Unschooling and Future STEM Career
Q: My 13 year old son is leaning toward a career in science - specifically paleontology. What do you do when you've read all the library books on dinosaurs? But how do I help him gain the math and science he'll need for that kind of degree?
A: Lots of changes happen during this adolescence period. And sometimes we would have bet our last dime that our kid was going to go in one direction, only to have something shift and suddenly he's on some completely different
path! So I want to invite you to hold onto that big goal of "paleontologist" loosely - with plenty of room to pivot, add to the list of curiosities and see where it takes him!
That being said, to answer your 2 questions... first about how to find more dinosaur info. My Go-To resource is a Facebook group called: My Unschooler is Interested In...
Lots of unschoolers over there with very creative minds on how to expand your exploration - on any topic really!
About how Unschoolers can get what they need in the STEM area for a future career - they continue to do what they've always done! Play with science, technology, engineering and math! The more a person plays with the topics that intrigue them, the more they really internalize the concepts. And that's the BEST way to have future success with an abstract class or topic. Having a pile of knowledge that you know the "ins" and "outs" of, gives those abstract topics something to hook into. Concrete examples where the learner is has experience and familiarity with it all. That's why kids can have a hard time with subjects that have too much abstract info too soon, before they've had an opportunity to amass their own unique pile of knowledge. They have nothing to "hook" it onto, and it drifts away.
A lot of families feel like kids need to start to buckled down at this age - especially if they are leaning toward math or science careers. They don't have to though! Continuing to live a full rich FUN life helps them gather what they need. And while some kids may like moving toward an Outschool class or something local, many are happy to watch YouTube videos and continue to wallow in the wonderfulness of pursuing their curiosity in a more organic way. Most 13 year olds are not really interested in taking a class to "get them ready" for something else down the road. From a growth and development standpoint, that's not really where they are at all! And if they're not interested, the likelihood that they'll retain much is pretty small. Even if you're worried that they need "basics" - they can get that in every day life or take a community college course in a few years to get them ready for their math or science degree. There's no rush because there's no finish line!
I get it... there's a lot of pressure to push the kids at this age into "getting serious" about their studies. But with mine all older now (32, 30, 27) I can tell you with confidence that if you get the slightest bit of resistance on something you're suggesting, it's time to look at your own motivations for the choice.
Depending on where you live, that community college experiences can start at 16, 17, 18 or later! It's not a competition for who gets there the fastest. There's no hard-and-fast timetable.
I'd continue to play with the ideas that interest him. He doesn't really need to focus on prep work for the future - doors will not close. He'll still be able to pursue whatever he wants when the time comes.