I have been waiting for a long time to start this thread! Finally kiddo has made it to high school starting this Fall. Let’s go Class of 2029!
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I’ll admit that I’m not ready for this! Still have a D26, so in the middle of the whole “process”. But twin S29s will be up soon enough!
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Wow! I guess it’s about that time. Also focused on D26 for now, but D29 is on the way.
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Can’t believe it is that time already! My daughter will be entering high school in just a few weeks. School here starts incredibly early! I don’t think any of us are ready in my household!
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Just dropped off S25 last week; now time to start thinking about D29. They are so very different. My son didn’t really think about college until Jr year spring break when I made him tour some schools with me. The girl already has a list and is trying to build a resume to get into top schools. S25 is crazy smart to the point he doesn’t have to try hard to get good grades, which led to some poor study habits. D29 is plenty smart, but has to work harder for As and has much better study and organizational skills. S25 won’t speak unless someone else starts up the discussion; D29 is a little social butterfly.
I find the differences interesting in how they approach problems and goals. D29 wanted to be in Spanish 3, and the school placed her in Spanish 2. D25 would have just accepted it or I would have had to fight to make a change. D29 would be embarrassed if I did anything and went to advocate for herself, which resulted in getting moved to Spanish 3. I suspect she will have very different ideas on which colleges to apply to.
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Just dropping in here to say hi. I’m not ready to think about college for S29, but I have a D27 so he’ll get a front-row seat to her process, anyway.
S29 threw us for a loop by going out for a winter sport (my elder two kids are theater/art/music focused. I’m really psyched for him, but there’s a steep learning curve. I thought I had high school on lock, but it turns out that sports are this whole, extensive subculture that I had no idea really existed. It’s going to be a fun few months (and I mean that non-sarcastically, I think).
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Hi parents of class of 2029!
So, my S29s are getting ready for the holiday break here. In the past, we’ve used the time to figure out what they might want to do over the summer. Historically, it’s been things like their elementary school’s camp or a local basketball camp. Nothing sleepaway as they weren’t interested, and we weren’t prepared to push for it. But now that high school is upon them, I’m wondering what your kids are thinking about.
For my D26, we had to push her to do something. That turned out to be an interesting college-based camp that was nearby. For the S29s, I’m thinking that I might push them to get a summer job instead. My D26 wasn’t interested in that, but I think my boys will appreciate the spending money, lol! I don’t think they’re interested in much academic for the summer.
What are your children (or you!) planning for their summers?
Hi - I had a similar question. We have always done sleep away or local camps in the past. I know the “pay for play” college camps are not super helpful and it seems like many of the kids nearby are doing “teen tour” type of camps. What have parents of older teens found helpful or useful? Thanks
Just my two cents (or nowadays, my rounded-up nickel): don’t be overly stressed about summer activities. D29 is my third - D22 is a senior at Rice, and D26 will be starting at Carleton next fall. Neither of them ever did any kind of academic summer camp program at any point, mostly because they weren’t really interested (and we couldn’t afford pay-for-play situations anyway). They did some babysitting/dogsitting for the neighbors, immersed themselves in church youth group activities, and read books, which are the things they liked doing. D26 also took quite a few naps. 
If I had it to do over again, I might encourage them a little more to get a steady job at a local business - they would have benefitted from learning how to handle income, and strictly from a college perspective, I think part-time jobs are valued by admissions committees more than most people think. D29 is more business-oriented than her sisters and is already complaining that there aren’t enough good jobs for 14-yr-olds, so I think she will have that part covered.
With that said, if a kid is really excited about a particular summer program because they love robotics or poetry or finance or whatever, that’s great - it’s always a good thing for kids to have a chance to pursue things they love. But I wouldn’t recommend doing summer programs just for the sake of doing them, or because they supposedly provide an admissions advantage. My kids have done well in the admissions process by making very good grades in the most rigorous classes reasonably available to them, spending time on things they enjoy, and being respectable citizens that adults tend to think highly of. In fairness, neither D22 nor D26 was accepted for admission at the HYPSM level (D22 rejected at Yale, D26 didn’t even try), so if that’s the goal, perhaps more is required on the extracurricular front - I can’t speak to that directly. But then again, there’s no one EC that can guarantee threading that needle anyway, so buyer beware.
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My daughter did a hodgepodge of stuff in the summer. We travelled as a family, she had sports camps (required by the team which frankly was a PIA), she did a week long local volunteer program every summer (also through school), another volunteer trip with church, she played piano, worked at a local sub shop, and hung out with her friends. The only college program she did was a competitive entry, week long, engineering program as a rising senior to get a better sense of the school to make sure that was really her #1 choice.
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S29 is going to spend a month at the summer camp he’s attended for the last several years. He loves it and it gives him a month of solid outdoor, screen-free activity time, so I’m happy to send him for at least this coming year and maybe after Sophomore year, too.
But our summer philosophy has always been to let our kids be kids. My elder two went to an art camp for three weeks every summer until they aged out at 16/17. My eldest did do a play for pay summer program (Cherubs at Northwestern), but we were never under any illusion that it would help them get in there (and it didn’t).
My middle child (Class of ‘27) has applied to our state’s Governor’s School, and I hope she gets in. Otherwise, she’ll get a job and we’ll do some college tours.
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We usually spend 3 or 4 weeks visiting family abroad each summer, though I expect we may need to cut that back to 2 weeks going forward as it really has started to feel too long as my kids have gotten older and have other things they want to do with their summer. Last summer once we returned, my daughter volunteered at our local zoo, continued with music lessons, and attended a journalism day camp at our local university. I imagine that this summer she will continue with volunteering and music lessons but beyond that she doesn’t have any firm ideas or plans yet. I normally have our summer flights to see family booked by now but I’m having trouble committing to dates this year for work reasons on my part but also have been waiting to see if my daughter has any specific dates she wants to be home for.