10 Things Every Teen Should Do (Before the GED)

Students must be age 17 or older to take the GED®, so parents of younger teens often wonder what they should do in their secondary level years.

Our article, What to do Before the GED gives recommendations of curriculum options that you can use to prepare for the four subjects that the GED tests, but those four subjects are definitely not the only things on which students should spend their time!

Since 17 is also very young to be ‘finished’ with the school stage of life, this is a good time to help them explore their interests and develop skills that will be useful as they start to venture into the adult world.

Many home educating parents also find that their teens have a lot of free time on their hands and rather than having them spending it on unhealthy, even addictive activities like consuming social media and excessive online gaming, they need ideas to challenge and ‘stretch’ their teens.

Make no mistake, while home educators usually have good, strong relationships with their teens, these years still present challenges as you negotiate giving children greater freedom and responsibility (or taking it back again if they prove to be irresponsible with their time management!)

Here are ideas for activities to help your teens develop new interests and spend their valuable time on activities that will enrich their lives or help them to discover new interests, new talents or even more about their likes and dislikes. Sometimes they need to try something to discover what they don’t want to do with their time!

10 Things to Do Before the GED

Actually, 10 Things Any Secondary Schooler Should Do

3. Take online courses on subjects that interest them. These can be non-traditional subjects and could even lead to future career paths. Some kids are interested in things like health and nutrition, photography, composting and permaculture, knife-making or you-name-it! At sites like Udacity.com, Udemy.com, Allison.com and others you can find courses in almost anything under the sun.
You can also select courses that will be useful in their future careers and look good on a CV!

4. Take up a new sport, hobby or join a club or a class in your community. Challenge your teen to get outside their comfort-zone, if necessary. Starting a new activity will build your child’s character, develop new skills and expand their network of relationships. Sometimes hobbies and sports lead to career paths too!

5. Find a part-time job. Let them write a CV, experience applying for jobs and going for interviews. Starting a job will help them see what it’s like working for a boss or manager, having to be punctual and responsible. They’ll discover the pros and cons of that specific workplace. At the same time, they will develop skills that every business values, such as communication skills, working in a team, how to market, how to sell, how to work with people and how to deal with workplace relationships! Let them see first hand what the career prospects are in that field.

6. Volunteer at a community-based organisation. It’s important to encourage our teens to learn to serve and not just to ‘take’. They have time and skills that others will appreciate and this can help to build a child’s sense of purpose. By volunteering, they will build a network of relationships with others in the community, who will get to know them, trust them and appreciate their help. They can build up valuable testimonials for their CVs and references to present to future employers or future clients and customers if they start their own business.

7. Start a business and learn about entrepreneurship. Experts say the best time to start a business is while you are a teen, still living with your parents, before you have financial and relationship obligations. If your business fails, it doesn’t cost you your mortgage and your marriage and you get a priceless learning experience. If it works, you have a head start, as your living costs are still low! 

8. Coach younger children in something they are good at. This might be a sport, music, hobby or anything else! Not only will they experience the joy of sharing something they love, they could earn some money from it too. They will also get valuable experience such as marketing, engaging with parents or prospective customers, doing admin, lesson planning or whatever goes with that activity. They will soon discover if they enjoy this kind of work or not!

9. Investigate future career paths. Get your children to research the admission requirements for further training or study in the fields that interest them. Learning to research all the options, to shop around for the best prices and opportunities and to evaluate and compare them are all valuable life skills. Don’t do it for them. Let them learn these skills they will need as adults.

10. Job-shadow, intern or be apprenticed. Your child can get valuable experience and training in the field of work in which they are interested. Spending time with someone on-the-job can help them to decide if this is the correct career path for them or not. It also helps them to build connections in that field. A girl we know job-shadowed at a law firm in 2018 and they then offered to pay for her studies.

Practice touch-typing daily. There are various free online typing courses that teach touch-typing, such as Typingtrainer.com. In the economy of the 21st century, this is an invaluable, time-saving skills to have. It is also a good skill to develop for taking the GED tests, where students must type an essay in a 45-minute language test.

Encourage your teens to explore as many of these activities as they can. These activities will offer them valuable experiences which they can list of their CV and which will also serve them well if they choose self-employment in the future.

Many of them will give them experience in the marketplace of the adult world, which they could never have experienced in a school classroom. It will broaden their life experience, give them wisdom and insight and help them as they navigate their futures.