<p>Thanks for the reply, CJ! I tried to get S into district summer school for the Algebra 1 re-take, but by the time his final grades arrived (and I peeled myself off the ceiling), the deadline had already passed.</p>
<p>I should have intervened before school ended, but he kept assuring me that all was well and that he would do a great job on the final. Lesson learned.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if students can take this class thru BYU online? Would it count? Our GC’s are all out until 8/17, so no help there. Has anyone here done this? I never had to do it with D14, so no historical context. Would love any feedback.</p>
<p>Now, on to the HS room makeover. New desk placement (after clearing all the crud off it it), good lighting (Floor lamps @Walmart w/attached reading light, $12!!), and a calendar dry-erase board. No excuses for 9th grade.</p>
<p>I assume every district is different, but for ours (suburban MD), the grade is only replaced if they take it in the same district. I wanted CuriousKid to take it at a private school, simply because of convenience, but that was a no go. </p>
<p>Today was day 1 of summer school and we ran into an issue I didn’t foresee at all. For perspective, summer school is in a lousy location. They chose a high school that’s in the middle of a residential suburb, 2+ miles from the nearest train station (note: there are plenty of schools right by train stations). He’ll need to leave at 6:30 a.m. each day to get there by 8:00. Anyway, he got out at 1:00, on a “code red” heat day and walked to the bus stop where there was a big crowd of kids smoking. With his asthma, this made it a no go, but they’d locked up the school, and it’s not an area with any air conditioned places to wait for the next bus, so he walked to the next bus stop. When the bus came by it was so full when it got there that it drove right by. It sounds like they didn’t add extra midday buses for summer school. I think tonight we’ll look at the maps and figure out how he can walk back along the bus route and get on a stop early instead of a stop late. </p>
<p>He got home OK, but I’m sure he was frustrated. I didn’t really realize that high schoolers still smoked. I kind of wonder what they were smoking. </p>
<p>This also makes me think ahead to college. If my kid can’t be in a room with smoke, what does this do to his social life? I’m actually more worried about marijuana smoke than I am about cigarette smoke, since it seems that latter is more frowned up and so maybe easier to avoid? He’s never been exposed to weed, that I know of, but he reacts to things like fireplaces, and barbecues, so it’s clearly not just tobacco that’s a problem.</p>
<p>What a frustrating day for your son, Jane! I hope you figure out a better way for him to get back…my D also has asthma-much less than your S it sounds like, but from what her older sister said if you want to be around non-smokers (of any kind) in college, there are plenty out there. Besides, asthma is something kids “get” as opposed to “I don’t smoke weed or drink.” in a “straight edge” kind of way. If you say you can’t be around it, they’re pretty cool. But honestly, kids today seem pretty accepting-if they’re ok with gay friends, differences in religion, etc, I would hope not smoking anything wouldn’t be an issue.</p>
<p>Thanks Ssea,</p>
<p>To be clear, I’m not worried that he’ll be rejected because he doesn’t smoke. I’m worried that, at this point, he’d have a hard time if he had to walk by a smoky room to get to a shared bathroom in the dorm, or if a roommate came home from a party with smoky clothes, whether it was marijuana smoke, or cigarette. </p>
<p>Well, we’ll cross the bridge when we come to it.</p>
