My Son loves working with wood

[stillwater]

Hello I am new to this forum and I have joined because I am trying to help my son.

My son is 15 yrs of age, he loves wood, ever since he was quite young he has been interested in making things. we live about an hour and a half from the city centre of adelaide, the options here are limited for him to learn. my son really struggles with school work mostly because he finds his school mates to be immature and rowdy and distracting. The tech teacher at his school is out of action at the moment and he is starving for woodwork ( it is the only subject he really enjoys and achieves in) when he gets home from school he cuts the wood for the fire place and if he is bored he will sit and carve sticks or old branches with a knife until they are smooth, he will sit and sand them back until they are almost polished.

my question is where can we go from here? education wise he is really unhappy and I know he wants to get into a furniture, cabinet making type apprenticeship. Is he too young? is there any courses he can do that will help him become ready for that step?
is there anyone out there who would be willing to take him on as a volunteer for experiance, as work experiance for school or in an apprenticeship perhaps?

My thoughts at the moment are for him to take before and after shots of old furniture we have, strip them and do them up creating a photo album of what he has achieved while also giving him some experiance.

anything that you can suggest will be appreciated.

thanks

[46150]

Stillwater,you may like to try the Riverton Mens Shed to point you and your son in the right direction.They are located at the rear of the hospital, but you will have to make enquiries or maybe Google their opening times. There is a wealth of experience to be had with the members....Hope this helps, Regards......AL

[Dave50]

grab him quick before you lose him to something that is not at all likeable, find a chippy or a builder that will take him under his wing, you go to the local and have a yak to a few folks and find a feller who is willing to basically give him an after school apprenticeship, keep his interests up or it will be drugs and booze for his other choice, the mens shed would be a good starter

[stillwater]

Thankyou both so much, I have chased up a contact number for the mens shed in our area and am awaiting a call back My son is very excited about the concept. Today he has decided to pull apart my mums old garden setting and sand it back with all his love and care to give it a new lease on life. he is planning on taking photos to put in a portfolio to send to a furniture store that makes all its own furniture. At least now we have some direction.

Thankyou!!

[Rattrap]

I'll also give my thumbs up to men's sheds Its where i started out a couple of years ago. If you can find a well equipped shed with a bunch of nice guys your son will learn heaps in a very short time. With the skills he can pic up at a men's shed, when he leaves school he will be miles in front of the thousands of other hopefuls wanting to get into the timber industry. It would also set him up really well if he chose to go to some form of fine furniture school.