#17 Your Teen’s Summer To-Do List Transcript

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT… PLEASE FORGIVE THE TYPOS & GRAMMAR! xo-Lisa

 

Now’s the time to reflect and begin to plan a little bit. So look back and think about your extracurriculars. What extracurriculars did your student make? And even though we do look for longevity and to develop some stick with it, with some of our extracurricular. It’s not too late to begin to make changes at better align with who your student is and what their future goals are.

 

Now, students may not like this, but often I’m asked what can we be doing now to prep our kids for the act or sat? And my advice is it’s far too early for someone who only has their freshman year under their belt to focus on test prep. But one of the greatest actions students can take so that they are ready for those very important test in the junior.

 

well, it’s almost the lazy days of summer at the time of year that students look forward to every year because they get a reprieve from some of the madness of the college-bound schedule of high school students and college students. During these all-important. And so while I want them to have downtime, I also know in working with teens for over 30 years, that we still have progress to make over the lazy days of.

 

Hello, I’m Lisa marker Robbins. And I want to welcome you to the special summer episode, a solo episode of my podcast, college and career clarity. It’s a flourish coaching production, and we’re going to dive right in instead of to a great conversation with a special guest. Like we usually do. We’re going to instead do a solo episode to give.

 

Actionable advice on how to set goals and make progress over the summer without overwhelming your teen young adult or your family. So where are we going to start? Well, goal setting is something that is super important to me and my businesses. And in my personal life, goal-setting for summer looks a little different though, especially for your teen.

 

What I’ve learned in my work through flourish in our launch career clarity course is summer has very different time periods depending on it. Part of the country. You’re in, where I live in the greater Cincinnati area. Summer starts before Memorial day. And it’s over for students in early August, but yet I have students that I work with over on the east coast and they are not out until late June and back after labor day.

 

So whatever summer looks like for you in this framework that I’m going to teach about and the things that I know and believe that you’ll be thankful that you make progress on. I want you to think about from the time school gets out until the week before the school year starts the next year. So what I’ve learned from my own goal setting, which I use Michael Hyatt’s full focus framework that I learned from him in my business coaching program.

 

And it’s called the smarter framework. What does that mean? Well, I’m going to link to it in the show notes because I do have a resource blog that I write. This sometime last year. It means that your goals are specific, that they are measurable. So how will you know that you’ve achieved your goals? I want you to keep that in mind, as you think about these goals, they’re actionable.

 

So when you write these goals down, you have lots and lots of verbs in them. They’re a little risky. They might feel big. You’re going to have to really push yourself to get their students or. There are time-bound so they do have a sense of urgency and a deadline. And in this case, we’re going to talk about that deadline being by the end of the week, before you go back to the next school year, they’re exciting.

 

So you connect with them and are inspired to do this because you’re going to make progress towards something that is very valuable to you in a future vision that you have for yourself and your life. And finally it’s relevant. It’s relevant to who you are and where you’re headed. So, as I started adopting the smarter framework myself, I had a few realizations that I think are important for everyone to think about.

 

First of all, I used to have lots of goals. And what I realized were many of the things that I thought of his goals were actually just tasks and Michael Hyatt teaches us and the business accelerator program that I’m in to only have eight to 12 goals per calendar. And you’ll achieve more things because when we put too many things on our plate, then we become overwhelmed and we stop.

 

And I see overwhelm and a lot of the students that I work with and I’m here to help you relieve that overwhelm. So keep in mind, that’s eight to 12 per calendar year. And when you write out what you want to accomplish this summer with your team, Ask yourself. Is that a task related to a bigger goal or is it truly a goal now for adults?

 

I set goals and most adults, I know we set goals by quarters, but for students, I encourage five periods a year. So the first grading period, the first quarter, if you’re in high school of the school year, the second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter, and then summer is treated differently. See, our brains of teens are still maturing, so we don’t want to try to use a frontal lobe.

 

That’s not fully developed yet. Too far into the future because that’s something that most teens can’t do. And when we ask them to do it, it’s overwhelming and we set them up for failure. Now let’s talk about summer goals for all high school students. So whether you’re finishing that freshman year of high school, or you’re going to be heading next year into the all important senior year, when they’re applying to college, I want to take this year by year for you.

 

And I encourage you listeners, if you are thinking well, get to the 11th grade, stop, get to the, you know, rising senior stuff. Or let me fast forward, I’m going to ask you to not do that because I’m going to mention things for the earlier years in high school, that perhaps if you have an older child, you missed some of those benchmarks and along the way, and you’re going to realize there’s some things that you need to work in this.

