Parents of the HS Class of 2013

Parents of Class of 20xx
2481

<p>We’re doing a happy dance down here in TX - today is the first day of temps below 100 degrees in 68 days! But still no rain so the wildfires are really kicking up. The nearest fires are about 60 miles away from us so we’re in no immediate danger, but I really feel for those in the path. This has been such a bad year for natural disasters, my prayers go out to all of those still affected.</p>

<p>Regarding test prep, we opted out of the SAT prep, even though the school was picking up half the cost. It was just way too intense for S2 - 3 hrs after school on Wed and a 3 hr sample test every Sat for 8 weeks. But he is doing “in school” PSAT prep for an hour every week, so I’m hoping that it will help. I’m trying not to look too far ahead this year - just one month at a time. From what I remember from D1’s junior year - it was pretty jam-packed.</p>

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<p>A crashed computer has left DD with missing assignments. She “thought” she’d backed them up to email. Nope. Ugh. Struggling right now to complete everything. Apparantly, this means that two APUSH chapters, out of 3, will go unread. “But mom, EVERYONE fails the first test, so it won’t really matter”. I hope there is a lesson here and not the beginning of a pattern for Junior year.</p>

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<p>geogirl: if it’s any consolation everyone here fails the first APEuro & APUSH tests. It doesn’t hurt as bad in junior year with APUSH because the kids are mentally prepared, but man that APEuro one knocks those sophomores on their rears! </p>

<p>And better to learn the importance of backing up your documents at the beginning of junior year, than with your completed masters thesis…</p>

2484

<p>@med</p>

<p>If the ED/EA student does not matriculate at the school he/she was accepted then of course sending a final transcript would be moot.</p>

<p>However, in my experience as with others who have posted here, Final transcripts are sent to the school to which the student will matriculate. In essence, a final transcript is a college Insurance.</p>

<p>[Senior</a> Year - senioritis - high school seniors](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Prep – BigFuture | College Board)</p>

<p>Wishing your daughter all the best in her transition, you’ve received some great advice. It seems like you have a wonderful daughter and that you are both very close. As such, you have to be careful of the vibes you send to her. Keep them positive :cool:</p>

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<p>APEuro was the first class that D13 got a B in. Struggled the entire year, spent more time studying that than any other class. She’s wired more for Math/Science though so we let it slide once we passed the point where it was going to be impossible to get the grade up to an A. Very frustrating year, in the end, her friend that got an A in the class scored a 4 on the exam just like our daughter - oh well.</p>

<p>Now she’s a Jr. goes to the first day of school AP Biology where the teacher announces that if you expect/need to get an A in this class, drop now. While on the one hand I’m glad he was forthcoming with how difficult he was going to make the class, I was frustrated by it. Everyone dropped the class but one Jr. and one Sr. D13 switched to honors Physics instead.</p>

<p>On the PSAT prep, we’re in Dallas and are doing private tutoring. D has been very close in years past but just hasn’t gotten over the hump of the#'s that NMSF’s are supposed to have. Needless to say, after just four sessions, her confidence has shot up a lot and she’s excited about this years chance!</p>

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<p>meda - I am sure all colleges require final transcripts and most schools automatically send them to the school where the kid is going to matriculate. I know of one student in our town where their acceptance was revoked from a selective school because of senioritis - significant drop in grades after acceptance. I believe he ended up having to take a summer course at the college, he can begin in Spet on the condition that he does well in the class. So he had to leave in June instead of Sept as previously planned.</p>

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<p>Oh gosh, so sorry for your D Geo! D was about 2/3 of the way finished with her AP Lang summer assignment when Hurricane Irene came through. She quickly loaded it to her jump drive before we lost electricity or something worse happened. I just reminded her to back up the rest before Murphy’s Law happens.</p>

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<p>Heads up to the number one mistake students make when they are working on stuff at school and at home; kids make mistakes when they email a document to themselves; they open it from email and then fail to save it at a different location/name and it reverts to the original. Warn your kid now about this and tell them to email it or put it on the school internet/shared space AND save it on the thumb drive. A second problem that comes up as students take more sophisticated classes is that lots of software does not have auto backups in case of a crash. </p>

<p>S learned the hard way with my art/animation when he sometimes had hiccups with so much RAM demand and would lose material. You have to be particularly careful when kids start taking programming classes or other less traditional software that does not have auto backups and reminders like word and excel. </p>

<p>S uses external hard drives and backs them up occasionally. He has a mac and a pc hard drive that he carries about in college and basically never uses his own hard drive. The killer was when someone stole his mac hard drive (he owns a pc but does some work on college macs) finals week with his semester project for two classes. Flyers and pleas on the internet did not get it back so he ended up doing a 72 hour marathon and not such a great project.</p>

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<p>Thank you Geogirl1 and RobD for PSAT info. That was helpful. I just realized that MA has one of the highest cut off, same as New England Boarding schools…</p>

<p>For every one who’s children are starting school tomorrow, wishing you all the best for the coming year. </p>

