<p>Collegemaw – I meant a slot in a summer program to keep her busy. Most summer programs have filled around here. After all, summer starts in 2 weeks!</p>
<p>D decided not to do band in hs even though she was in band for most of her school years. The hs has a jazz ensemble which has a piano position.I am asking her to audition for it.Have to wait and see what she is up to.</p>
<pre><code> I know some Hss have very good band and orchestra.To be part of the such bands and orchestras do have a value in the resume.A girl from my D’s dance class got into yale and she the leader in their nationally recognized team.
so it is upto the kids and how much time they are ready to spend.
</code></pre>
<p>Actually, I must be in deep denial. Summer starts a week from tomorrow for D’15!</p>
<p>About the band/orchestra issue, it probably varies from school to school and from area to area.
@IJustDrive, I’m glad you think music should be beneficial to some top students. It’ll be a challenge for them to spend considerable amount of time on music and still do well academically, but D. decided to give it a try.</p>
<p>@IJustDrive again, yes it’s late to sign up for good summer program. But maybe there’s something local that pops up, like a week camp or something during the day. Some short online course might be good too. Does she like technology, like java, movie making, website, etc.? I remember there’s this tech camp that you can almost sign up at any time before it starts. If there’s one near you, maybe she can try. (I remember it being quite expensive though.)</p>
<p>IJustDrive, I think herandhisMom may be talking about ID Tech Camps, which are on about 60 college campuses, run by Internal Drive. It is a Sunday-Friday afternoon residential program (or weekly days if you live close enough) with “Incredible Gaming Weekends” as bookends. S12 is going for his fourth time this summer and absolutely loves it. It IS a little pricy but a great experience.<br>
D15 prefers the local YMCA camp up in the mountains and is going for two weeks this summer to their teen camp. Is there a Y or Girl Scout camp in your area? How about classes at the CC or library? Good luck finding something!</p>
<p>D is finishing up her freshman year and this was her first year of marching band - she loved it! She also took three honors classes, as well as a language. </p>
<p>Marching band started during the summer, and had practices on Tues. and Thurs. from 6-9pm. That schedule continued in the fall, and included football games on Friday nights and Saturday rehearsals/competitions. D received her best grades during that time (as I had heard that kids do - she definitely had to organize her time).</p>
<p>And I absolutely love band kids.</p>
<p>About band and orchestra, All three of my children have been very involved in band. It has been a wonderful experience for them. Yes it is a time commitment, and yes, it probably affected one son’s class rank ( 18th instead of, maybe 10th?), but it also gave him leadership skills (3 years as drum major in marching band), and experiences he wouldn’t have had otherwise (music department trips to competitions, all-state band, awards for jazz improv, etc.). The music kids in our HS attract highly motivated, high achievers. I think the couple of extra AP or honors classes he would have taken instead of band wouldn’t have made a bit of difference in his college acceptances. He is heading to college this fall, graduating in the top 5% of his class. Would it have made a difference in the three colleges that turned him down? Probably not. They were shots in the dark reaches anyway. The music experience was, and will continue to be, much more valuable in creating the well rounded, happy person he is. If your child loves music don’t take it away because it you are trying to figure out what some college might prefer four years from now.</p>
<p>^^^I am going to second eastcoascrazy and other pro-band/music believers in supporting a student’s involvement in following a passion/favorite interest. Although I am not the parent of a musically inclined/talented child (!), I strongly believe that doing what you love can so easily create a win/win situation. Your student will derive so much from doing something they love outside of the classroom, learning life lessons and having a social outlet. Furthermore, that “thing” that they love is what makes them stand out when going through college admissions - a student with a strong and consistent interest/talent is going to be far more interesting/unique than a student with a straight A average and perfect SAT scores and no outside interests. Plus, our children need these outlets that are fun, enriching and constructive!</p>
<p>I hope nobody took my post yesterday to mean that I am unsupportive of kids doing music / art / drama / whatever in HS. My older D’s 4 years of Orchestra have been a wonderful experience for her. There were trade-offs, but in her case they were absolutely worth it.</p>
<p>My younger D has carefully considered the trade-offs and decided that she wasn’t willing to give up the things she’d need to forgo in order to be on the HS dance team. Especially when there was a more flexible option available to her (dancing with a private studio’s dance team).</p>
<p>I am a firm believer that each kid needs to consider their own options and make their own judgement – within bounds. I don’t think there’s any problem with pursuing an avocation at the cost of a few Bs or even the occasional C, but I would draw the line at Ds or Fs! (And, indeed, HSs do require kids to stay above GPA cutoffs in order to participate in certain music/art activities and sports teams.)</p>
<p>The discussion about music is great.
My D. is kind of torn. She likes music so far in a strange way, yet I think it’s normal for a kid her age, from what I heard and what I remembered based on my own experience. she does not like to practice at home but she likes band and orchestra. Her (private) teachers told her if you are not willing to practice 5-8 hours a day at least, you shouldn’t major music in college. She is definitely not the kind of people who can sit down practice 5-8 hours a day! I guess because of those comments she got, she is not sure if she should even get involved in high school. But she is pretty good at it. she loves band and she loves her teachers,and I always think music a great thing to do. (wish I didn’t quit when I was her age so now I’d have one more fun thing to do. 
