Letter jackets: I’ve never heard of letters for anything other than varsity sports. You don’t see many letter jackets around our campus. (But honestly, you don’t see many jackets of any kind.) I had a letter jacket and lettered 8 times in track and cross-country, but my school only had about 250 students total.
Class rings: I haven’t seen anything sent home about these. I think I saw a Josten’s poster on campus. I don’t think it’s a big thing here.
Yearbooks: I get ours for the kids. They win national yearbook awards every year and have well-written articles (compared the the school newspaper, which does not). They often have fun features like connections to iPhone apps you can point at a page to see a 3D thing and QR codes to link to videos. All the clubs have a page with a club photo, so any kid who participates in club (and is there that day) has their photo in and it’s well-indexed to find all the pages where your kid is pictured. Senior photos are small and don’t have a senior saying for each kid, which was something I liked in my school’s yearbooks.
Senior trip: I think they go to Disneyland Grad Night. Not sure whether DS will go; hate to say it among present company, but he’s not a big Disney fan (likes Magic Mtn roller coasters better). I went to Disneyland for grad night; still remember the great bands and it was opening weekend for Return of the Jedi, which we saw as a group.
My D is really struggling with Calc BC. She is going to squeak out a C for semester but knows she isn’t really learning anything. Apparently this is the first year the teacher has ever taught Calc and all the kids are really struggling. She wants to drop it. She asked the GC if she could just switch to Calc AB for 2nd semester but the GC says that isn’t allowed?? If she drops it she will get the C for one semester of Calc BC on her transcript - and then will need to fill the 2nd semester with something else. She is already taking AP Stats, AP Eng Lit, AP Psychology, Spanish 2, Personal Finance, and honors Medical Interventions.
So here are her options - what do you recommend:
A) Stick with Calc BC and likely have a C for both semesters and lots of stress
B) Drop it and take a study hall or Teacher Assistant (no grade)
C) Drop it and take a blow off class (easy A)
D) Drop it and take a harder elective (single semester of something…I need to check the course guide - A/B with more work)
E) Drop it and try and get into the Gifted class (honors option - some work but pretty flexible - gonna have to get this approved by lots of people as this is a pretty non-standard request)
@showmetheMAC You can do it by the deadline. You don’t have to do it right away. You will get a reminder in the email to send in the documents by iDoc. It doens’t cost any to submit documents so might as well do it right away? It can take a long time to see “processed” after you submit, so if you don’t want to panic, you shouldn’t hold it off until the last moment.
@stlarenas Can I assume that she jumped right to Calc BC without AB? Wow, that is tough.
I would recommend another option. She should find a friend in class who is also struggling and get together with the parents to hire an inexpensive tutor for weekly sessions until they are more comfortable. This way you will share the cost with another parent.
I would simultaneously chew out the GC for poor advice, and the teacher for poor skills.
Wow, I’m a little behind here, I’ve popped in for a quick read here or there but a stressful couple of days for me! So i know it’s very old news, but I hope everyone had a really nice long weekend//Thanksgiving!!
Yearbook: we elected not to get it previously, but have ordered it for senior year Pictures: Oh boy, different poses this year and unfortunately they came out great so I ordered the standard one to give to family and the cap/gown version for graduation and the “fun” one, cute pose, couldn’t resist it. Cap/Gown: D is actually getting measured today and it was $40 for the senior package - cap / gown and I don’t know what else comes with that! Tassel maybe. Class ring: I looked at that brochure and laughed - NO Yearbook message: I forgot about this so I’m glad it was mentioned - yes, I’d like to put in a message if that’s available to us! Senior Trip: The class goes to Disney in FL for 4 days in March I think. Crazy - the $$ I’ve dished out this year for my DD - holy crap - I might not having anything left for college after all lol Summer Trip: I like the idea of planning something in July as it probably will not coincide with anything college - but I’m still on the fence. Also ^ at this point, I might just have to save my pennies!
@STEM2017 The Calc AB to Calc BC route is an odd one as they overlap. Many schools offer either or, with BC being for the stronger math students as it covers the AB material in only 1 semester (like a college course), instead of two (which AB takes - high school pace). Sounds like the teacher is the problem for @stlarenas 's D.
@itsgettingreal17 I see, thank you. Son took AB last year and this year he is taking Calc II Advanced Honors which I think goes beyond BC…but they will be fully prepared for the BC test in May.
Strangely, his Calc II class doesn’t weight as high as an AP even though it is more advanced.
Senior Pictures: I’m a sucker for pictures–used to take my girls to Picture People every 6 months when they were little. I sprung for a private/professional photographer for a senior portrait session. D17 was a little eye-roll-y about it, but ultimately was a good sport and went along with it. Paid the $30 sitting fee for the official senior picture for the yearbook.
Yearbook: We’re only getting the senior yearbook–neither of my girls (also have a D19) seem to care about having it for the other years. Debating the ad atm.
