Parents of the HS class of 2010 - Original

<p>Nice to see this thread is so active!</p>

<p>jackief and zoosermom - great that your Ds are keeping so busy - just like mine. I think it's good for them.</p>

<p>momof3sons - I forgot your boys were musically inclined - that's great that they're doing well in camp together. My D also plays in a jazz ensemble and will be playing in the pit orchestra for her school's musical this year. Should be interesting to see how she fits that in with all of her other activities. She's got a lot going on this year, and I'm just not sure how it's all going to come together for her.</p>

<p>I don't blame you for not wanting to pay for an SAT prep course - it really isn't necessary if they practice with the Blue Book. The problem is getting them to sit down and practice. I signed my D up for a course - but it's been just awful. I really wish she would stop going and use that time to do some of the practice tests - that would be so much better. I only signed her up because she wouldn't promise to practice. I figured the class would be a way of making sure she got in a few practices - but that's not what they're doing. So yes, it was a waste of money!</p>

<p>Mine won't prep on her own, so we decided on a course. My mom actually paid for it, so my daughter will take it seriously as Nanny is the person she's closest to.</p>

<p>Despite knowing that it's necessary, do any of you ever just not want to go through this whole process?</p>

<p>Interestingly, a week or so ago, dh and I sat down to have "the talk" with S. No, not that one. The one that goes "Here's what we can afford for college." Basically, we told him we could afford a state school and would not take out or allow him to take out massive amounts of loans and that if he wants to go to one of these small LACS he so loves, then it was up to him to get the grades and the scores. Since then, he's down two sections of prep all on his own. And he went to a party Saturday and said other kids were talking about the SAT self-prep they were doing so now at least he knows he's not alone.</p>

<p>That was a bit of a tangent but I brought it up because I'm going to try to not get too crazy with the prep stuff.</p>

<p>I can't get over all the classics lovers here - just amazing. For some reason, I don't think any of D's friends are into the classics at all. Maybe they just aren't taught in her school.</p>

<p>zoosermom - you're lucky your D doesn't want to disappoint Nanny.......lol. Actually, the course my D is taking is just so bad, that it isn't her fault. I just wish she would stop going and start using the blue book which I bought for her several weeks ago.</p>

<p>I have had a similar talk with D, Youdon'tsay, but it hasn't had that effect on her - maybe because it was too early. I guess I should sit her down and explain the reality of the situation again.</p>

<p>Hi! New here, although I have been reading for about 6 months. S is currently at Penn State volleyball camp, did the drivers' training classroom stuff, and spent 2 weeks in Brazil (vacation with a friend's family). He will be starting IB in fall with no clue what type of college or major. We are planning a trip to visit Middlebury and colleges in-between for August. I don't think that he will end up at a school that competitive but now is the time to look.</p>

<p>His soph PSAT was mediocre so if he falls in love with any of the schools that we are looking at, maybe he will put more effort into the blue book. Right now, in between camps and classes, I insist that he does at least 2 productive things each day.</p>

<p>A little more about my dear, underachieving, handsome, sociable, affectionate, funny varsity soccer star S1:D : He wants to go into culinary arts! He took intro cooking in 9th grade and loved it, even the clean-up. Couldn't take advanced chef in 10th because of a schedule conflict, but will take it this year. He is very impressed by the glossy photos in a Johnson and Wales brochure. I found the Culinary Arts program at SUNY Cobleskill, which looks a whole lot more reasonable. S1's grades were in the tank last year, and I feel dispirited about giving him PSAT/SAT/ACT review over the summer, even though I planned to.</p>

<p>So, would someone please kick-start me about his test prep? And also, does anyone know ANYTHING about Johnson & Wales? I searched the archives and came up with precious little.</p>

<p>Wow. All these kids are so busy! My D is spending her summer working. That's it. Working, and hanging out with her friends.</p>

<p>Hey Jude36, nothing wrong with working, its what my D would have been doing if she didn't get into the CIT program.</p>

