<p>Hi, two freshmen here -- boy and a girl.</p>
<p>Wow owlice, that is quite a list. Thank you so much!! </p>
<p>My D is not even close to thinking about what her major will be in college. (She still tells people she wants to play in the WNBA). She is a bright student that doesn't have to put in a lot of effort. That may change when she takes APUSH and APBio next year. We are still celebrating making varsity lacrosse this year!! I'm a little leary about worrying and planning for college so much that she will miss out on her high school experiences. Anyone else have an athlete that may have sports influence their college choices??</p>
<p>mamabear- yes, science fiction reigns supreme in our house, as well!</p>
<p>madbean- I already have your S's school on my radar due to their game major!!! In fact, I was looking to see whether they had a summer camp....D2 considered it as well (her very best friend is there...), but decided on another. I think it is a wonderful school. Plus tons of kids from S's school go there....(we are in So Cal.)</p>
<p>owlice- you are scaring me!! I am not yet ready....</p>
<p>I have a freshman son and senior daughter. I'm so glad my daughter's process is done and not feeling ready yet for the next round.</p>
<p>The freshman year has been a huge adjustment for my son, since he and his sister went to a private school through 8th grade that had no grades or tests, very little homework, and only half of the school day was spent on academic work. So it has taken up a lot of energy this year to learn to do homework, stay organized, and care enough but not too much about grades. I think kids need plenty of time to charge their batteries over the summer. But I think it would also be good for him to either get some work experience or help someone else through volunteer work. So I'm helping him ponder ideas for that. The car wash is a good tip!</p>
<p>MNmom - my senior daughter had a sport that influenced her college choices. I thought it was mostly helpful for her process, since she came up with her list of schools based on where she could continue playing. She also wanted a small liberal arts college, good in sciences, preferably not in our home state. At that point the list almost felt too short sometimes. She ended up applying ED to her first choice school and got in, so it worked out fine.</p>
<p>lol! cgarrett, I get only one crack at guiding a kid through the college admissions process. My ex is not one to plan, at all, so .... it's up to me.</p>
<p>MNmom2, I've made changes to that master plan since posting it. It is, and will always be, a work in progress. Wish I could update that post o' mine to reflect changes!</p>
<p>Kelowna, you think THAT'S bad, you should have seen what I laid out in kindergarten!! :D </p>
<p>(Yeah, I'm kidding about that! Never occurred to me to start organizing school stuff until I started reading CC. Got me shakin' in my boots, CC did!)</p>
<p>Calreader, my S's big adjustment year came last year, for 8th grade. S had been in a special ed school, and his dad and I yanked him. He just wasn't getting an education there; we'd tried working with the school, but finally had had enough. S hated it there, too; I think going to CTY (nerd camp) over the summer opened him up to possibilities, and that helped us make the decision to mainstream him to the local middle school's honor track.</p>
<p>Not that this year hasn't been an adjustment! It has been. He's still learning how to do homework and manage time and struggles, mightily, with organization. (Yeah, I wonder where he gets that from?!) He's also in a much bigger school, and that has good aspects and not-so-good aspects about it.</p>
<p>For my continuing education, I've recently read, "Paying for College Without Going Broke" and am currently reading, "Forty Colleges that Change Lives." I got these from my local library. Both of these were recommended by others here; both are good. "Paying for College" gets updated every year, so I expect to be perusing each new edition as it comes out.</p>
<p>I found the thread about The Spreadsheet; it's here, for anyone who is interested. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/496268-measure-my-impending-insanity-pre-college-spreadsheet.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/496268-measure-my-impending-insanity-pre-college-spreadsheet.html</a></p>
<p>I wonder which institutions have the best rubber rooms? Hmm.... should research....</p>
<p>Just when I thought I could sit back and veg for a few years with daughter, you organized folks start this thread! I think second child will be quite a different experience from 1st (son is freshman in college this year). I don't think we will even be able to get her to look at any school after we "dragged" her 2 years ago on our whirlwind tour of 20 schools in a week! Will be glad to have the company of you guys over the next 3 years!</p>
<p>septembermom, congrats to your college freshman son, and 20 schools in a week?!?!?!</p>
<p>WOW!!!! How on earth did you do it?!</p>
<p>Owlice, We are still recovering from it!! No actually we had a lot of fun and as long as hotel we stayed at had pool and that make your own waffle station for the morning, daughter was really fine. We toured schools from DC down to SC and back up through the other side. Did 2 schools each day, 3 on some days. We did this during April vacation week. Daughter remembers many of the schools and even came away liking several. She noticed things the rest of us didn't, so even though ipod was plugged in ears, she kept her eyes opened during tours!</p>
<p>20 schools in a week!!! Oh my!!! We did not even visit 20 schools at all!! But D2 had a plan already, and D1 wanted to stay close, so I guess that narrowed it a lot. Plus, with the odds this year, D2 refused to visit some until she had offers in hand...she's very practical, but there isn't much time if you do it that way....</p>
<p>owlice- I probably don't feel too much pressure to plan now because S's private school does it as well...it makes it much easier on the parents...of course, we ARE paying for it in the tuition!</p>
<p>cgarrett,
I also don't think we will be visting as many with daughter as I think she will stay in New England region, but who knows. Son was more interested in attending a school in the Mid-Atlantic, so we visited as many as possible and then he narrrowed the field after our visits.
