<p>Got the 2010 PSAT scores today! They are AWESOME!!!
So happy!!! 
:)</p>
<p>Yay! Congrats to Kelownaâs son :)</p>
<p>Congrats! :)</p>
<p>Congratulations.</p>
<p>Congratulations Kelownason!!! Great news!</p>
<p>Nellieh - my brother is the Director of Engineering at a large company. He tells the story of a mother calling to negogiate the salary on a job offer. Needless to say, the candidate in question had the offer rescinded. :)</p>
<p>I think there is a huge difference between helicoptering and making sure your child has the support they need to succeed. The whole point of HS is to find the holes or weaknessâ now and, if possible, plug them up.</p>
<p>My S has reached the point where my âhelpful suggestionsâ are perceived by him as ânagging.â OK, its a fine line! So I am learning to back off and let him take more responsibility. His grades and test scores are âhisâ not âoursâ and I have learned not to have so much of a vested interest. And I have been pleasantly surprised at how heâs handled it this year. He has only âforgottenâ a few assignments and, while he waits to the last minute on everything, he gets it done. Could he do better? Sure, but at what price to our relationship?</p>
<p>In regards to writing, it is so easy to cross the line from what is your childâs natural cadence to what is yours, and in turn her voice is lost. When my D was young, I know I was guilty of this. As an older student, she has written with only the help of peer editing which she contends is greatly unhelpful. Her English teacher seems to judge her work with as much appreciation for her unique voice as for the content and mechanics of the paper. (This is where my review of the paper might be too critical.) The positive and negative remarks he makes are more meaningful to her because she has complete ownership of her work and can easily apply any recommendations to her next writing assignment. Her confidence in her abilities has soared and she has begun to think of writing as much more than a chore. I have learned not to focus on the grade as much as the process. Her writing is very much a part of her and I know her voice will grow and change over time as she continues to discover herself. I am grateful to her for teaching me this along with countless other things.:)</p>
<p>Ds won an award at his conference! He was very happy and proud. Me, too.</p>
<p>Congratulations YDSson!</p>
<p>Ds is a natural writer. On the rare occasion I get to see any of his writing, I find very few mistakes and little I would change.</p>
<p>Congrats to Kelownaâs son and YDS son.</p>
<p>My son REFUSES to let me see anything he writes because he wants to preserve his voice. Literally, thatâs his explanation. Iâm so curious where he got that idea from.</p>
<p>I asked my son yesterday if he knew anything about when heâd be getting his PSAT scores back. He doesnât know. But I had to tell him that since Iâm asking about them, he should assume that Iâm interested in seeing his scores and to let me know when he gets them. Without telling him that, heâd walk around until the summer with the score report in his backpack.</p>
<p>Congratulations to those who are happy with their scores. That reminds me of what happened when my D, then a junior, received her scores; S was a freshman.</p>
<p>D: Mom, I made a 228 on the PSAT, and the guidance counselor says thatâs high enough for National Merit Semifinalist!
Me: <em>loud shriek of delight</em>
S: What just happened?
Me: Your sister is going to be a National Merit Semifinalist!
