<p>I would love to have provided my older d with an extensive summer program, or even a less than extensive one…but financially that was not going to happen. In high school she spent 1 week in her Jr and Sr years rebuilding in Slidell, LA. She paid for the first year, I did the 2nd. The school did a theater trip to England for 10 days and with a 2nd job income, I paid for that for both d’s. Several students that they know spent part of their summers doing those Presidential Seminars in DC and they are convinced that b/c they did them, they will have a better chance at getting into great colleges. Little do they realize that it takes more than that. The d’s have worked every summer since they were 13 and know how to deal with the public, how family farms operate, and work with migrant workers who, they see, work incredibly hard, far from home. Its given them a view of the world that they couldn’t have had otherwise. My take on summers in Europe is that Europe isn’t going anywhere. They can, and I hope, do, take a year abroad.
Bottom line - its all about choices. I just like it when the child makes the request, not the parent initiating it, setting it up, and telling the child “you’re going”.</p>
<p>Mine will have to do the European tours on their own dime. I’d feel bad about that, if I had ever done Euro-tour. But I haven’t and neither has H. </p>
<p>It always seems like something comes up that is more important, for 5K. Several nieces and nephews have done the post-college travel stints; they pretty much did it on their own either saving their own money or using whatever resources were available to them after graduation. When and if our kids do it, it will be because they make the decision to spend whatever is left over, or whatever they have saved, on traveling rather than other things. I’d love for them to do it, though. Heck, I’d love to do it.</p>
<p>My Ds had the chance to tour Europe with their Youth Orchestra, playing in lovely cities and concert halls, staying in hotels. But with twins, it was far away from anything I could afford. And I didn’t like the emphasis on the home orchestra rather than a more cultural exchange. I said rather jokingly that for the cost of the trip, one of them could probably live there for an entire year, and learn to speak the language as well. So one of my Ds took that as a challenge, set about researching abroad programs, found Rotary, and did end up living in one of those countries for close to a year. All her initiative. At the end of it, she was functional in Czech. </p>
<p>Now I’ve mentioned the exchange to other parents, and I’ve had more than a few get excited, and say something along the lines of “I want to get my S/D in that program. Maybe they’d like it. It might be good for him/her” I try to emphasis that it has nothing to do with the parents, aside from needing their cooperation and some financial assistance. The student has to want this badly, work for it, and sometimes endure some rather difficult times on the exchange. But, we did learn that exchanges of this sort are looked upon quite favorably by some colleges, though it wasn’t any part of the reason for going. </p>
<p>Two of my kids did do school based European trips, far more affordable when split between divorced parents (I’m a sucker for travel, give up many things for the sake of these experiences). But they were fluff as far as I was concerned, fun, they saw some great things, bonded with HS friends, spoke a little French or Italian. But little of lasting value, I think. Should ask them at some point. </p>
<p>Earlier in this thread Cheers mentioned seeing no value in meaningless jobs. I agree, that jobs shouldn’t be the sole focus of every young life, and there is much to be gained from wide based perspectives and seeing the world. But I’ve been aquainted with enough people in my rather worldly family and group of friends who have not worked at menial jobs, to know that there is some value, maybe quite a bit, in being able to humble yourself and get a job, function and bond with co workers from a variety of backgrounds. The lack of that ability is quite a handicap.</p>
<p>DD2 went to Ireland for 5 weeks on an Irish Way trip. (She has always hated sleepovers and needed to get out of the house. I was afraid she was serious when she said she never wanted to leave home!) She had a terrific time in Ireland: met kids her age from all over the US, including her now best friend from CA. The program is set up like the summer college program that older DD went to from NYU.<br>
It was a pretty expensive trip and we really couldn’t swing it, but there was a scholarship available.
I told her to do the application for the scholarship and if she won it, she was going.
She wrote her college essay on the scholarship and how it forced her to step out of her comfort zone and become a better leader. The next 2 summers included an Economics for Leaders conference (practically free) and a business program at Notre Dame (priceless since it was taught by the investment guys from ND who just scored in the market with their endowments). She had jobs for the rest of the summer.
