Parents of the HS class of 2010 - Original

<p>My D put down my email (my real one, not a separate account), so now I have a folder labeled "college spam" which is all it is. She is not interested in 95% of the school who are sending out the mailers. The ones she is interested in, she contacted and they have been sending her things too.</p>

<p>Queen's Mom - my D did the same thing to me. The month after the PSAT, the amount of email I was receiving from colleges was utterly ridiculous - and some of them were incredibly persistant. D wasn't interested in looking at colleges at that time (still not that interested, honestly), so I filled out the info forms for any schools I thought she might eventually be interested in (and made sure I changed the email address), and deleted the others. I still receive a handful of emails each day, even after having her removed from some lists, and changing the emails on the rest. </p>

<p>jackief - D also created a new email address which was supposed to be just for college stuff, but she started using that one instead of her old one! Not sure if I'll bother having her create a third.</p>

<p>how much time do the kiddos plan to devote to PSAT prep this long weekend? Between a full day crew race tomorrow, girl scout meeting and voice lesson on Sunday, and just a little dentist appt on Monday, D hopes to do one and hopefully two more practices and going over weaker sections in the prep books. I overhead some of her friends talking about going out on Sat, this is the smart but less than studious group of friends, she hasn't asked to go but I don't think she will want to take the time. I'll be encouraging her to take some time for herself the weekend after the test..</p>

<p>D's friends are hosting a surprise birthday party for her this weekend (SHH. Don't tell) so she is planning to study, but I know better. I think this is a good thing. She needs some time off from academics. She is doing so well this year so far (I have to brag) and if she can keep this up, I may have to leave the B+ parents thread (HA-not likely considering her test scores-extreme anxiety there).</p>

<p>Long weekend? I take it some of you get Columbus day off as a 3 day weekend.</p>

<p>Zero prep here. S did the practice test Sunday morning and pronounced it "straightforward." He actually didn't miss any in math, and only a few in reading/writing. So, as long as he doesn't blow it by bubbling in the wrong spaces, no worries here!</p>

<p>sounds great QM! The previous weekend was my D's birthday, so she had lots of fun then, a big party on Sat and the some of the kids sleeping over.</p>

<p>We just had our first mid-term (not a test, the middle of the term, which are semesters) and D doesn't know all her grades but was happy to have B+ in H Phys (was expecting a B) and with guesses for the other classes is one point shy of highest honors which she would like to attain when the term ends at Thanksgiving, which is an A- avg and no grade below a B. So far so good, and even if she doesn't quite make it first trimester she can continue to try throughout the year.</p>

<p>I also wanted to add that I picked up the school profile for this year. I wanted to mention this in my last post but forgot. The number of NMSF jumped from 2 to 5 this past year along with a constant 4 commended bringing the total for last year to 15% of the class at our dinky school. SAT middle 50% rates stayed the same, I guess it just means the top kids did a bit better but the overall spread is similar.</p>

<p>mommusic, sounds great agree no worrying needed. Columbus Day is a school day for you, do you mind saying what area of the country? Even when I was in college this was a day off.</p>

<p>jakief: good for your D. My D made honors last semester and she was very happy. It was the first time she actually made honors in high school. It looks like this semester will be honors too (I hope). She is doing particularly well in Honors Chem and AP World (which she was afraid of taking because history is just not her thing).</p>

<p>Oh and D's school doesn't get Columbus day off either (we are in MD)</p>

<p>My S's HS got Thursday off (Yom Kippur) but is in school Columbus Day. I thought he was doing some prep for the PSAT, since he has FIVE water polo games next week, but he kept saying, "I'm studying for the SAT." So I asked what that was all about. He then gave me the mathematical formula that basically says why bother studying for the PSAT, when it's similar to the SAT and he's going to be doing the SAT in March. I think he'll be doing just fine on the math section.</p>

<p>I mentioned a few posts back that he and a friend were victims of a 6 on 2 robbery two weeks ago. He's pretty much past it now. I resisted going to the courthouse this morning for the PROBATION hearing (surprise, surprise NOT) for one of the two already arrested. I probably would have sat there for hours and got more angry about it all.</p>

<p>FAP, right prep for SAT can be easily translated to PSAT. Somewhat the same vice-versa, D will do SAT prep later in the year from some of the same books (some are SAT books) but the PSAT practice tests were too cheap to pass up. </p>

