I know it’s only halfway through your 8th-grade year, but is your child ready for high school? What if you could start setting goals at this moment that would help you succeed throughout your whole high school career and life after high school. Would you start now?
Imagine sitting at the graduation of your child. They have worked hard during high school to prepare for the next stage of their life. There were no surprises because you asked valuable questions and created goals ahead of time. You know this because you prepared in 8th grade for high school and life after high school.
By the end of this post, you will create goals that will help your child succeed in high school. First, you will learn about how to create a high school course plan to prepare your child for college or a career path. Then you will learn how to assess your child’s study habits and fundamental skills in the areas of math, science, English/writing, and reading to ensure success throughout high school. Finally, you will learn how to choose extracurricular activities that will help your child learn valuable cooperative learning/networking skills.
Goal 1: Plan out your high school courses now!
Now is the best time to start thinking about what your child might want to do after high school. If they already know what they want to do great, you can start planning what courses they should take right now. I knew I always wanted to teach, so I planned my high school course to meet the requirements for college.
You can also start looking at colleges as well, especially if you want to apply to college only scholarships. By looking at the requirements, you can plan courses needed to take for the specific major, but also for the extracurricular activities that are required as well. My child’s career path doesn’t require college: now what?
You can still plan out their high school courses with the graduation requirements and then go from there. Talk with the school counselors about more courses for success after high school. What courses do they need to be successful outside of high school? Do they need a financial literacy class? Do they need a cooking and cleaning class? Are they mechanically inclined to take a mechanics or building and trade class?
What if my kid doesn’t know what they want to do?
No worries. There are many courses in high school courses that deal with career exploration to help with this. You can also think about after school jobs that could help with this as well.
Goal 2: Staying out of trouble in high school
Middle school students have less freedom than in high school. Students who are involved in activities have a better chance of staying out of trouble. Talk about a typical day at the high school with the counselors. Colleges and hiring managers love to hear about involvement. Find a club or organization for your child to join.
Goal 3: Does my child need to take the ACT?
Most people believe that the ACT is for college admission only. But the ACT can be so much more than that. Yes, the ACT helps with getting into college and paying for it, but it also assesses valuable life skills. It tests problem-solving skills in the areas of math, reading, English, science, and writing.
You need most, if not all, of those skills to succeed in life. I suggest your child takes the ACT twice. Have your child take the test at the beginning of ninth grade. The score will tell you if you need additional classes throughout high school to help. Then take the test in his/her junior year for college applications. You can take the ACT as young as 13, however, you cannot register for it online. You must register using a paper packet that you can get from the www.act.org website or the high school counselor. High school can be a tough time for a student that doesn’t know what is going on. However, you can prepare your child to succeed by asking these questions and creating goals to focus your child on the right path. Here are some related articles https://saintstrainingandtutoring.weebly.com/act-blog/how-to-prepare-smart-goals-for-act-test-prephttps://saintstrainingandtutoring.weebly.com/act-blog/top-7-ways-to-engage-in-nonfiction-reading https://saintstrainingandtutoring.weebly.com/act-blog/5-easy-ways-to-test-your-act-prep-skills Please sign up for a list of questions I gathered from parents, high school teachers, and counselors as a guide to help you.
What questions do you have regarding your 8th grader getting into high school? Please comment below. Sneak peak: Next week I will show you how you can actually study for the ACT with 6 different proficiencies.
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