Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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<p>owlice, oh oh my. I mean… wow. I’m the type who gets a little overwhelmed with upheaval and it seems like you are taking all these big changes in stride and moving in the most positive direction. Hats off to you.</p>

<p>One of the great changes between when this thread began (I, too, looked back to the beginning), is seeing my youngest S grow up. It’s hard to believe that they can grow so capable. So I’m feeling pretty amazed and grateful right now. Glad everyone here is on the same bumpy road and it will be fun to see where it leads us all.</p>

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<p>2blue–our kids start school the Thursday before Labor Day. Snow days always push the last day of school farther out, and this winter was particularly tough.</p>

<p>Owlice, from your posts I’ve drawn a picture of a smart, capable woman who can bake circles around most of us! I’ve also seen a fierce momma bear who always seeks what’s best for her cub (or spawn, as you so fondly call him). Good for you for kicking H to the curb! Enjoy grad school–it’s such a great experience to go back to school as an adult.</p>

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<p>I’m just loving how D1 and I can swap sides of an argument over a couple of days. Last week was tryout week for many of her school’s academic teams. One of her best buddies was studying like mad for the Science Olympiad tryout, others were going to meetings for Mock Trial etc etc. D1, who has substantial and deep EC involvement outside of school, was panic-stricken, saying that she has no school EC involvement, that she’s not going to get into any college without it, and that the reason she can’t do any of these absolutely crucial activities is because of the time she spends on her outside EC and how it’s messing her up. I, calm on the surface, told her that she’s got plenty of ECs, that they’ve been long-term interests, that they’ve been things she’s done because she loves them, not because she’s trying to resume polish, that she’s got a very tough academic year coming up and it’s not worth it to push to the point of pain, blah blah blah. </p>

<p>Which of course just makes me worry–maybe D1 DOES need something school-based. When D1 mentions a few days later that another friend who is an incredibly strong humanities student is joining the robotics team, I say maybe D1 should do that as well because it’s good to stretch yourself. D1 practically bites my head off, saying that she has X years of Y activity with leadership positions and that she’s been really happy with her ECs, and there’s no need for her to take on school activities, that people are only doing that because they’re freaking out about college admissions. It’s like I recorded myself and she’s playing it back. Too funny! </p>

<p>I used to laugh when reading threads about ridiculous reasons why students would refuse to consider a school. No more. I think D1 should go take a look at Pitt (rolling admissions, well thought of honors college). Nope, she doesn’t like the sound of the name. Tufts, on the other hand, is suddenly of interest, for no apparent reason. D1 was under the totally false impression that Tufts is easy to get into. I pulled up the CDS, and pointed to the test scores for the 25%/75%, and how they’ve been jumping by 10 points a year. Oooh, a cold hard bit of reality!</p>

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<p>Just finished a college road trip with my D. She liked four out of the five colleges, so it was a productive week all around. Funny thing is her favorite is also the most remote: Whitworth in Spokane WA. They dont even have a dedicated forum here, but it has good academics and nice Merit Aid. One more trip like this are are done until her senior year. Learned from my S, less is more as far as preliminary college trips with these guys</p>

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<p>During a 3 week RV trip we visited 3 universities in June: Notre Dame, Penn State and UW-Madison. S loved them all, he is really into those schools with big athletics and a lot of school spirit. We are hoping to visit some east coast colleges this fall:Gettysburg, William and Mary, Georgetown, etc. I fear S will get caught up in the partying at a large school so I need to find some smaller schools that he will be interested in. Got to start looking at match and safety schools too. </p>

<p>S flunked his drivering permit test. True to form, he didn’t need to study, “only idiots fail that test”. So $30 later he is still with a permit. Driver’s Ed is mandatory for those under 18 in MA and now that he cannot take it during the summer, I am not sure when he will get his license. I was all over it at his age, but he isn’t motivated to drive I guess. </p>

<p>Got his SAT results back: 1870 (CR-720, M-640, W-510). He has strong writing skills so the W results were a disappointment. On the SAT2 he got a 650 on Chemistry and a 690 on USH. The USH was a disappointment because it is his favorite subject and on the practice tests he did better. He says he wants to retake the USH, but I haven’t seen him do any studying for it. </p>

