<p>Snowme - I love it - like the running of the bulls at Pamplona but with 17 year olds!
Our school calls it a brag sheet - supposedly it’s the parent’s place to brag about something the kid might forget to point out. I’d prefer they call it something else like “parental insight form”.</p>
<p>Well, toning for juniors, but senior year, the last day of class is a Thursday. The senior awards/scholarship day is Friday. Thursday night, the seniors all have a big camp out in the school parking lot (and block it so underclass men can’t park there, leaving spaces for parents coming to the assembly–we live close enough to walk).</p>
<p>Classof2015 - I like the running of the bulls analogy. I would love to have seen my normally serious kid running through the halls screaming. I’ll get to see the first day of school parade of seniors – they’ll go right by my house, loudly. </p>
<p>Would “Class of 2014 Junior Parent Questionnaire” be a dull enough title? That’s what I filled out. I hope the GC got it formatted the way I typed it. The online final version removed all paragraph breaks making the answers very difficult to read.</p>
<p>Ordinarylives - Fun idea, camping out in the parking lot! Like you, we walk to school events. When we bought the house pre-kids I didn’t realize how wonderful the location would be. Walking to town and school has given the kids an amazing amount of freedom.</p>
<p>Wow glido, our counselors don’t take over English class, but the English teacher did assign them to write a common app essay. DS wouldn’t show me his – it’s “private”. I wondered if that really meant “did a half-assed job on it” but he got a 95 from a teacher who doesn’t hand them out like candy, so I guess he did a good job. I’m going to have a hard time dealing if he won’t let us see the real one though!</p>
<p>I love that running-through-the-halls thing! I’ll have to ask my DS if they do anything like that.</p>
<p>Since DS had one excused-absence-for-college-visits left for the year, we went Friday to his chosen school to wander around one more time before he applies August 1st. His grandfather wanted to see the campus as well. And gratefully, he said he would like to put up the hosuing deposit, which is a HUGE weight off my shoulders. I was stressing how I was going to have $300 extra dollars in 2 months. </p>
<p>Was a fun, productive day! I got to sit down with the asst. director of finaid, to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before FAFSA time at the end of the year. She also told us about some institutional scholarships available we weren’t aware of, and told my son about the importance of keeping his GPA up after his Freshman year because of all the additional departmental scholarships available after that. Was all very helpful!</p>
<p>Now DS just has the ACT on June 8th, and he is DONE with all of it except for the essay-writing this summer for the application and for upcoming scholarship apps. He’s exempt from most of his finals next week, so he is definitely smelling freedom and ready to run! Well, from school, anyway – he still has his job and summer band practice – but he’s happy to not have homework for a few months. 
</p>
<p>Hope everyone had a good long weekend!</p>
<p>Crazy – is your son a junior? I’m confused as to why you would need to make a housing deposit before he’s accepted?</p>
<p>Our juniors traditionally make a very inappropriate t-shirt (usually alcohol reference or sexual innuendo), which says, “Class of 20xx” on the other side. They wear them the first day the seniors don’t attend school due to graduation rehearsal. Then when the teachers give them a “dress cut,” they all flip the shirts inside out to the “Class of…” side. Apparently, this year, the school is making a huge effort to stop the tradition, because parents have received numerous email warnings from the administration about the shirts. They have done a good job of at least scaring the rule-followers of the class, because my kids said they are NOT getting the inappropriate tshirts, and that someone has made an alternate, appropriate shirt that they are getting, along with about half (in their estimate) of their class.</p>
<p>In other news… I learned today that their GC is pregnant with her first child and due on… Sept 20th. Great timing for the seniors in the midst of applying to colleges, wouldn’t you say? She probably has a caseload which consists of about 100 Seniors, so I’m very interested to find out how the school is planning to handle this. Will send an email tomorrow to inquire. Ugh!</p>
