Prepare Your College Bound Teen
For me, one of the greatest gifts and responsibilities about being a parent is helping shape my children’s futures. My husband and I take this very seriously. I didn’t have that guidance in my life and it left me to be aimless for many years.
I attended college for less than a year when I graduated from high school. I didn’t finish my degree until I was 47 years old. I want my children to learn from me and to take their future seriously. I want them to have a clear path of how to get into college, how to pay for it and what they want to study.
When preparing your teen for college, what resources have you tapped into? I have a great relationship with my daughter’s teachers, and they have helped steer us in the right direction. But with a little over a year before she graduates, we need a more solid plan in place.
I have found a fountain of wonderful information from the Parent’s College Checklist for my college bound teen, which was provided by the provided by the Honor Societies. We have paired that with discussion about the 5 key pillars from the Honor Societies; Leadership, Character, Service, Scholarship and Citizenship.
We are taking advantage of the upcoming winter break to work on some of these pillars. With the holidays, it is a great time to do some service in our community. Caitlin is in her robotics club at school and is on the Business Leadership team. This is a great role for her to play to prepare her for her future in the business world.
Currently, the National Honor Society (NHS) and the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) is promoting their “Honor Your Future Now” campaign. Don’t you love the title of that? Had I honored my future 30 years ago, I bet I would have had a different career path!
In this campaign, the NHS and the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) are encouraging students in middle and high school to look towards their collegiate future. The program provides these families awesome resources to build their skills within the 5 pillars of NHS and NJHS. Among the advice, I appreciate these the most:
- Start Early: Boy, did this home for me! We have bee talking about college with Caitlin for more than 2 years now. No matter what grade your child is in, it is the perfect time to talk college. Just open the dialog about what they want to be, where they would want to go and what college looks like to them.
- Grades Count: We have had some rough patches with Caitlin’s grades. It isn’t that she cannot do the work, but she chooses to put it off. This has bitten her in the behind more than once! Now that we are in the homestretch, she knows how important those grades are.
- Character Counts: I want Caitlin to be the most authentic person she can be. This should shine in every area of her life. I want her to be kind, courteous, honest and respectful towards others. For the most part, she hits all those points.
- Give Back: I want my kids to know there is more going on in the world than our four walls. We tend to have a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to going about our daily lives. We need to remind our kids, and ourselves, there are others who don’t have food or shelter. We need to give back to them.
To see all of the resources available to you through The Honor Your Future Now campaign, just hop over to their homepage. Sit down with your child, grab some hot chocolate and dig in. There is so much you can glean from this.
You will see idea starters for giving back to your community and if you’re a student member, you can visit http://www.nhs.us/students/the-nhs-scholarship.aspx to learn more about the NHS scholarship program.
I would love to tap into some of that $500K that was awarded in 2015. That number is expected to double in the upcoming year. You will also get College Admissions and Financial Aid Planning Support, which we are very interested in learning more about. Be sure to follow NHS on Twitter and like them on Facebook
How are you planning to prepare your child for college?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Kelly Hutchinson
Robin (Masshole Mommy) says
December 11, 2015 at 10:48 amMy oldest is 11 and I am already starting to talk to him about college prep. Never too early, right?
Jennifer Sikora says
December 11, 2015 at 11:24 amMy daughter is going to be attending SCAD art college and she has been doing a lot of volunteer work lately to help her application look better.
Jennifer says
December 11, 2015 at 11:30 amGearing up for college can be challenging. It’s nice to have a little help and some suggestions to follow. Thanks!
Paula H says
December 11, 2015 at 11:51 amMy son is in 3rd year engineering and I have a 2nd son starting college next fall. He was supposed to start this year and got accepted but changed his mind about the course. Its so important to start the conversation early but I think we need to also discuss that fact that people change careers at least 3 times in life. Focus on what you want to do now, and the next 5-10 years. But most importantly: do what makes you happy.
Betsy Segars says
December 11, 2015 at 12:19 pmI don’t have any kiddos but know the importance of preparing littles for the future!
Jeanette says
December 11, 2015 at 1:09 pmI am trying to get my kiddo to achieve this, and I think that he can. He is very smart. We talk about his future all the time and he is starting to understand that he is in charge of his future.
Aubrey says
December 11, 2015 at 2:49 pmI am not looking forward to my kids leaving out on their own. I still have a while. Great things to be thinking about and doing though.
