<p>Summer has started. What is your son or daughter doing other than going to endless graduation parties? Are they taking some college courses, working to earn some money, volunteering in the community, or doing something else meaningful?</p>
<p>My kids both took a year off. The summer before college they worked as residental camp counselors.
In the fall, one daughter then began her CityYear, which was a full time stipend position, other daughter worked two jobs to save money for a volunteer vacation which she began in January.</p>
<p>They were each able to find jobs because they had been volunteering since their early teens and had strong recommendations, lately it is more difficult.</p>
<p>If you are planning to take college courses, be sure you clear it with the college you will be entering before registration.</p>
<p>My daughter took one college course during her senior year. This summer she will work as a hostess at a chain restaurant, to provide for her clothes and spending money freshman year, to experience the work world, and to learn to be social among people she doesn’t know (she is shy).</p>