@snoozn I like that. Have never heard it before. I still haven’t learned what ‘dubstep’ means, but I’m told by my D’s that I’ve got a mean ‘dab’. =))
ETA: They don’t use the term ‘mean’ to describe my dab, of course.
@stlarenas Your D is in my thoughts – last year my D was broken up with and it was so sad at the time.
@MACncheez My guilty pleasure song? I have a guilty pleasure artist, if that counts. Most of the music I listen to is classic rock, rock from the 80s (the first concert I went to was Billy Joel’s Glass Houses Tour, when I was in middle school!) and newer rock like Fallout Boy and whatever 21 Pilots is. But my iPhone’s shuffle turns up a shocking amount of Kelly Clarkson ballads, and my kids make fun of me relentlessly for this! :-j
@BigPapiofthree That’s so hard. Rejection from an ED is never fun of course…I hope your son feels better soon. Some of these acceptances/rejections seem so arbitrary, too.
Was not able to convince D17 to complete the Blount or CBHP applications, possibly signalling the death knell for Bama (I got her to do the Honors app long ago). She’s happy with other choices she has that are within our budget, and so it goes. I hope UA remains a viable option for D20 as the time nears, she may not have as many choices as D17.
Music.
All over the board here, we listen to it all! Both SS11 and S17 have really expanded our music horizons but in different ways. We run the gamut from alternative, jazz, big band, pop, classic rock, folk, country, fusion, you name it. S has an aux cord and tend to take over my car. Which is fine most of the time unless it involves rap. Santa brought him a record player last year, it may be the most beloved gift he has ever received!
I’ll have to think about a guilty pleasure song, that is related to a kid. Definitely a Breaking Benjamin song from SD11 (great workout music!) but for S17 he’s given me some new cool stuff and it is probably one of those.
Self Plagiarism
I can’t think of an instance in HS and College where that would even have been an option, to reuse my own work. For college essays it doesn’t bother me an iota. That said, S did not have ONE essay that could be repurposed, they were all original. I’d have been thrilled if he could leverage any of the work.
Break and Finals
Kids have school through 12/20. Start back up 1/4. Finals are 1/26-27 with the semester ending on the 27th. So they will have a chunk of time to prep and historically not a lot of homework over break but we will see. We start after labor day which really does put us at a disadvantage for AP testing.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek how wonderful and inspiring! Thank you for sharing
@twoforone99 if it is a policy change that the kids were made aware of, and they made a choice one way or another that then impacted their grades as a result, no I would absolutely not get involved. I would say anything that requires after school work might be apolicy question I would ask of the school though, many kids have committments that they cannot stay after (or couldn’t get a ride home if htey did) and that woul
I’ve only intervened once and it was due to a final semester test grade never being recorded b/c the teacher had been out sick most of the semester. She had made it really clear that the kids could improve their overall class grade if the grade on the final was better than their current class grade. But then never graded it, uploaded it and grades were posted as final without it. I received zero response other than the school telling me my student had to take care of it when she got back. Which he did and it worked out well in the end but it was a pain and stressful.
@thermom your D has a wonderful attitude, I love it!
@stlarenas HUGS!!! I am so sorry she is going through this. Add in finals, college stuff general teen hormones, so many things and it is hard to be a teen right now!
D was sick in bed all day on Sunday and was doubtful about making to school today. She feels better today and will be swimming at the first meet of the season.
@BigPapiofthree, D was feeling down after Caltech deferral too. Plus the fact she was sick yesterday, she voiced the same sentiments your S voiced. I tried to comfort her the best way I could. Hugs to your S!!
@thshadow, Another kid with vinyl and no turntable. D’s favorite is Daughters.
I love Pentatonix. On my run though, Marina and Diamonds is my favorite. Nothing like the mellow sad songs to keep me going!!
@BigPapiofthree Thanks for sharing. Hoping he has a quick bounce back!
@snoozn I’ve also never heard that song before, and I like it!
