middle school, then colleges are going to want to see some advanced math courses in eleventh and twelfth grades.
You can tailor academics with any curriculum, but here’s a walk-through for how to tailor them specifically with the SchoolhouseTeachers.com School Boxes…
Let Your Teen Have a Say
“Do a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Allow your child to choose the coursework he’s interested in, and he’ll enjoy his school day. Granted, you can’t let him choose every single thing, but electives are an easy way to give him that freedom. Once he finds something he loves to learn about, you might find that he works harder at the basics so that he can get to electives!
Another way to foster that independence and feeling of self-direction is to allow them to have more control over their day (scheduling). One of the reasons teens give us attitude is because they are floundering between being an adult and being a child. They want to be the adult, but they still need you to be the parent. It can turn into a real power struggle. Similar to allowing him to choose his electives, allow him to structure his day.
We used responsibility charts – the kids knew what work must be accomplished each day. While there were a few things that had to be done at certain times, they had a lot of freedom about structuring their own day. Math was almost always shoved aside until last, but occasionally one of them did it first, saying “I just want to get the bad stuff done with.” Lessons being learned…and now they are capable of that same discipline and self-regulation in their college studies.
High school is when we begin to transition our students into college life. A big part of that transition is learning time management. As a teen, your student is juggling classes, extracurricular activities, athletics, a part-time job, and friends and family. It can be difficult to remember all of the details!
A good planner works for you and your needs. What is right for one person may not be the best option for someone else, so take a moment to investigate several options and find the one that works best for your student. After they have that planner, allow them to be in charge of their day, set expectations, and give guidance, remain actively involved – have regular meetings with them. These might be daily or weekly, but choose a rhythm that works best for you and your teen.
That said, transitioning to independence doesn’t mean completely letting go of the reins. Teens still need you to be the parent (as do college-students, albeit with a more freedom), and this is not the time to let them fly without a landing spot. When it comes to academics, let them have that freedom and responsibility, but read ahead in their textbooks and syllabi so you know what’s coming up. As the parent, you also know what’s coming up with family and can help them remember to plan for all the things…
Improve Study Skills
Most kids don’t work on note-taking until the high school years, and it’s difficult to remember specific details without good notes. The process of note-taking cements learning further by involving all three modalities of learning. The engage the auditory when hearing the information, the kinesthetic by writing the information (by hand, not computer!), and visual when reading the information again. If this is a new skill for your student or you just want to know why handwriting trumps typing in this case, you can access more specific information on note-taking skills.
The Through the Door: Homeschool to College Success bundle includes several lessons to brush up on specific study skills in addition to inventories, college prep assistance, and life skills for adulting in the early years.
By beginning to work on these five skills during the middle school years, you’ll help pave the way for a successful high school experience and what comes next!
Field trips are just as important now that your students are teens as they were back in elementary school. There’s no need to stop taking them, but you’ll want to change how you approach them…and you can do some pretty interesting things!
Here are some field trip ideas for middle and high school students. There are both local and travel options, ranging from free to need-to-plan-ahead. What are your teens favorite places to visit, and would you add to this list?
After the field trip, take time to debrief. This may be an art project, an essay comparing or contrasting different aspects of the topic, or even a lab report, timeline, or research paper. These last few ideas are perfect for high schoolers doing virtual/simulated science labs, deep-diving into history, or creating a senior thesis or research project. Talk about:
The results or outcomes of the field trip.
What did they know before they went on the field trip? What did they learn?
What new insights can they take from the experience and apply to daily life?
What connections can be made between anything at the field trip with other aspects or topics they’re learning about?
What was the most interesting or fun? Why?
What else would they like to learn about this topic?
Finally, even though these aren’t free, educational subscription boxes are a great way to bring the field trip into your home. Here are some of our favorites!
Need some field trip inspiration? Here are a list of adventures from across the United States – find one for your next local or vacation journey!
Electives are an excellent way to delve into topics and interests – no matter how strange they seem – in your child’s middle and high school years. There’s your typical shop and home economics, but also specifics like aviation or hieroglyphs. Think back…when else did you have so much freedom to explore? As homeschooled teens, the world is their oyster!
Elective classes give them a chance for career exploration, too. Your student may discover that he doesn’t really want to be a veterinarian after all….or that he loves to write!
If you want some inspiration or just a quick-start guide, discover several free downloads of elective course curricula for specialized electives in our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Choosing electives for high school can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. If it’s a class outside of the core curriculum (required courses for graduation), then it’s an elective class. What do colleges want to see? What does your child really need? And how do you know what to pick…?