 

So if you’re like me, you like a checklist, a timeline, a guide, something to help you. And I’m basing the information I’m giving you today. In this episode off of a college planning timeline that I developed earlier this year, I’m going to link to it in the show notes. What’s fantastic about that is it’s a year by year from freshmen.

 

All the way up to right before you had off to college. So after even high school graduation, what do you do that summer? And you can print it out and leave it posted somewhere. So it can be your guide, not only in the summer, but during the school year as well. So we’re going to just focus on the summer parts right now.

 

So I’ve adapted it here, but you can download the entire thing if you head on over to the show notes to get that. Okay. So you have a freshman or now maybe by the time you’re listening to this, they’re a rising 10th grader. And first all I’m going to say, I want you to hit pause. I want you to have a celebration.

 

And I want to remind you that this is likely the freest summer left in your student’s lifetime. Yes, it really is. So embrace it because things are only going to get busier to make the forward motion momentum that they need to make in this journey. You know, we can’t stop high school graduation from coming like it or not.

 

It’s coming and we can’t stop that train. So let’s embrace the pockets of freedom and relief that we have. So rising 10th graders, I do want you to have a slower summer, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be doing some things. That summer is a great time to. How freshman year went, what we want for the next year and actually three years of high school.

 

What is that vision that we’re starting to develop? It’s hard to develop that vision before they go into high school, because they’re just becoming accustomed to high school, but now’s the time to reflect and begin to plan a little. So look back and think about your extracurriculars. What extracurriculars did your student make?

 

And even though we do look for longevity and to develop some stick with illness, with some of our extracurriculars, it’s not too late to begin to make changes at better aligned. Who your student is and what their future goals are. Now, students may not like this, but often I’m asked what can we be doing now to prep our kids for the act or sat?

 

And my advice is it’s far too early for someone who only has their freshman year under their belt to focus on test prep. But one of the greatest actions students can take so that they are ready for those very important tests. And then junior year is to read. So I’m going to give you a link in the show notes.

 

It’s a high school summer reading list from good reads.com to get your minds going. And they have a wide variety that I think everybody can find something that resonates reading helps communication skills. Reading makes you a better writer. We’re going to talk about writing a little bit later for our rising seniors.

 

Reading helps you become more fluent and faster. The act is a very fast paced test. The sat, even the math section has a lot of reading on it. So reading will benefit your student. If you’re headed out on vacation, I really encourage you to. Our family did when my kids were younger, which is just get on a campus and walk through it.

 

So pull off the road, you know, on the interstate to wherever you’re headed and head a campus, just so you can get a feel for college campuses, or if there’s a campus in the town where you’re vacationing, if your GPA from their freshman year shows that you perhaps have some skill gaps and you need to dial in, I would recommend.

 

Khan academy, all link to it. In the show notes, they have fantastic free resources to help students practice their skills anywhere from practice on writing, reading math, science. So I would check out their free resources or look for a local tutor. That will set you up for academic success as you head into the sophomore year.

 

Okay. On to our rising 11th graders, those who just finished sophomore year. Now, one of the reasons I say that summers get busier. Now, as many of you are going to be 16. And this may be the first summer that you’re going to go out and get a paid job. I’m asked all the time, do colleges value, paid jobs?

 

They do. Is it bad if you don’t have a paid job in the eyes of the colleges, if you never had a paid job while you were in high school? No, but it’s not a yes or no. My own children always worked in high school and there’s value in that you learn a lot of skills beyond. Earning a paycheck. However, the possible earnings are fantastic.

 

I actually just spoke at Ohio’s largest high school, William Mason high school this very week. And we were talking to students in their college 1 0 1 course about. The affordability of college and understanding loans and scholarships and all the ways to pay for college. And how much does it really cost?

 

And one of the things I reminded students of is if a student worked a $10 an hour job and worked 40 hours a week for three months a year, their summer, they would actually make $4,800. Okay. And students are going to be in a 10% tax bracket. That’s what we’re assuming. Okay. Now, during the school year, if they work 10 hours per week, during the nine months of the school year, they’re going to earn an additional $3,600.

 

Bump that up to 15 hours a week, and they’re going to be earning $5,400 and additional $1,800 over that school year. I say this to say. This could be a great time. If your team is going to have some skin in the game for college, that they can start building up their savings. So jobs have a lot of that.

