Parents of the HS Class of 2015

<p>Oops, I actually wrote about AP USH (junior class). AP US Government is actually a Senior course! Again, the differences will be in the emphasis of the schools. Sounds like it will be targeted to underclassmen, so she should be fine.</p>

<p>Different people really like different prep books. I think your best bet is to take her to a good bookstore and let her flip through several and decide what will work for her. </p>

<p>Also, there is a whole CC forum on AP courses and test preparation. The history and social studies section is [url=&lt;a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/history-social-sciences/]here[/url”&gt;AP History & Social Sciences - College Confidential Forums]here[/url</a>].</p>

<p>My D15 is signed up for AP English in the fall. Our (public) HS has an opt-in system where anyone can choose to be in the class, but they have to maintain a minimum average to stay. She’ll read Great Expectations, for one, over the summer. Right now we are focused on two NY Regents: one in Biology in June and the other in Algebra in August. Less worried about the August test than the June one. So much info (from two years of curriculum) to recall for one test. I signed her up for a one-day review course and also bought the Barron’s online review for her to use. Hope it helps. Any New Yorkers out there with good advice for first-time Regents takers?</p>

<p>My eldest D11 was one of 5 “test kids” to take AP Env Science as a freshman. The group all scored above 3’s on the AP test ( we even had one 5) and made A’s in the class. 4 years on freshman are now allowed to take this class and the High school are also offering AP HUGS ( human geography) to Freshmen this year. Students are invited to select this class after the first semester if they do well in the first semester ss class ( can’t recall which class this is) We are on block schedule which makes this possible.</p>

<p>My D11 has taken 13 AP’s and has commented all AP classes are not created equally. Some are so much easier than others. AP World History being one of the hardest due to the volume of material, along with some of the sciences- AP Physics. She found AP GO PO, Env Science relatively easy.</p>

<p>If your Freshman is willing to try it, I say go for it.</p>

<p>Gibson, I assume this is college D’15, not high school D’15 (who would be finishing up 8th grade)?</p>

<p>oops! Yes it was my eldest D who is graduating HS. I have edited my post. Soooo much going on with 8th grade dance and HS graduation, I can’t keep my mind straight.</p>

<p>Hello all, some very good advice here, thanks! Introducing myself–We have a D15 who is smart but not very organized (like some of the other 8th graders here). I shudder to think of high school for her! Our firstborn is S12, and he is so focused and self-motivated I never even had the need to find this site until recently when it came time to research college choices, AP exams, SAT issues etc. My screen name was chosen while I was watching TV with our “bonus” baby D, who is (EEEK) HS class of 27. It is very interesting to be researching colleges for S, high school choices for hormonal D1, and preschools for D2. Odd, but fun, too.<br>
I’m looking forward to sharing the next years with all of you!</p>

<p>Welcome Wordworld! With one heading to college in the fall and another entering HS,sometimes I wish I had another little one coming behind. They grow up so fast, it is going to be quiet in my house with just D2.</p>

<p>@wordworld My D15 falls into the same category as your D15. She’s emotionally young for her age, though, and I’m hoping that with maturity will come more focus. One of her favorite things is making lists and plans for how to be more effective, usually in vain. Yesterday she showed me that she had printed out and put on the wall next to her bed pictures of people waking up, “To inspire me to wake up in the morning.” And yes, I had to wake her up (again) today. : )</p>

<p>Gibson, yes it is fun to have a toddler around but I could use a bit of your future quiet sometimes! I think fear of the empty nest as our first two got older was part of the reason we wanted a bonus baby so much.<br>
Tutor, emotionally young is a good way to put it for my D too! That is so cute that yours put those pictures next to the bed. I don’t even try to rely on my D to wake up on her own, it just ain’t happening. I’m up anyway with the toddler, so no biggie.<br>
Your D sounds more organized than mine. At least she makes lists (with or without follow-through), if mine did that she would doubtless lose them. We use post-it notes on the front door to make sure whatever she needs at school actually made it into the backpack. She would definitely benefit from some Tiger Mom-style discipline–I do my best but sometimes I am not up to the task. Sigh.</p>

<p>Oh my…our D2 (HS2015) is rather the opposite–she will set her alarm for WAY early to finish or edit homework after I have forcefully pushed her to GET TO BED the night before.</p>

<p>Of course, the other side of that is you don’t hear a peep outta her til quite late weekend mornings unless sports events call!
And she leaves a trail of dishes, papers, pencils,notes, erasers, books etc etc everywhere she’s been slaving away on schoolwork, really trying to work on that one…</p>

