<p>AL34: I understand your frustration. My kids attend a rural district with probably below average income and Unfortunately, many students are not on a college path. My daughters have had some great teachers but many times I feel like no one really pushes the kids. My D12 had a math tutor come in daily the last few weeks of school during her study hall after struggling with sat math section.(he only charged $10/hour) and you would have thought he was an alien. No one does this at her school. They might get tutors if they are struggling in class but never for sat/act. I am not going to homeschool like the above poster but I understand why people do sometimes. I donāt blame my school for everything either. Many of the parents in our community are more worried about $ to feed their kidsā¦school is way down the list.</p>
<p>@snowbeltmom, Our state requires 44 credits to graduate. Technically, if he took three English classes, U.S. history and econ/govt he could graduate at the end of his sophomore year. Of course that would be awful and not in his best interest. He took two years of high school FL and math in middle school and supplemented that with a summer at Concordia Language Village and 11 credits of online courses. After he scored a 25 on the ACT in 6th grade with 30+ in reading and English I convinced school administration not to make him sit through tedious middle school science and social studies classes. He also took algebra II online. My two older kids were so bored in middle school that I couldnāt stand to see this one waste his time. He just has to tolerate one more year in this school and then heāll go to our state residential school for gifted kids for his 11th and 12th grade year.</p>
<p>@Apollo6, That is great that you have options for 11th and 12th grade. We are in a rural area; our local school is the only public option, and the good private schools are at least 45 minutes away with a yearly tuition of $25K+. I wish we had a magnet school.</p>
<p>AL34-Your sonās school doesnāt give B+'s, A-'s? That is realy frustrating! It does not seem right.
Our S is also musical, plays piano, trumpet, composes too. Heāll be taking lessons with a jazz pianist this summer and will try a 4 day piano camp. I enjoy listening to him play, but h<em>o</em>p*e he does not pursue it as a career. Does that worry you?</p>
<p>In our district, the students receive number grades from 1st grade on. It is a very fair system, class rank-wise, but as a parent you can find yourself saying ālast period you got a 98 and how you went down to a 95. What happened?!ā</p>
<p>Son beginning to study for exams. Due to so many snow days this winter, school goes to the end of June this year!</p>
<p>Wow! When does school resume in the fall?</p>
<p>DS finished up school last Thursday but we wonāt know final grades until 6/13. He had some borderline grades so the final exams will make a difference. </p>
<p>He is taking health this summer to get it out of the way and we expected summer homework in APUSH and H. English. Surprise, there is none, the website says āsee you in Augustā They have given homework in the past but I think it is because there will be a teacher change in H. English. </p>
<p>Do your kids have summer homework or summer classes?</p>
<p>School will start here the Tuesday after Labor Day. This year will be 9/6. Our kids go through the third week in June. We have a 180 day calendar. </p>
<p>No summer classes here. S3 is working at a camp for a few weeks. He has summer work in Honors English, Honors Chem, Honors Alg 2/Trig, and AP World History. Itās really not that much. He also needs to get in his drivers training hours which simply takes timeā¦his and mine. Oh, and gasā¦ugghhh!!</p>
<p>Apollo6āAugust 30th. Makes for a short summer this year.</p>
<p>29happymom26āSummer work not assigned yet, but they always give summer reading & a journaling assignment for English.</p>
<p>blueiguanaāS will be taking driverās ed this summer too. Good to get in done in the summer time.</p>
<p>S14 has to read and journal about In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Itās for AP Eng lang. I got him into the top sophomore honorās English class last year to avoid taking it this year because that class is soooo demanding. My older son told me AP Eng lang was a cakewalk in comparison. I hope so because S14 has 5 AP classes this year. Since he isnāt taking driverās ed, I donāt think he can even get his learnerās permit until he is 16. Law changed last summer. Oh well, with one teenage boy on our insurance already, Iām not eager to have another one.</p>