 

Okay. When I was doing that talk on understanding college costs with those students at Mason high school, I asked how many of them had had a college budget talk. These were juniors. I asked how many of them had had a realistic at college budget talk. Did they know from their parents, if they have to have skin in the game and how much.

 

Overwhelmingly the students were responding with a, no, this was ever zone. Many of them responded with no, and then a sad face or a thumbs down. So your student wants to know and deserves to know what is the budget, especially before they head into that junior year. I really encourage you to have, what is the least fun conversation of the college bound journey and that’s how much do we have to spend?

 

Where will the money come from and will our student have to help participate? See, I believe there’s four parts of a college list. There is the academic fit. Can I get. There’s the financial fit. Can our family afford it? There’s the college major and career fit. Does this school have what it takes to get me credentialed for my best fit future career and the least important of all?

 

Is that social fit? Is this a place where I see myself fitting in and being able to have a fun social experience? So keep that in mind and a really important part of that is hitting that financial fit piece, that budget early. Your student and you deserve to start that conversation. Now you may or may not be ready for your student to take the act or the sat, but it’s never too early to develop that testing timeline, a student who is by the end of the sophomore year, finished algebra one, algebra two, and geometry.

 

They are good to go for act and sat testing. So they may even take act and June or July or an sat in June or August and take advantage of that summer downtown. To get that first attempt to under their belt. That could be really smart. This would also be a great time to take a diagnostic act or SATs. So you can choose between which of these two tests is best suited for your kiddo because all colleges except either.

 

If you’ve not already started career exploration. Well, that’s one of the things that we do here on this podcast. We do career closeups. We talk about college majors. I have a new career closeup coming up in the episode after this on architecture. That will be the following week’s episode. So look forward to that.

 

It’s time to start thinking about. Because when your student goes to apply to college, most colleges are going to say to what major are you applying to? Some are more friendly than others to undeclared students, students who go in undecided and at some schools you’re going to severely limit future options.

 

If you can’t check off what major that is. So if you know me well, if you’ve been a long time listener, you know, that I believe. That if I could get everybody to start that work spring of the sophomore year, then I would be in heaven. And I think that it would save you headaches and it would help create a compass to guide the rest of your college bound journey.

 

So if you’re listening to this and you’re saying, oh, my word, we weren’t in your launch career clarity course yet, or we haven’t done anything. Start having those conversations. A fantastic resource is the bureau of labor and statistics, occupational outlook handbook, which I’m going to link to in the show notes, they have profiles on hundreds and hundreds of careers.

 

They have short videos, they have descriptions of what people do in these jobs, how much money they make, is it a growing or declining field? So. If you’re not taking my course, which is the one I recommend, of course. And we’ll be next offering that in fall of 22, you can get on the wait list. I’ll link to it in the show notes to get into that, or to be notified when it opens again.

 

But if you’ve not done anything else, have your students start perusing occupations through the occupational outlook handbook and looking at them by job family category. Okay, so I’m going to send you that link, but it’s found@bls.gov. This is also a great time to begin to create the calendar of when you’ll get on campuses for college visits during the junior year.

 

You really want your student to be on campus when campuses are alive with action, if at all possible and not dead, like they are over the. So I would suggest that you print out your school’s academic calendar for next school year. You get out your family calendar, anytime that your students off that colleges are in session.

 

So that rules out like Thanksgiving break and winter break right there. But perhaps your school is closed. October for a teacher in service, or you’re one of the lucky ones that have a fall break, mark those down and reserve them for college visits. So it doesn’t get away from you because college visits are best done between September and the end of April, each.

 

Outside of that college campuses can be empty. Not all colleges offer a lot of opportunities for visits during the summer. So make the calendar, even if you don’t yet know where you’ll be visiting set aside the time now. And set out that junior year, college bound calendar for your family, because the following summer, your going to be applying to college, which brings me to our rising 12th graders.

 

We’re going to hit you guys last and yes, it’s going to be busy, busy, busy. This’ll be the busiest high school summer that you’ll have. You’ll get a reprieve the next summer, right after graduation. But if you follow my advice. And you do this with the intention and you set your goals and you make your tasks list.

 

I promise you that you’re going to be thanking me after labor day. Like hundreds of students who have gone before you and listen to my advice. So, first of all, there’s anything from earlier in this podcast that I’ve already talked through, that you missed do it. Now do it at the beginning of that summer, right after 11th grade, our goal, our main goal is.

 

Application ready. And you are getting through the task to be so. Finalized, you definitely want to have your college list. Spiralized by September 1st at the very latest by labor day at the very latest colleges will release supplemental essays that they require of either all students or certain majors or even some optional ones.