Class Ring: D17 doesn’t seem to really care, but I’d get her one if she wanted it. Not much school spirit here, I’m afraid.
Letter/Jacket: Hasn’t earned a letter, wouldn’t wear the jacket if she had one.
Senior Trip: Not taking it, but is planning something with a small group of friends that would be the equivalent. I think they’re planning a cruise.
Summer Trip: Expecting all my $$ to be going toward college expenses. Might be the last time for awhile that such a thing is possible, though. Have to think on it a little more.
all of you with the summer trip bookings have made me a bit paranoid today. I have most of S’s grad trip booked accomodation wise but none, flight wise as I keep debating miles versus cash versus route options and trying to figure out the cheapest and fastest route in all cases.
I did book one leg this morning and have missed the boat on a couple of deals. Historically I’ve been able to book summer trips late december flight wise and get better deals but can’t decide whether to wait or just go for it.
There will definitely be more senior expenses to come. Spree, Prom, not to mention 2 band trips and one drama one. UGH!
@STEM2017@itsgettingreal17 and others following along. My D never took Calc AB - she went right to Calc BC and is now struggling. I wanted her to take Calc AB 2nd semester insteading dropping it entirely as I think the review would help her learn the material she has struggled with this semester. But the GC says that isn’t an option.
@stlarenas - I know you said that she can’t take AB next semester (is it a year long class?), but can she just drop down to AB this semester and continue it through next semester? The pace would probably be a bit saner.
@stlarenas You could also check into Thinkwell’s cal course. The lecturer, Edward Burger, is great. Maybe hearing the topics explained by a good teacher and working out some problems outside of class would give her what she needs to succeed. http://www.thinkwell.com/student/product/calculus
My D has Calc AB/BC double block. It is a two hour, year long class where they teach AB first semester with some BC. Second semester is BC and then test prep. She is struggling to keep a B and many students have Cs. The class is very tough but they do well on the AP exams. Last year 49/50 students got a 3 (highest AP pass rate in the district) and 85% got 4’s or higher. A 4 gives credit for Calc 1 & 2 at our State U’s.
They are allowed to drop to AB after the first semester.
I ditto the tutor suggestion, my D says the teacher makes all the difference.
@stlarenas --thousands of pages ago I posted about D and her math progression. She took pre-AP geometry, then pre-AP Algebra and then should’ve taken pre-cal or Calc AB.
But then she decided to join IB and our school does not offer IB Math HL: we have IB Math studies and IB SL (a 2 year course). She chose math studies and honestly it was a fantastic class for her. However, she knew she needed at least pre-cal though since she wants to do engineering.
Her math studies teacher felt she would be fine for Calc BC and the BC teacher at our school has a fantastic reputation for being a dynamic teacher. But D knew she would need some extra help so she meets with a private tutor once a week. It is a luxury for sure but it is sooo worth every penny. She is doing well in the class and looks forward to her tutoring time weekly–it’s keeping her on this side of sanity and she loves the way he explains everything.
** Chopping words from essays: ** For any of your DC still struggling to get 650 word essay down to 300 word essay, may I recommend the movie “Genius” with Colin Firth and Jude Law. Its pretty family friendly and entertaining. Its the story of the relationship between Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) and his editor (Colin Firth). Wolfe was extremely prolific - a writing savant. He presents his editor with a draft of his book with 5,000 pages, including an 80 page description of a man he met at the rail station! The story goes on about how his editor teaches Wolfe that he can say so much more using much fewer words. Anyway, we rented it this weekend and I enjoyed it.
@CaucAsianDad That sounds like our regular Calc BC class. If you get through the entire year, it’s like having taken AB and BC. I’ve never heard of it as a double block before. Do they offer just BC?
Pictures: The list of rules for the senior pic was 2 pages long! The recommended photographer was a $50 fee. Luckily, one of my friends offered to take D17’s picture & format it correctly. Friend also took several other fun pictures & then made them look even more beautiful. Thankful for friends who work in digital media!
Cap/Gown: Another $50 down the drain. Why do we have to buy a cap & gown? Do people really want these things after graduation? We gave S15’s away to the friend who took D17 senior picture. Her son graduated last year.
Class ring: No - instead we have offered to buy a nice piece of timeless jewelry. S15 chose a really nice watch. We’ll see what D17 wants.
Letter/Jacket: D17 has received a letter for orchestra and one for robotics. No letter jacket - she would much prefer one that will go with her wherever she goes, and she knows she wouldn’t wear a letter jacket after high school. A few kids at the school have them, but not big like I remember way back when.
Yearbook message: Deadline has already passed, but I think it was $100 for a quarter of the page. We didn’t do this because D17 didn’t care.
Senior Trip: Music department is going to NYC for 4-5 days. That’s her senior trip!
Summer Trip: And our Girl Scout troop is heading to Iceland for 10 days in August. Depending on what college she ends up at, she might be getting home & immediately heading to college!
