| |
9th Grade - Freshman Year
Welcome to high school! This year your grades count toward your GPA, so it's
important to apply yourself to doing your best. Now is the time to explore
career interests and plan with your family to meet college expenses. It's
also time to plan your course work to prepare to meet college entrance
requirements.
9TH GRADE COLLEGE PLANNING TIMELINE
>Begin praying about God's direction for your life after high school and
for motivation to do your best for His glory during high school.
>Review general college admission requirements
>Be sure to take college-prep classes
>Be sure to do your very best in all of your classes.
>Get involved. Check out clubs, activities, and sports that you may be
interested in participating in.
>Start a college planning file where you keep all of your important
documents.
>Get to know your teachers. This will become very important once you are
applying to college and need letters of recommendation.
>Get to know your counselor. You can get a lot of good advice as well as a
letter of recommendation.
>Check out colleges on the Internet.
>Read, Read, Read!
>Challenge yourself academically. Slightly lower grades in challenging
courses are better than higher grades in easy courses.
>Choose electives carefully, ensuring that they don't replace the college-
preparatory courses you need.
>Explore career possibilities.
>Start thinking about which colleges suit your career interests.
>Talk with your family about a college savings plan and explore savings
options.
>Keep a detailed list of honors, awards, extracurricular activities, clubs
and sports involvement, volumteer work and community service, paid
employment, etc. to create your high school resume.
>Start scholarship searches - there are scholarships for 9th grade students.
>Explore test preparation (PLAN, PSAT, ACT, SAT)
PARENTS: Help Your Child Prepare for College
Your child's grades appear on official transcripts starting this year, so if
you haven't already started doing so, it's time to take stock. If your child
has particularly strong academic interests, encourage them, but don't lose
focus on strengthening areas of weakness that can't be ignored, such as
English or algebra.
Your child should also start exploring career goals so that courses can be
chosen that will complement those goals and serve as good prerequisites for
college — this is especially true for scientific and technical fields. Sit
down with your teen and the school's course listings to sketch out a
comprehensive academic program of all the classes your child should take in
high school. Lay out preliminary plans for extracurricular activities as
well, allowing flexibility for interests they may outgrow or new ones they
may acquire. As you do this, allow your child's interests to shape the list!
Most importantly, pray for God's wisdom and direction concerning your child.
September/October
Get involved
The initial weeks of high school can be a difficult adjustment, socially and
academically. Keep an open dialogue about how classes are going. If your
child is struggling, now's the time to get a handle on it. Similarly, you
may want to talk to the school about placing your child in a more advanced
class if the work seems too easy.
Help your child explore
As classes progress, encourage involvement in meaningful activities in and
out of school. Allow your child to feel out what they're comfortable with
and how much time they can dedicate without impacting schoolwork negatively.
Heap on the praise
Help your child begin keeping an activities record that lists participation
in activities as well as accomplishments, awards, and leadership positions.
January
Provide support
Keep up regular conversations with your child about his or her academic
progress. Grades should be up to par and course levels appropriate. If not,
perhaps your child could use your help in establishing better study habits
or creating a better study environment.
Be a motivator
Develop an improvement plan together if your child is struggling and
remember that the best motivation is encouragement.
Remain open to change
One of the points of high school is for students to explore their interests.
Determine if your child is enjoying what they're doing, and if any changes
need to be made.
Think summer
You and your child should also start thinking about worthwhile summer plans
such as a job, volunteer work, or traveling. Summer is a great time to begin
exploring interests that tie in with college or career goals.
May/June
Look to the future
Together, review and evaluate the comprehensive academic program and
activities record started earlier in the school year, make any necessary
changes, and update accordingly.
Hit the books
As summer approaches, develop a summer reading list that will help with the
academic transition to 10th grade, and finalize any summer plans that were
in development.
Some information taken from: Peterson's.com; CFNC.org; MesaState.edu
|
|