<p>momreads, What a great attitude your son has!</p>
<p>I’m just watching the online gradebook and hoping my son can inch himself up just a little more this semester. Right now he at least a 1/2 grade lower that he was 1st semester in almost every class. I don’t know why, considering that he was running cross country in the fall and didn’t do a sport in the spring. He was on a competitive percussion team but that didn’t take too much time. It might be because he started tutoring ESL kids in math during his study hall instead of getting all his own homework done but I think he would have plenty of time to do his own at home if he would spend less time goofing around online (says the pot calling the kettle black).</p>
<p>mspearl, we’ve got two very different kids as well. It’s hard for me to tell at this point what, exactly, D2 will want for college. One advantage of this type of family constellation is that the younger kid will get to see the older kid at school. Since D1 will be going to school in the Boston area, that’ll give D2 a chance to see lots of different types of schools there, and to also see what cold weather is like. Then we can see if she wants to look at schools near home, or further away. </p>
<p>I have a tentative “let’s look at these schools” list for D2, but she’s told me in no uncertain terms to leave it alone until D1 goes off to school. </p>
<p>D1 is a natural test taker, and D2 freezes up for all tests, sigh. She’ll get extra time accomodations for standardized tests, but it’s still going to be tough for her. Once she has a sense of what kind of schools she’d like to go to, I think that will help her work towards getting the scores she’ll need.</p>
<p>I shared my joy for D1 on the 2012 board so I need to share D2’s success today. For her history final her and two friends created a long rap song on current events. She poured her heart into it and it was so stunning! For the last week, I have heard her rapping while she takes her bath at night. It was so creative. This was what I meant when I said D2 has that special spark in creativity/writing that D1 doesn’t have. She said it was the best project and the teacher loved it!</p>
<p>And kudos to this teacher for thinking out of the box and letting kids apply their knowledge in different ways other than traditional testing. She is an awesome teacher. Was also my D1’s favorite teacher this year for her western civ. Class. And our foreign exchange student from Hong Kong scored a 100% on her calculus final…no surprise, she is a math genius. Lol.</p>
<p>Great academic success in our house today. D1 and Exchange daughter are headed overnight to a friends house and my husband is taking D2 and a friend to see the hangover 2. Probably not appropriate but oh well, let’s not pretend 15year olds are little innocents… Congrats to all the kids out there who made it through finals!!!</p>
<p>Mspearl - congrats to your girls!! Three cheers for all three! I love the thought of you hearing your dd singing in the bath. So sweet. :). I agree it was a great assignment.</p>
<p>mspearl- Yes, your D’s teacher sounds very creative too. Great assignment.
In our household, we have 2, a D at college & the youngest a S '14. D has always been an achiever, S not so much. However, S '14 has surprised us this year. He is buckling down and says he enjoys learning! They both enjoy music and this has been commonality between them despite their age difference.</p>
<p>Hope everyone had a nice long Memorial weekend! Glad to see so many new parents since I last posted.</p>
<p>S3 did well in an extracurricular state competition and won a college scholarship. He beat out the top seed and the reigning champ on route to a big second place trophy - his second runner-up finish in states this year! It’s good the see his hard work finally paid off.</p>
<p>On the academic front, we received a sample of his essays from his English teacher. He’s always had problems with writing, but I was very happy to see a huge improvement from the sample. Sure there were still blemishes, but he improved sharply as a writer. His writing now reflects a mature and thoughtful young man.</p>
<p>Hi folks. I’m new to the thread, but not to CC. </p>
<p>I have a class of 11/15 S1 with whom we’ve just completed the application/decision process, and am not ready to think (a tiny bit) about my HS class of 2014 S2. S2 is a summer baby, so at the young end of his class, but not as young as his older brother (fall birthday) was/is for his class. (I also have a S3 who is finishing up 4th grade.)</p>
<p>I haven’t caught up and read this whole thread (nor can I keep up with the 11/15 thread!) but figured I’d at least introduce myself.</p>
<p>^Freudian slip
