One of my goals in homeschooling is helping my daughters become independent adults. This is going to look different for each one of them as their personalities and interests vary. I have two kids who have decided their life-path at the age of 6 and one who has drifted from one interested to another. With the first two I encourage their dreams, but also try to help them see other options so they do not feel "stuck" in a certain decision as they grow up. With my other daughter I'm encouraging her to pursue specific interests with a little more focus. Neither approach is wrong, it merely reflects the varied personalities the Lord has given my daughters. Still, some guidance can be helpful when thinking about the future, especially as the girls approach high school and eventually college. I was excited to have my 11 and 13-year-olds try out CashCrunch Careers from CashCrunch Games. This online resource gave them an opportunity to see what careers might both interest them and be a good fit for their God-given personalities.
My own middle-school experience of a career test was not a good one. I, who had always loved learning and excelled at academics, was told the best suited job for me was a canning factory or folding cardboard boxes. I think the reason was because I tended to be more introverted, but what an incredible discouragement that was! Thankfully my parents were able to help me see that no test should define my future! It was meant to be a tool and in my case, not a very helpful one. Still, I held out high hopes for our experience with CashCrunch Games and I was not at all disappointed!
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| Beth - 11-years-old, 6th grade |
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| Rose - 13-years-old, 8th grade |
Beth (11) and Rose (13) each took the test. They are quite diverse in personalities and interests. Beth is more thoughtful, likes time alone to organize her thoughts, and loves nurturing. Rose is a take-charge kind of gal, always rising to a leadership role in whatever group she is in and enjoys creating. I set each down separately to go through the career test individually.
First of all I loved the format! Instead of hypothetical situation questions as I've often seen with these types of things you are given 2 words to choose from. You are prompted to choose which of the two most describes you. If you are unsure of the meaning of a word, simply hover over it and a synonymous word will pop up. This was simple and easy. It only took them 15-20 minutes to complete and neither asked for my opinion about the words, which surprised me. We were all excited to view the results!
The Career report is 3 pages of incredibly valuable information including work styles, motivators & de-motivators, attributes, and matching jobs based on this information. Wow! The report is extensive and lest you think it may not be accurate, the work-style pegged each of my daughter's personalities spot-on! They each took turns giggling as we read the different descriptions. The work-styles section is almost like a personality profile and they couldn't believe how well it described them both.
As their homeschooling teacher and mom I found motivators and demotivators section both insightful and useful beyond a career assessment. While I knew some of the information to be true, some of it gave me new insights into my kid and ways to best approach them and their learning.
We had fun looking at the various career options as well. We noted some careers as being the same and had a chance to discuss how both Rose, who is very leadership oriented, and Beth, who is more people oriented, would be good fits for the same job. They thought the fact that "funeral director" was listed was funny, but we talked about what an important job that is and why good people need to fill that spot.
After getting and printing their reports they took some time to explore a variety of careers on the website. I love how they are organized by subject and then many different options are given. Sometimes kids can only think of one job in the medical field, like doctors, but there are so many other wonderful ways to serve in this area! Forty-nine different careers are highlighted in the health services section alone! This is a great way to help give a broader range of career ideas.
At the end of the day I still reminded my daughters that their first priority was to seek the Lord as to their future plans, but this was a wonderful tool to use alongside of that to begin setting a course for what high school and beyond will look like. I highly, highly recommend this for anyone whether you are an adult seeking a career move or still in grade-school and looking towards the future.
Some other resources from this author are the free CashCrunch 101 games and Paul Vasey's course on SchoolhouseTeachers.com, Personal Finance in Bite-Size Chunks. You will find both to be valuable and fun ways to teach your kids about managing their own finances in the future!
You will absolutely want to see more review from my Crewmates!
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