Resources for Parents: The High-School Years

by FamilyEducation Staff

Interested in more information about how to help your child during high school? We've put together this list of our favorite resources.

Books:

Majoring in High School: Survival Tips for Students
Carol Carter covers a range of academic, social, and emotional issues that high school kids deal with. This book is an excellent reference, well written and insightful.

Countdown to College : A Student's Guide to Getting the Most Out of High School
This book provides information and useful guidelines on all the major aspects of high school life--from planning coursework and charting academic progress to developing reading, writing, and note-taking skills, overcoming learning problems, avoiding scheduling mistakes, and making the most of extracurricular activities.

The Good High School : Portraits of Character and Culture
In this 1984 winner of the AERA Award, a Harvard educator looks at six schools that have earned reputations for excellence.

Kaplan High School Handbook
This is a step-by-step guide designed to help students use their high school experiences to develop as top college admissions candidates. From figuring out which courses to take and extracurriculars to pursue, to selecting the best colleges and researching scholarships,the HIGH SCHOOL HANDBOOK shows students how to make the most of their high school years and get into the college of their choice.

The Real High School Handbook : How to Survive, Thrive, and Prepare for What's Next
Designed for all teenagers, whether college-bound or not, The Real High School Handbook empowers students with practical information and real-life stories--about courses, grades, testing, communicating with teachers, and post graduation options--essential to making informed decisions about their high school careers. The book includes course, test, and college application worksheets and GPA calculation charts.

South of Heaven : Welcome to High School at the End of the Twentieth Century
An award-winning journalist writes about the year he spent in a Florida high school, in a shocking look at young America, as seen through the eyes of five students whom he followed closely.

Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers
In a question-and-answer format, this book helps parents to understand and cope with issues of alcohol, drugs, parties, academics, sex, eating disorders, homosexuality, divorce and remarriage. The author's unpatronizing approach to teenagers sets his book above the rest by promoting communication and understanding between parents and their emerging adult-children.