Leon Said:

Best book to prepare your "not going to college" child to "college bound"?

We Answered:

First you need to read this book. http://www.amazon.com/Success-Without-Co…
I know it is the exact opposite of what you are looking for, but not all kids are college material. After you read it, you will have a much more open mind about your child's potential for success in high school and college, and what it REALLY means to a successful future. Many people are equally as succesful financially with on the job training, vo-tech, military experience, etc. If the child does not want to go, it will just be an expensive lesson for you both to force the issue.

So for your original question on motivating your teen, try this website
http://www.eons.com/love/feature/kids/en…

YOU have to teach a love of learning to them. Mainly you have to be intimately involved every step of the way. You must know what they are learning, and know it as well or better than they do. Do homework WITH them giving them guidance on where and how to find the answers. Teach reference materials to them (dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, atlas, etc). Reward good efforts, good grades, and improved grades. Downplay the negatives and encourage them to do better. Read yourself, and insist they read every night (turn off the TV/PC and both of you read.) Reading the same book as your teen (something they pick). Discussing a chapter with them each night encourages them to keep doing it. They want to know your thoughts and opinions on it. Apply math at home. Getting them to help cook following recipes (but halfing or doubling total quantities of recipes) is a great way to reinforce math and adding/multiplying/subtracting/dividing fractions. Get then to do some woodworking or mechanic work, where they have to work with fractional wrenchs, sockets, tape measures, etc. They need to understand math is everywhere and IS real world. Do science experiments at home. For example, next time you buy cut flowers, have them put them in different vases with different quantities of sugar in the water. See which last longer before dying, and have them do the internet research to figure out why. Have them do some gardening, starting plants from seeds, etc. If an old appliance or electronic breaks, have them take it apart and try to "fix" it, or figure out why it broke. They may get lucky and save it, but more importantly, they will be learning about science, mechanics, and electronic. Expose them to all you can in the arts. Go to plays, museums, historical sites, etc. Have them do an at home geneology project, and relate each person's name to what was happening in the world then, to get them interested in history. When you watch TV together, make it educational (History channel, PBS, Food network, animal planet, etc). If you can add a discussion to the program about what or why something is happening, do. If you have time and can afford it, take an enrichment class at the local college yourself. If not, make it a point to start taking them to the colleges for events, such as art showings, plays, ball games, open forums, free lectures, seminars, etc. Let them see what campus and college life are all about. Maybe they will find it as attractive as you hope.

Good luck!

Sonia Said:

should i become a doctor or engineer?

We Answered:

It seems as though you are drawn toward becoming an engineer especially because of your love of math, so it sounds like the one to do. There different types of engineers eg..civil, electrical etc, so you need to find out which one you like most. It is odd that you say you are lazy when it appears that you are quite smart. How much earn depends on where you live.

Allison Said:

doctor vs engineer?plz help?

We Answered:

Overall, you are answering your own question. You want to be an engineer so go for that. It doesn't matter what other people want you to be because its what YOU are going to have to do for the rest of your life. Becoming a doctor is extremely time consuming, so you wont be into the field for approximately 8 years (depends on the type of doctor). Its a very rewarding field but requires a lot of time to get the position and a lot of studying to say the least. You could be many years into the field before you realized its not for you, and that could go very badly.

A bachelors degree in engineering is probably the highest paying 4 year degree so its good in that aspect. The salary all depends on your degree and where you obtain the job at so I can't give you exact numbers. Aerospace, mechanical, petroleum and electrical engineering are all high paying jobs (>$55k in most places in the USA).

Additionally, if you are lazy then neither of these careers are for you. You won't get far in either courses because they require extensive studying and hard work. Expect to stay up all night working on projects in engineering or medicine on several occasions. If you are very intelligent, you won't have to spend as much time but you will still need to put in the work. High school courses do not compare to college courses in any way. I would get out of that lazy approach if you ever want to be successful in either field.

Both fields will be challenging, and rewarding, so you don't have to worry about that.

You could also look into an engineering field that incorporates both fields, such as bioengineering or biomedical engineering. You can become very hands on with medicine in either field but still be very much an engineer. I would look into both of these before making any decisions.

I hope this is sufficient! Good luck and remember this is your choice alone!