S: If youâre going to yell that loud, Iâm not going to be one.</p>
<p>Too funny! ^^^^^</p>
<p>schokolade â Too funny!</p>
<p>Reeinaz â I think our sonâs are the same kid. </p>
<p>YDS & Kelowna â HOORAY!!!</p>
<p>I havenât asked about the PSAT score. I have tried to be extremely low key about them --as they deserveâas a standardized test, they are not terribly meaningful and have absolutely no impact for a 10th grader. I forgot to ask for Sâs 10th grade score, and, like someone above said, they floated around in his backpack for at least one month.</p>
<p>Until I read these posts I had forgotten that they come out before January. I suspect D will be disappointed in her score so she may not be running in the door with them. Her idea of success, unfortunately, is how she does relative to her big brother. She knows her brother was a very successful test taker and always asks if she did better on something than he did although I never, ever let her know his results. I never really discussed numbers or percentages even with my son. But she knows that he did get awards for JH program, PSAT, lots of college scholarships, etc. She does know he gets much better grades than him (he was occassionally grounded for bringing home Ds and Cs --even an E or twoâat midterms and was an erratic a/b occasional C student in his final grades). </p>
<p>I often worry that her main motivation to keep a 4.0 at school is to beat him at something. It is very hard to be in the same school with the same teachers. S and D look like twins seperated by 3 years so the comparisons are inevitable. Despite his erratic grade performance he was an extremely popular student with the administration and teachers. âare you as smart as your brother?â asked one teacher. âAre you creative like him?â âHe was one of my favorite studentsââŠshe even says teachers that never had him as a student ask how he is doing, and say really positive things about him. She hates thisâŠshe is proud of him but also feels that she has to constantly be compared to him and while they may look a lot alike, personality-wise they are complete opposites. She works hard to distinguish herself from himâŠshe is the athelete and on three school teamsâhe hated any sport, she does photography not fine arts, she is the well organized and responsible one, she is terribly conventional while he is unconventional even eccentric. Obviously, we try to be as positive of her accomplishments as of his but she always feels that he is the âgoldenâ childâI worry that PSATs are just going to be seen by her as another measure to compare with her brother. Anyone else with the siblings with radically different test taking abilities dilemma?</p>
<p>I do.
My kids are separated by 2 years and they do not look much alike.
They are both straight A students (so a little different then your situation), and I do not know if one is better than the other at standardized tests. I would say that one is just naturally good at almost everything he touches while the other has to put a little work into it.
But I absolutely make no secrets about scores, we all celebrate each kidâs accomplishments as a family (be it an ice cream or something similar). When older was invited to participate in a prestigious national competition in Disney World, we all traveled along, as we knew that the younger one is unlikely to accomplish that, nor has any interest in it.
So why I say that it is tough to follow up a really smart sibling, I keep telling both of my kids that they are each academic stars (not in this words) but different form each other, having very different personalities and strengths. I made no secret that I was extremely happy with the high PSAT score and the younger one commented to her friend - âguess what my brainy brother got on his PSAT test??? I am surprised he even made a mistake ;)â while big brother was sitting there smiling at both of themâŠ</p>
<p>We wonât get our PSAT scores until January 15th. The school sets up a meeting for you to go over scores and lets some SAT tutoring firm make a presentation. We went to it for my S, wonât bother with my daughter. I just want the scores.</p>
<p>I agree about the 2 kids things, we celebrate the things that both accomplish and they are very different things as they are very different kids. I agree, even an ice cream run makes a bit of a celebration! (My S was accepted into his first choice school, we are celebrating BIG tonight.)</p>
<p>My S has a math teacher that my D had last year and the teacher had no idea that they were siblings. The teacher loved my D, my S, not so much. My D tried to please all her teachers (within reason), my S has his own agenda. Most people who know both kids, like them for who they are, they have very different strengths, but the math teacher struggles with my S, or should I say, my S struggles with her.</p>
<p>We moved during my older Dâs junior year and then were in a different HS district (the rival to D1âs HS) - D2 loves that she is not following D1 - they are both very smart but completely different in approach and commitment and thus D2 did not want anyone expecting D1âs work ethic from her LOL! S will be at the same HS as D2 next year but most teachers at the same MS they went to (D1 also went to a different MS) have no idea they are siblings unless they are told (common last name and heâs tall and broad while D2 is lithe and average height). If you put us all together itâs obvious we belong together but indivdually the resemblance isnât as obvious.</p>
<p>My 2 kids are 3 years apart and have always been very close. They share the same interests, both academically and âprofessionally.â They are very supportive of one another - even when one gets cast in a show and the other doesnât. We try not to compare them, but everyone else does - teachers, directors, casting directors, etc. But, we never have discussed test scores or grades in front of the other child. For me, thatâs just a privacy thing. Also, I think it tends to put way too much emphasis on test scores - which is not the measure of my child. In fact, I bet my D (freshman in college) could not tell you what she scored on the SAT! I certainly canât remember. (But, of course, she can recite every line from every show/commercial/film sheâs been in!) - Oh, and they donât look alike at all. Someone once asked me if S was adopted!</p>