<p>He is doing his mandatory 60 hours of community service over the summer rather than try to fit it in during the school year. He seems to be enjoying it and it gets him up and out away from the video games 3 mornings a week. He has been applying for jobs to no avail. I really wish he found something so he wasn’t spending so much time gaming. </p>

<p>A week of boy scout camp, Football tryouts in a few weeks and that is it for the summer. Back to school Sept 10th. </p>

<p>Went to see Harry Potter last night with S and D. Both liked it, but it wasn’t a wow movie. Lots of young folks between the ages of 18-25 there. I was surprised at all the groups of young men that came to see it.</p>

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<p>Not surprising to me at all. That is the age of the kids who were able to read the first book themselves when it first came out.</p>

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<p>S said same thing: “they grew up on it.” Still struck me funny seeing boys out in groups going to see it.</p>

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<p>Kumitedad, you’re lucky to be nearly done! Whitworth sounds lovely.</p>

<p>Hoping to take D1 to look at some schools in Pennsylvania (Pitt, Muhlenberg, then Swarthmore/Bryn Mawr for the heck of it) and Boston (Clark, Brandeis, Tufts) the first week of September. Complicating things is that new niece and nephew will be arriving some time in mid to late August, and we want to be back in California for the bris. I’m waiting to hear the doctor’s latest estimate of likely delivery dates before I book tickets. </p>

<p>To further complicate things, D1 is overseas on a group trip. I really don’t want to ask her about college trip related things when she’s in the middle of a fantastic, meaningful experience. On the other hand, her second call home was to ask if her AP scores had arrived. I’d sent her the happy news by snail mail, but it hadn’t arrived yet, so I got to hear her delighted reaction (3 on Physics B when she was sure she’d only managed a 2, and a 5 on Euro). </p>

<p>mamom, thanks for reminding me to look at testing dates for the coming year so I can get those on the calendar NOW.</p>

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<p>PSAT will be on Wednesday Oct 14 and the following Saturday. I’d love to sell D1 on the virtues of prepping for the PSAT/SAT just once, and taking the SAT in either October or November to see if she could possibly be a one and done kid.</p>

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<p>We were in Pennsylvania this past week and did use the time to check out a few colleges (in addition to Hershey Park, of course!). We saw Penn State, Bucknell, U Penn and Lehigh (just a drive through). D thought Penn State and U Penn were too big - she did like the campus/town at Penn State though. Might decide to apply there for the Shreyer’s honors program. She loved the Bucknell campus and surroundings…liked the size of the school as well.</p>

<p>She did take a look at the testing dates this weekend and put down a rough schedule. She knows she has a lot to do this summer - between summer reading, prepping for these tests, volunteering, additional music lessons and everything else - but so far, I’ve not seen her do anything other than write down the list :slight_smile: Guess that’s the first step though…</p>

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<p>Did some college touring with my second child, high school class of 2011. Seems to have a clear preference for smaller LACs with clearly defined campuses - reaches all of them so far. What are schools you all could suggest we see and perhaps like if the ‘dream’ schools are Amherst, Middlebury and the like? Projected SATs look like 2100 range (prep class numbers were 750 W, 720M, 690CR and soph psat was 202); GPA is 4.2 W, and about 3.9UW so far…Want to remain in the Northeast, within 4 hours drive of NYC - preference for good language programs.</p>

<p>We’ve been to big schools - even Ivys and the reaction was not as positive as it was for the LACs…</p>

<p>Thanks for the help.</p>

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<p>My older D’s friend who liked the above also liked Connecticut College and The College of the Holy Cross (which she’ll be attending).</p>

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<p>Thank you - Conn Coll is on the list. Any LAC that gives any merit monies? I have heard that none really do - and we may get some fin.aid but I sure would love to hear that some do.</p>

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<p>Got same reaction from my D. She loves the smaller LACs we have been to, but the more “ivy” they are, the less she likes them.</p>

<p>I am just hoping that the ones we saw in the PNW stay “under discovered” gems until she applies. :)</p>

