Check this out!  I’ve been thinking about this as a great idea for teens.  Gary North spells it out in a clear way.  I don’t necessarily agree with him about summer jobs being menial but I do agree that you may better spend your time being an internet marketing entrepreneur.

Blake

Gary North’s Tip of the Week - September 25, 2010 Best Teenage Job
=====================================================
  Teenagers ought to use summers to prepare for CLEP exams.
This can save their parents a lot of money for college — far
more than the kids can earn in summer.  But they won’t do this.
They want a job.

  The jobs are usually menial.  They are also scarce these days.


  How about a job that develops skills that can put them through
college?

  How about a job that teaches sales skills that can be applied
to any career?

  How about a skill that involves tools that are dirt cheap,
that you have around the house?

  That skill is making a short YouTube video for businesses,
charitable organizations, and special-interest groups.  Everyone
knows his organization needs a YouTube video, but hardly anyone
knows how to make one.

  The software is free if you own a Windows-based computer:
Microsoft’s Movie Maker 2.6.  It will do the trick, although Sony
Movie Maker 10 is better, and under $100.  But anyone can get
started on the Microsoft product.  Combine this with a camcorder,
and he or she is in business.  Download it here:

         http://www.garynorth.com/snip/1011.htm

  It has weaknesses.  There are rival free programs that can be
substituted for Movie Maker 2, or else used to supplement it.

         http://www.garynorth.com/snip/1012.htm

  The student can learn the software this month in preparation
for the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  He can
shoot videos and edit them for practice.  By summertime, he is
ready to go out and sell.

  If a student can set up a local businessman with a complete
package — promotional video, domain name, simple Website,
YouTube channel, Google search strategy — one sale a month at $1,
000 will generate as much money as an 8-hour-a-day fast food job -
- if he can get one.

  Some of you are thinking: “Teenager, my foot.  I could do this
as a hobby and pull an a few thousand extra a year!”  You’re right.

Gary “Marketing Pays” North

What a great internship opportunity!  The Caroline Collective is part of the co-working movement; it is a place where people, who work from home, gather and work together.  It is similar to HIL: the CC is for working adults; HIL is for independent learning teens.

I just got an internship there! It’s my fourth internship at the moment…

-Robin

Once upon a time (a couple hours ago) in a land called the Houston Heights, a small group of very bright and motivated people came together to form the Heights Independent Learners. This group, consisting (so far) of 5 precocious teenagers, their mothers, and one very inspired Montessori teacher, is dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and the establishment of a new global attitude towards education.

Here we will keep updates of what we are doing, learning, and creating together, as well as information on how to join us.

If you’re interested in what we’re doing, contact us at hilearners@gmail.com.