<p>mongo -</p>
<p>This is one parent who totally agrees.....</p>
<p>choff,</p>
<p>Yes, the national debate tournament my son will be attending in June is in Philly. Our state is a bit unusual where debate is concerned...I think we have the ONLY state that only competes in the fall. Spring is strictly for forensics, and you are not allowed to double qualify (debate and forensics). So, to keep "in shape", my son's team has travelled to some neighboring states to debate this semester. </p>
<p>That would be so cool if your son and mine were both at the tournament in Philly! I wish your son all the best with both his debate and his OM. OM is SO cool...my son participated at the state level at a younger age, but our school does not participate in this competition at the high school level. I find OM to be an absolutely fascinating thing!!! I'll keep my fingers crossed for your son and his team! ~berurah</p>
<p>tabbyzmom,</p>
<p>Thanks for the "vote" for my son to speak at graduation! I hope the selection panel is in your camp. IMHO, he really, really deserves this, but we live in a small town, and politics run rampant here...so I am trying to keep my hopes in check. He showed me his speech, though, and I must say it is truly beautiful and so applicable to the student body at his school. Keep your fingers crosssed for us, O.K.?? ~berurah</p>
<p>Hi...we were at Iowa State, too--two years ago, and at Tennessee in 2000...this is our third "win" at regionals and if we win at State, our third trip to Worlds...we also went to Worlds last year at U-MD, because it's close by, and did some volunteer work for the VA Assn (we're in VA)...</p>
<p>OotM is my son's passion (and one of mine, too)...he loves it; has been doing it since 5th grade (I coach his team)...I'll miss the team as much as I'll miss him come Sept when they scatter to college!</p>
<p>What state are you in? I've come to know some of the non-VA people in my volunteer work (I do work on the homestay program)...fun meeting a "kindred soul" like this...</p>
<p>Good luck to your kid(s), both in OotM and in college app process!</p>
<p>I say to you as I say to my son: go ahead and quit! Seriously, easing up a bit in order to extract all the high school experience (and that most definitely includes the fun!) you can is so totally all right...I'm fine w/my son getting all Bs instead of all As if that's what he chooses for this last quarter of high school...but he has discovered that he's so in the habit of doing the work that he's still doing it, even tho he's given himself "permission" to ease up...he has stopped doing extra credit stuff, but that's about it...</p>
<p>Your parents are no doubt as proud of you as I am of my son...hurray for you! Now relax a bit and enjoy this last bit of childhood...you deserve it!!!</p>
<p>What constitutes a fatal case of senioritis? (Any adcomms?) Slipping from all As to all Bs? Cs? Ds are certainly fatal. D may slip to a 3.5 or 3.3 so I'm not too worried. As a near fatal Senioritis survivor myself I can't complain too much without sounding hypocritical.</p>
<p>Overanxious.... Hi neighbor! We're the only region in Va that hasn't had its competition yet, I think, so we may run into each other at states. At least there the top two teams go on so there's room for everyone. Which problem did your S's team do? I'm a little reluctant to say a lot here since they haven't competed, and I really don't know a lot since I'm not coaching, and now that they can drive, he just disappears on me to go to meetings. I've helped out with spontaneous in the past and this year got roped into helping with the primary spontaneous at the regional meet. With States up here in our backyard, I know we'll at least go and watch, if they don't make it. What problem did your S's team do at Iowa? Ours was Put a Spin on it, they turned their robot into a hover craft at Worlds, and had a blast. Last year was a reality check for them, so who knows what this year will bring.</p>
<p>I, for one, am GLAD my D has senioritis! There's nothing left to kill herself for. She's not a candidate for Valedictorian. She won't win any departmental awards (they all go to Juniors, to look good on college apps.) She worked her little tushie off for 3-1/2 years. If it wasn't another brutal AP class it was swim practice, or orchestra practice, or some cockamamaie Community Service project. She never took a fun elective (instead she took Latin as her sixth class). This year, she actually watches TV (TheOC, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, Queer Eye, and Alias--five whole hours a week). She does something with her friends on Saturday night. She has had time to go shopping with me on two occasions. (Last year, I bought everything for her, down to sneakers and prom dress, because she had no time to shop.) She's finally having some fun in high school and if she gets straight B-minuses for the last half of the year, then fine. Nor do I care what she gets on her AP tests. In fact, I told her to sandbag on them. Why end up struggling in Advanced French Literature your freshman year when you can breeze through the last year of Conversational French while you learn your way around a new campus? Have some fun, sweetheart.</p>