<p>Oh, I see. Well, at my older D’s school, they were not allowed to smoke indoors. Of course, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, but it probably did cut down some from when we were in school and it was allowed at least in lounges and such. Maybe a “straight edge” dorm might be the best choice, or there might even be schools that try to place asthmatics together. The worst trigger for my 2017 kid is plants. We tried going into an arboretum once and didn’t last 5 minutes. But smoke used to send her to the ER. She’s become less sensitive over the years-maybe your son will.</p>
<p>CJ,</p>
<p>That’s awful that CuriousKid had to endure such a ridiculous commute, and smoke exposure on top of it. At our huge public HS, very few students smoke. I agree w/ssea that he should be able to pick a dorm or at least a non-smoking floor. </p>
<p>But as for weed, that still seems to be a popular pastime for some college students, so he’s going to have to be vigilant about avoiding places where it’s in use. How about a LAC w/"dry"campus, or an honors college w/separate housing? Thankfully, you have time to research options. </p>
<p>Poor guy! Hope the commute gets better for him.</p>
<p>CuriousJane:</p>
<p>Many universities have a no smoking policy in any university building so he should be able to find a dorm where smoke is not an issue. I hope he has better luck getting home from school today.</p>
<p>Hi Vegas mom, Assuming your child goes to CCSD, you can replace any grade so long as your child takes it through virtual high school. The new grade is substituted for the old with a R indicating it is a retake. WHile you can use the BYU class for credit I do not believe it can be used for the retake. Your child can take the class again at anytime online prior to graduation. He can take it next summer even if he has alrady taken the next class in the sequence. The only problem might be the phasing out of ALgebra1H. My child has taken classes through virtual, during the school year in addition to his HS classes. So if he wishes he can sign up to retake the class in the fall. Your GC can do this for you when they get back on 8/17.</p>
<p>My kid left yesterday for her camp at college-academics in the AM and recreation in the afternoons. Last year was her first time and she was nervous-this year she was willing to help pay her own way to get back! H and I are spending a rare week with no work or other obligations and getting the heck out of dodge. We leave for Vegas tomorrow. After D gets back she has a couple of days before she leaves for church camp with her aunties and cousins. Then she starts HS three weeks later. Time sure flies!</p>
<p>Time sure does fly! Yesterday was the start of PD for new staff at my school, the rest of the teachers come back Monday, and the kids in 2 more weeks. Luckily S has a few weeks longer than that.</p>
<p>S had another bus adventure today. He was walking to the train station when a very nice neighbor lady offered him a ride, so he jumped in, she dropped him off at a different train station where he had to take the bus in the opposite direction from usual. Apparently he didn’t recognize his stop from the new perspective so he ended up in the exurbs somewhere. It took him about 3 hours to problem solve his way back, but he did it with some help from me via phone. Luckily the principal was sympathetic and excused the 2 hours of class he missed since an unexcused absence in summer school means an automatic failure. Also luckily, they’re still covering material from 3rd quarter, before he got sick, so he says he caught up fine when he arrived.</p>
<p>I think we’ll consider this a “learning experience”.</p>
<p>^bklyngal-</p>
<p>Thanks for the update! Great advice. You must be in NV as well. vegasboy will have to take it next summer - his courseload is nuts this year.</p>
<hr>
<p>sseamom-</p>
<p>quote" We leave for Vegas tomorrow."</p>
<p>Welcome to Las Vegas! It’s a balmy 105 deg. here. If you haven’t visited before, please please please drink waaay more water than you think you need to. And adult beverages don’t count. 