<p>Glad to hear the situation with the robbery is working out.</p>

<p>I wonder if areas that get Jewish holidays off (which we do not) skip Columbus day.</p>

<p>D is looking at PSAT and SAT prep as the same thing. She is doing both PSAT tests and SATs. We did get Yom Kippur off on Thursday.</p>

<p>This is why some people register to take the SAT in Oct or Nov of Junior year. They they can prep just once and be done with it.</p>

<p>Vparent:</p>

<p>That does sound like good scheduling. We opted for the March SAT to give our S room to study for the Physics Olympiad in the fall, if he's so inclined. By then, the high level of activity for varsity water polo and mock trial should have died down.</p>

<p>My kids get off for both Yom Kippur and Columbus Day. Not only that, but they gave the kids off on Friday as well, just to make it a 5-day weekend.........lol. Lovely. Kids still had to got to their sports though. No practices tomorrow though - at least not for S. I believe D may have something, either an event or a practice.</p>

<p>No studying seems to be getting done this weekend. D will probably do one last practice PSAT tomorrow. She's got a lot going on this weekend though, and she's been working so hard, that I hate to pressure her.</p>

<p>FAP - glad to hear your S is over the robbery.</p>

<p>Queen's Mom - Happy Birthday to your D! Glad she has such caring friends.</p>

<p>Thanks you LIMOMOF2. Her birthday is at the very end of October actually, but this seemed like the easiest weekend for everyone. It's the big 16, finally. All her classmates are older; some are MUCH older.</p>

<p>Queen's Mom - your school must have an early cut-off date. D just went to a Sweet 16 last night, and I know there are still a number of kids who have birthdays coming - our cut-off date is December 1st. D's birthday is in the middle of the summer, so while she's younger than many of her friends in her grade, there are definitely a few with birthdays right up until the end of November. My S has a fall birthday, and it seems to be more of an issue with boys because so many people hold their fall boys back a year. I chose not to do that, so he has boys in his grade who are more than a year older than he is - but I wouldn't say it's been a problem. He just looks really small compared to many of them.</p>

<p>The official cutoff for my older D's year was December 31, but it seems that around here almost everyone is held back. I still don't know why. My younger D has an early November birthday and the cutoff for her year is November 30. Many of the children in her class (admittedly a small private school class-mostly boys) are over a year older than she is.</p>

<p>Jewish holidays vs Columbus Day.... our district in MA got both. In fact, we're smack in the middle of a gorgeous 5-day weekend! We had to get Yom Kippur (Thurs) and Columbus Day (Monday - state holiday), so they just gave us Friday off as well. Lovin' it now; but there is a bit of a backlash brewing. We started school Aug 28 and won't be out until June 17 (IF it doesn't snow, later if it does snow). Parents want the district to take all the Professional Development Days that are scattered thru the year, and stick them at the beginning of the year, like a neighboring town does. The teachers could have their PDD's the week before Labor Day, the kids could show up the day after Labor Day, and still get out mid-June.</p>

<p>Sounds good, except that D will be a Senior next year (yes, this is the 2010 thread) and I was hoping for all these fall days off again to go look at colleges! We would have gone this weekend but D's varsity team has practice and games this weekend. Ugh. Now that I think about it', I'll probably have the same problem next year, too. Sigh.</p>

<p>We have the same problem, Lafalum84. We had this lovely 5-day vacation, but the kids still had practices and games/meets, plus parties (Sweet 16s and Bat Mitzvahs) to attend, so we decided to stay home too. Won't you still get the Jewish Holidays and Columbus Day off if the school makes those changes? Those aren't staff development days, are they? But like you said, you'll probably face the same conflicts next year when it comes to sports.</p>

<p>Queen's Mom - do people hold their girls back too? Around here, it seems that the boys are usually the ones in that situation. S only knows of 4 boys younger than he is in his grade, and he knows several who are more than a year older. Truthfully, I don't think the age difference is such a big deal in high school. Lots of kids take classes at different grade levels. D is in a few classes with either all seniors or her and one other junior. I do think it makes a difference when the kids are starting out, however - so I sort of understand why people do it. I chose not to, but my friend who has a S born the same day as mine, held hers back. Our boys are very different from one another, so I think we both made the right decisions for our own boys.</p>

<p>Yes, it seems that almost ALL boys are held back and about 65% of girls. I never understood the thinking and my kids were always dying to get ahead (when they were younger). It really does not matter much now.</p>