There are tons of course options available to homeschoolers! Sometimes we can forget how many there are for our kids to choose from. Are you teaching an occupational education class in your homeschool? There might be another credit you can add to the list. If your child loves to spend time painting nails or trying out hairstyles from Pinterest and just enjoys all things having to do with beauty, you might consider cosmetology for high school credit!
Occupational Education: Cosmetology
On the transcript, you can call the elective class “Occupational Education: Cosmetology.” Some public high schools offer classes like this, and you can, too! We homeschoolers have unlimited options for electives. While public schools are limited by the interests and abilities of teachers, we can create any elective class that interests our child. Even a class in beauty skills!
Consider putting together different “unit studies” for areas that your child is interested in. You could include units such as massage, hair care, nail art, skin care, and makeup. You can pick up books about each subject at your local library or get all the information you need online. Since this class is delight based, no textbook is needed. Just keep track of the hours spent practicing new styles, researching techniques, gathering products, improving hygiene, or anything cosmetology related to determine credit and include it on your transcript. Once you have about 120-180 hours of beauty-school style training, it counts as a whole credit.
This class is particularly fun to do with friends or siblings! Trying crazy braiding trends, makeup looks, or nail art is way more fun when friends are involved. Some techniques are easiest to master on another person before trying it on yourself. Especially if your child aims to be a professional stylist one day, getting “behind the chair” experience can be very beneficial.
Class Titles and Course Descriptions
While we don’t have to restrict ourselves to the classes public schools offer, they can give us some ideas. Cosmetology classes are offered in public high schools. Here is an example: Cosmetology Education in High School.
With delight directed learning classes, it can be even more important to create a course description to include with your transcript than regular core classes. I have a free training class on course descriptions that you can take to learn more about how to do that: Homeschool Records That Open Doors.
A great pre-written example is the Chantilly Academy in Virginia. They have a class at their high school with a marvelous course description that you can modify to use for your own homeschool. Course Description for Cosmetology. Cloudinary also has a very thorough document of some great course descriptions you can get inspiration from!
Delight directed learning is a great way to include high school credits on your transcript and as homeschoolers, we have endless options to choose from! Delight directed learning can help a child who isn’t “bookish” graduate high school and still preserve their love of learning. If they love what they are learning, they will love to learn!
Do you know anyone who has taken a high school cosmetology course or other occupational education class? Please share and encourage others!
