High school is really about creating opportunities. If your teen wants to be a jock, so be it. If they want to be a nerd well, so be it and if the mood suits them and they want to be a party girl well again, so be it. Perhaps not what you would recommend, but it is part of the opportunity to create and craft high school to offer your teen the opportunities they want. They may not realize that high school, like the old commercial for a fast food restaurant can be had their way.
High School can start with a lot of confusion, not knowing where to go, which classes to take or who to hang out with. There are certainly bumps along the road that have to be learned. However, the clever mind can also ask upon entering high school, “What would I like to leave high school knowing?” “What would l like to learn at high school?” This approach will help guide your teen to create opportunities that create more opportunities and obtain a greater appreciation for the resources that high school has to offer. Meaning, you don’t want your teen to discover junior year that the units at an exchange high school in Mexico would transfer not only to high school, but college as well. At this point, the opportunity is missed.
No instead you want to walk in having considered what they did and did not like about middle school, consider things that can and can’t be changed like grades for example or social standing, maybe your teen wants to be an important part of student government, and finally you want to have your teen consider the things that bring them the most joy and creating opportunities to build on that foundation.
Approaching anything how much more high school this way, is great practice for accomplishing life goals. Because if they don’t want to be known as a party girl, a pregnant teen or a person that reacts to what life has offered them, they need to be proactive about the experience they want to have in high school and anywhere else. They need to ask the school to do it their way as much as is humanly possible.
Tags: high school, teen parenting
There are some great scholarships out ther on the internet, here is one I like:
Bridgestone Safety Scholars Contest (Deadline: July 1, 2010)
Scholarship is open to legal permanent residents of the 50 United States and District of Columbia, ages 16 through 21. Website: http://www.safetyscholarsvideo.com/
Help Johnny Scholarship (Apply After: June15, 2010)
This $5000 scholarship is available to any student that is 19 years or under, as of October 25, 2010 and is renewable. Website: http://www.studentscholarships.org/helpjohnny.php
National Foundation for Women Legislators (Deadline: July 30, 2010)
If you are a female High School junior or senior, class of 2010 or 2011, you are eligible to participate. The seven scholarship winners will receive a $3,000 unrestricted scholarship.