As many others have said, I want her to enjoy her couple years without starting to stress over college already. We learned some lessons with son, but things have a way of working out for the best. The thing we learned after the experience was to expect the unexpected and don't think for one minute, you have any control over the college admission process. It is quite a ride, so make it as stressfree as possible.</p>
<p>Time for updates! Okay, all you parents of now-rising sophomores, freshman year is now over! Kids all happy? Courses next year planned? And your kids' summer plans are.... what? Tell! Tell!</p>
<p>Oh owlice! You caught me secretly thinking about what to do for S2 just as we are feeling so relieved to have S1 all set for college. Can you read minds?</p>
<p>I will report in that S2 is very happy school is out for summer, fairly sick of S1's monopoly on family attention as S1's senior year meant so much college talk around the house and it hasn't eased up as we plan for S1 leaving home, signing up for classes, etc, and as both boys have new(ish) girlfriends, that's getting most of the attention in their lives. All is good.</p>
<p>I will mention that we were not very focused for S1, and didn't do any test prep for the PSATs--and now I wonder if there is reason to get my 10th grader to begin looking at books. Is anyone doing this or am I just a little too cautious this second time around?</p>
<p>Any advice here?</p>
<p>just when I thought I'd have a 12 month breather, you start this thread.....D2 while much more motivated to discuss her future than D1 was, is not at the competitive college level at this point (nor do we think she will be)...we will need alot of CC help when we begin our search....</p>
<p>Hi rodney! So we're gonna go through this whole trip together again. Since our first kids were caught in this hellish peak year with the most kids ever, do you suppose we'll get some relief for our seconds? Can someone give us some hope? lol</p>
<p>Calreader,
Montessori school? Both my kids attended/are attending a montessori through 5th grade. I think the school has learned that the kids need to be used to doing homework and grade when they transition and child #2 has many more tests and homework.</p>
<p>Joan</p>
<p>My S is a rising sophmore. Went to very expensive coed middle school and now attends a very large boys Jesuit school. Smart kid, does well, but could do better. Loves History, but does really well in math and science. Language is his worse subject. Always figured him for a history major going to law school. He is now refining that and talking about becoming an elected rep. </p>
<p>Plays sports, big kid, 6'2". Will attend many sports camps this summer and spend 3 weeks (between sports camps) being a CIT. Is a boy scout on his way to Eagle.</p>
<p>My S is happy freshman year is over, now he can sleep until noon. Grades weren't too bad, had one blown final resulting in a lower grade than expected. Job applications (at my insistence) did not yield a job; a lot of places don't want to hire 15 year olds, but he has 3 weeks of activities scattered through the summer. Hoping he will be thinking about Eagle projects also, trying to learn the German he should have learned in class, and reading the required books for next year.</p>
<p>My daughter also hoped for a job, but as mamabear said-few places will hire 15 year olds when there are plenty of 16 year olds looking. We have noticed decrease in jobs for younger crowd. Many college age kids are taking them and glad to have them.
Freshman year went well for daughter. She will attend a few sports camps and has summer reading book that I'd better pick up ASAP. Last year, she wanted until 2 weeks before school to start it.</p>
<p>I just placed a hold at the library for my son's summer reading book. He is enjoying spending lots of time with his friends. There is a big group of them so something always seems to be going on. Later on this summer he will be doing some volunteer work, but right now he's just having lots of fun being a kid.</p>