 

Usually at the beginning of August, right after August 1st, we’re going to actually have a separate episode with a college essay specialist. Out at the end of may. So be on the lookout for that. I actually think that that’s a fantastic episode for not only the rising seniors who are going to be writing those essays, but also for underclassmen, because it helps you think through what you need to be looking for in a college.

 

Major how you’re going to communicate who you are, your extracurriculars. So everybody should tune in for that episode. There’s something for everyone in there. So you want to finalize that college list really by August 1st labor day at the very latest, the sooner the. You also want to finalize for each of the schools on that list, which major you’re going to be applying to.

 

I was recently working with a student and she’s looking at like data science at some schools, statistics at other schools, not all majors are the same at all colleges. And you want to work towards. Getting clear on that if you hit labor day and you’re like, I still don’t know. Well, you have all the resources available to get clear is just making the time and putting in the intention in doing the work.

 

And I hope that if that’s you, that you’re going to join me inside the launch career clarity course this fall when it opens again in September. So be on the lookout for that. We’re going to make a lot of. Fast in there, particularly for our 12th graders at that time, this coming fall so that they can check off those majors.

 

By the time they’re ready to hit submit on their college applications. Finally, hopefully anybody who’s a rising 12th grader has taking a first or second stab at their act and or sat. But if you’ve. You have a final chance to boost your scores as summer? I already mentioned earlier, the act is given both in June and July.

 

The sat in June in August. There’s an act in early September. That’s really the last act that would ensure a student who is a senior would be finished testing and time for college deadlines. Sat has an early October one. For most schools that I work, but there are some colleges that have an October 15th deadline.

 

Now the biggest task of the summer for you rising 12th graders, is it time to write your essays? We will have that upcoming episode at the end of may to give you guidance, but again, as good for all ages. So I’m not going to do too much of a deep dive here on that topic. Finally, there’s over 900 schools that are on the common app that use the common app.

 

So go to common app.org. Look at the list of schools that are on there. See if those are the schools that your going to be applying to. I guarantee you, you will all have multiple schools that are on the common app, but you might also have a school that uses a different application. Like the coalition app.

 

Or apply Texas or a school that has their own app, like Georgetown or MIT. So keep that in mind because the common app has something that we call rollover. It means you can start your common app college application at any time. You could start it as a sophomore. And then August, first of your rising senior summer, it rolls over and it becomes your current year application.

 

All of everything you put in there stays in there and you’ve already made progress. So rising seniors. I want you to, at the beginning of summer, if you haven’t already create your common app account, many of the things are in there. I always say to my students, you can watch Netflix and fill out section one.

 

Where you live, what your name is, who your parents are. Those are things that are unlikely to change at this time. So you can go ahead in, jump in and start working on your app. I need you to treat this college application process. Like it’s your job. You need to be intentional. If you’ve worked with me for long, followed me for long on the podcast or inside my launch college and career clarity, Facebook community for parents, or you were in my course launch career clarity.

 

You know that I advise families that because during the school year, you’re like two ships passing the night between parents and students. I advise. To every weekend, have a college bound meeting. And I advise my parents, please, don’t talk about the colleges, things that you could talk about all day long during the week, hold onto those until there’s intentional time in students.

 

Your parents are resourcing you to get to college at least a little bit, or a lot of it. And they have every right to ask that we do so with intention and we have these meetings. So if you’ve been in that habit and if you’ve not, now’s the time to start it. But if you’ve been in that habit, rising 12th graders, we’re just going to kind of put that on steroids and beef it up.

 

Maybe before you were only doing a half an hour, an hour every Saturday afternoon or Sunday evening. It’s going to be hours each week. But like I said, you’re going to thank me. Come labor day. When you start back to school and your friends at school are scrambling to get started in, you’re like I’ve got this, I’m already finished or I’m almost fetish.

 

So that’s my advice heading into summer to have a summer of yes. Ease, but. Remember, I always tell you that an object in motion stays in motion. So each day taking a little bit of action to keep that forward momentum going and being intentional. So get my college planning guide per freshman year through that summer after graduation.

 

And you’ll be good to go print it out, post it somewhere as your reminder and here’s to my favorite season of the year. So if this episode was helpful, I ask that you find a friend that you can share it with. I also ask that you take time to rate and review the podcast because by doing so, it helps me fulfill my life’s purpose, which is help families move out of overwhelm.

 

And end to getting excited, clear and confident about what’s possible for the future for their team.