<p>My D has Spanish homework and has been working on it without me reminding her! Everything is chill here. Starting in July will be Cheerleading, lots of it.</p>
<p>D2 is reading First They Killed My Father this summer for English. We were in Cambodia a year and a half ago and visited the killing fields and S21, so I hope she can pull out some unique insights.</p>
<p>Sheās half done with driverās ed (and I havenāt had that heart attack yet).</p>
<p>Apollo6āSo how does an 8th grader take a sophomore English class?</p>
<p>29happymom26: My son will have summer assignments from his English teacher. While heās done with school, she and others in the department have AP training. The admins said they cannot give out assignments until training is complete. So we have to go to the school later in the month to get the assignments. Meanwhile, he continues to work out and run in preparation for cross country. Even temps in the upper 90s didnāt stop him.</p>
<p>Iāve been lurking here awhile and finally decided to post. DS11 just graduated this weekend and will be headed to state flagship to study engineering next fall. DD14 has her last day of classes today followed by 3 days of exams. Then sheās out for the summer and still trying to figure out plans.</p>
<p>After sonās experience with our public high school, and the townās threats of cutting all sports, theatre, band, etc. when she was in 8th grade, we decided to send her to a small catholic school nearby. It was a major decision for us that we never thought we would make or even have to make - especially as we are not catholic. It was the best decision for DD and she has thrived there! Sheās worked very hard and gotten excellent grades (hopefully finals will go well too!). Sheās been selected for leadership opportunities and is very involved with community service through the school which runs its own food pantry. The only downside is sheāll only be able to take AP classes her senior year as theyāre not offered before that.</p>
<p>While DS is thrilled to be heading off to a large school, Iām not sure thatās what DD will want. Sheās interested in science research and musical theatre so trying to find that combination will be the goal - hopefully with merit aid thrown into the mix. Having just gone through the college admissions process with DS without knowing much, Iām glad weāll have much more info from CC people as we guide DD through it all. Although they are definitely two different students! Heās naturally good at math but not as good a student as she actually puts in the time studying! We do feel that the school heās going to is a great fit for him (both financially and academically) so I guess we did ok there.</p>
<p>Itās funny to hear all of you talking about drivers ed. She wonāt be able to get her license until next April and wonāt be able to drivers ed until February break at the earliest! I wish she could take the classes this summer when she has time because next spring will be crazy with two theatre productions and lacrosse, but sheās just too young. Summer will be spent trying to improve vocab in preparation for first PSAT testing and summer reading. She hasnāt really liked to read much before this year, but is getting more interested. Itās just a question of finding the time in her busy schedule. I think sheās got about 30 books she wants to read this summer - starting with the HP series as sheās only read the first two!</p>
<p>Hope all of you are enjoying better weather than we are here in New England! Itās cold and rainy again for the third day in a row. Luckily graduation was dry but the parties this weekend werenāt what was expected! Sorry this post is so long. Looking forward to the next few years with you all!</p>
<p>Sorry, Cayuga, the '10-11 school year is already ālast yearā to us. Weāre two weeks into vacation. S took sophomore English as a freshman.</p>
<p>Welcome, akmom124! As a high school librarian, it warms my heart to hear that your daughter has 30 books on her wishlist this summer. My kids love to read but rarely have time to read book of their choice except during summer. My own list has about 60 books on it. Enjoy!</p>
<p>My dtr is getting herself together for her five week program @ Choate Rosemary Hallā¦ she just got her classes todayā¦ she will be taking physics, biology and conversational spanishā¦ </p>
<p>Her AP Psych summer assignment is to read Jonah Lehrerās PROUST WAS A NEUROSCIENTISTā¦ and write a 750-1,000 word essay on how the chapters in the book changed your view of yourself, the world and psychologyā¦she will have to complete this assignment in August upon her return from Choateā¦I hope she isnāt too burned out from being in class for 6 days/weekā¦</p>
