A person with an education focused on science, math and engineering has a much greater chance of future economic stability than a person with an education based on psychology, history, literature or cultural studies.
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These are just two videos out of hundreds with similar themes. Science and engineering is in demand! Just thinking about how money is spent, this makes perfect sense. Personally I am willing to spend money on transportation, computers, housing repairs, and technology. All of these things require engineers. In addition, I'm willing to spend money on medical care. After all, if I'm not healthy, I can't do what I want. Therefore, health comes first. Although I certainly purchase my share of books and visit plenty of museums, those things are secondary when it comes to my money.
Reading, writing and math are the most important subjects in our school because I believe they are fundamental skills. We spend 2 to 3 hours each morning focused solely on them. Our afternoons are filled with music, language, physical education, art, crafts, science and history. Although these are all important subjects and none should be skipped, they can be prioritized based on interests and how knowledge of them may impact future success.
This is our third year as participants in a history co-op and the kids and I have learned so much. History has definitely been a top focus of our secondary subjects over the past three years and I wouldn't change that.
Looking forward, our personal focus needs to shift from history towards science. My husband and I both have engineering degrees and I have no doubt my son will some day be an engineer too. Although I'm not so sure about the girls, studying more science will be a good focus for our time. We will continue to study history as we have studied science over the past three years, but our time spent exploring history vs science needs to shift. Time is our primary limiter. Unfortunately there are so many projects to do that there isn't time for everything.
With respect to science, I hope to set-up tinkering lab in the future which would contain items such as:
pile of wood
boxes of nails
safety glasses
tools
PVC pipes and connectors of various sizes
pile of cardboard
tape
glue gun
I've made notes of many projects to do involving engineering on my Pinterest boards thanks to all of you:). For the short term, we will continue our in-depth history studies, but looking forward, I hope to do more engineering exploration.
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I love your science and engineering posts, Julie, so I'm looking forward to following along here and on Pinterest as you increase the emphasis on them!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more science posts.
ReplyDeleteIt's prudent to consider the economic viability of our children in the future. I'm looking forward to reading more of your science and engineering posts!
ReplyDeleteMy dad is an engineer and was always trying to get me to go into that field. In retrospect, I think that would have been a great move! :)
ReplyDeleteI have a history degree and even when we were in school we joked that it was "pre-unemployment" - but I was too dumb to reconsider my major. I loved it, but it wasn't going to pay the bills long term. Thankfully, I married a guy (with an engineering degree AND a history degree) who is happy for me to stay at home and handle household/schooling activities, which utilizes my background at least a little. Your points are really practical, although I think they are hard for some of us to hear. We hope to encourage our kids to pursue useful degrees and we also intend when they are older to get them some experience in the skilled trades (mechanic, carpentry, etc.) so that they have useful abilities to fall back on.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you for your honesty.
DeleteWe're slowly shifting our focus this year, as well, and trying to implement more science. It's hard, because, frankly, science is more expensive than history, with projects and labs and equipment and the like. But, I have one who is very science minded, and another who just needs more exposure, so we're definitely shifting.
ReplyDeleteScience is always more difficult for me to teach because it is so open ended. It's about exploration and discovery. In addition, it often required trinkets we don't have, so a trip to the store is necessary. I prefer simple planned lessons with a beginning and end so we can move forward on a schedule. But........ I'll just have to adjust.
DeleteThose majors are really interesting. Hopefully my kids won't have to go to college! We'll see :) Thanks for sharing this at Mom's Library!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing where your new focus takes you! I do think there is more to our homeschooling journey than just the end goal of a degree that will possibly produce a high-paying job, but I do understand your points.
ReplyDeleteI hope I didn't give the impression that a high-paying job was the only goal of our homeschool. There are many goals on multiple levels. Some are: inspire the kids to learn about many different topics, develop an appreciation for people who are different than they are, as well as become independent and self-supporting adults. Being able to support oneself financially must be considered. Since some jobs do that better than others, and we have choice about what we study, we should follow interests as well as society demands - especially if they are one in the same. Today engineering skills are in demand, so I think at a minimum level we should spend time exploring the skills required to become an engineer. Although there are many engineering careers available, it would be sad if everyone became an engineer. The world is a big place and we all need some variety.
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