I remember when we first were thinking about homeschooling our kids. We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of other homeschool families. One of the things that intrigued me about one particular family was the way that they allowed their children to seek out and work in internship programs. These programs helped them develop their talents and decide if it was really a career path that they wanted to follow. I toyed around with this idea with my oldest. We pursued some things that interested him, but I really didn’t know how to search out a real internship program for him. Now that our other two biological children are getting older and we also have three other awesome foster children the topic of internships has come up again. This time, however, we have a wonderful book by Apologia Educational Ministries titled Internship for High School Credit.
Let me tell you that, since I have this book, I am not going to have any problem with searching out, applying for, or even using this experience for high school credit. This book has all of the answers and takes you through the process step by step. It even has a workbook section for the student to better utilize and learn from this exposure to his chosen field.
After a short introduction and “How to use this Workbook” section, there are five parts to this book. Part one is titled “Getting Started” however, despite what the title says, it is much, much more than that. It is a step by step guide to everything that you need to do to apply for an internship. I am very impressed by how thorough this section is! At first it talks about how to determine what type of internship you are interested in. It even has a section that helps you think about a field if you don’t even know what you want to do with your life yet. It then goes on to talk about choosing a company, preparing to contact that company, and the extra things that you might need to do and take into consideration if you want to receive high school credit. There are a lot of things involved in claiming high school credits for an internship that I didn’t realize. I am glad that they included this section. Next after choosing a company
Internship for High School Credit teaches your student how to write a résumé and write a letter of introduction to the company. Really these are skills that any student needs to know even if they aren’t applying for an internship! Finally, there are tips on how to act during an interview and how to get ready for the first day. Whew! I told you that the first section was thorough!
However, if you thought that the first section was thorough, wait until you read about the next section! Part two talks about what a parent needs to know. This section provides information on so many things that I didn’t even think of. Things like Child Labor laws and how a parent needs to be proactive in helping their child choose a good internship location. I like how, since this book is written from a Christian perspective, how this section talks about choosing a company that is going to line up with your worldview. Finally, this section gives a lot of great information on how a parent can use this internship to give their child high school credits.
Parts Three and Four are in workbook form and helps the student keep track of his goals and how the internship is going. The questions that are asked each week are tremendous. They really help the student think about what is going on so that this isn’t just a “job” but a real internship that is helping them get the most from this experience and evaluate if this is something that they really want to pursue in life. Part Three is for the first semester of an internship and contains charts, questions and hints for the student to fill out, answer and read. It also includes an end of the semester work performance and an evaluation of what skills were learned during the semester. Part Four is for the second semester of a year long internship. It is very similar to Part Three, but instead of questions it contains in-depth activities for the student to complete that helps them dig deeper into the field that they are working in order to get the most from their experience.
Part Five is a course Wrap-up section that includes a final writing assignment, writing a thank-you letter to the company, updating your résumé and asking your supervisor for a letter of recommendation.
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