<p>Yes, he’s a Junior – you can make the housing deposit at the same time you make your application, and he really really wants in one of the two new dorms. They are super-nice – I wish <em>I</em> could live there!! Lol. Housing assignments are first-requested first-served for new students, based on date of deposit, so we want to make sure he has every chance. It’s a small chance – we were told that this year “a few Freshmen did get into those dorms” – but that’s better than no chance at all! :-)</p>
<p>Crazy – is this for an instate school? Or is this common for all schools? Still in denial that I have an almost-senior.</p>
<p>@Agentninetynine – I am definitely in denial too… It has been just he and I since before he was 2, and I swear it was just last month I was standing with him on the corner waiting for the big yellow bus to take him to kindergarten!! Cue the waterworks… <em>sniffle</em></p>
<p>Yes, he’s going to one of the state schools. Here, they are the ones that tend to be the most difficult to get into, but he has worked really hard and is an auto-admit due to his grades and rank. It’s his first and only choice of school. And since they do rolling admission, I am going to be yanked from the already-overwhelming shock of having a H.S. Senior now, to 3 months from now dealing with the incomprehensible shock of having an admitted college-bound student!! <em>faints</em> At least I have an actual year to steel myself for the reality of that!</p>
<p>Happy Hump Day! Serving chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream, fresh strawberries and fuzzy navels today! Please help yourselves!</p>
<p>Three more days of final exams this week, SAT subject test this Saturday and son will be done. All kids are required to take finals and don’t get to opt out at my son’s school. He didn’t even get Memorial day off since they were req’d to attend the seniors’ prize day. So SATII will be with no prep again, just like the first one. I guess the only prep are the two rolls of mentos I bought for his test! LOL. We will see how tired he is and may even skip if it looks like he is not going to improve his score.</p>
<p>After school is done, he will start “Vampire Week” - where he will hold vampire hours and sleep in every day till 2 pm. Last year we allowed it up to 3 weeks or so when he didn’t have a job or internship but this year it will be different!</p>
<p>Re: brag sheet. We have been asked to fill out the parent survey in our naviance account in Jan but this parent has been procrastinating. I suppose I should do it especially now that GC will be writing their LOR. </p>
<p>akmom124, sound like your D has a great college list and great to hear she is on track! </p>
<p>Maryjay60, love to hear that DS is spending time with grandparents. Nowadays most kids don’t know how to relate to the older generation so it’s so nice to hear that they still have a close relationship.</p>
<p>ParentSparkle, I must’ve missed the post about “Junioritis”! Too funny. What is Bonnaroo? You must be glad to have him home for the summer. </p>
<p>artloversplus, I know nothing about Peace Corps but kudos to your D for wanting to apply!</p>
<p>crazy4disney, what a nice contribution from DS’ grandfather and how fortunate for DS to know where he will be going for college! That is a fantastic school and one where my DS was looking at but way too far (OOS). Congrats in advance and so lucky where your instate flagship is a top school! What will he be studying?</p>
<p>DS’s school is chock full of traditions, not all of which are for seniors only. </p>
<p>There’s freshman lock-in, junior campout, senior switch day (seniors take over a class period for teachers), J-Day (sort of an activities fair but as is typical for the school, so much more than that, including a basketball tournament complete with bracketology), freshman robotics competition sponsored by Think Geek, senior lounge privileges (ratty couches, hand me down game consoles, makeshift ping pong tables), and si much more. </p>
<p>The only ones specific to seniors are senior switch day, senior skip day, college tshirt day, and senior lounge stuff. </p>
<p>DS trotted off this morning dressed up since today is the day for seniors to present their capstone project and he is introducing a couple of them. It’s a whole day of conference activity. There are industry panels, Intel and Siemens competition panels, speakers from academia, and a keynote speaker. Tons of stuff looks so interesting I would have a hard time choosing what to attend. It’s such a popular event that they ask only parents of seniors and freshmen (I forgot they’re presenting their yearlong bio research project too) to come. </p>
<p>He is done with soccer but swim practice has kicked in so he’s headed there after school. He was elected Treasurer of Persian Club yesterday. And this weekend we are off to Case Western for a prospect camp. </p>
