Officials from SCVi/iLEAD recommend parents use the “Safer at Home” period to teach children about careers and basic life skills using practical, hand-on lessons.
SCVi/iLEAD High School Director Matt Watson said that with learners studying at home, parents have a unique opportunity to share their work and home duties with their children.
“Maybe right now they learn how to be a mom. How to be a dad,” said Watson. “Are you working from home? They can intern with you, the accountant, or the educator, or the writer.”
One of the main components of the SCVi/iLEAD curriculum involves learning through internships with working adults. Watson believes internships provide opportunities for learners to discover new career paths.
“We’ve known for hundreds of years that the best way to learn is through internships,” said Watson. “In fact, it’s a requirement if you’re going to graduate high school at SCVi that you intern with someone.”
Watson discussed the success his students have found while interning with family friends, parents and other professionals in the community. Specifically, Watson mentioned the achievements of one boy who worked on sound editing projects with his father.
The learner in question is a 10th grader whose father, Watson said, has a professional career doing sound editing for several popular television shows.
Watson said that at the end of the internship, the 10th grader “shared a couple of scenes and the entire (opening) to a TV show that he edited and mixed himself.”
This internship allowed the boy to learn “what’s going to be an extremely successful career for him,” said Watson.
In addition to learning career skills, the SCVi/iLEAD educator said that learners may benefit from working with their parents to gain basic life skills while confined to their homes.
“If they’re old enough, throw cooking duties on them,” recommended Watson. “Maybe this is the time your child discovers a passion in culinary arts.”
For parents who are interested in finding more traditional lesson plans for use in at-home learning, Watson suggested the online resources compiled by SCVi/iLEAD educators. These lessons include project-based assignments, reading lists and webinars.
“Take this time to bond with your children,” Watson said. “Connect with them. Laugh with them. Keep them healthy, happy and curious. I promise next fall we will teach them to carry the one.”