DD has no plans for the summer. For the first time in five years she will not be playing travel volleyball. Yay!!! She has some medical issues, so she is going to let her body rest. She is a great photographer, so I am sure she will work on that. A road trip to look at more colleges is in the planning stages as is a family vacation. Unless she decides that she needs a SAT subject test, she may review for that.
Due to an unexpected job transfer for hubby, we are moving (again). DD has only been at her high school since August, so we donāt really want to move her again. They have her set to graduate after fall, so she will have to be on top of her apps early. She is chasing merit, like many of our kids, so isnāt really looking at the Ivies.
Sounds like a lot of thoughtful summer plans are taking shape. And, I guarantee that even if things arenāt ānailed downā yet, youāve all done more thinking about it than 95% of your peer parents.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I nominate you for sainthood. Itās so hard for me to not say āā¦I told you soā. At least I preface it with āI hate to sayā¦ā. 
Iāve gone back through D list since our spring break trip, and simplified my spreadsheet with the schools that are left. Feeling really good about the list. Part of it is that my D has fallen in love with one of her Safeties, so somehow that has made everything easierā¦like some stress has been lifted. So, Iāve shared the list (a Google Sheet) with D, and asked her to take overā¦add/remove as she sees fit. It includes the NPC output, as well as possible merit, and thus kind of a rough ātargetā COA. She knows the budget. Weāll see how it goes.
You guys just reminded me, I need to go back through the list and see if any remaining schools require SAT IIs. Obviously any Ivy does, but D may skip that rat race. Not sure, because our school always sends 10 or so, but it still may be unaffordable. If none of her other schools require an SAT II, it will be an interesting chat.
@2muchquan, definitely not a saint, but I am the youngest of a large family. I watched my parentsā and siblingsā relationships with their adult children and have seen first hand how fractured their relationships were (my parents are deceased but my siblings still smolder with resentment) and are with their children bc the parents want to control the decisions and then harp and harp on the fact that their advice wasnāt followed.
I dont want that sort of relationship with my kids. I simply tell them I love them but I will not affirm their decisions that they know conflict with what we value or help them climb out of holes they dug when we told them they were going to hit the bottom.
Thanks @payn4ward. S is actually close to finishing his last two badges. He has to get his project notebook started and completed, which he can probably do in a weekend if he would just do it. Then review by the troop, sign off by his project mentor, then to Council. Council is sloooooow right now because they just had a big turnover in their review board. Weāre hoping he gets it all done so we can schedule his court of honor for early August when his sister is home from college for a few weeks.
Summer after junior year my D got her wisdom teeth out, we knew they had to come out and figured better now than when sheās away at college.
@mommdc I completely forgot that my D needs to have her wisdom teeth pulled. I donāt want her to miss school so was planning to do it during the summer, but since sheāll be doing some summer programs and working, that just seems like a bad plan. Iāll probably have to pull out of school right after the AP exams so that she can have it done and not have to worry about it.
@srk2017 So sorry that your son didnāt get the programs he wanted. Itās really hard for us as parents to see our kids disappointed. Those programs are so competitive! But Iām a firm believer that things really do work out in the end. Iām sure heāll find other ways to have a fun and productive summer.
@2muchquan I am ready to turn over my spreadsheet to my D as well. I think Iāve done as much as I can do for her in terms of research. And she really needs to take ownership of the processā¦but after AP exams. She doesnāt want to hear anything else about colleges until after AP exams, which I definitely understand.
As for summer . . . My daughter wonāt know exactly what her summer plans are until May 1 when UT sends out notifications. Right now she is definitely doing the Notre Dame program. She had to withdraw her application from Arizona because the logistics didnāt work out. Iām fine with her traveling by herself and she would have been able to get there in time for the program start, but there was no way for her to get home as there are no late flights and the school wasnāt being flexible. That is unfortunate. Last summer, the college where she did the summer program really worked with us regarding transportation. So she is throwing a last minute application at Arizona State, which offers the same summer program. Hopefully she gets those 2 programs as well and that will be it for summer programs. (All are free). Other than that sheāll be working on applications, continuing with her job, and just enjoying the free time hanging with family and friends. Since her summers are usually jam packed, she is very much looking forward to the free time.
My D is going out for Band Leadership, if she gets that she will be sent to a week long leadership camp at one of the state universities in July. She is really hoping she gets selected, but the odds are long with 60 kids going for 6 positions. Still, we tried to keep the summer from being too crowded, just in case.
