Homeschoolers are by nature out of the box thinkers.  How couldn’t we be?  We chose to keep our children out of the traditional education system and forge a path of our own!  With this in mind, why would our approach to tackling life after high school be any different?  Instead of jumping right from high school to a college classroom, why not consider a gap year?

Why Choose a Gap Year?

First let me explain what a gap year is.  A gap year is a year long break from your official school years.  It usually falls between graduation from high school and beginning college. This is an opportunity for students to do things like travel,  explore their love for the arts further, pursue semi-pro sports, spend time volunteering for  non-profit organizations, and more.

There are many reasons why a student might chose a gap year and delay their college admittance:

• You might have a child who can’t fathom the thought of jumping in to sit in a college classroom.
• Taking time for language immersion studies
• Or maybe you have a student who is a hands on learner and believes real world experience might be the road they need to travel.
• A love of a certain art or sport might be something they want time to develop.
• Or they might be  a student who doesn’t yet know exactly what they want to pursue.

From the time I was young I knew what I wanted to do with my life and the road was clear, or so I thought.  My parents never saw any option but college for any of their children.

I graduated from high school with lots of college credit and headed off to the college of my choosing.

That lasted a year, a very unhappy year, before I switched gears and chose another college and a different degree course.  I often wonder if I had the opportunity to step back, do something different, if the outcome would have been different.  Unfortunately I didn’t see any other options at that time.

I now have 3 children of my own, with one knocking on the door of her college years.

Will she go to college?  Does she even want to go to college?  If not college, then what?  What options does she have? If she waits to go to college what will she do with herself?  That could mean a year of lounging around the house doing nothing!  (This is not a viable option in my opinion!)

These are the questions we are now asking ourselves and our teenager.  A gap year could offer her new experiences, an opportunity to move beyond our “4 walls” and discover who she is and what she might want for herself.  As I already stated, that does not mean she would get to just take a year off and do nothing.  With that being said, then what?  What can she do with a gap year?

For whatever reason that you and your child might be considering a gap year, there is a company called Praxis that offers your student the option of an exciting real world work experience coupled with an online education to consider for their gap year.

What is Praxis?

Praxis is a 10 month program for students 18+ that offers a combination of  hands on business/entrepreneur experience and online education.

In the Praxis program, participants work 30 hours a week for small businesses across the country where they will both live and work as well as complete 10 hours a week of online education, workshops, projects and assignments.

Tuition for the Praxis program is $12,000.   BUT WAIT!!  All participants earn $10 an hour at their given place of work, (x30 hours x40 weeks = $12,000) so the net cost for the program is $0!

 Meet the People Behind Praxis & Hear Their Stories:

Learn More About Praxis:

Check out the Praxis About Page and Praxis FAQ Page

The upcoming program/enrollment period for the September 2014 – June 2015 class is going on from now through July 1,2014.

Click here to Apply for the September 2014 Program

A quick and easy way to stay up to date with all the news coming from Praxis is to LIKE Discover Praxis on Facebook.  Even if your kids are too young now, you might want to keep Praxis in mind.  You can check out their newsletter on the Praxis Home Page and sign up to receive updates from them.