I’m in the same boat – now/not ready to think about S’14. It’s in the “ugh” category (like doing taxes) especially after just finishing with D’11. I think I’ll chill for 2.5 years and he will miraculously mature and become self-focused and his match schools will all be within reach.</p>
<p>My 2014 girl is ending up with at least a 3.66 cumulative gpa for the year! She really turned it around this last nine weeks and went from majority B’s to mostly A’s!! So, I guess all hope is not lost. She got two C’s this year…same classss, separate 9 weeks. We talked, the goal next year is NO C’s.</p>
<p>She was picked for honors Spanish and this means so much to her. She really really excels in this class. Ended up with 101%. As soon as she got home yesterday she started on her summer Spanish homework. I think this means so much more to her than my D1 because D1 just assumes she will be picked but D2 doesnt expect to be singled out for any academic honors. She also has this inherent creativity and passionate streak. Dare I say sometimes she seems to be the better critical thinker than her 4.0 sister. I think that is because of her creative spark. Her sister is very disciplined but D2 has that spark of …I don’t know the word. It is just a spark.</p>
<p>I love both my girls and they are so special to me, but I am so thrilled that D2 is Excited about school for a change after bemoaning, complaining all year! </p>
<p>Congrats to all the kids here who have worked so hard this year. Welcome to sophomore year! And Thanks for letting me brag!</p>
<p>@ Classof2015: I hear you! S does seem to be turning up the focus after watching D’11 go through the college process, but it’s uneven. Oh, well. Today was his last final, so he’ll know his grades tomorrow (!) and have a sense of what he needs to do next year. If he can pull Latin up to an A- and get at least a couple of solid A’s, I will be thrilled. I am still trying to figure out what grades mean at his school, and have a feeling I am expecting more than I should.</p>
<p>OK, I chilled for a week. D’14 needs help with writing - essays, literary critiques, etc. Asked school about ideas and other than their summer enrichment program (she will be out of town), there are no ideas. Has anyone here had to engage an outside program for their kids ('14 or older)?</p>
<p>If so, what summer or school year suggestions would you recommend?</p>
<p>So S’14 has now completed 35 high school credits, including 2 APs and has a unweighted GPA of 3.88. He has so many credits because he took so many high school courses in middle school. At the moment, I feel just as frustrated with his high school as I did with his middle school. There are few truly capable, motivated kids and the teachers do not prepare students to do well on a national scale. Son took the SAT math II subject test today because he just finished honors pre-calculus. I do not think he did well. I don’t feel confident that his calculus teacher will prepare him well for the AP test next year but I don’t know where to get him tutoring or how to pay for it.</p>
<p>Hi all -
Lurking for now as I know once we’re in full college-search mode it gets nonstop. DS1 is college class of 2014 so I just rolled from DS1 to DS2, same high school.
DS2 is a fairly good student, maybe not as smart (hush!) but better organized etc. than DS1. Would be great to have a “real” test score under our belt this early in the game so we know where we’ll stand with him, in our experience with DS1 and Explore/PLAN didn’t really get a good picture of how his ACT would come out… oh well.
So the quick bio - DS2 is finishing strong (As, Bs) but at that dreaded 90.4 in 2 honors classes, where 90.5 is an A and of course no one rounds up, and a 80.4 (C!) in Honors Geometry. Anyone know where we can buy an extra .3??? AAArrrgghhhh!
Serious trombonist, guitarist, piano, composes music etc. What he wants to go to college for? no clue… at this point I’d settle for just getting to bed at a decent time.
Nice to meet you’all!</p>
<p>Apollo6, How many credits does a student at your high school need to graduate? Our local public school only offers two high school level classes to 8th graders - geometry and the 1st year of a foreign language. What high school classes was your son able to take in middle school? That is great that he was able to get such a head start.</p>
<p>The math program at our local “excellent rated, Blue Ribbon, top public school according to Newsweek, etc.” school is terrible at all levels. They use a spin-off of Everyday math in elementary and then the middle school teachers spend two years filling in all the gaps. I requested the results of the school’s AP exams a couple of years ago. I was not surprised to see that only one student received a passing score of “3”, one student received a “2”, and all the rest received a “1” on the AP Calc exam. This is one of the reasons we homeschool. :-)</p>
Then we can see if she wants to look at schools near home, or further away. </p>