Many homeschool students take advantage of their unique schooling situation to pursue experiences that set them apart from their peers. In the process, they develop an enviable resume. While most won’t need a formal resume until college, I’ve found building a student resume that documents these experiences from upper elementary through high school is extremely helpful.
There’s nothing worse than trying to reconstruct the past for applications. Did I start volunteering there three years ago or four? What exactly were my responsibilities at that job? It seems you only have to do this when you’re tired and it’s late at night. I’m speaking from personal experience. Having gone through that in my past was probably the impetus for having my kids start early.
The resume that my children started in elementary school and have updated each semester are not formal resumes. These very basic resumes are an ongoing list of their activities and achievements. Each of them has a document that they simply update three times a year.
When to Update Resumes
- At the beginning of the school year
- Mid-school year
- At the end of the school year
When they first create their resume, it might take a little time and guidance. After that though, all they need to do is go into the document and add anything new. This usually takes less than five minutes. If you’re on a regular schedule of updating it, you don’t forget items accomplished over the summer or during either of the school semesters.
Items to Include
You can include whatever you want but here are some examples:
- Sports – team or individual
- Musical or Artistic Endeavors
- Youth Leadership Programs
- Service-Learning Projects
- Citizen Science Projects
- Volunteering
- Certifications (Babysitting, First Aid, etc)
- Awards
Note that this list is not a transcript of courses taken each year.
Your student’s resume may only have one item on it this year. Not to worry. It will grow. The student will want to add to it and take pride in it.
I don’t want you or your student to get all stressed out about this. Start small. Explain the purpose of this to your student and frame it well. Basically, you tell them it’s just a list of accomplishments… and that their future self will be extremely grateful for this list.
Building a homeschool student resume might also give you a nudge to help your student pursue a few resume-worthy activities. Think creatively. You want to match their talents and interests with opportunities. And sometimes you have to make those opportunities happen.
These student resumes are the foundation for an official resume when it’s eventually needed. Equally as important though, they contain information that needs to be included on applications.
Applications
Here is a listing of applications that my children have completed which required information from their student resume:
- Teen Volunteer Positions
- Part-time Employment
- Internship Opportunities
- Community College Applications (especially if under 17 when applying)
- College Applications
- College Entrance Essays
None of these opportunities required a formal resume. But they did require listings or descriptions of activities and achievements with dates.
There will be information on the student resume that gradually becomes less important. What helps them for high school pursuits will be less pertinent for college. That babysitting certification may help with a high school position but will fall by the wayside later. And certain items can be condensed. For example, five years of volunteering on a variety of different monitoring programs for the county park system could be condensed into ‘five years of assisting with citizen science projects’ if it’s not particularly relevant except to demonstrate community involvement.
Have your students recognize all those extra wonderful and amazing things they do. Building a homeschool student resume will give their self-esteem a boost. And, I promise you, this ongoing documentation is a tremendous help as they progress into high school and beyond.