<p>We started last week. Slowly getting back to routine here.</p>

<p>meda- your daughter seems to adapt easily… That is a true blessing… My son has had a lot of changes so far. We have been all over the place due to my H’s work. He studied in 7 different schools until he was in 6th grade(not to mention in few different countries). We changed school again when he was in high school. My only prayer now is to let him complete high school where he now… I know how it is to go through changes…I always kept my friends advice in mind- this too shall pass…</p>

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<p>Re. tech glitches, be careful uploading essays for college and scholarship applications. Ironically enough, DS11, an aspiring comp sci major, waited literally until the last minutes to submit his selective scholarship essays for state flagship and screwed up uploading his essays. Result was he was not considered for any selective scholarships. With DD13 I will make sure this doesn’t recur.</p>

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<p>Tomorrow starts the 3rd week of school here and Academically D is doing very well, even with some unexpected changes to her schedule. Instead of taking ASL, which is actually one of the reasons we bought a house in the school district, D ended up in German due to scheduling needs.</p>

<p>However I think that things might be rough the next few weeks, we dropped her Boyfriend of almost 8months off at his dorm tonight and on the way home D talked a lot about their relationship, she is contemplating breaking up with him. I feel so bad for her going through all of this, yet I know it is part of being a teen…I wish I could make it all better for her.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for the good wishes. My d pulled an all nighter last night to finish every single assignment, and she just went to bed at midnight. She’s gotten 5 hrs sleep over these past few days. She’ll be exhausted for her first day of school. She is still so depressed and can’t believe she is right back at the school with the kids she left in 4th grade to go to private. BELIEVE ME there is a huge backstory here (personal not having to do with school), and this is not about being positive and strong. We’ve been that for 14 years through some extremely traumatizing events. Because of some of those events, we left public school to put my d in a new safe environment where she knew no one and know one knew our situation. I would never do a 98 mile trip daily for nearly 7 yrs with some major health problems just to go to a private school that far away. It goes a lot deeper. </p>

<p>I’m afraid as conscientious as she is, that she is hyperfocusing on school work to deal with the pain of leaving and how her father let her down. She doesn’t get to see her theater friends that she spent 6 years with because we couldn’t afford the camp any longer, and now she’s losing her close school friends that she spent the last 7 years with. Too much loss. It’s also hard to go back in junior year and see the people who you left the school to get away from in the first place. But she is strong and won’t tolerate any abuse for sure. I want her to have a great social life, and I don’t care about the tests any longer or the classes; what will be will be.</p>

<p>Our therapist is so wonderful, and as I previously mentioned, he came in Saturday of labor day weekend to spend 3 hours with us. He is a gem and super concerned about my d. Word did spread to more teachers and girls this weekend that she was not coming back, and my d got so many emails and texts which made her feel loved yet so sad. The teachers at the boys school have invited her back to jam with them, and sing at a concert if they get permission to bring in a student no longer there. The band needed her and she had planned to do an Amy Winehouse tribute with them for the fall concert. I promised that every weekend I would drive her down to the dances, concerts and happenings. Up here they just have house parties, and that’s a no go for us. I like things monitored. </p>

<p>The best news was that one of the board of trustees found out about her leaving and was deeply disturbed about the “goodbye and don’t let the door hit you on the way out” treatment. She was not happy about how the whole thing was handled for sure, as she knows us well. She and my d were good friends for all these years, but I hadn’t said anything to her. She just felt that the lack of emotional support in helping my d make a smooth transition was terrible. That was how I felt too, especially since the school considers itself a family and community. We are all human beings for goodness sake, and she said she was going to address this at the next meeting, as she has never seen anything like this before. She also said she was going to have a big party for my d and invite the whole class. Of course, I could barely speak when she told me that. The tears just welled up. I just want my d to know she does have people who care. </p>

<p>I have my fingers crossed that tomorrow will go well. She tried to email all her teachers tonight. In the past, we always communicated with the teachers via email, phone or bbm. The teachers bbm’ed on weekends with either more hw or to answer questions - they were always available. So my d tried the teacher’s first initial and last name and the school address. One email came back “mailer-daemon” but the AP english teacher was very nice and said she could extend her book essay to thursday, but my d had already completed it all. She just wanted to make some introductions since there is no time to talk after classes (you get 5 mins in between and they don’t stay after school). We are just a bit nervous about the levels in languages as they are very different here. So after she works out the kinks, hopefully things will be better. She still refuses to eat lunch at school (I’d prefer she did, but I won’t push too hard). However, getting out at 2pm daily will feel like she’s got another whole day free! We never got home before 7pm with our drive (she used to get out 4:30 due to sports). They have gym as a period during the day and health too. And the classes are only 40 mins. Big difference from 7 1 hour classes; only downside is they don’t rotate classes or have free periods. That is such a big plus. </p>

<p>The biggest downside is that there are no uniforms. </p>

<p>Good luck to everyone at the beginning of this new school year!</p>

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<p>DD stayed up until 2 or 3 to complete her lost and/or forgotten assignments. All done, but she is going to be tired today! I don’t think she studied her APUSH, but she did answer the questions that were given for summer. Her AP English assignment was really good! AP bio was a killer, but she got it completed. At least it is over and now she can focus on just being a junior!</p>