Somebody talk me off the puppy adoption ledge. I’m perusing the website where I rescued my dog 5 years ago and there is a puppy that just popped up for adoption who looks just.like.him. H is like, god, please, no. I persisted and he sent me a link to the HGTV couple from Flip or Flop who just announced their divorce. I’m like, what are you trying to say? 
Thank you everyone for the replies. My biggest issue is that the change was made in the middle of the semester in the middle of the nine weeks.
What happened to suddenly drop about 9 recorded grades from the grade book? It wasn’t mandatory to stay after but most of the kids did anyway. To offset the low test scores she lets the kids record videos about Calculus and add those grades as additional test grades.
My son loves this but are they really learning Calculus or fluffing the grade? I would 100 percent prefer he learn the material. Maybe I will look into hiring a tutor.
Anyway thanks for the advice.
@snoozn I can’t help you out with any songs, sorry. Seriosuly, if I never hear any of the music son19 listens to ever again I’d die a happy man. Son17 just raids mom and dad’s cd/album collection and listens to stuff his friends that are in rock bands listen to. He himself plays guitar, but weirdly doesn’t like to play/practice the music he likes. He just goes in his room and plays random stuff on his guitar.
@thshadow the psat results for my son17 was pretty bleak as a sophomore. Then did better on psat and sat as a junior, but really came thru in the end on the ACT. I don’t put much into the 1st score, unless your kid has scored somewhere near the tippy top. The kids can improve dramatically with age, practice, things learned in school etc.
@thshadow S19 definitely struggled with time management on the PSAT. I can’t recall if we will see how many they didn’t answer at all since they ran out of time. I’m hoping that’s a big part of this first score for him as that’s a relatively easy one to tackle.
@MotherofDragons What will your dogs do once you live on a boat?
I will have a dog of some sort as long as I am able. Goldens until I can no longer handle and then probably on to beagles for the rest.
QOTD My D16 got me to like 21 pilots, Heathens (suicide squad album) for some reason when I hear it on the car have to blast it. :))
Meanwhile, still waiting to hear a decision from ED school. Just 3 more days of checking portals and blogs every hour… :((
I have a slightly different take. I agree with everyone that in most situations, students should advocate for themselves and quite frankly, daughter would kill me if I emailed her teacher. However, I recently emailed her AP Physics teacher after her grade plummeted from a C to a D (72%). I heard from daughter and others that the teacher doesn’t teach but tells them to go home and figure it out.
That said, I would never imply or accuse a teacher of anything, but I felt the need to say to him that something clearly is not “clicking” for daughter, and did he have any suggestions of how she might study differently to improve her grade. (She did approach him first and he was not helpful). I also expressed my concern over her getting into the college of her choice - since she’s borderline, they may not make a decision until they see her grade.
His response was that daughter is a brilliant student (overstatement) and hardworking and colleges know how difficult this course is - many students get D’s and F’s in this class and it’s fine - and many of those same students went on to become physicists and engineers. What?! I mean I think he’s missing the real issue here: I replied that she’s applying to some competitive colleges and they could deny/rescind for a D.
Also, unfortunately she put down her choice of major as Physics; I wonder if undecided would be better to declare for the remaining schools she’s applying to.
It’s tricky, but I think sometimes if you don’t give a parent’s perspective, their perspective may never change.
@IABooks they are teeny tiny dogs and they’ll have teeny tiny life jackets 
@STEM2017 I just read your post about your song and S19, what a tough thing to go through. Please SAP away!! Hugs.
@lovethebard I like that thought… maybe when the time comes, we can start something legit! I would jump on the wagon and offer up help when needed to any CC kids in my area!
@curiositycat333 No finals for us with a solid A in the class
@MACncheez Your new avatar is making me hungry!
D got a decision not expected until Thursday – she’s in at Rose-Hulman! Warning to those still waiting: it came in a regular size envelope, so don’t panic too soon. It also includes some RHIT “eyewear” which is max-nerdy.
Oh, she also got the word today that she has been accepted to the CO State U honors college. It’s a banner day!