<p>If you haven’t already found it, there is a subforum on the main page called ADD/ADHD and Learning Differences. There is some good information there. My son is really struggling right now, but after hours of testing, it can only be traced to an I.Q. issue. I feel so bad for him. His high school is filled with kids with very high I.Q.s. He is asking to transfer to an easier high school. Is anyone thinking of transfering junior year?</p>
<p>Just checking in. Life is busy here. S3 is handling doing both track and tennis but he is very busy and I don’t think he will be able to swing it next year when his academic schedule will be more rigorous. Last week he had tennis matches Wed, Thurs and Fri, a track meet Fri night (ran the 800 and the 2 mile after playing 3 sets of tennis) and a team tennis tournament Saturday. Amazingly he came home Saturday and went over to the park to play hoops with his buddies. S2 has finals this week and then will be home for a week for Spring Break, and D1 will be home the week after that. D1’s school basketball team is having an incredible year and we are looking forward to following them in March Madness.</p>
<p>Ds got an interview with the congressman’s office! They’re playing tag on setting up an actual day and time, but we hope it’s M-W noon, because we plan on leaving town then. His soccer team won district, plus his birthday is Tuesday so big week for him.</p>
<p>Friday, he had his first driving hours in months. He got on the freeway. Yikes! I never let him drive with me on a certain kind of road until he’s done it with the instructor. Guess I don’t have any excuse to keep him off the highways now.</p>
<p>Spring break this week. His older brother gets in from college tomorrow night, so he’ll be really happy.</p>
<p>S’13 will complete his highway drive time on Tuesday. I let him practice on Saturday by driving home from his piano lesson (about 30 minutes on the highway). I was surprised by how relaxed I was. I guess he is improving - but I still made him stay in the right lane and go the speed limit. He was embarrassed by all the cars passing us. He was also embarrassed by his mom singing along to the radio!</p>
<p>My D gets her license in 11 days! She has been counting the days down since her birthday in December. She is so excited to start driving herself to the places she needs to go. I am equally enthusiastic that my days as chauffeur are just about over:), but a little sad that the many heart to heart conversations we often have while in the car together will be less frequent.:(</p>
<p>Toledo, while it would be tough to transfer junior year it may also be really tough to stick out the next two years where he’s already feeling frustrated so I think I’d strongly consider a transfer if he’s fully thought through all aspects and it wouldn’t be a huge detriment.</p>
<p>Toledo…tell your son…how can a high school be full of kids all with high IQs? sounds like Lake Woebegone where all the kids are above average. IQ tests measure a certain kind of intelligence not necessarily smarts in a more comprehensive sense of the word…get your son someplace where he will feel good about himself. A few days ago I met this great carpenter…graduate from my son’s high school…he said he felt dumb and a failure at the high school (very academic top school in country) and discovered the really great alternative/vocational program in the county and excelled in the carpentry stuff but once he got into his own business he found he has a great aptitude for business, design, etc. even math/finance … I see this with lots of kids…the smarts are there but only come out when they have the confidence and maturity but most importantly when they are outside of the typical academic environment. A kid I used to baby sit with severe ADD and dyxlexia went to work as an outward bound counselor after HS. Loved the outdoors, decided to be a park ranger so had to go to school…did the community college thing, then college…whoa…she just sent me an invite to her MS graduation!! in environmental studies!!! I hope your kid gets to see his aptitudes in a more positive way very soon.</p>
<p>Hi All! Checking in after being offline for a few days.</p>
<p>D2’s DI team qualified for state so another month of DI to go. All the juniors in TN take the mandatory ACT tomorrow at school, so sophomores had that as an option; D will be taking it then (it’s a practice ACT so the real test but they send it to an independent scoring company so it won’t “count.”) Thursday is the last day of school before Spring Break. Amen! D1 is home for Spring break so there’s been some sisterly bonding which is nice to see.</p>
<p>We’ll be on the road to drop D1 back at school on Sunday then D2 & I are heading to Atlanta. She’s going to visit Emory & Agnes Scott. She’ll then have 4 days of blissful nothing to do. </p>
<p>Re: the ADHD. D1 had ADHD inattentive and NVLD. End of middle school and freshman year were shaky, but then she took ownership of it. She still had some trouble in classes that she had to memorize things in (foreign language, math & chemistry) but she persevered and ended up with a 3.97 GPA and stellar test scores (actually she always tested well, even before diagnosis and medication.) Having a coach/tutor was a wonderful thing because it gave her a cheerleader plus it was someone else telling her what would be helpful, not Mom. I swear it saved our relationship. AND she’s doing great in college; she took her 1 mandatory math & is now in her 1 mandatory science. After that all classes will be driven by her interests so hopefully no more wobbles :)</p>
<p>Thanks shillyshally and fineartsmajormom. Yes, my son’s self-esteem is fairly low when it comes to academics. In fact, my older son reported the same thing. His college was really worried about him based on a freshmen survey. His advisor was shocked when he earned a 3.98 GPA his first semester, as he had rated himself low in every academic area on the survey. He now tells everyone that his high school was harder than college, and it truly was. His girlfriend says we live in “Utopia”, but one kid’s Utopia can be another kid’s hell.</p>
<p>We are almost through with scholarship pplications for S’11 & what a journey it has been! We have learned so much that hopefully will help with D’13. Totally different children, S’11 is an athlete who wants to be a veterinarian and D’13 is a theater and music star who wants to be a writer. I’m happy to have found this forum.</p>
<p>Hi every one…Nice to read the updates…
Longhaul: sorry for your loss, and keeping your family in prayers.
Spring break is so far here in MA, my S13 brought home the schedule for next year…(yes right, we just begin scheduling in the mid of march) and have been working on it.