)</p>
<p>In regards to band/orchestra issue. I think it is well worth it if your kids enjoy it. I believe that out school’s grade weighting and lack of ranking really encourages students to study the arts. Our top graduates in s11’s class were involved in the arts for all four years. In regards to college admissions (in the context of our high school) the arts seemed to help admissions. I don’t know if that is just a reflection of the type of kids that make that kind of commitment.</p>
<p>@max, my D. is just like yours - likes band, orchestra, and LOVES her music teachers, but doesn’t like to practice at home. She certainly would not practice 5-8 hours a day! (needs a tiger mother, maybe? ) She clearly tells me she has other interests much stronger than music. That’s why sometimes I wonder… </p>
<p>Since two weeks ago, she follows my H. to a local band with a group of professional/armature musicians. This is the first time she plays in a real band. She feels challenged and really interested. </p>
<p>I can see music as her real hobby, at least. She herself sometimes talks about giving up music because she wants to top the class and go to a top college. I kind of understand that - in the past few years she’s been sick and tired of the mediocrity she’s been exposed to among her peers and she is so looking forward to a better group of people. She realized this from the CTY camp she went last year where she felt a fish in a pond.</p>
<p>D1 (HS senior) has always enjoyed singing, but in a non-school choir. Hadn’t heard great things about the school choir and she wasn’t into the school social scene so this choir worked out great and she developed one or two of her closest friendships there. </p>
<p>Both Ds took piano lessons but unfortunately neither one had a passion for it (darn!) so that didn’t last too long.</p>
<p>D2’s passions are sports and academics and reading.</p>
<p>@collegepaw, that’s okay. It’s great your kids like sports. both my kids have no interest in sports. We nurture them and they did try some sports but it didn’t work well - got my genes. 
D. is getting older, sometimes she is self conscious about not being athletic.</p>
<p>How is everyone feeling about the upcoming graduation from middle school? I am a little wistful at how fast D is growing up! Her school makes a pretty big deal of it, is that the same with you all? It seems like yesterday she was coming to me with boo boos and now she has boobies! In many ways she still seems so much like my baby. My S is 16 and towers over me and he is still my baby, too! Off to college in a year and I am so not ready.</p>
<p>D’s 8th grade graduation is also next week. The other parents in this area make a very, very big deal of 8th grade graduation. I think it’s silly (and expensive)! D is one of the graduation speakers, so I’ll go, shut up, and be proud. It’s hard to believe that summer is already here!</p>
<p>Speaking of which, D’s (required) summer school classes were canceled last week(!), so we’re scrambling to make new summer plans. I think we have something in place now, but we won’t know for sure for a couple of days. This is NOT how we planned the summer! I’m a little glad that I was less organized than usual, and we had very few deposits paid, so we’ve lost very little money. But it’s been a confusing couple of days, since the 4-year high school plan was based on certain classes this summer. The violin teacher will be very upset when we tell him, since he’ll see much less of D this summer than we planned.</p>
<p>H&HMom – which CTY did your D attend? That’s one of the options we’re looking at for D’15 this summer. I’d love feedback.</p>
<p>To I Just Drive–why are any classes “required” for the summer between 8-9th grade? I say that honestly, I know your D is smart and motivated so it is not remedial. I assume it is to get into higher level high school classes?<br>
I thought I was a helicopter mom (and I AM for the rising senior S, he hates me sometimes but also appreciates me a lot for what I have learned here and elsewhere). I have tried to relax more with D1 but I am failing miserably. We do have summer plans for all three of our kids, I SO hope they do not fall through.<br>
That being said, you all amaze and impress me!</p>
<p>It’s official. D was accepted into one of our top privates for fall of 2011 as a refrosh. </p>
<p>D’s schedule for next year:</p>
<p>Latin IV, honors
Algebra/Trig- Don’t know how this will play out as will complete calculus in 10th grade
World History I, honors
Biology, honors
Great Books I, honors
Philosophy, honors
Art History 1st semester; Classical guitar 2nd semester</p>
<p>Summer activities:
D likes to stay busy. Outside of 4 weeks away, all other experiences are local.</p>
<p>Research assistant for science camp @ SCSU -2 weeks
Environmental research @ SCSCU -2 weeks
Summer school class aid when not up @ SCSU, 16 hrs week
Ballet, modern & contemporary in prep for next dance season
A couple of writing courses via the Loft on fantasy writing & book illustrating
Vacation time!</p>
<p>My D’s school doesn’t really have much for graduation. They will have an award ceremony for honor students, and esp. for those who gets all As in all 3 years.That’s what my D. struggling for - she has 88 in one of the courses now. They have four more days to go! They will also have a dance for 8th graders. This is the only dance they don’t have to pay, and they say the school actually will give them something as souvenirs.</p>