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<p>peppermintlounge, you might want to start a separate thread for your query; I’d bet you get a LOT of replies!</p>

<p>Don’t know if these would suit your D, but S has been to summer sessions at Dickinson (Carlisle, PA), Franklin & Marshall (Lancaster, PA), Skidmore (Saratoga Springs, NY) and Siena (Loudonville, NY), all of which have clearly defined campuses. Not sure about size (how big is a “small” LAC?), nor about language programs, so I’m not much help here at all! Sorry!</p>

<p>~~~</p>

<p>I picked spawn up from his first CTY session today; he couldn’t wait to get on the computer!! Three weeks without it … well, not many things could entice him to live three weeks with no computer! Laundry has been started, and we have loads to go before we’re through. Then it’s repack and tomorrow, leave for the second session. </p>

<p>When we arrived home, S found his AP scores mail on his laptop; I hadn’t told him that I’d called for his scores. He wishes he’d gotten a 5 instead of a 4 on the AP Comp Sci AB exam, but consider his lack of work in his online class, I think a 4 is great! </p>

<p>:: puts bowls on the buffet table ::</p>

<p>:: makes sure spoons are available ::</p>

<p>:: gets the mint chocolate chip, espresso chip, peach, butter brickly and soursop ice creams out of the freezer ::</p>

<p>:: puts ice cream scoops on buffet table ::</p>

<p>Why, look! Ice cream! Help yourselves!!</p>

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<p>Congrats to all your kids who scored so well on the APs. My S’s school is one where kids have to place into APs by achieving very high grades (A- for the year in Language, for example) in feeder courses, and also doesn’t offer APs until 11th grade, so S2 will be taking 3 his junior year and I’m keeping fingers crossed. The workload (mostly reading) is enormous at his school (perhaps this is the same across the country?) but he’s heading into APUSH, AP Bio, and AP Eng Lang. Yi.</p>

<p>I can certainly do with a bowl of ice cream, or three. But… soursop? I’ve never seen such a thing, and I thought I was the Queen of the Scoops! Owlice?</p>

<p>I’ve added hot fudge sauce to your table. Everything, I’ve found, is better when covered in hot fudge. :)</p>

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<p>Sadness in the Tove household, since D2 was sent home from camp with a fever. They’ve sent home 100 so far out of a usual population of 300, poor things. D2 is supposed to be kept at home for a week, and can only be readmitted back to camp if she’s been fever-free for 24 hours. Life is just not fair. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, D1 is calling home about every other day from halfway around the world. We told her originally to call once a week. She says that so much happens each day that each day feels like a week. I’ve been checking out the AP book recommendations thread and figuring out what she’ll need for next year. Does that count as helicoptering? Or is it just facilitating? :)</p>

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<p>Oh, SlithyTove, I’m sorry to hear about D2’s fever! One CTY site shut down completely this year, felled by flu. (And today’s closing ceremony at my son’s site had a skit put on by one of the classes that featured a flying pig – the swine flew! I saw it! :smiley: )</p>

<p>And the book recommendations? Facilitating. Definitely facilitating.</p>

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<p>Ah, madbean, yes, soursop! Also called guanabana. The tropical ice cream store here that sells it is usually out of it; I was lucky to snag some for us here!</p>

<p>And yay! for hot fudge, and thanks!!</p>

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<p>I will add whipped cream and nuts, what is hot fudge without it?</p>

<p>Just got a note from D’s girl scout camp that a large number of girls were out with strep. I wish I had seen that note before I dropped her off at a friends house for the night. Never would have left her if I knew she might be contageous. Slithy - I hope you D is feeling better soon. She has to stay home a week, even if she is fever free for 24 hours? That stinks.</p>

<p>Anyone else finding the summer a blur of activity? S has to do 60 hours community service Jr. year and decided to do it over the summer instead of trying to fit it in during the school year. He failed his drivers training license exam. The one he told me only an “idiot” would fail. The one he didn’t study for. $30 later I told him he pays for the retest. </p>

<p>I just ordered most of his books for the school year. I am amazed at the bargains to be had for like new books online. I don’t think my mailman is very happy carting those heavy books to our house. You would have to be crazy to order from the bookstore.</p>