Have fun and be safe!</p>
<hr>
<p>For everyone on this thread–I follow a really helpful college admissions RSS feed through HuffPost. heck out the latest post for incoming freshman:</p>
<p>“July-to-January To Dos for Rising High School Freshmen”
[Marjorie</a> Hansen Shaevitz: July-to-January To Dos for Rising High School Freshmen](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marjorie-hansen-shaevitz/julytojanuary-to-dos-for-_b_3562221.html)</p>
<p>CJ-just saw your post! Poor CuriousKid cannot catch a break!! He’s got moxie, as my late grandmother would say. </p>
<p>At least he’s feeling healthy, no?</p>
<p>Healthwise he’s doing great. His issues are all secondary to allergies, and it’s too hot for anything to bloom. It’s fortunate that unlike many asthmatics he’s got no issues with heat, cold or exercise, because football and snowboarding are two of his favorite things to do.</p>
<p>It’s been pretty quiet on here. Is everyone enjoying the last few weeks of summer? School here doesn’t begin until after Labor Day, but Spyboy has plenty to keep him busy – a thick math packet and two novels.</p>
<p>School starts 5 weeks from tomorrow out here. Sseakid admits that she’s nervous about high school, even though it’s in the same school with the same kids as middle school. But, “It’s HIGH SCHOOL,” so she’s freaking out a little. She had fun at her camp, though we discovered some holes in her American History-her 8th grade teachers just didn’t make it a huge priority. As her dad had history as one of his majors and it was my minor, we’re helping her with that. </p>
<p>She has a church youth conference this weekend, and then just two weeks of her volunteering at camp. The last two weeks she is supposed to go through her clothes so I know what she’s outgrown and what can stay. In HS they have to wear business casual, so no jeans except on Fridays. I KNOW we’ll need to buy some new things. </p>
<p>H and I had a great time in Vegas, though we don’t drink or gamble. Vegasmom-yes, we stayed hydrated, but the 109 on Thursday nearly killed me. What were we thinking??</p>
<p>I’m already in the swing of things at my school, teachers came back Monday so I’m planning and leading training, kids start in a week and a half.</p>
<p>CuriousKid has 2 more weeks than I do. He finishes up Summer School on Friday, and has a week with no major commitments. He’ll volunteer a couple days with the museum, and probably take some parkour classes, and just hang out with friends. Then he’s got 2 weeks of football 2 a days. </p>
<p>All he has for summer work is to read and be ready to discuss one book of their choice. I think he’s going to use the script for the play he worked on. He’s read other books for pleasure, but he spent a lot of time talking through that one in depth.</p>
<p>I printed off Spyboy’s math packet – 38 pages. But he says it’s all easy peasy review, so he’s not sweating it. And he’s actually started one of the two required reading. I better go check for alien pods…</p>
<p>Nice to see some posts-it has been quiet around here…</p>
<p>ssea-glad you had fun here. Funnily enough, we don’t really drink and def don’t gamble either! Love the “what were we thinking?”-we ask ourselves that every year in July. But then we remember 35 years of digging the car out of snow, scraping ice off windshield at 6am in -10 degrees, and my fave-stepping in a slush puddle while wearing nylons. At least in Vegas we can just run from the car to the A/C!</p>
<p>We have 1 month of break left. No required summer work, but I’ve taken great pleasure in torturing vegaskid with summer reading assignments-he’s on Journey to Center of Earth now. He’siving w/3 voracious readers and cracking a book for pleasure is like pulling teeth. Math is relatively easy for him, so he’s flying through a Geometry workbook I got at BN. Also got him a PSAT workbook-y’all ca me crazy, but he will need 2 more years of prep to hit 214, which is a safe NMSF score in NV. </p>
<p>He started XC a few weeks ago-watching all those kids fly through the neighborhood has inspired me to start “running” again (if you can call gasping through 3 miles running). He just finished reorganizing his room-added 2 cork boards, a dry erase wall calendar, and new drapes. He grew out of everything, natch. Clothes this weekend! And he has a choir retreat in 2 weeks-he’s one of 3 freshmen in the group, so is happy to catch up w/his old upperclassmen friends again. Finally, the stinker gets to go Laguna for 4 days, staying on the beach with friends’ family. </p>
<p>My summer vacay will consist of driving DD17 to see/interview at 3 colleges. I might see the ocean while driving by at 50 MPH :)</p>
<p>I’m dropping DS1 off to start college next week and then DS2 starts high school on the 12th. I am really not ready to start this whole thing over again. I think it was easier the first time. Now I know what DS2 needs to do to get in a good college. With DS1 I was lucky because I was basically asleep at the wheel.</p>
<p>The young patriots are enjoying the end of summer. My oldest goes back to college in 2 weeks. My middle is going to NY to tour NYU next week. My youngest (2017) is finishing up his reading assignments and working out with the JV football team.</p>
<p>We start back on Aug 26. I have to get my son an iPad for his textbooks and order the books. I also have to figure out what uniforms we need.</p>