Electives can be a good way to make high school fun, to bring some moments of levity to a day crowded with the intense courses found in these upper grades, particularly in a college prep scenario. What is your child interested in? Which hobbies does s/he gravitate toward? Are there any career interests yet? This is a good way to let colleges know more about your student, as they see which electives made the cut and ended up on the transcript.
If your student doesn’t know what they want to take and / or doesn’t have a field of interest for a possible future career yet, it might be time to check out a Career Exploration course. The Career Clusters Student Interest Survey is an inventory that helps narrow down your child’s field of interest based on preferences, hobbies, and skills. It takes about fifteen minutes to complete and then shows the top three fields of interest for possible careers. This metric includes sixteen different ’career clusters,’ including jobs ranging from entry-level to professional, and is a great way to determine elective choice!
If you have the opportunity, it will benefit your student to take elective choices aligning with his or her career interests. This will help with determining if that is a good fit (it’s better to find this out in high school than once you’ve paid for that college training!), and will give them some introductory level knowledge, which can be a leg up in the job market.
Have an open discussion about future goals and plans with your high schooler. Are they considering college? Military? Vocational-technical school? Starting a business? Each of these post-graduation paths will benefit from a variety of elective opportunities.
Depending on their future goals, create your high school plan. First fill in your state graduation requirements. Then add in all the interest-based ideas your teen has and work toward filling in the elective, and sometimes the core classes as well, with those interests.
Be sure to check with your local and state laws regarding what is required for graduating from homeschool high school. Note the classes, credits, and other details so that when your student reaches their senior year, your transcript is ready to roll. If you need help, the Sparks Academy School Counselor can help with creating a four-year plan.
Spring and summer are a fantastic time to take your homeschool outside! Hands-on projects can be completed year-round, but during these times, it’s easier to incorporate nature and do big, messy projects. Getting hands-on helps students to become more engaged, involve their senses in learning, and prevent burnout. It also helps to flesh out abstract ideas in a more concrete format, applying difficult-to-understand concepts into a real-world application. This not only helps the student understand more, but also retain more.
Each of these resources is appropriate for middle and high school students. If you prefer family-style teaching, they can be tailored down, or you may eliminate some of the more complicated aspects, for elementary students. Want to create your own hands-on nature study? Download the unit study planner, and get started exploring your family’s interests!
A literature study is a fantastic jumping-off point for further exploration. Pick a topic, read all about it, and then get hands on with the additional projects!
Maybe you’re not quite ready to head outside…or maybe you’re required to have more structured learning. Either way, these curricula incorporate real-world learning projects into the lessons!
Learn about forensic science and methods. Go hands-on with techniques like fingerprinting, collecting shoe prints, and more. Use the same tools the pros use to detect the presence of blood and identify theft suspects. Each box comes with gear that real investigators use along with activities designed to let you learn by doing. Your first box contains a free one-year subscription to our online detective game. Examine the evidence and solve the case.
We search planet Earth for the most interesting forms of matter. Each month we ship fossils, tools, specimens, materials, or artifacts that have been carefully selected as some of the most interesting pieces of matter in our accessible universe. Part museum, part laboratory, perfect for quarantine! Feed your curiosity or spark someone’s else’s. This one is for the kid who knows everything!! It will spark an interest for further research…
Beautiful Discovery kits use visually and kinesthetically engaging patterns of nature to unleash your hidden pattern power and give you STEAM skills. Items include eco-games, art, origami, drag and drop code, models, natural wonders, full color informational cards, full color picture books and booklets, paints and colored pencils, drawing sheets with art lessons on patterns seen in the natural wonders.
Perfect for the student who is hesitant about math, but all about art! This box combines the beauty of nature with real-world math through projects with seashells, crystals, dried leaves, flowers, for their beautiful patterns. There’s even an computer coding element with simple drag and drop block coding that will simulate the patterns seen in the natural wonders studied in each box.
Let’s make science fun one month at a time! A subscription to Spangler Science Club is a guarantee that we’re working together to prepare your young scientist for a future STEM-based career. Choose from one of three levels of hands-on science kits and subscribe to amazing science delivered every month!
With Groovy Lab in a Box, you will receive boxes full of everything you need to learn about and do hands on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiments for ages 8+. We blend Scientific Inquiry and the Engineering Design Process, which allows children to create ingenious inventions, enhance problem solving skills and FUN!
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