Teaching your teen life skills is a huge part of not only raising your teen but of their academic life as well. Just as we teach our children about history, and help them explore the various sciences, we need to teach our teens the essential skills they need to go out and thrive in the world.

Things like pumping gas, learning to drive, opening bank accounts, cooking, cleaning, taxes, interviewing, and SO much more!

Teach Teen Life Skills as a High School Elective

The cool thing about teaching your teen life skills is that you can count it as a high school elective! Yup! You heard me correctly! Life skills as high school electives is a real thing!

Even from the time they were young, life skills has been something we weave into our daily lives with all of our children. It begins small, with age appropriate chores around the house. Things like putting away their books or toys. Then into things like using safe cleaning products to wipe something down, or vacuuming.

As tweens things like cleaning the bathroom and doing laundry. When they get into their teens the life skills start to step outside the household chores to things like applying for a checking and savings account, getting a license and learning to drive, budgeting, and more.

Thrive Academics – Voyage

Voyage (from Thrive Academics) is an affordable (just $60 for a full year of access) program. that helps teens learn things about themselves and their purpose, and to complete life skills tasks such as writing checks and applying for a driver’s license all while also earning high school elective credit (the course is .5 credit).

{I received free access to Voyage and was compensated for my time in writing this review.  All views are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. Please see my full Disclosure Policy for more details.}

Voyage is a dynamic, fully animated program designed as a semester course for high school students. It walks your teens through many life skills they will need as they prepare to enter college, the workforce, and life outside of your home.

5 Modules in Voyage

There are five modules immersed with life skills and lessons to prepare for the next stage of life after high school.

Within each of the 5 modules you will find a Resources Tab (upper right hand corner when you are in the course). This tab contains a multitude of printable pdf activities for the module your student is working on.

Beyond the module content itself, and the pdf printable activities, each module also has a 10 question final exam that must be passed with an 80% or higher to complete the module. The quizzes are graded within the module, and you can run a report for the grades.

1.  Who I Am

In this first module teens will identify their purpose, brand, and strengths, and work on setting SMART goals and a vision for their life.

Below are the topics they will work through:

• Purpose and Passion (Includes figuring out your purpose statement)
• Strengths (Skills profiler)
• Personal Brand (creating a brand crest that includes values, passions, and traits)
• Vision (Learn what a vision is; engage in activities to help student think about their own vision)
• My SMART Goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely)
• My Mission (creating an action plan based on the topics above)

2.  Career Planning

Module 2 is all about career planning including: career assessment profiler, researching careers, filling out a job app, writing a cover letter and resume, and attending a virtual job interview.

Below are the topics in order with some of what your student will find within them:

• Career Profile (finding your career path, O*Net Building, and Notetaking)
• Your Career Profile (job vs. career, comparing careers, career comparison chart, occupational videos)
• Higher Education (plus student networking)
• Building Your Resume (essential application steps, resume sections, cover letter, job search, and examples)
• Virtual Job Interview (walks your student through an interview with step-by-step suggestions)

3.  College Planning

Module 3 contains everything from researching the right schools, applying to college, applying for financial aid to life on campus and setting their school schedule.

These are the topics and activities students work through in Module 3:

• Researching Schools (College Readiness Fair – provides information about 2-year/community college, 4-year university & tech/trade school based on your student’s career aspirations, selecting your major, in-state vs. out-of-state schools, side-by-side comparisons)
• Applying to School (tips & ideas, practice application, application checklist)
• Financial Aid (scholarships, grants, loans FAFSA)
• Getting Accepted (selecting classes, scheduling classes, reading a map, college transcripts, housing, buying textbooks)
• Campus Life (clubs and organizations, college sports, transportation costs, getting an internship, socializing and partying – making responsible decisions)

4.  Financial Responsibility

Module 4 is all about financial responsibility, covering topics such as opening a bank account, balancing a check register, online banking, taxes, interest, managing a budget, and financial responsibility.

Here are the lessons taught in Module 4:

• Types of Accounts (checking accounts, check writing, online banking, check/debit card, ATM, balancing accounts, savings account, interest, retirement)
• Understanding Credit (introduction, FAQs, maintaining good credit, credit scores, credit cards & fees, interest)
• Financial Responsibility (introduction to taxes, W-4 form, filing deadline, W-2 form, filing options, reading paychecks, tax resources, paying bills, disputing a fee)
• Budgeting Basics (needs vs. wants, calculating income, create a plan, money saving tips)
• Student Loans (understanding loans, types, amoritization, repayment)

5. Everyday Living

Module 5 covers tasks of everyday living where students will learn about everyday responsibilities including health and safety, balanced nutrition, renting a house/apt, completing forms for a doctor’s visit, applying for a driver’s license, navigating airports, and much more!

Here are the topics covered in Module 5:

• Personal Health (healthy eating on a budget, activity, fitness, creating a fitness plan, sleep, personal hygiene, health insurance FAQ, doctor visits)
• Travel (preparing for your trip, at the airport, on the flight, enjoying your trip)
• Home and Vehicle (driver’s license, getting a vehicle, housing, roommates)
• Communication (making a good first impression, body language, talking, listening, healthy relationships, social media)

My Thoughts on Voyage for Teaching Teen Life Skills

1. It’s not just videos

Voyage goes beyond students watching videos and regurgitating information back. For example when learning about Travel, specifically in the Home and Vehicle section, they are given a sample Driver’s License Form to fill out. Voyage takes them through it and then has them print a sample from the Resources in the top right corner to fill out themselves.

2. Designed for Independent Learning

I think it is important in the high school years that kids take control of their education. We strive for them to be completely independent in their learning, keeping themselves on task and working through their studies with minimal help.

Voyage is designed for students to do on their own:

• All the information is given in a clear and engaging way.
• The pathway is clearly laid out for them to follow.
• All printable resources are within their corresponding lessons so they can easily find what they need.

3. Confidence for Mom

Voyage from Thrive makes it easy for me to feel good about the life skills being taught to my teen. While I could definitly teach my children all of this (and I do still engage them in this skills in real life), this gives me the structure to help me feel confident that we are covering a wide variety of useful topics.

I never would have thought about doing Airport but Voyage covers this too! Including things like navigating the airport, check-in, security, finding your gate, boarding, and even steps for when you are inside the plane.

Freebie & Giveaway

Equip your student with the skills needed to thrive as an adult. This unique e-book contains a series of checklists designed to help your student systematically develop skills that will prepare them for independent living, time management, employment, and more.

Thrive Academics is giving away their Voyage course to five lucky winners. Each winner will receive a 1-year subscription for Voyage! Enter in the giveaway widget below!

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