<p>Good luck to your daughter today Medavinci! I’m sure she will have a great day! Lots of things change between 4th grade and 11th. I’m sure she will find her place. I tell my kids that it isn’t important to be the most “popular”. It is only important that you are “popular” within your chosen group, whatever that group is. She just needs to find her group and she will have a great two years of HS. Sounds like she has tons of talent, intelligence and sparkle. She is going to have a great year!</p>

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<p>First day of school here!! As I’m giving son the pep talk, he’s like “Gee Mom, no pressure at all”. I told him, no, not pressure…focus!!! ::eyeroll:: Then I got all teary eyed thinking this is the next to the last (hopefully) first day of school I’ll share with him. He couldn’t run out of the house fast enough.
Meanwhile, I got to work 10 minutes late. Yay back to school traffic!!!</p>

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<p>Meda…good idea of your D to try to email the teachers. Today she will find out how each one prefers to be contacted. While most do like the email, we had a number of older teachers who preferred old fashioned notes and the occassional voice mail. I would be surprised that teachers don’t have one or two days a week where they stay after school or come early. Perhaps we are unusual, but there are at least 4 teachers for each subject available before school, lunchtime and after school. They have a rotating schedule but almost all the teachers are available for conferences and help when the students request in advance. During science fair season, we have teachers available all day saturday (most of the fall) and then for state exams there are extra hours. Your D may find that teachers are quite accessible once the routine is settled.</p>

<p>The rain in NoVa threw a major wrench in planned outfits. I did suggest large rainboots and a slicker…ha! It is also much cooler than normal but a suggestion for a sweater was met with equal scorn. I can only hope that it pours all afternoon and evening so that the game is cancelled. The worst outcome would be a cold drizzle and someone suggests that it is my turn to man the timer. Lovely way to start the year.</p>

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<p>D got off to her first day of junior year early this morning in order to secure a parking spot as they are up for grabs the first couple weeks of school until they are allowed to purchase an assigned spot. She decided to go with a casual “not trying too hard” look.:wink: It was pouring the rain down and she informed me this was the third straight opening day with rain. At least her days of standing at the bus stop are over!</p>

<p>Meda, I know our circumstances are different, but my D came back to her high school “fold” after six years of attending an elementary/middle school magnet program in a different feeder pattern. It was not her idea, but we wanted her close to home for high school. She lost her core group of friends to other high schools and really didn’t know anyone she knew from early elementary school anymore. She was nervous about attending, but got involved quickly in things in which she was interested. She has established new relationships through these involvements and has not looked back. It is a big school, so she doesn’t even see many of those she was familiar with so long ago. It is common, at least in the public schools in our area, for students to come and go each year. The stigma of the “new kid” doesn’t seem to exist as much anymore. Students are open to meeting and accepting new people into their group of friends especially if they have common interests. I hope this is the case for your D!
Nevertheless, encourage her to continue the things (or similar things) that she has always loved to do. She will find her niche and flourish. She sounds like just that kind of kid!</p>

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<p>Hope everyone’s first days are going well. I’m such a nerd, but I always loved the first day of school - new teachers, new books, and summer stories to share! D1 would always come home with lots to share with me - S2? not so much! Boys are so different. But S2 is enjoying school so far (3rd week) and doesn’t seem to have much work except in APUSH. Good luck to all!</p>

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<p>Good morning! First day of school for S3. He finished his mountains of summer homework (from APUSH, AP Eng and AP BIO) at 9pm last night (although we did spend the day at the beach). He drove himself to school for the first time (he got his license in the summer) which felt very weird.</p>

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<p>Good News
My son has a solid college list of 17 schools. It is a mix of financial safeties, reaches, FAFSA only, CSS, large, small and geographic. I’m going to print out apps/supplements for him this week. While I know the sups/essay prompts change each year, we figure at least he can get an idea of what they want. I believe he’ll just set this all aside til June, then go thru the list based upon how much work each app will be. Right now there are only 3 schools that will be worth “a lot of work” to him. </p>

<p>Bad News
School starts tomorrow. Only 1 of 3 kids have summer homework completed. DS13 is not the one with completed homework :(</p>

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<p>:9) Good luck to all on your first day of school. D13 doesnt start until tomorrow. Isn’t that late? She is wrapping up her last day of summer vacation with a party at a followed by an afternoon soccer game. Then she has to finish her summer writing assignment. So aggravated that she waited until the last minute. </p>

<p>I love the first day of school as well. Both of my children are so anxious to get back. </p>

<p>Most of the teachers at our school are there very early and most stay after hours. It is an urban public. My D has never had a problem meeting with a teach. Where she couldn’t fit it in due to EC’s she was able to make arrangements to meet during their free period. Sometimes it meant missing 1/2 of English for extra Math help. Our school may be unusual, but the kids are really treated as if they can be trusted to manage their schedules. For the most part it really works. I haven’t heard of a teacher (both public and private) that wouldn’t spend time with a student when asked.</p>