<p>I had reason to dig this thread up, and thought I’d add a more recent chapter.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1263136-parents-engineering-freshman.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1263136-parents-engineering-freshman.html</a></p>
<p>Congrats, Shrinkrap! Sounds like your son really turned a corner. I’m curious: to what do you attribute the positive change?</p>
<p>It ain’t over yet; and there have been new, scarier corners, but looking back I would say a taste of academic success, and the right kids. One best friend he’d known sine kg was really driven about playing college soccer, and my son went along for the ride. It seems to me that the kids playing high level soccer in high school had just the right mix of physical and academic discipline for him.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, your S sounds like he has matured quite a bit since those high school days! My S, also the same age, also got into his reach and has thrived there. It is so rewarding to be able to look back and see how much they’ve grown.</p>
<p>shrinkwrap,
I know what you mean about how kids who play high level soccer (or any such endeavor) develop discipline…they have to become masters of time management, and in my family’s experience, the coaches of my son’s team periodically required the boys to bring in their grade reports to make sure the boys were taking care of Job #1. The boys knew that to be attractive recruitment candidates, they had to have the grades as well as the soccer ability. A boy struggling academically knew to go to the coach before there was a problem–and had to tell the coach his plan to deal with it (get assignments done on time, get a tutor if necessary etc). The coach was not afraid to bench a player if he needed to get his academic act together. The coach also enforced “study hall” when the kids were on the road at tournaments–our Ohio team often found itself in California or Texas or Florida and the boys needed to remember to put school first.</p>
<p>Also, for my son at least, he did better academically when he was “busier” because he had no opportunity to procrastinate. He also tended to do much better when he had a high level of physical activity before sitting down to do his schoolwork. He would usually run 3-5 miles every morning before school because he found it helped him concentrate the rest of the day.</p>
<p>I’ve just skimmed through the replies because this whole thread is almost making me break out in a rash - it’s bringing up some not so pleasant memories of my older son’s high school experience. He has ADHD, great on tests - not so great on HW (or at least handing it in) got way too many B’s and even a few C’s, but SAT’s were > 2200 including a 750 in his worst subject Math. He was recruited to play a sport but we were wary of the demands of Div 1. The best solution that we reached was to find a Div 3 school that met his academic level - turned out to be a top 20 LAC - where the he could also participate in his sport with a lower level of commitment. In actuality the sport gave him the tip to be admitted into the school because his GPA was on the low end of admitted students. The good news…he flourished in college and ended up graduating a semester early thanks to AP credits. His teammates were always proud of their collective high GPA in their conference and son never wanted to be responsible for lowering the team GPA. I always got the feeling that the team looked out for each other and as a result I could back off and let him grow up - and isn’t that the whole point of college? Good luck to you and your son!</p>
<p>Oh no!! I should have read more closely - now I see the date of the OP is 2009 and this is a follow up. Oh well, maybe there is still something to be learned from my reply. Glad to hear things turned around for Shrinkrap! :)</p>
<p>" great on tests - not so great on HW (or at least handing it in)" - Ah, one of our kids was like that. Alas, I didn’t know about CC threads in those days. There would have been a lot of comfort knowing how many other parents dealt with similar situation. In retrospect, benefits of exercise in the early years mitigated the issues that surfaces in hs.</p>
<p>I love that Shrinkwrap came back to update this thread :)</p>
Hope I’m not jinxing it, but walking in about 30 days, and graduating in August. Fingers still crossed!
Sounds good. On to the next chapter, right?
Perseverance…makes for a great engineer. Congrats, to you and your son.
Shrinkrap- I was just thinking of you when someone posted a pepper gardening post.
I am so thrilled for you and your S. My own S who was similar but a few years older continues to shock us and amaze us as he grows in the workforce.
that’s awesome, shrink. 'Grats.
Thanks all! And some of my chineses peppers successfully overwintered. Must be some sort of metaphor.
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My sympathies to you. My daughter is exactly the same. A+ on tests, homework done (I check it), but … pa-pa-pa-pam … she forgets to turn it in and gets F. 
Even teachers are laughing already. I don’t think it is curable. That’s life. Luckily, my D. is not planning to go into medical career. Luckily, she has good teachers, who often remind her about deadlines etc.
Good to hear from you Shrink, and congratulations, mother of the (almost) graduate. Must feel great.