<p>We've had some finance talks, the main ones have to be between me and H as we came from different upbringings higher-ed wise. My parents (both teachers) sacrificed and sent me to an Ivy. H followed the same path as his older brothers. 2 years at CC then off to state U. He only differed in that he didn't do well at big state U and transferred again to small state U. We were also both engineers and got well paying jobs right out of undergrad.</p>

<p>D is humanities focused and looks down at state U (and truth be told we don't have the best state higher ed system) and wants small LAC. The compromise we are going for now is that we will pay for a 4 years of undergrad and she is on her own for grad. If she gets good scholarships for undergrad we can offset that with some grad help. It is this last point which is the current discussion, I want to have a motivating factor for good effort from her to look at scholarship opportunities, H is leaning towards the hard 4 year cutoff regardless of if she goes cheap or expensive. </p>

<p>And none of this continuing to support them cradle to grave! Everytime I read another article about parental support of 20 somethings to enable them to live in NYC (just the latest example in a Newsweek article) I shake my head!</p>

<p>My D volunteered for 2 weeks and we went on a long college visiting trip. We are leaving again tonight to see family. She has had hardly any time to study at all. However, she is making a boatload of money babysitting. It is amazing what people will pay for a capable babysitter their kids like.</p>

<p>D also took an SAT prep class last semester in school and told me it was a complete waste of time, so I am probably not going to pay for a class either. She really bombed her PSATs last year due to anxiety, but has been testing near 800 on Math in her practices (CR-we wont even discuss).</p>

<p>Welcome, lotsofquests. </p>

<p>Catbird - my neighbor's S is a senior at Johnson and Wales, and I believe he's really enjoyed it. I know he's doing an internship at a country club this summer (it's the same place he's worked every summer since his soph year in HS, but now he wears a suit). If you tell me what you want to know, I can try to find out the answers for you.</p>

<p>Jude, my D is basically doing the same thing - only her job is just half a day, and then she was doing volunteer work in the afternoon. That ended because she put in the hours she needed for school. She is doing test prep, but it really doesn't count because although she's putting in the time, she's not getting anything out of it but frustration. </p>

<p>jackief - As far as paying for your D's schooling - my feeling is you do what you can afford to do without wrecking your own savings/retirement funds. So, if your D gets good scholarships that offset what you were willing and able to pay for undergrad, then I would put the balance towards grad school. If it was going to be a struggle to help out with undergrad, then it's not necessary. </p>

<p>I know several 20 somethings who are helped out by their parents so they can live in NYC. My niece is one of them. She earns a good salary, but it's still not enough to pay her share of her apt in the city.</p>

<p>
[quote]
ANYTHING about Johnson & Wales

[/quote]

Emeril is a graduate. What else could you possibly need to know!!!</p>

<p>
[quote]
Booklady, would you consider sharing your junior's school and whether you are happy with the program? Or any other Classics-related advice?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Sure. She's at Yale, and is so far very happy with the courses and the faculty. The language/literature courses in particular are quite small (there were 9 in the last Greek class she took), so there's lots of individual attention and opportunity to get to know the faculty well. </p>

<p>Yale has what are called "bridge courses" for those students coming in with a lot of Latin and/or Greek under their belts. They are high-level language courses which serve to introduce the kids to college-level language study and prepare them for any 300 or 400-level course they might wish to take. They're also great because you get to meet your fellow Classics nerds as a freshman.</p>

<p>Do you all know about the scholarships offered by the National Latin Exam? If not, take a look here: [url=<a href="http://www.nle.org/awards.html#awards_scholarships%5DScholarships%5B/url"&gt;http://www.nle.org/awards.html#awards_scholarships]Scholarships[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>Checking in- mom of almost 16 yo boy. He would have been happy just doing XC practice (which he takes VERY seriously- it amazes me that he has the discipline to get up early on a Sat am to run) and XBox. Unfortunately, the mean nagging mom has made him do some volunteer work (at a museum- dinosaur bone/fossil cleaning etc) and SAT prep. He also has a lot of work in the next few weeks for AP courses. Ticks me off. Can't they just let the kids read a few books? There is no summer work in college, and some of the work is absurd- memorizing all the presidents, their years in office and parties. D got a 5 from a cybercourse and never did anything that ridiculous.</p>