<p>^^^ That can get worse in HS, as the HW pressure increases. And even more-so in college, when there are so many things to do in the day/evenings that it is very tempting to push homework into the wee hours. </p>

<p>Lack of sleep can really compromise ability to absorb information. It also trashes abstract thinking. (Seriously – look up the studies on sleep deprivation and traffic accident rates. Driving while sleepy is as dangerous as driving drunk!) Cutting sleep can lead to zoning out in class, and missing days due to illness. With my D2012 it’s almost guaranteed – if she stays up late studying for exams, she gets Bs; if she sleeps 7-8 hours she gets As. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t end up in battles over staying up “just a little longer” to finish “just one more thing.”</p>

<p>With a kid like that, you will need to monitor your D and teach her to self-regulate. This can be really rough on the parents, especially if you have multiple kids on different schedules. In our household, we sometimes “tag team” our Ds – my H will stay up late with the kid who’s gonna study till midnight, whereas I’ll turn in early so I can wake up with the kid who’s gotta be at school for zeroth period.</p>

<p>Sleep is my D’12’s biggest issue. So far it’s not an issue for D’15, who, as a younger sibling has heard us natter on about the importance of sleep. We’ll see what high school brings, though late orchestra rehearsals have been an issue even in middle school.</p>

<p>I know both my D’10 and D '13 compromise their sleep regularly but my S’15 has always known when he needed to sleep and done it, and of course now can sleep in late on the weekend but he’s also grown at least 7" in the past 2 years and is likely still growing so I’ll be curious to see how/if it is effected in HS</p>

<p>On the sleep issue I am in total agreement, it is about the only thing I regularly nag S12 about. How do you respond to this argument? “Mom, even if I go to bed at 11:00, I just lie there until midnight or later anyway, so I might as well stay downstairs [and play on the computer].” I get him up at 7:00, so he is definitely not getting enough sleep weekdays. He is able to sleep in most weekends, but that doesn’t seem the right solution to me. When are they old enough to put themselves to bed without us nagging?<br>
Luckily, D15 is actually good this way, she heads off to bed at 10 or so fairly willingly and is also up at 7:00. Hopefully this will continue with her in HS. Thank goodness the toddler goes to bed at 8:30 and sleeps until at least 7:30 or so!</p>

<p>^^^ What I tell my kids is that lying in bed, calmly, with the lights off (no reading, and definitely no computer, but I do allow relaxing music or stories on their ipod) is almost as restful as sleeping.</p>

<p>Teenagers’ circadian rhythms are biologically different from adults’. Unfortunately, most teens don’t get as much sleep as they need (9 hours!), and the stuff we do to help them (nagging them to bed before they’re sleepy, or letting them sleep in on weekends) can do more harm than good. The things that can help are keeping on a regular schedule, appropriate exercise, nixing the caffeine, and keeping things calm in the late evening (especially avoiding visual stimulation such as TV or internet). </p>

<p>Lots of good info in this article from the Mayo Clinic: [Teen</a> sleep - Why is your teen so tired?](<a href=“http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/teens-health/CC00019]Teen”>http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/teens-health/CC00019)</p>

<p>What time do your teens go to bed? My two go to bed around 10pm. It looks like they’re the ones who go to bed early among their peers. Is it true? They get up around 6:30, catching the bus at 7:10. So they sleep about 8.5 hrs.
I took my D. to look at books today. she decided it should be okay. thanks all for the suggestions!</p>

<p>I try to get S to bed by 10:30 but he also doesn’t get up until just after 7AM. Most nights he complies but some nights he drags his heels a bit but he’s also one that is asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow so at least when he goes to bed he’s sleeping :)</p>

<p>S15 stays up about an hour longer than I would like, but he manages to pop up out of bed every morning. In fact, he wakes up his brother: S11. S11 actually has pretty good sleep habits, but seems like he really can’t stay up late – he just falls asleep. I am wondering how big brother is going to wake up in college without lil bro, his personal wakeup service!</p>

<p>D15 & D16 are in their rooms at 9PM most nights (no phone, TV, computer/internet) and are asleep by 10PM most nights, except the odd night where D15 hasn’t finished her hw and then it could be 11PM. They have to catch the bus at 7:30AM for middle school. That will be 7:00AM for HS! Hate the system we have where the littlest kids go latest and the big kids go earliest. May be convenient for parents but it stinks for teen biorhythms.</p>