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11-1-2007
Early
College Preparation (part 2)
This is the second part of a two-part column
on early college preparation…
Part 1
How do you do it, you ask? Here are a few
ideas:
- Talk about college regularly. Relate it to
jobs, careers, school, sports, your life and the lives of other
adults in your child’s life, etc.
- Start one, and regularly talk about your
child’s college savings account. Stress that it’s important
enough that every month you are setting aside money for them to
go to college. Show them the statement and explain how the
numbers get bigger, and that the envelope is addressed to them,
when they’re still young. Use it as a lesson in economics,
interest rates or the stock market when they get older and can
understand it. So as not to diminish anyone they know who
doesn’t have one, you should be careful how you discuss their
account with them, but I think it is an incredibly powerful
statement about their worth and how you view their future. Your
child will become aware of the fact that not everyone has a
college account, and as long as they’re not throwing it in
others’ faces, that knowledge can be a good thing and contribute
to their self-esteem.
- Ask them what they want to do when they
grow up and relate that job or career to what they could study
in college to do it. Talk about jobs and careers as you
interact with them in daily life. When you go to the grocery
store, you could talk about managing a grocery store or a farmer
raising the produce or creating the advertisements you see on
television; if you are shopping for a new home, you could talk
about building houses, or being a realtor or an architect;
driving in the car, you could talk about designing cars,
building bridges or cleaning up the trash in the world by
becoming an environmental scientist. Young children may not
think past the checker or bagger they see at the grocery store,
and may need a little more explanation to understand how other
people and jobs fit into the picture. It’s probably not a bad
idea, once they get a little older, to clarify the difference
between a job and a career also.
- Go to sporting events (yes, sports!) or
cultural and educational activities on college campuses – both
nearby and your alma mater. Plan to spend some extra time just
wandering around campus while you’re there, especially when
students are around. Walk through buildings and the library,
sit in a classroom, etc. This gives your child a visual image
to place themselves into, that will go with their ideas about
college in their future.
Outside the concept of college ideation, I
think there are a couple of other things I would suggest that would
contribute to your child’s success in and likelihood of attending
college.
- Put your child in an educational
setting as early as you are able. I am making an important
distinction here between an educational setting and simply
daycare. Whether it’s a Montessori school, public
Pre-Kindergarten, or just quality child care, and whether
they are learning songs, counting, the alphabet, the
planets, or whatever, they will be sponges for knowledge.
Make sure to give them lots of things to learn – both at
home and in “school”. This will start a lifelong
involvement with learning, and make them ready for the next
step (in whatever they are learning) more quickly.
- Work with your child on their homework
and do all the activities her or his teacher gives as
additional activities you could do or web sites you
could visit. As it is with about everything else,
the kids who do the extra things (like extra homework,
etc.), are the ones that are ahead of their peers. I don’t
mean to set up a “my kid’s better than yours…” situation,
but later on, when it’s college admission or scholarship
time, you’ll definitely want your child to stand out above
their peers. That work has to start early, and your
involvement in it will only emphasize it’s importance and
strengthen your relationship with your child.
Submit your
questions to
lance@collegeanswerguy.com and visit
www.collegeanswerguy.com and
www.collegeprep101.com
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