<p>dufay - does your S run everyday, or just Saturdays? My D is supposed to run everyday, but with the weather we've been having, she really hasn't been able to, and she's afraid she's going to be in really bad condition when they go back to school. She definitely runs a few times a week, but nowhere near the amount she was able to put in last summer.</p>

<p>I get annoyed by all the summer AP work as well. She didn't get assignments in her science AP or her art AP, but for APUSH and Eng Lang, she got tons! Both classes combined are still less work than she had for AP Euro last year though. And yes, she had to memorize the presidents as well - but there's a song listing all the presidents in order on some cartoon, so she memorized them by learning the song...........lol. Whatever works! She didn't say anything about having to know their years in office or their parties though. I'll have to ask her.</p>

<p>funny about the presidents, is the song online anywhere? D is taking her first two AP classes this year. For Latin no homework, for APUSH she has to read two contemporary books. one by a politician (Hagel?) and one on the state of education. No presidents. I think they do more than the AP curriculum, I assume the AP curriculum is covered adequately, 82% of the test takers last year got 3 or higher.</p>

<p>D did xc freshman year and fall crew since then. She had a running schedule that had one day off every 5? and they needed to get up to a certain mileage before preseason started. She didn't hit the mileage not being really athletic and never having run before, but got to around 6k a time which didn't put her too far behind. Now they (D2 will be a freshman and will do JV soccer) are just doing general stuff to stay active before preseason, D1 does erg when she is home.</p>

<p>My son had to read Flags of our Fathers and something else for AP History. He read the first book the week after school was out and enjoyed it very much. He also watched the movie and the Japanese point of view Iwo Jima movie though that was not required. He's got something for AP Bio, but hasn't looked at it yet. Probably has a book to read for English (not AP just honors).</p>

<p>jackief - Not sure about where you can find the presidents song - I'll ask D when she gets back Friday night. D took her first AP last year - Euro - and did very well in the class. I think she's taking 4 this year, but it could be 5 - we're waiting to get her schedule. If it is 5, she doesn't have any assignments for that class, so hopefully that won't be a problem.</p>

<p>For XC, D also has to run a certain number of miles per week - she is able to do it, but she hasn't been, just because the weather hasn't been very cooperative during the hours that she has available for running. Cool that your D does crew - my D's HS doesn't offer it. Oh, and jackief - what is erg?</p>

<p>mathmom - good for your S, taking things to the next level. Most kids wouldn't do that.</p>

<p>LIMOM- erg is a rowing machine, ie ergometer. To row on a rowing machine is to erg. </p>

<p>No big deal on the presidents song, thought it might be fun (I know all the schoolhouse rock songs from Sat mornings of my youth :) maybe they can watch Jib Jab for homework, D is supposed to "stay informed with the current events including the election"</p>

<p>jackief - I'll ask D about the presidents song - she's just out of town and barely in contact until Friday night. Loved Schoolhouse Rock as well. Oh, and D loves JibJab. She was told to make sure she reads the NY Times this summer, but I don't think she's looked at it once!</p>

<p>Thanks for filling me in about erg..........lol. D uses the machines in the weight room, but I don't think she's ever referred to it that way. Plus, she's more into working out on the elliptical.</p>

<p>LIMOMOF2, the "erg" is a type of machine which is specifically geared for practice by crew team members. I don't believe it would be found in any "normal" work out room. </p>

<p>I also have one S who runs x-country. He is going to be sorely out of shape for the beginning of pre-season since he has had absolutely no time to run while at performing arts camp. Last year, he tried to "ramp" up his mileage/speed too fast and ended up with a stress fracture of his heel! He spent the season in a walking cast!</p>