​A Review of Internship for High School Credit from Apologia Educational Ministries

My children recently started activities that are, for all intents and purposes, internships and yet I did not know how to document them in our homeschool. So we were pleased and relieved when we got the opportunity to review Internship for High School Credit from Apologia Educational Ministries.

What Is It?

This a workbook designed for use by homeschooling parents and their high school age children. The text takes you on a clear, step-by-step tutorial for finding, acquiring, doing, and documenting an internship so that your child receives high school credit for the activity.

How You Use This Book

Much of the workbook is filled with information to read, understand, and use to guide your child’s internship activity so that it may be easily documented by you on a high school transcript. But a good portion of the workbook is designed for your child to fill out, in order to work through the planning and then, most importantly, document his internship activities and progress. In the end, this workbook makes a concise, bound, documentation of your child’s internship experience. You don’t need to create forms from scratch or resume templates. There are even templates for your child’s supervisor to use to evaluate progress and performance.

The beginning of the workbook includes one section which is written for parents and their children to read independently, and one section with information just for parents. Then you get together with your child to explore and map out a plan for the internship course.

Overall, the book will take you and your child through four steps:

1. finding possible internships and narrowing down to one choice
2. getting the internship of your choice
3. doing the work and being an intern at a company
4. documenting progress and activities in order to attain high school credit

The Book Will Help You ‘Find’,

Finding an internship could be a daunting task in a homeschool environment where you are your child do not have the benefit of predefined choices, as many public schools provide. This workbook takes you and your child through the process of learning how to match your child’s interests with potential types of companies and positions.

Choosing an internship can be difficult. This may be the single hardest step anyone takes when entering the adult world. You know what kinds of things you like, but successfully matching those to a productive job can be really difficult. I really liked the clear and methodical manner that this workbook takes as your child (and you) think through possible positions and companies in which to intern.

The Book Will Help You ‘Get’,

The book provides background for you and guides your high schooler through the process of choosing a company based on your child’s interests, writing a resume and letter of introduction, going through an interview, and preparing for your first day ‘on the job’. I especially like that this section includes advice that allows you as the parent to support your child’s efforts. For instance, I don’t think I would have thought about you interviewing your child’s potential company and supervisor. But it really makes a lot of sense to make every effort to ensure the internship experience will be a positive one for your child.

Additional subjects covered in the parent section of the workbook include understanding the child labor laws, how to document the internship on your child’s transcript, and how to set up a goal-oriented grading system. I did not realize that many colleges want to see specific course titles on homeschooler’s transcript and that from year to year, those titles should not repeat. This could be tricky if your child wants to intern at the same company for multiple years, but the workbook provides clear ideas for how to document this scenario.

The Book Will Help You ‘Do’,

The next step is to actually do the work: be an intern. The authors explain in an upbeat and caring manner the concepts of etiquette throughout the workbook. Your child learns how and when to write thank you notes to his supervisor and how to behave both during the interview as well as throughout the internship.

The authors even thought through and addressed the potential frustrations any new intern might have. As I read through the section advising your child that after working a few weeks at the new internship, he may not yet be doing much on his own and may still be shadowing his supervisor or another employee, I recalled my own experiences interning at a veterinary office and the frustration of not knowing how the internship process worked and if I was even doing a good job. This workbook will help your child avoid those experiences and allow him to clearly evaluate and assess his interest in a possible career.

The Book Will Help You ‘Document’

The book does a fantastic job of providing the tools and pages for clearly documenting the internship. Your child will have a space to record his work, hours, and even newly-learned skills. I really liked that each week’s record is framed by questions to guide your child while documenting his internship. The questions help him to record his activities and skills and benchmark those against goals he has set for the course. There are even tips for standing out and exceeding his supervisor’s expectations.

As the week’s progress through the semester, the questions and guidance focuses on more specific aspects of interning and work life. Your child will be guided each step of the way and given clear means to develop clear communication with his supervisor that sets expectations on both sides and makes sure that everyone involved is happy and satisfied at the end of the internship.

How We Liked It

My children are entering high school this year and the question of how to manage an internship for high school credit loomed large in my mind. After reading this workbook through and beginning the process with my daughter, I know that we will be able to turn the work she is just beginning into a successful internship that will allow her to explore a career, and together we will be able to document it and assign her the high school credit.

Read More Reviews of This Product by Other Homeschooling Moms Here…

Products Reviewed By The Homeschool Review Crew This Week

• Internship for High School Credit
• How to HOMESCHOOL with Stunning Confidence, Contagious Joy, and Amazing Focus (DVD & Coursebook)