<p>double whammy, surly Jr. and Soph.
School cant end soon enough…</p>
<p>@lvvcsf: It’s an interesting idea to “pay her for practicing and she had to pay for the lessons out of her account.” Do you mind sharing the details about paying her for practice? How much time for how much money? It’s great when the kids need to take on ownership for budgeting their money (and time)!</p>
<p>Glad to hear my S is not the only one. We need a week and 2 days. SAT this Saturday, 3 finals next week, state track meet next friday and ACT next Saturday. Then he will sleep for a week and start thinking about college apps. </p>
<p>(I agree junior year is the hardest, until college.)</p>
<p>Good luck all.</p>
<p>Rising junior is “cruisin’ for a bruisin’” as we used to say. Her job starts next week. Thank goodness.</p>
<p>I was terrible my last few weeks as a junior. 4 years later, I still remember. I had 5 AP exams, a few finals, and I was doing the school play essentially on my own (from a tech standpoint) as the other 3-4 techies bailed out on me. So I was at school until midnight almost every day of the week while balancing the other crap. </p>
<p>I also ended up getting H1N1 during May so… I blame my very, very bad mood on that 
</p>
<p>Just hang on, it’s almost over :)</p>
<p>Junior year is the toughest year. Most of them are exhausted by the time summer comes around. It is also a scary time for them because it is when they need to finalize their college list. D2 was very stressed last year. We did go away for 2 weeks right after junior year, she didn’t do any work. She did spend the time to decide which school she was going to ED. </p>
<p>I don’t usually take too much attitude from my kids, stressed or not. I expect them to be polite and not take it out on us. I would let them know when they start rolling their eyes or have an edge to their voice. Hey, I am stressed too.</p>
<p>What is a rising junior?</p>
<p>A student who will be a junior in the fall.</p>
<p>Never mind my post then. I was thinking of rising senior.</p>
<p>@ livn487</p>
<p>Lessons cost $25/wk. We pay her $4.25/half hour of practice up to 4 hours a week. She can potentially make $34/wk which we figure helps when weeks get busy and she has too much home work studying etc. to do. She typically only has about 42 weeks of lessons and she can practice whenever she wants so she has opportunities to bank money. We’ll adjust the payment as the cost of the lessons increase. One other thing is that she has to keep track of the practice time. The job ain’t complete til the paper work is done!</p>
<p>
Yes – her GPA. Right?</p>
<p>Thank you for this thread. If you look up “surly” in the dictionary, you will see a picture of my DS, HS junior. He had to spend all of Memorial Day weekend catching up on AP Language papers that I found out had not been done … to salvage HIS GPA. This high achieving science/math kid has on idea why he has to do any English work.</p>
<p>One SAT II tomorrow, then the ACT for the final time next weekend. Finals and then road test. I think the stress will last until the college apps are all submitted. </p>
<p>Calgon, take me away.</p>
<p>OP here. I’m embarrassed to admit that I am SO COMFORTED by the misery you all are experiencing along with us these last few weeks! I now know a whole bunch of households like mine, thick with tension and anxiety, and parents just trying to find that balance between encouragement and tough-love. Thanks for sharing your stories.</p>
<p>I think the loss of the seniors from the school this week has really hit my kid hard, too. He knows the school will never be the same without those buddies just a year older than him. So, add grief to anxiety, fatigue, and pressure keep all balls in the air gracefully. </p>
<p>We do have an older kid who is in college. She didn’t fret quite as much about exams, so the end of the junior year of HS was not as stressful for her. She was a Power Crammer. Son is not. </p>
<p>I’m hoping to cajole him into actually attending a funny movie with us tonight (with his college-student sister, too, so maybe it won’t be so loathsome). I think we could all use a few laughs. I hope MIB III is funnier than it looks…</p>
<p>CTTC - when scholarships are on the line, I WILL make sure she doesn’t throw awy all her previous hard work. And yes, it IS her GPA. we didn’t even know about the missing work as we leave her school stuff to her. The TEACHER is the one who contacted us because SHE didn’t want DD to throw something that valuable away (only 12 of 600 still have 4.0 GPA’s in her grade).</p>
<p>What’s the saying, right…“it takes a village.” Thank goodness her teacher cares enough to participate in the process.</p>
<p>Yes. Rotten mood, but more deflated and exhausted than rude. Poor guy–even after SAT tomorrow and finals, applications and decisions loom. There is really no going back and it is scary for them. And interesting insight, Jane, re the loss of the seniors. I think S will miss them and miss having ‘big kids’ around.</p>
<p>Mere, one B is NOT going to win or lose a scholarship. I filled out (and earned) many, many, many scholarships and not a single one demanded a 4.0 GPA.</p>
<p>Meremom-I don’t find anything wrong with your actions, especially with a stressed out junior. My DS has 1 semester B in health as a freshman because he blew off a simple homework assignment. It bothers him to this day. A perfect 4.0 will be something that your D will be proud of. Hopefully she will also be humbled that her teacher cared enough about her to bring it to her attention. She probably will not get a second chance in a couple of years once she is in college. And as to scholarships, there are, in our area, may opportunities for scholarships that are reserved for valedictorians, and those on scholarship committees may be impressed.</p>
<p>I think junior year was in many ways the most stressful year. Senior year had the application stress, to be sure. But that was done by December. Whereas the junior year academic stress was all year and had senior year and apps looming.</p>
<p>Thus junior year surliness is kinda predictable.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>“After talking, cajoling, yelling, and finally threatening to take away the car for the summer”</p>
<p>Just sounds like odd behavior (blowing off a grade) from a supposedly straight-A student. Is it important to her (or to YOU) for her to graduate with a 4.0 GPA? Sounds like it might be more important to her.</p>
<p>“After talking, cajoling, yelling, and finally threatening to take away the car for the summer”</p>
<p>“Just sounds like odd behavior (blowing off a grade) from a supposedly straight-A student.”</p>
<p>Sounds like my DS last year. Burnout happens and we are talking about 16-18 year olds.</p>