Shaun McGahey says
December 11, 2015 at 2:50 pmMy daughter is 5 and we are currently working on the importance of school (Kindergarten) but I know this conversation is coming soon! My parents had it with me not that long ago (or so it feels)…
Pam says
December 11, 2015 at 4:18 pmIt is never too early to start thinking about college. My son is in college now.
Stacie says
December 11, 2015 at 4:44 pmMy oldest graduates from high school this year. This has been something that we have been preparing for, for awhile now.
Liz Mays says
December 11, 2015 at 5:21 pmThese are really good things to consider! It’s awesome that the National Honor Society is providing resources like this. NHS was such a big part of my daughter’s high school career.
Meagan says
December 11, 2015 at 5:48 pmThis is great information to pass along to all of my nieces and nephews! It’s really never too early to start taking college prep seriously!
Jeanine says
December 11, 2015 at 7:27 pmGreat tips. I’m so glad my kiddos aren’t at this stage yet. I can imagine how hard it will be when that time comes.
Kathy says
December 11, 2015 at 7:58 pmThese are some great tips. My daughters are 5 and 6. We starting saving up for them once they were born. They both have bank accounts with money in them.
Shauna says
December 11, 2015 at 9:17 pmOh my goodness, I remember preparing for college. These are great tips. My only one is to not stress too much. I put so much pressure on myself, I didn’t enjoy HS 🙂
Seattle Travel Blogger says
December 11, 2015 at 9:35 pmI don’t have any children of my own, but I do have a niece whom I am close to.
I plan on saving this information to help her.
Thank you!!
Ann Bacciaglia says
December 11, 2015 at 9:38 pmThese are great ways to prep your kids for college. I have one in College and one in University.
Vera Sweeney says
December 11, 2015 at 10:08 pmGreat tips and ideas!! I have a pretween so this has already been on our mind how to save and of course the fact its gonna be here soon.
Dawn gibson-thigpen says
December 12, 2015 at 10:16 amthis is great. it is never to late to start preparing for college.
OurFamilyWorld says
December 12, 2015 at 10:53 amMy son is in his third year in college now and I am so thankful that we have saved for his education. I don’t think we can manage if we didn’t save, especially now that we are down to one income.
Jesica H says
December 12, 2015 at 11:16 amI am dreading paying for my kids college, I better start now! Great advice!
Nancy @ Whispered Inspirations says
December 12, 2015 at 11:48 amThanks for this! I have two girls who will eventually need these tips!
Lisa says
December 12, 2015 at 3:48 pmIt’s so important to talk to your kids about all the options! Our oldest daughter decided that she wanted to be a hairdresser, so I told her to find the best hairdressing school that she could. She ended up going to Paul Mitchell and loving it. Our next daughter starts college in the fall and is still trying to decide where she wants to go and what she wants to study, but she has a few recruiters looking at her for athletic scholarships so that will help with the decision making progress! College is EXPENSIVE!!!
Kim Croisant says
December 12, 2015 at 4:57 pmMy son is only 6, however, I do mention college to him in terms he’ll understand. He probably has no idea what I’m talking about, but it feels good knowing I’m being pro-active!!
Chrsytal | Nevermore Lane says
December 12, 2015 at 6:35 pmIt is never too early to think about college. I wish my parents would have thought about it when I was a kid. Maybe then I would have had some help with expenses instead of having all these student loans.
Diana Elizabeth says
December 12, 2015 at 6:42 pmAh, how incredible to have the whole world to explore in front of you at that age. Caitlin sounds lucky to have NHS help her, and you. Good luck to her and her future plans! So exciting!
Val says
December 12, 2015 at 7:39 pmI don’t think it’s ever too early to talk about college and the things that are important throughout their school career (high school and junior high). Planning for college needs to be taken seriously. It’s a big decision, a big experience and a big expense.
Chantal says
December 12, 2015 at 11:18 pmGoing away to college is a great experience but can be very stressful – great tips!
Rosey says
December 13, 2015 at 7:43 amMy daughter is about to start looking. I can’t believe she’s at that age already.
Christie says
December 13, 2015 at 9:11 pmWow the time passes so quickly, doesn’t it? Mine are so little and I can already picture having this conversation with them!
Tracey says
December 14, 2015 at 9:02 amThese are great tips to get prepared and excited for college. It’s awedsome to have a little help and some suggestions to follow.
mycraftingworld says
February 19, 2017 at 6:38 amThese are great suggestions. I will refer my niece to your page. She has a daughter that is 10th grade and they are starting to talk to her about college. Thank you for the nice information.