This is how the schedule looks</p>
<p>Honors-British literature
Honors-Spanish 4
Honors- MV calculus
Honors Physics
AP- Chemistry
AP-Computer science
AP-US HISTORY</p>
<p>And for PE- varsity vollyball.</p>
<p>The school had an independent studyfor MV CALCULUS so far, but next year they are starting a new honors class- which is good.
I am a bit worried about this schedule, but S13 seems to be at ease with it. Hope he will do fine and will not have to abandon his EC’s for this. </p>
<p>His English teacher- a very good one- is going on maternity leave from tomorrow onwards and a new teacher is already in class for the last two days. Hope the transition will be an easy one.</p>
<p>English MCAS for next week, MCAS is the state test here in MA. I cant wait for the spring break…It is another 4 weeks away!!</p>
<p>Longhaul ~ Thanks so much for your response, I really appreciate it. I’m so sorry for your loss. I apologize for jumping right in without knowing what was going on.</p>
<p>Thanks for the AD/ADHD responses. Rob, I think we have talked before, you told me that your DD had a coach. I found ONE coach in our metro, and she sounded really nice, but she straight out told me that if DD isn’t ready for it, it won’t work. So, DD resisted. We will try again mid-summer, maybe her thoughts will have changed. That is the hardest thing right now, she does not self-advocate. I am hoping this comes with age, and hope it comes soon!lol She just hates to ask for help, which just perpetuates the problem. </p>
<p>I wish I could say that our district/schools are supportive, but they fight us all of the way. We have definitely lived in other states which had schools and teachers were very helpful, and you knew they wanted the kids to be successful. Not so much here. Most teachers understand DD’s issues and are supportive, but the philosophy of the school/district seems to be to give as little as needed and nothing more. Not good. I would love to transfer, but socially it would be a nightmare.</p>
<p>My DD has expressed some interest in going away for a college summer program, and I am thinking about letting her. She went to a girls science camp at a state school between 7-8th grades. She had a good time, and learned alot of things about real life. I would love for her to have another chance to experience college life while doing something she finds interesting. She is a little quirky, though, so fitting in may be an issue. I don’t know…</p>
<p>She has not been on ADD meds this whole year because they make her OCD worse, but she has done fairly well, not great, but pretty good without meds. She has been through private treatmeant to help deal with the OCD, and we are planning to add an ADD med on Thursday, keeping our fingers crossed. She really does need the help. </p>
<p>My DD does not even have her learner’s permit yet, although she has been eligible for two years. She could be getting her license next month. She has to take driver’s ed, which will happen when she saves up half of the cost, before she tests for her license. I am not sure she feels comfortable yet with the idea, and neither do we until she gets on the right ADD med. Then we may push a little bit. I do believe it is a skill she needs to have. </p>
<p>Thanks again for the support.</p>
<p>Midwest: Yup D1 had a tutor/coach that she met with 1x/week during the school year. She “bought in” fairly early in the process and that made things much smoother. I can’t imagine trying to get a kid who isn’t fully committed to the process to comply. We still have conversations about using the people around you to help. </p>
<p>I think it’s probably a good idea to let her go to a college summer program. D1 went during 3 different summers. D2 went last summer too and the difference in the social experience was night and day; not surprising of course. Definitely helped D1 to get her head around dorm life before she HAD to. </p>
<p>Oh, and about driving. D1 totaled the car during midterm exam week of senior year. 7 houses from our house. Hit a parked car head on. Meds hadn’t kicked in and she was running formulas through her head. No one was hurt (she was going so slow that the airbags didn’t go off) and part of the reason the car was totaled was because the car she hit was high enough to meet the hood of the car the wrong way. There’s a fine line between not pushing because they’re not ready and enabling fear but if she’s not comfortable I’d keep driving a non issue. I didn’t get my permit till 17 and my driver’s license 3 months later; I hate that some states have such early age requirements. It’s just too young.</p>
<p>Great news today! D’10 just landed a job as a “PA” for next school year. It’s like an RA but is responsible for programming/advising for a freshman living/learning community. Best part: it covers her room expense ($9000!) and provides a $3000 stipend. Looks like we may have money for S’13 to go to college after all. D has also secured an internship for the summer with room and board and stipend - so she’s pretty self-sufficient! What a relief!</p>
<p>Megpmom - congrats to your D10! I’d love for my D10 to land a gig like that, she’s applied but they’ve said it is a very long shot for freshman to get it!</p>
<p>D13 keeps wavering on which electives she wants to take, today I asked what she decided and she said she’s leaving it up to the GC to surprise her, LOL! She definitely wants AP Psych and Lit Mag but she’s torn between Theater 3 and Photo 3.</p>
<p>16 years old today!!!</p>
<p>Happy 16th to your S!!!</p>
<p>Happy 16th to Kelownason! </p>
<p>I am definitely not enjoying the daily drives to school and back with my S13 and his learner’s permit. He may be becoming a better driving, but I am not any less nervous. Sunday we were down at my dad’s house with narrow streets and VERY NICE cars. Luckily I gave up Diet Coke rather than wine for lent! </p>
<p>S13 started journalism as an elective at the semester (he had Health first semester) and he is really enjoying it.</p>
<p>
:D</p>
<p>This week is full of math competitions in our house. State Math Contest, Math Kangaroo, American Invitational Math Exam. I am really happy I am not the one writing them 
But I do organize one for the state, so tomorrow will be quite busy. Luckily I do not work tomorrow :)</p>
<p>belated bday wishes to your son Kelowna</p>
<p>Here, too a number of math competitions coming up. My S took AIME today. </p>
<p>Congrats to your D megpmom</p>