Wow, summer is almost over! How did that happen? Summer is my favorite season in the Pacific Northwest. The weather was perfect for me. It was very hot, but not too hot, and we hardly had rained. From 9 months of doom and off-white gray, this is a nice breakout. The summer flies by and it’s almost time to go back to school. Wow! When the RB40JR was a kid, it was great news for me to go back to school. He needs so much attention that I am happy to send him to school for a while.
However, RB40JR does not need the attention of his parents now because he is a teenager. These days, he doesn’t want to do anything with us. He just wanted to hang out with his friends (mostly online). This is a big change, but I can do it. I have more time to do my own thing. I could go to the gym and ceramics class without worrying about him.
Therefore, RB40JR started high school in about a week. High school is close enough that he can walk or ride a bicycle to go to school. It will be great. I don’t have to take him to school anymore. Being a full-time dad used to be a tough one, but now it’s a piece of cake. Fortunately, our son is a good kid. He didn’t have much trouble. Hopefully, high school will be easy for RB40 families. Today, I will share my experience as a SAHD as a high school freshman. It’s more expensive.
Academic
Children face an uncertain future. AI has taken over many entry-level jobs, and we don’t know what professions are good for the RB40JR. He is interested in technology, but I’m not sure if this is the right approach. Computer science used to be a great major, but companies didn’t need as many programmers as they used to be. Programmers have been using AI to improve their productivity. Artificial intelligence will only get better from here and take over more entry-level tasks. There is even less technical work now. In 1996, I graduated from ECE degree (Electrical and Computer Engineering). This is a great degree and I found a job in R&D. That might still be a good road. R&D remains crucial to the success of a company. Anyway, we still have a few years to figure this out.
This summer, we visited some college campuses while we were traveling to California. Mrs. RB40, I didn’t visit many universities when I was young, so we wanted to give RB40JR a chance to see more. We visited Stanford University, UC Berkeley and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California. RB40JR is the most impressed by Stanford University. They have a beautiful campus in the heart of Silicon Valley. However, you have to be the butter of the crop to get in. Good luck, kid. We must get some student loans if you enter.
This summer, the RB40JR is successfully using geometric shapes. He’s been in math for a year, but he wants to be two years ahead of time, so he can work with his friends in advanced algebra. I think this is crazy. Why do you need to be two years ahead of math? You will run out of high school in math class. But he said he could attend classes at community college in his senior year. Wow, that’s thinking. Anyway, he got an A in his first geometry course and he is trying to complete 2ND Now part. I think it’s a good thing to be successful. I didn’t have to do this when I was a kid, but now I have had a different time.
Extracurricular Activities
RB40JR’s grades are pretty good in middle school, but they become real in high school. He needs to learn more and lock in those to improve his GPA. However, he also needs to participate in extracurricular activities to show his comprehensiveness.
This year, he will join the school’s ultimate frisbee team to learn Jiu Jitsu. The ultimate application should be very good. Many universities have an ultimate team, which may give him some advantages. I’m not sure how helpful Jiu Jitsu will be for college admission, but it’s a great exercise. Maybe someone on the admissions team is a fan of martial arts. Who knows? RB40JR has studied Wuhu (Kung Fu) for 5 years, but now it’s time to move forward. They only have forms and no quarrels. There is a quarrel in Jiu-jitsu and it requires more effort. He is enjoying the course.
We tried to encourage him to seek other activities at school, but he did not show much interest. Although he attended debates several times in middle school. If his friends were there, he might join the speech and debate club. I think the High School also has a robot club. This may be a good opportunity to learn. Of course, high school will be very busy.
In high school, I didn’t participate in any extracurricular activities. My parents have a Thai restaurant where I worked when I was out of school. At that time I was not interested in joining any club. But now it’s different. The grades kids need to apply for college are more than just good grades.
Back to school shopping
Finally, the activity that parents dislike the least is back to school shopping. RB40JR grew up last year and he is taller than me now. He is very thin. This makes shopping difficult. He is too big, but too small for medium. It’s hard to find the right clothes. He was also much more picky than he was when he was a kid. He doesn’t like 99% of the clothes/shoes we’ve seen. Yez…he used to wear whatever I picked out. Now, shopping with him is a pain in the butt.
In fact, we haven’t spent much money on back-to-school shopping yet. We bought a new pair of shoes and a T-shirt. I’m not sure what else he needs. Next week we may get a big list from the school. I don’t expect this.
Sample cost of raising a teenager
$840 Geometry course summer course.
$70 Adidas running shoes. We went to the Adidas employee store and got a 50% discount. The sticker price is $140. Yowza!
$15 T-shirts. We also visited the Columbia Staff Store. He found a T-shirt that he barely accepted. He doesn’t like any jackets, so we’ll stick with it until it gets colder.
$100/month Jiu Jitsu class.
$125 For Jiu Jitsu gi and belt.
$85/season For the Ultimate League.
$30 Anti-slip cleats. As far as equipment goes, the ultimate price is cheap.
So far it’s not bad. Do you have a kid? How is the shopping situation when you return to school?
Image source: The successor of AI overlord humans.
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