Kids and Money

This summer, while your kids are out of school, I highly encourage you to sign them up for free financial literacy classes at Wealthy Habits.Your kids will learn all about money and taxes and all things financial. I’ve been at two of these courses and am amazed at how much the kids learn about the Rule of 72, filling out a W2, assets, liabilities, credit cards and more. I so wish my kids had had classes like these to learn about finance.

The Rest of the Story

You probably heard about this story in the New York Times that reported, once again, that college is worth the expense, despite some drawbacks. Take a moment to look at NPR’s “devil’s advocate” approach to the Times story. Among its points, NPR informs that “some 34 million American adults attended college but have no degree to show for it. That's huge, compared with the 41 million Americans who have a bachelor's as their terminal degree.” Interesting and scary reading.

Add "What’s Your Major?" to your summer to-do list

Summer is a great time for your student to explore the world of career opportunities that are out there. Contact us to schedule time for your child to get focused on the right major for him/her.

We focus on helping students find the right major for them in college, before they go or after they get there. Check out our offerings.

We save your student time and we save you money.

Pam Scott, 404-248-9475
pam@whats-your-major.com

P.S.: Please pass this email along to any friends or family members who have students searching for direction. With your help, we can make this part of the college process a little less painful.

What Careers Will Technology Kill? Sometimes it’s tough as an adult to get your teenager to tell you what they’re thinking. I’ve found this to be true particularly when it comes to college and picking a major. The New York Times recently ran a great infographic on how technology may impact the future. Among other things, it predicts what professions might no longer be relevant, such as airline pilots and higher education. I encourage you to use this graphic to get a conversation going that will give you insight into what your teen is thinking. Add "What’s Your Major?" to your summer to-do list Summer is a great time for your student to explore the world of career opportunities that are out there. Contact us to schedule time for your child to get focused on the right major for him/her. We focus on helping students find the right major for them in college, before they go or after they get there. Check out our offerings. We save your student time and we save you money. Pam Scott, 404-248-9475 pam@whats-your-major.com P.S.: Please pass this email along to any friends or family members who have students searching for direction. With your help, we can make this part of the college process a little less painful. Communicating Successfully in a Family Do you ever feel like you are speaking French and your teenager is speaking Chinese? It certainly happened in our family. Parents have asked me to teach them how to talk to their kids about college. Given that I've focused on interpersonal communications my whole career, this was a welcome challenge. I've created a new offering--Communications in a Modern Family. This 3-session offering looks at the different personality types in a family the different communication styles of family members why communication breaks down and how to fix it The outcome: greater peace and understanding in the family. We also include our PathFinder Process for helping students find the right major for them. In addition, we give families a decision-making process they can use with their teen. Call us at 404-248-9475 to learn more. Or email us at pam@armstrongscott.com.

Let's Talk Money

If you’re looking at colleges, you’re considering several key factors in deciding where your student will go. Money—the cost of going to college—is a huge factor for most families. In Georgia, we’re fortunate to have the Hope Scholarship. If you are sending your first child to college, be aware that you have to apply for the Hope. For all questions about the Hope, go to GA411college’s website. Getting the Hope is one thing. Keeping it is another. More on that at another time. Rob Lieber, the Your Money columnist for the NYT, has a great column on Eight Tips for Parents Who Have Saved Nothing. Even if you have saved money, check out his suggestions for steps you can use to make your money go further. Is your student confused about college? Call us. We focus on helping students find the right major for them in college, before they go or after they get there. Check out our offerings. Pam Scott, 404-248-9475 pam@whats-your-major.com P.S.: Please pass this email along to any friends or family members who have students searching for direction. With your help, we can make this part of the college process a little less painful. Communicating Successfully in a Family Do you ever feel like you are speaking French and your teenager is speaking Chinese? It certainly happened in our family. Parents have asked me to teach them how to talk to their kids about college. Given that I've focused on interpersonal communications my whole career, this was a welcome challenge. I've created a new offering--Communications in a Modern Family. This 3-session offering looks at the different personality types in a family the different communication styles of family members why communication breaks down and how to fix it The outcome: greater peace and understanding in the family. We also include our PathFinder Process for helping students find the right major for them. In addition, we give families a decision-making process they can use with their teen. Call us at 404-248-9475 to learn more. Or email us at pam@armstrongscott.com.

Check out this fun site for students

I hope you had a safe and relaxing spring break. The last time I wrote I said I would tell you how to help your student figure out what to major in at college. Here are two steps to do that.