All of these programs gave her confidence in all aspects of her life.</p>
<p>My D has pretty much always hated History in school, this year she loves it- we have been lucky enough to do some traveling and one of our favorie trips was to Boston and Washington DC_ all that American History</p>
<p>Going to Salem makes the Crucible seem more relevant</p>
<p>She will be doing a two week trip to spain, which sounds amazing, and the rest of the summer she will probably intern and take a class, or work </p>
<p>She did a program just before school started in NYC, and she came back more grown up and more driven</p>
<p>My oldest did a few programs, and the friends she made were wonderful</p>
<p>Sometimes its not just the “program” but the side benefits</p>
<p>My son did the people to people trip to australia … he left as a boy and came back as a young man. being away from home and having to manage his own money/do his own laundry/get along with different people while enjoying a country he always dreamed about going to was a great growing up experience for him …plus he appreciates us more at home! sometimes travel can be a growing up experience if the kid is ready for it! he has a lot more confidence about meeting new people and solving his own problems. perhaps a different family would be able to give him those experiences at home but he wanted to take the control reins of his life from us for awhile and explore what he’s about without us hovering…sigh!! so it was worth every penny…to our family!</p>
<p>If our current fearless leader spent some time outside of the USA and Texas, and experienced different cultures, rather than getting it from someone else, Perhaps we would really have a “compassionate” president. </p>
<p>The cost has dramatically increased due to the defacto devaluation of US $. Get yee and yon to another country while you can still afford it.</p>
<p>thisoldman-yes! The Rotary President of a few years ago, said in a speech, that if every student were an exchange student, we’d have no more wars. We probably won’t achieve either goal, but society changes little by little, and who knows what can be accomplished by so many students having early international experiences.</p>
<p>My youngest used his summers to take enough high school courses to skip 11th grade and graduate a year early.</p>
<p>I think I’ll send a bill to the local school district to recover the taxes he saved them. (Oh yes I know it can’t really be figured that way.) He could use the money to take a trip to Europe. </p>
<p>Just an idle fantasy.</p>
<p>Haven’t read all 14 pages of this thread.</p>
<p>I worked full time during the summers. When I was younger I did some short (3 week) educational camps/programs at different colleges which I really enjoyed. I was young and gay, and I lived in a socially conservative household and went to a small school, so it was nice to get into a new environment for a while. These programs had a very positive impact on my life at the time.</p>
<p>My family travels a lot, so I’ve never felt the need to go on a summer tour. Many of those trips sound like pretty shallow experiences of a country, so since I can go with my family, that’s what I’d prefer. Surprisingly enough, my family actually gets along reasonably well–well enough to travel together, in any event. We can spend time idly exploring cities, stay in small towns and villages, talk with cab drivers and people on the streets, and construct a trip around what we want to do. Organized tours are often rushed and often focus only on the most famous and touristy parts of a city or country. You can easily miss the charm of a place if you do that. Of course, students may get other things out of the tours, such as social growth or increased independence, or that may be their only way to see another country (though at their price tags, the family can probably do the trip themselves). About a month ago we were in Croatia, and there are a number of other places I’ve been able to travel. I am very thankful for all of the experiences I’ve had while traveling, and it was great to have opportunities while growing up to play with children in different countries, eat new foods, and travel around in a new country when no one in the family speaks the language.</p>
<p>Anyway, I never thought very much about the value of work until I left my area and went to college, where many of my fellow students have never held full time jobs. I have a lot of experience working, experience finding a job, and experience managing my own money (both in terms of spending and getting a good return). I don’t mean to brag at all, but sometimes I’m amazed at how far ahead of my peers I am in these things. I have a nice looking resume for someone my age, and I know how to go about finding a good job, following-up, landing the interview, negotiating money, and actually doing good work once I get there. I like to work hard, and I like to work well, so part of this may be my personality, but I’m very surprised how many friends I hear talk about leaving their jobs early or skipping days or just not trying to work all that hard. I don’t really like to talk about money, but I will for the sake of discussion. I am not very frugal, and I’ll spend money on things I want, but I don’t spend like crazy or anything like that. My parents pay tuition, room, board, and books while I handle personal and entertainment expenses. As of now I’m 18 and have about 20k in my bank accounts, combined. I didn’t get allowance when I was growing up, but every once in a while my parents would put $30 or so in a savings account for me. That probably totaled to somewhere under $1,000. Other than that, there are no gifts from parents or grandparents, and as I said, I didn’t make a huge effort to save money. So by spending my summers working instead of doing something else that took up the whole two or three months, I’ve not only gained invaluable experience, but I am also in much better financial shape than I’m guessing most of my peers are in, including my upper-middle class friends who aren’t paying toward their own tuition or expenses. Feeling financially comfortable for my current age and situation is a great feeling.</p>
<p>There are a lot of possible valuable summer experiences, and it’s even better when you can combine two or more of them together, but overall I think that working is one of the best ways for a teen to spend the summer.</p>
<p>Great post, Coarranged!
I agree.</p>
<p>Here’s a succinct list of my 3 kids’ four h.s. summers. No travel. I’m writing it to see what it all looks like, in total (am curious): </p>
<p>S1: Local acting training program/ cost $350; Resident acting program in Shakespeare (Vassar College Powerhouse Theater)/cost $1500; Community Theater (played “Alan” in Equus) /volunteer; Counselor at theater camp for severely disabled children/ earned $1,000. </p>
<p>D: Actor in NY Renaissance/earned $1,000 on weekends. Babysat and typed for a graduate student/ earned $800. Attended Bard College Writers Program for Language and Thought, 3 weeks/cost $900. “Handyman” all summer to accomplish our intercity household move/we paid her $900. “Mothers bedside Nursing Helper” l0 weeks after back surgery + daily rehab /we paid her $900. Day Camp Counselor/ earned $800. Actor in Sherwood Renaissance Faire including training in improvisation, dialect/ earned $1,500.</p>
<p>S2 - 3 summers of high school classes to skip 11th grade and graduate a year early/ no cost. Final summer home: worked daily for furniture moving company/ earned $1,200.</p>