She has a week long service camp in West Virginia (this will be her 4th summer with a service camp) in mid-June. She is taking Latin III online and she has applied for a part-time job (more on the job if she gets it, donāt want to jinx it).
This is big change from her middle school summers where she did nothing, I mean NOTHING, all summer. She took Spanish III online during the summer after 9th grade. It was then she discovered she liked learning and staying busy better than loafing all summer- Welcome to the real world.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Thank you for your kind words.
My mantra is, itās his life [or another colorful word] not mine.
I say I am exercising so much self-control/restraint/letting-go, Iāll soon to join the sainthood or the monks. :))
@greeny8 DS plays the violin. Voilin players are a dime a dozen, so it is competitive.
He is in school orchestra and is in regional youth orchestra.
He enjoys it, and I have never needed to ask him to practice. He used to practice for hours during middle school years, but not anymore, so the progress has slowed. The pieces are now harder too. I am glad he found something that he enjoys, feels good practicing/improving himself, and that he can concentrate on to take mind off something or when stressed, lonely, etc. and it can stay with him for life.
Re: spreadsheets
I donāt have a spreadsheet yet to turn over to DS. Just a list loosely sorted by geography in a Google Doc we share. Maybe that is my summer project. Iām running behind, but I still have to file either taxes or an extension for both our family and my dad.
DS gave his Debate Club the following topic today, āResolved: should attend instead of .ā
@Ynotgo - Is that resolution for LD or PF? 
@Ynotgo We did the engineering tour at UCLA and they did talk a good bit about CS. The group was small and everyone was interested in CS as a major or minor and the guide was experienced.
@srk2017 Parli, which is pretty much the only event his club does. Itās a small club, and not anyoneās highest priority, so the formats that require advance preparation arenāt that popular.
@Ynotgo - interesting. PF is more popular @ our school followed by LD. Couple of kids do.Parli but not much success.
@srk2017 I think these kids are in Debate because they just want to argue about current events, so Parli is a good fit for that. About half the debate club is also the Hacking team, oddly enough. DS has asked when the June ballot and voting materials will be out for them to debate. I told him November will have a ton of propositions for them to debate (CA).
The kids who want to prepare parts of what they say in advance at this school are in Mock Trial. The school does very well in Mock Trial, so that pulls kids who would also be good at Debate from the available pool of kids.
@Ynotgo My D chose to do Mock Trial rather than debate in freshman year, at least partly because she thought she would enjoy the acting part of being a witness. For some reason, she was chosen to be a lawyer that year and has continued with that since.
Mock Trial members really, really enjoy having items prepared before trial although there is still a lot of making things up on the spot. According to my D, half of her defense opening statement was improvised based on the claims of the other team before her, but her plaintiff opening was completely memorized.
In the reverse of your school, our speech and debate team does much better overall than the mock trial team. Dās team hasnāt moved past regionals in her three years, since there is a corporate sponsored mock trial team at one of the private schools that sweeps the competition every year. Only two teams move on to state, and Dās team is in perpetual third place.
@Ynotgo - yes, kids like debate since that allows them to argue and also use that experience with parents :-). My S focused on Speech last 2 years since that allows him flexibility (given other commitments) and also he can pick his own topic and do indepth analysis.
@BusyNapping - Mock trial is also a good activity. Out school also.has that but I donāt think they are that competitive lately.
Lot of private schools have dedicated coaches and S&D is their main EC,'so it tough for public sxhiol teams to compete.
Mock Trial & Debate is a whole different world. I was interested to see a Mock Trial major (!) at one of the LACs we visited.
Anyone have a Sports kid? I have a Lacrosse and Marching Band geek, and those seem to take up a lot of her time. Canāt imaging adding in Robotics or Debate/Mock Trial.
I always wished I did debate. It helps so much with public speaking. I always had anxiety attacks when I had to speak to an audience. Iām going to have my younger take public speaking/toastmasters or something.
@2muchquan Toastmasters is great for adults, too. I did it BK (before kids).
@2muchquan my D is a cheerleader and does orchestra as well. You wouldnāt think cheer takes up much time but there is the competition team as well so starting in May they have practice 3 times a week for 3 hours a day and it goes all summer long (plus mandatory cheer camp) thru fall and winter. It ends in February so they have 3 months off until May again. I personally canāt wait for it to be over as I always worry of injuries. Sheās been hit in the face too many times to count, a couple of bloody noses, etc etc. i prefer debate!!!