<p>Somewhere in there he has to study for the ACT which will be his last test. We’ll just have to roll the dice with his scores if the ACT doesn’t turn out as he likes.</p>
<p>Getting caught up on a week’s worth of updates. Congratulations to all of the students who have finished their junior years! We still have until mid-June to be done.</p>
<p>The rug got pulled out from under our household this week. Go2girl was spending the weekend at our state’s HOBY seminar as a TA. She was already under an enormous amount of stress because she was being forced to take her AP chem final on Tuesday with the seniors. The seniors all had a dead week to study but juniors were expected to go about their normal business, doing massive end of the year projects, tests, homework assignments. She spent the entire week working well past midnight getting school work done (without any time to really study for her final) prior to leaving. We struggled with whether or not to let her go–but it meant the world to her and we gave in.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, back at Go2ranch, our little 10 year old dog took a turn for the worse and could not stay up on all four feet. She had been having sporadic seizures and then it all just went down hill very fast. I was unable to find a weekend vet to see her and I didn’t want to make any decisions until go2girl got back from HOBY. She was supposed to be studying like a madwoman on Monday for her test but under the cloud of “we may have to put go2dog down.” I emailed her teacher but found out that she was out of town–even for the **%@@#!! final.</p>
<p>Go2dog is my little shadow. I work from home most of the time and she is my constant companion. Follows me around the house. Waits for me in the bathroom while I shower. Snuggles with me while I watch tv at night, now that I’ve lost go2girl as my tv watching companion. She tried to follow me down the stairs and tumbled. I caught her half way. Was able to get her to stay put while I got her crate. The vet was extremely compassionate and basically told us it was most likely brain cancer. She had lost a great deal of weight and the only kind thing to do was put her down. </p>
<p>So that’s what my kids came home to yesterday. My 13-year old had left me a note on my pillow before he left for school, begging me not to “kill her.” It was heartbreaking.</p>
<p>We reminisced about her last night at the dinner table. Cried a lot. No homework. No studying. The hell with the 3 subject tests that she has had no time to study for but are looming on the horizon. </p>
<p>I just don’t have it in me to make it matter for her right now. And I’m just unsure that it does.</p>
<p>Hugs, go2mom. It’s so hard to lose a beloved pet and family member.</p>
<p>Go2mom, sorry to hear about your dog. Your dog does the exact same as mine, following me around from room to room, waits for me outside the bathroom, etc. so I know how close you are to the dog. They become like a family member …it’s so terribly difficult when they become sick and need to be put down. Sending you lots of hugs.</p>
<p>Oh go2mom, I’m so sorry. Hugs to you and go2kids. I have my own little shadow dog and can only imagine your sadness.</p>
<p>go2mom, so sorry about the dog. :(</p>
<p>Thank you all for your kindness.</p>
<p>It is rough.</p>
<p>This may sound selfish but I was so hoping to have her around through high school for both of my kids. My husband is not particulary a “dog person” and I don’t know if I can talk him into another one. He was hit exceptionally hard by the last few months. At the same time, I want my son to have someone to hold and comfort him during the stressful years of high school (he’s only a 7th grader.) And I know that I’m going to need some comfort when go2girl flies the next in just a year.</p>
<p>So sorry about go2dog. I hope that your husband agrees that your son should have a special little creature in his teen years, too.</p>
<p>Go2mom
I’m sorry about your beloved companion. Our pets are certainly family members. As a teacher, we do often get “care reports” when students have lost a pet! </p>
<p>I hope go2girl can make it through the next couple of weeks - her schedule sounds awful, especially with this sadness. I wouldn’t worry about not being able to study. Real life and love is more important in the long run. Besides, a stressed brain doesn’t absorb very much, anyway. </p>
<p>Just be there for each other. And I hope you can eventually get a new dog for go2son. My son got his first dog at age 12. (We had a dog when he was smaller, but he didn’t warm up to it - the dog was huge and the boy was small. Now the boy is huge and the dog is, well, not small) I have occasionally caught the huge, bearded boy confiding in the pup about various issues. </p>
<p>Hugs!</p>