1. Download the 3 Circles worksheet that’s on our home page at www.Whats-Your-Major.com. Spend time with your student challenging him or her to drill down to find answers to the 3 Circles.

2. Go to
http://www.insidejobs.com/careers?arts-and-entertainment=high&problem_solving=high. That site has numerous drop-down menus that students can use to identify the best choices for them. You can use the results of the 3 Circles exercise at this site.

You will find a wide array of career options. Please note that a 4-year college degree is not required for every job. If your student is really confused, you might have him “try on” a couple of career choices to see if they’re a good fit.

As we move toward summer, remember that summer is the perfect time to help your teen get clearer about what to study in college. We’re here to help.

Call us at 404-248-9475 or email pam@whats-your-major.com.

Pam
P.S.: Please pass this email along to any friends or family members who have students searching for direction. With your help, we can make this part of the college process a little less painful.

512 to 1: Are you willing to bet on those odds?

That’s the average number of students that each Georgia public high school counselor is supposed to serve: 512 students per counselor. With budget cuts, counselors are challenged to do more with less in terms of helping students prepare for college. Furthermore, the counselors have to spend time being social workers--handling problems with bullying, drugs,dropping out, etc.

“In addition to huge caseloads, budget cuts have forced counselors to increasingly contend with duties unrelated to their traditional roles, such as monitoring the school cafeteria or proctoring exams,” according to Time magazine (12/3/2013).

The median caseload for counselors in private schools is 106.

What’s a parent to do?

You need to help your student slog through the process for all-things-college. You need to become the career adviser. In my next post, I’ll walk you through how to coach your student on picking the right college major.

Student gets a welcomed reality check

I am so fortunate to get to talk with high school students about their future. I just received this note from a student at Lakeside High School.

“Dear Mrs. Scott,
I would just like to thank you very much for the information you shared with my class at Lakeside. My goals of becoming a lawyer have been more realized, and I now have a realistic idea of how I need to prepare myself for this career. Thank you so much.”

How cool is that? I love this work!

Snow day activity: Help your teen identify their passion

If you’re in Georgia or other parts of the Southeast, today’s snow day is a great chance to get your student thinking about what to major in at college.

Share this exercise with your teen to get them thinking—-once they tire of video games or come in from sledding to warm up.

This is the first of my 3 Circles exercise. I'll share circles 2 & 3 in the next post. If you want those now, email me at pam@whats-your-major.com  I'll send you the worksheet.

Circle #1: Stuff You Love.

What is your student excited or passionate about? Use these questions to prompt their thinking.

Where do I spend my time? My money?

• What do I like to talk about, learn about, or teach others about?
• If I didn’t care what anyone else thought, what would I love to do?
• What would I do without getting paid for it?

Compile the answers you get to see what your student might want to study in college.

If your student is confused about what to study in college, give us a call. We help students find the right direction for them.

Pam Scott, 404-248-9475
pam@whats-your-major.com

Communication in a Modern Family At the request of parents, we have added a new offering focused on communication within a family. We explore the different communication styles among family members and how to address problems those different styles create. In addition, we share a format teens can use to make decisions. Call us for more information on how to improve the dialogue in your home. 404-248-9475.

Tips for communicating with teens; Samantha's story

Do you have trouble communicating with your teenagers? The flip response to that would be “Who doesn’t?”

We’ve found some tips from the American Psychological Association on how to communicate with your teens. Here are two ideas; we’ll share more in the future.

• Ask open-ended questions. Ask questions that require more than a yes or no response; this helps
the adolescent think through ideas and options (Hill & O’Brien, 1999).

• Avoid “why” questions. “Why?” questions tend to put people on the defensive (Plutchik, 2000). Try to rephrase your questions to get at what the adolescent was thinking rather than the reason for something the adolescent has said or done. For example, instead of asking, “Why did you say that?” say instead: “You seemed to be really trying to get across a point when you did that. Can you tell me more about what you meant?”

“Can you tell me more?” is one of my favorite questions to use when talking with anyone.

You can find these tips and more on page 16 of the APA’s report “Developing Adolescents.”
http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/develop.pdf

Meet Samantha and read her story about finding the right major for her.
Samantha's story

If your student is feeling lost or confused, give us a call. We focus on helping individuals find the right major for them in college.

Pam Scott, 404-248-9475
pam@armstrongscott.com
info@whats-your-major.com