The first week or two was fairly light academically but the volume has really picked up. He should have known this was going to happen. The school held a meeting with the parents the first day and mentioned that there would not be any homework the first Friday of classes. We left campus and that weekend my son said they “changed their minds” and there was homework. All that said, he thinks it is all manageable thus far and is loving the intellectual stimulation. He did have “the worst day of his academic career.” There was some class wherein he says all the kids missed the mark and they were just looking at each other quizzically during the in class test/assignment since it was so different from what they studied. He doesn’t know his grade on the assignment but he thinks it will not be good but neither will anyone else’s.
Socially he’s made lots of friends and doing well. He is introverted but told us that his first few weeks he intentionally went out of his way to meet people. His approach was so successful that he often goes to commons whenever he wants to eat and is confident that he will know people there and always find someone with whom to dine. One tip I gave him that worked was he was studying on weekends in his dorm room. I recommended that occasionally he head over to the new library and do a little “social studying.” Essentially, work on an easier assignment while doing a little socializing. He met a bunch of people that way and saw friends from other dorms.
On the extracurricular front, he is headed down the path the admissions officer warned us about during the parent interview and that we cautioned him about. The club fair was last week and he signed up for a bunch along with doing his sport, and being dorm representative. He is pigging out at the activities buffet. Anyway, he says he will narrow things down. He is not the most “spikey” kid but has a few passions and the school has them all. At boarding school he theoretically has time and room for them all (but he really doesn’t).
He is very busy and isn’t in his dorm much which his advisor and prefect said is a good thing. It seems the school wants them doing stuff and connecting with different classmates.
All in all things seem to be going well. SwamiMamma and I miss him quite a bit but we FaceTime often. We’ve been cheating in that there has only been one week when we have not seen him face to face, even if it was for only 30 minutes.
LOL @TheSwami Glad to hear your son is doing well! Mine has been having wild ups and downs. Fascinating how teenagers are so different from middle schoolers in this regard. Socially things seem good.
I have noticed that teachers are generally not good at spacing homework which creates some anxiety - almost none at the start of the week and then 6 quizzes Thursday/Friday seems standard. She is working on figuring this out and needs to find a way to ask for homework in advance because of sports commitments.
No other ECs for her. There is quite literally no chance of time for that.
I will add to the updates…my dd is enjoying life in sunny California. She is loving Cate and has pretty much forgotten that her poor parents even exist. There has been no homesickness and she is managing school work, friends and taking care of herself beautifully so far.
I miss her like crazy and am trying to find my place without her here. It has definitely been a shock to the system for this stay at home mom of an only. I told my friend the other day that I literally have nothing to share when my husband comes home.
Well, after a month of very sporadic 1-2 minute calls (and begging for responses to text messages), I finally talked to my daughter for a whole HOUR last night! I was so happy to hear that she has adjusted well and is very happy. I’m pretty shocked by how much she seems to have matured in the last month. She thanked us for “being so supportive” and she said that going to Exeter “was the best decision ever.”
I’ve been on Cloud Nine all day thinking about that call.
Did everyone get midterm grades as an indication of how their kids are doing? Mine has said they feel as if they’ve been going to school there forever.
I am grateful that my child is mature, I know a couple kids younger for the grade or just young for their age and there are some aspects of boarding school culture that are a bit much for them. Ahem. Smooching etc.
Yes, we were given midterm grades over parents’ weekend. I’m not sure if they are official yet as I have not seen anything mailed home. Thankfully, the transition to BS for our daughter has been smooth. She has great friends and has settled in nicely. Only the heavier-than-expected homework load has been a surprise, all else is exactly what she had hoped for.
It was my impression that midterm grades were just a “so you know” kind of thing. Not something that would appear officially anywhere. I actually cannot remember how grades are reported on a transcript in highschool! Do midterm grades appear or only full term grades?
Glad to hear your daughter is doing well @Hopeful0304. Have you also been told the work increases significantly year to year? Not sure how on earth that will work…
@dogsmama1997 I believe only end of term grades appear on the official transcript (in fact, it might only be end of year grades), but in our son’s case, his midterm grades are sent home in writing along with comments from his teachers. Perhaps that is unusual, I simply don’t know.
Yes, I have been told that the workload increases each year. I would expect such, and would further expect that the students would increasingly fine tune their time management skills, but as you said, I’m not sure if the delta will be manageable. Looking at the upperclassmen, they seem to be handling it, but I wonder at what (perhaps hidden) cost?
The grading policy varies by school. Ours did only one grade for the course for the year. The grades for each term reflected what the grade would be if the class ended at that point (which of course it didn’t. ) While some teachers averaged across the year, others weighted an upward trend more heavily.
SwamiJr finished exams this week. Heading into that week we made a choice to limit the communication with him. We spoke the week before finals and he seemed busy and had a game plan for studying which did not involve long probing conversations with parents. After he was done he seemed fine and thought he did well. The midterm grades were good and the comments thoughtful. I am very curious about the final grades and comments.
I agree with the comments above, I hear the volume of work goes up. I get that the students will manage their time better but I cannot imagine the amount of work the kids will have.
Well SwamiJr went on spring break and COVID took over so the rest of the year will be remote learning. It is a pretty lame 3rd trimester but there are much more important things in life.
Anyone thinking about the fall? On the less sensitive and practical front, I am not jazzed about paying for the remote learning experience if the kids are not back on campus.
I feel the same way about paying for remote learning, but after seeing what DD is getting from LPS vs. what DS is getting from BS, I just can’t pull him for LPS, so we will pay. If it goes on more than a semester, it’s going to be really hard.
Funny story. I woke up in a panic a few nights ago when I realized that when I asked DH if he checked Lizardkid’s fridge when he picked him up, his reply was “I forgot. I’ll do it when I bring him back”.
Well, as we all know, they never did return from Spring Break.
After not being able to sleep the last two nights fretting about the state of Lizardkids’s fridge, I finally broke down and e-mailed his dorm parent to see if she knew how he left it. This was her response:
“You can rest easy–Lizardkid fully cleaned his fridge before break. In fact, he and some of his dorm mates brought his fridge into the bathroom and used the mop to clean it! Unconventional, but effective.”
Ha @vwlizard DS didn’t clean out his fridge nor any other foods he had in his room before he left for spring break …he thought he’d be going back. Now it appears either the school or close friends will have to pack his room up for us… I’m dreading that scene for anyone involved.
This thread has been dead for a while. How are your Junior’s college list’s coming along? I feel like we are behind. Have only visited two reaches. And need to nail down some amazing safeties and targets.
As a junior, I’ve only gone on one college visit (doing another one next weekend) and submitted a “working college list” (basically vomiting a long list of colleges onto a page) to my counselor for him to categorize it. I don’t feel particularly ahead or behind, to be honest; I don’t think most of my friends have done anything.
My list is complete and I’ve visited several schools but…
I had a tough first two years so i’m literally clinging onto the fact that I go to a well known competitive school to save me