<p>Her finals are this week. School ends next Friday(6/24) but she wonāt go next weekā¦ no sense in going to school if they are only watching inane movies and getting out @ 11amā¦ nor are they taking attendanceā¦ she will start the summer program on 6/26 and I just couldnt make her go to school for such nonsenseā¦ Most of her classmates will be doing nothing all summer/or going to summer school to avoid repeating the 9th gradeā¦so her taking 5 days off when her attendance/grades/behavior have all been stellar is a non issueā¦So she will play miniature golf, head to the movies/beachā¦ sleep til she decides to wake up, veg outā¦ whatever her heart desiresā¦ she will be in class for 6 days/week for 5 weeksā¦ so I think it only fair that she has a week to be a vegetableā¦(though feeling a smidge guilty about letting her ditch school)</p>
<p>She also has to select 2 books from a summer reading list that the school system has providedā¦ I am sure most of you would be shocked at how simplistic the reading requirements areā¦ they donāt make the kids shoot for the stars when it comes to readingā¦ and its sadā¦not even the classics are on the listā¦ instead of pushing the kids, they give in to the fact that most of the inner city kids are below level and so they allow them to read juvenile books. Itās frustrating b/c my dtr had read most of the classics prior to making it to this public hsā¦ and I realize that most of the kids in this city have so many issues to deal with and are below levelā¦ but what about the kids who are like my daughter? They are just pushed to the sideā¦ unless they have a fanatical parent like me(yes, I said it) who demands excellence! On a side note, I have a friend whose daughter goes to Hopkins, a private/day school here in New Havenā¦ and her summer reading list was 46 pages long(ours was barely a 5x6/1 sided page)!!! With amazing books/authorsā¦such a contrast!! And yes, I borrowed it to make a copyā¦ 
</p>
<p>@AKMOMā¦ DD fell in love with HP @ 3 years oldā¦ I still remember the days of her bright eyed/impish face and she was so thrilled to listen to me read 1 chapter per nightā¦ it brings tears to my eyes thinking back to those times!!! Sometimes it was the only way to get her off the playground/eat her veggies and take a bathā¦ all I had to say was āHarry Potter is waiting for youāā¦ and she would hop off the swingā¦ and do whatever was requested of her! Never would I think that some 13 years laterā¦ she would still have a love affair with him! She is definitely an oddity in our neighborhood! But odd is great isnt it? :)</p>
<p>Sorry for the long postā¦ </p>
<p>And she goes back to school around 8/30/11 or soā¦ such a quick summerā¦ not sure why they dont go back after Labor Dayā¦ I am sure the kids are more focused going back to school after those extra days!</p>
<p>@ Blue Iguanaā¦ I believe it was you that mentioned the Kindle be a great choiceā¦ so I went out and bought it for herā¦ even though she got a NOOK for Xmasā¦ and guess what? She announced to me that she prefers ābooks that she can feel, smell and touchāā¦ so she is refusing to use eitherā¦ she says she misses the feel of the pages, the paper cuts that she gets sometimesā¦ and her book marksā¦ and my initial frustration made way to joyā¦ what a kidā¦ she loves books so much!!! So I am now using bothā¦ lol and downloading the free booksā¦ just in case she decides to pick either up some dayā¦</p>
<p>Another newbie to this thread! Like some of the other parents, we just finished the college process with our oldest daughter who will head off to our state flagship this fall. We learned a lot during this process and got lots of information and support here at CC.</p>
<p>Now DD2 will be heading to the high school in the fallā¦yes, Iām in the right place Our system currently houses the 9th graders at the middles school (7-9th) and two middle schools feed the high school. </p>
<p>She is currently taking a summer course (a computer applications class) to free up blocks for future AP history and Spanish classes. For summer work, she has two books and related assignments (The Hunger Games and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) for honors English and she has to take notes and answer questions on the first 6 chapters in her APUSH textbook. </p>
<p>DD2 might have the shortest summer hereā¦she starts back August 8! Her last day of class was May 31, so itās not too bad but with the summer class in the mornings for all of June, a youth retreat the second week of July and then band camp starting July 18 she doesnāt have a lot of āfreeā time. Which is probably good!</p>
<p>Looking forward to getting to know everyone!</p>