<p>I am a senior, and I have a bad case of senioritis. Ever since my deferral in December, I've just been aimlessly wandering along, annoyed every time my Physics teacher tells us we have another lab due. </p>
<p>It's like, we've worked so hard, for so long. Second term belongs to us.</p>
<p>I agree w/Susu. In fact I have encouraged my D to have some fun! The US Open for Snowboarding was last weekend and she stayed up there for the whole weekend--bands, friends, who knows. I have written late notes, away from campus notes, etc. gladly. The kid has killed herself for 3 1/2 yrs so a little fun is fine. Frankly I think the AP courses are turning into very expensive placement test. Hardly worth the $$ but what other choice do we have?</p>
<p>My S is has been going non-stop this semester with 8 classes, a new internship, band practice, speech/debate tournaments and speech competitions for the Lion's Club. These activities are all of his own choosing, but it's obvious this week that he's become tired and burned out. The last two weekends he's been competing at the State Speech and Debate Qualifiers (yay, he made it to state in Student Congress...And berurah and choff, he's competing a week from Saturday at National Qualifiers in LA to see if he can go to Philadelphia in June for Student Congress.)</p>
<p>Anyways, he's busy and happy but tired. Last night he came home and asked if I thought it matters if he drops an elective that is 7th period and that no longer interests him. This was a class he'd always wanted to take, but now he's just tired and doesn't really want to put in the effort in class. I told him to see if he feels differently after spring break (which is not for 10 more days) and after the college acceptances come in next week. But what do you guys think? He's got twice as many credits as he needs to graduate right now, and this class is purely an elective and not in his expected major or connected to his ECs. Would colleges care at this point if he dropped it? His counselor told him that it just would not show up on his transcript at all if he drops by a certain date.</p>
<p>Momof2inca - Student Congress is also what my S. does, and loves it. If he does qualify for Phily, it's right smack during the senior finals, but I don't think he'll care one bit! We'll deal with that if/when it happens. Good luck to your S.!</p>
<p>momof2inca - why not drop it, if there will be no penalty? I wish my S could drop some of the extra coursework he took on and now is tired of studying/doing homework for!! Lucky you! Good luck to him with the speech events, also.
Hey, did he decide on college? Seems he liked Chicago. I remember comparing notes w you one time b/c the boys sounded so much alike.
Tabbyzmom</p>
<p>I think my junior might have a touch of it! </p>
<p>In my older kid's school, the administration recognized the onset of senioritis in a wonderful way. Basically, seniors were excused from classes about a month early and required to work on a senior project. Seniors do not take final exams. The projects had to be approved by a faculty advisor - and every project required some form of presentation or exhibition on Senior Projects Night - which has become a festive tradition when alumni and even parents of alumni return to see what the new crop of seniors have been up to. Students can work on their projects individually or in teams. The kids really get into their projects and it gives them something to look forward to. There's quite a range - one kid went to Tibet to work in a women's health clinic, a team of kids learned to scuba dive, one kid wrote a cook book and tested all the recipes, another team did a project on playing cards - history of, card games around the world - and designed a deck of cards and learned how to use a printing press to make the cards. There were some hilarious movies.</p>
<p>I am a senior, I don't really have senioritis and in reality I'm doing the same workload as I have always done. Most kids say junior year is a living hell, and well they are way too overworked. I spread 7 AP's out over 2 years, instead of kids at my school taking 4-6 junior year then 1-2 senior year.
