Ages 14-18: Real Skills for Real Life
Not credits - competencies. You demonstrate mastery before you graduate.
Oil change, tire rotation, brake inspection
File taxes, budget, invest
Safe handling, storage, ethics
Garden, preserve, compost
20 recipes from scratch
Build furniture, use all tools
Algebra, geometry, statistics
World history, multiple narratives
Hands-On Activity: Each student brings in family car (with permission). Learn to check all fluids, change oil and filter, check belts and hoses. This is the foundation - every graduate can do this.
Hands-On Activity: Learn to safely jack car, remove tires, rotate according to pattern. Patch a flat tire. Check tire pressure and tread depth. No one should be stranded by a flat.
Hands-On Activity: Remove wheels, inspect brake pads and rotors. Replace pads. Understand braking systems. This is critical safety knowledge.
Hands-On Activity: Use diagnostic tools to read engine codes. Troubleshoot common issues. Understand how modern cars work. Students who complete this can diagnose their own check engine lights.
Hands-On Activity: Open real checking/savings accounts. Track spending for a month. Create budget. Understand checking accounts, debit cards, online banking. Start good habits now.
Hands-On Activity: Use real tax forms (1040EZ, 1040) with sample W-2s. File taxes. Understand deductions, credits, why we pay taxes. By senior year, file your own taxes with parent supervision.
Hands-On Activity: Understand credit scores - what helps, what hurts. Simulate loans: car loan, student loan, mortgage. Calculate interest. Learn how debt works before you sign anything.
Hands-On Activity: Open small investment account (with parent). Research stocks, bonds, index funds. Make small investments. Track performance. Understand compound interest - the most powerful force in finance.
Hands-On Activity: Run a school-based business. Use algebra to model profit, predict sales, adjust pricing. Create spreadsheets with formulas. Algebra isn't abstract - it's what keeps your business profitable.
Hands-On Activity: Design and build something - shed, stage, playhouse. Calculate angles, areas, volumes. Use Pythagorean theorem daily. Geometry is what keeps buildings standing.
Hands-On Activity: Conduct surveys. Analyze data. Understand what statistics really mean - and how they can lie. Learn to evaluate claims based on data.
Hands-On Activity: For students who choose advanced math, learn calculus through real physics problems - motion, growth, change. Not abstract formulas but descriptions of how things change.
Hands-On Activity: Instead of textbook, study history through objects. Handle reproductions of tools, pottery, weapons. What can objects tell us about how people lived? Create museum exhibits.
Hands-On Activity: Study major events through documents from different perspectives. Colonization: read Spanish accounts, indigenous accounts, African accounts. Civil War: read Union, Confederate, enslaved, women's accounts. History is never simple.
"A People's History of the United States" - Howard Zinn
"An Indigenous Peoples' History" - Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"The New Jim Crow" - Michelle Alexander
"March" (graphic novel trilogy) - John Lewis
Hands-On Activity: Choose current issue. Research multiple news sources, including international. Identify bias. Write analysis. Present multiple perspectives. Learn to be informed citizen.
Every senior completes a community project demonstrating all their skills.
Create something useful for community
Share a skill with younger students
Portfolio of process and learning
Change a tire, fix a toilet, patch drywall, cook dinner
File taxes, invest money, budget, understand credit
Garden, preserve food, live sustainably
Question sources, see multiple perspectives, analyze critically
Gun safety, first aid, emergency response
Run meetings, organize projects, teach others