WHAT ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE? Part 1

TAKING A LOOK INTO OUR FILES: High-school and college prep

As the end of my oldest student's eighth grade year aproaches, we've been thinking and talking more and more about plans for the future. This includes both high school plans, college plans, and beyond.

It's not really something new for us. You might be surprised if I told you how long I'd been thinking about this. But I knew this time would come and I don't think I'm really all that different than most people. I do wonder, though, how many parents like me actually have file folders for their research.

I've collected bits of information mainly for two reasons. First, we want to be prepared for the future. Second, I want to feel more prepared in the face of what feels like such a big and overwhelming phase for us.

Let's be honest, there's sometimes a lot of pressure on parents and students when contemplating what the future holds. The pressure can be even greater when it's the first time you've gone through all of this. But there are so many helpful, confident voices out there who have traveled this road before. And there is so much that we can learn from them!

I thought I'd share a list of the types of materials I have in my high-school and college prep idea files. 

-A list of books I haven't read but want to read. Topics include life-lesson books like "How to Win Friends and Influence People", specific books and videos that might make up part of a high school course, scholarship books, etc. 

-A list of books that colleges and "experts" have suggested that students read before graduating (we'll consider some of these when deciding what literature to read during the next few years)

-Articles torn out of magazines about everything you can imagine related to getting into college, parenting teens, how to write homeschool transcripts, and non-traditional activity ideas such as entrepreneurship

-A list of our state's graduation requirements

-A community college brochure (and one from a large high school) which lists their courses offered (as an idea-starter when deciding which courses we might like to pursue in high school)

-A list of college requirements from a few typical colleges, showing the items that we'll need in a few years when it's time to apply. Some of these include items that will need to be considered well ahead of time, such as letters of recommendation.

My file is already pretty sizable, but there are also a few categories we haven't started including yet: colleges that strike our fancy with contact information; testing deadlines for the PSAT, SAT, ACT. Also, scholarships and deadlines actually have their own folders.

Does anyone else keep a folder like this? What's in yours?