If your sons and daughters are just being able to watch TV and are just being able to go out, it's sad that they made that choice. If they spent 3.5 years doing loads of work with no free time, they've wasted some valuable years. High school is not meant to be an all out race to get into the best college. You need to have an appropriate attitude towards the importance of school work and have the ability to balance it with activities that you enjoy. Besides, spending all your time studying makes you very socially inept.
Society shuns those who spend way to much as adults at their occupation and then don't spend enough time with their families, etc. yet we still praise those students who spend their entire life in schoolwork and related activites but then spend little time with their family. I hear of juniors at my school who get about 2 hours of sleep at night. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Stop procrastinating, do the work, and don't take so many tough classes. This is getting ridiculous. Students and parents need to realize that school is important but not the only thing to be present in a student's life. Most "elite" colleges expect students to take difficult courses, however they acknowledge the fact that these kids need free time to develop as human beings. Some UC's expect kids to have four AP's scores when they submit scores, if they are accepted. Just four. My GC has shown me a letter she recieved from Admissions at Standford, saying that taking too many difficult courses is not something they want to see in applicants. This doesn't mean they want to see students who take easy classes, it means they could take in students who have taken and done well in more AP's but they don't because they rather have students who are, as a whole, sound human beings. Sorry about the rant but it's just my two cents.</p>
<p>Tabbyzmom,
Thanks! S has not yet decided. Chicago is the front-runner but still waiting on merit aid possibility and a couple other college decisions next week! How about your S?</p>
<p>Senioritis began at our house the day the ED decision arrived and began to resolve when the stern letter about quarter grades arrived that "failure to improve your standing" will result in not graduating. (Really just one class is causing peril). Acted surprised (Senioritis can induce temporariy loss of observational skills and judgement I believe). Acted horrified that we were quite definite that the family vehicle to be used for a road trip this summer is contingent on rapid improvement in academic work. (Senioritis can lead to delusions that parents have already graduated from parental responsibilities.) I find a side effect of senioritis is a lot of maternal teethgrinding and failed efforts to keep my mouth shut. But he is wonderful kid and has always done well enough and will I believe utimately graduate from senioritis into some semblance of proto-collegiate adulthood. Meanwhile, faith, hope and regular consultation with other parents is prescribed....</p>
<p>And good luck to the Odyssey parents. My son's team went to World's last year and had an amazing time. We made the trip too-- it is an incredible event.</p>
<p>Senioritis struck our home last December when my D for the first time in her life brought home a report card with almost all B's for the 3rd grading period of last semester (but was back to A's in the first grading period of this semester). She opted out of AP Calculus for this semester (felt she wasn't learning enough, not concentrating on the subject and didn't want to have to make that extra effort in addition to preparing for 4 Higher Level IB exams this spring) and is taking a regular level Algebra 5 class, the first non-honors class she has taken in her high school career (she is totally amazed that teachers actually give the students time to work on problems in class). </p>
<p>Last night she mentioned that she was going to have two tests today, one in Honors Physics, the other in IB Biology, and then proceeded to watch t.v. for an hour or so, called and chatted with some friends and went to bed. I held my tongue the whole time (for which I am proud) and didn't remind her of the tests or studying or grades. But I keep praying that this is really only senioritis and that she isn't so burnt out on the educational system that she is establishing patterns for the future.....</p>
<p>By the way, Glassjawer, your post made a lot of sense. I think you have the right set of priorities and hope you keep that perspective in the future!</p>
<p>seniorits rox!</p>
<p>LP75, I wouldn't be concerned about setting patterns for the future. Once the get to college there a new goals to strive for and the work ethic developed during the first 3-1/2 years of HS should kick in. Our son had a major case of senioritis but he is now working hard at college and did nicely first semester. In fact he skipped going to an off campus concert a few Saturday's ago because he wanted to study for a BIG midterm exam. </p>
<p>Sadly, he did quite poorly, was very discouraged, and may be looking at his first grade below B ever. Because he studied really hard for it, we told him to forget about it and just do as good as possible for the remainder of the term and let the chips fall where they may.</p>