@surfcity We were told by the dentist about 2 years ago that there was no need to pull her Wisdom teeth so nothing has been pulled up to this point. She has has one last cleaning next week so this will be the last look before she is gone.
I am glad to see so many kids worked before going to school. Hard to learn about money management when my kids have only made Dave Ramsey styled commissions from their parents from our family chore list.
@MaineLonghorn I would have loved for my daughter to have had a similar experience.
@bjkmom Where your kids exceptional at time management? My son (rising junior) is looking for work now and I don’t know if he has the time management skills to handle his main extracurricular (Church youth leadership and church activities for 15-20 hours a week) and 3 AP classes next year (Calculus AB, APUSH, and AP Physics I). Did your kids handle everything smoothly?
My son mostly enjoyed his summer of freedom and lots of time with his friends. He spent lots of time outdoors camping and fishing. He earned some money as a self-employed maker of fidget spinners which he made himself using a 3D printer that he purchased with his own money & sold them on ebay. Made $2000.00, so not too bad.
On the wisdom teeth front, definitely address this before college. My son is getting his out this summer. I didn’t get mine out until they caused trouble when I was 21 and on co-op in another state. So I was on my own to figure it out, find a surgeon, and find a co-worker to help me after surgery. Then I had dry sockets and wasn’t released from care when it was time to return to school, so the one surgeon had to find me another back in my school state. It was a production that can be avoided.
Yeah, I agree about the wisdom teeth! DS is 23 and studying in Lebanon, and he really needs his out. Due to a medical condition, it’s probably not a good idea for him to have it done over there, so we’ll have to fly him home at some time for the expensive procedure. Sigh. We should have done it when he was living at home, but the dentist said it wasn’t necessary to do right away so we procrastinated.
I have 23 and 25-year olds who have never had their wisdom teeth out. The youngest appears not to have any at all. After all 3 in braces, I will gladly take no extraction costs. 
This summer my new HS grad will be getting a job, spending a couple of weeks at the beach, and going to orientation. He is ready for an academic break, and I think it’s healthy to be well rested and relaxed when you head to college as a freshman.
My D worked as a cashier at a supermarket the summer before college. It spurred her on to try to get a better job for this summer, which fortunately she did. I see I’m not the only one stressing about wisdom teeth. I spent the spring break of my junior year in college getting 4 impacted wisdom teeth extracted, and it was awful. I went back to school looking like a chipmunk who had lost a boxing match. My D has some of the teeth coming in, but has a full time internship this summer and hopes to have the same for the next summers, so we will have to plan any oral surgery well in advance.
My S19 worked as he had every summer in high school…full time…to earn money for college. He also trained for his sport (varsity athlete in college). He hung out with friends. And we did a two week trip as a family to Moab, SF, and Seattle…hiking, mountain biking, museums, and too much food. We didn’t buy into the “build the resume” thing in HS…that is what college is for. S19 got a great finance internship this summer…so I don’t think out approach is hurting his future opportunities.
Mine worked part time at a law office, which she enjoyed very much, and hung out with her sister and friends. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park and church camp. She worked on drawings. It was all very low-key. Can’t say how it affected her freshman year, which went well. I can say with DD’17 doing a summer semester, DD’19 is not happy with being an “only child” at home this summer alone.
It is amazing the things you learn on CC. My wife and I never got our wisdom teeth pulled so I had no idea of about the issues they cause, so thanks for the awareness.
@SwimmingDad Your son’s summer sounded like a good mix of what I was hoping for. My daughter is trying to make up for being in class most of the summer by going to 5 parties in the next 7 days (mix of birthdays and graduation parties). Then she will get 10 days of rest before we are dropping her off at her dorm. I am hoping that the early start helps her (or at least doesn’t hurt her).
He got a job and worked as many hours that the manager would give him. The money did not put a dent in tuition, but it paid for his books with plenty left over for pizza and concerts, etc.
Summer between high school and college? Managed just fine for #1. I got him a job working as an interviewer in survey lab at a nearby college. It paid reasonably well and was a good experience for him. Otherwise, he did what he did in his spare time: computer games, fantasy sports. He went off to college well rested and had a few hundred in spending money.
In contrast, #2 was basically exhausted from h.s., and so focused on recreation and not work during the summer after graduation. Unfortunately, she also focused on partying, attending raves out of town. We should have seen the consequences, which became clear when she arrived at school and promptly became ill with mono. That set her back in her curriculum, but eventually she overcame it, though that required an extra summer after graduation to formally earn her degree.
D knew that she had to make a lot of money for college so she worked two jobs (nanny and lifeguard). She was able to save more than the goal she agreed to and still had some fun. She had already worked the previous two summers but I think the work that summer made her think about what she was earning and how to be more careful about saving/spending. She’s doing the two jobs again this summer before having to get more serious about internships. Btw, she had her wisdom teeth removed over Thanksgiving break during senior year of hs.
@ChangeTheGame @momo2x2018 My son took the fast-paced Arabic course at NYU. He studied Arabic at Tufts as part of the requirements for the International Relations Major. Tufts Arabic is faster paced than most other courses base on where he was when he was in programs in Jordan relative to other students. (I think only the guy from Ole Miss was more advanced.)
I think my son got a C+ in Arabic the first year. So the NYU program helped very little. He swears he forgot everything between whenever the course ended and September. He did a three week immersion program in Jordan the summer after freshman year and got some sort of B at Tufts both semesters sophomore year, but there were times that year he thought about pulling out. Junior year he spent the entire year in Jordan where he got straight A’s and got A’s in Arabic both semesters senior year. He’s not a natural linguist, but for him immersion is the way to go. He’s a people person not shy at all and he spent a lot of time in cafes playing backgammon and talking to the locals.
My kid went to Google CSSI in Seattle before college. They got a lot of cool swag!. It helped them get summer internships during college
Mine all worked. We funded college costs including books but did not fund spending money/fun money. My oldest two still elected to work during college about 10 hours a week anyway during their college years. The oldest two working in restaurants in high school and college. My youngest always chose construction and maintenance but he is the civil/structural engineering kid so it all made sense in the grand scheme. Oldest career took him to the resort industry and middle the agriculture/horiculture industry so the restaurant work stood them well after college with the first jobs.
@ChangeTheGame Make sure your daughter is figuring out the work/play piece this summer at college. My kids’ high school is overly intense and they needed the non-academic time. Just listen to her closely and support her (without helicoptering of course!). So long as you can hear she is happy and having fun (whatever fun is to her) she should be good to go!
@SwimmingDad The work/play aspect should work out. Last year, the scholarship cohort that came into to her University went to a Washington Nationals game, movies, a wilderness retreat, and a few other gatherings. I don’t know what is planned for this summer yet, but they will be doing a lot of group activities trying to build a family atmosphere for the 29 kids arriving this summer. We won’t helicopter with my daughter (she will call us out on it and I learned my lesson the hard way last summer when she was gone). She has a lot of close family up in DC area so it is much easier for me to leave her alone versus her time in New Orleans by herself last summer:)
I let older DS have his summer off before college as he earned a large scholarship based on grades and exam scores. As he would be very far away, I thought it was good he could spend time w/ his friends who he wouldn’t see for a long time.
DD18 wants a cell phone so told her she needs to work to have enough money set aside to pay for it. She isn’t happy about it, as it can get boring, but good learning experience for the real world. In retrospect, I think DS should have worked as well. It is hard for kids home from break to find work if they didn’t already have a place set up before hand. DD was already asked if she wants to work when she’s home. I was not going to have her come home too often, but if it’s a long weekend we might do so for her to get some spending money.