<p>On another thread and was wondering what time other eighth graders go to bed. My two kids s17 and s19 I try to have go to bed around 9. They get up around 615. </p>
<p>Early? Late?</p>
<p>As for gpa weighting I guess all we can do is hope the ad coms try to some reasonable degree to assess what it means. For AP at least they (hopefully) have the exam to look at, and I know the school has to send some information about what a GPA means in the context of the school and some type of rank. Pretty much what CJ said. </p>
<p>Iām sure itās not perfect but I donāt see it going anywhere anytime soon! I suppose all we can do is ask our kids to do their best.</p>
<p>I initially thought you were sending your 19 year old to bed at 9 p.m. and was going to call you a control freak. Then I remembered were at CC where S19 means heās in sixth grade. </p>
<p>My kid goes to bed around 10:00, and gets up around 6:45. I think he could do with a little more sleep, but we never manage to get everything done before then.</p>
<p>Too bad I canāt go back and edit. I was thinking it might be unclear but glad I got the convention right and that you figured it out. The younger one is 11. The older one in 8th grade has been shafted a bit because I usually try to get the two to bed at a similar time although if heās not done he does stay up late as well. </p>
<p>Seems though its not too far offā¦ They didnāt go to bed till 930 tonight anyway.</p>
<p>I donāt know how I missed this thread! Iāve been on CC since last summer when I came on to look for options for my older D, who is, letās say, trying to āfind herselfā after a year in college. Sheās 23 and now working in a restaurant and pretty happy with her life, even if it isnāt what most parents on CC would want for their kids.</p>
<p>I also have a 28 yo son and an 8th grade daughter, the only child of my āsecond lifeā. She is biracial and you may have seen me on other threads when racism comes up as a topic. Waving hi to CuriousJane!</p>
<p>D goes to a 6-12 school with the goal of getting kids of color into college and STEM careers, if thatās what they want. Itās a small public school with foundation support, project-based learning, and a college/career/family engagement coordinator to help all the kids make it into college with the funding they need. We love, love, love it there.</p>
<p>There are no AP classes, but access to Running Start, where the kids can take community college classes at no cost, the ability to work at your ability level, whatever that is, and math that starts at algebra in 8th grade. The kids do internships, can go on science trips to Costa Rica and Puget Sound sailing expeditions, and so much more.
Every senior has been accepted to multiple colleges. </p>
<p>So, we donāt have to sign up for anything-I donāt want to make this too long, but Iāll get specific if anyone wants to know more details.</p>
<p>D is very driven-she wants to teach low-income minority kids and began volunteering last summer at a camp for such children.She had some bad experiences in elementary school both with teachers and students and wants to make life better for others who look like her. She will do the same volunteer job this summer-she has continued with the after school program they have. She will also spend a week in Eastern WA at a summer camp for gifted kids. She went last year and loved it so much sheās offered to help pay this summer.</p>
<p>As for college, D has a plan. She intends to attend an HBCU, beginning a year early, combining her senior year of HS with her freshman year in college. One of the seniors did that a couple of years ago, so we know her school is ok with that. Most of the colleges on her list allow it, if your scores and grades are high enough. I canāt wait to see what she ends up doing! Sheās my ābabyā, my surprise kiddo who has been in a hurry since she was born. She makes me feel old and young at the same time.</p>
<p>Welcome! The thread is not getting a whole lot of action because weāre talking about eighth graders and it just started anyway. So you havenāt missed much at all!</p>
<p>But itās good to know there are other parents with 8th graders here- Your d sounds like a great kid!</p>
<p>Hi Ssea! I was wondering when youād show up here!</p>
<p>Iām always impressed with how self confident your daughter is, and given that Iām a special educator working in an urban setting, I have to admire her choice of path. Now, you just need to convince her that what she really wants to do is teach low-income minority kids with disabilities, and Iāll be perfectly happy!</p>
<p>Sseaās post made me wonder what everyoneās '17er wants to become. I figure it will be fun to look back in '17 and '21 to see how much theyāve changed.</p>
<p>CuriousKid definitely doesnāt have the talks about a lot of different things, but there are some recurrent themes in recent times.</p>
<p>Stage manager/Technical Director/Lighting Designer
FBI agent
Judge
Egyptologist/Archeologist</p>
<p>Older one hasnāt decided but likely science related. I think heād be a good doctor and heās considering that but hasnāt committed. These days heās interested in chemistry (unfortunately I can no longer answer all his questions), computers, and physics. We talk a lot of biology at the table where fortunately I can still answer his questions. </p>
<p>Younger one says engineer. Weāve countered orthopedic surgeon and heās not biting.</p>
<p>(Yes weāre both doctors and no we wonāt force the issue! Although I could see s19 as an orthopod. He has the right personality and aptitudes.)</p>
<p>Novi,</p>
<p>Iāve always heard the stereotype that doctors try to talk their kids out of following in their footsteps.</p>
<p>My 8th grader has no idea what he wants to study yet. He is more focused on making the JV football team than college. Spring football starts May 1.</p>
<p>@Jane, I love your sonās future job dreams. I ike it when kids have kids-like dreams ā¦ like FBI agent!! Thatās so cool.</p>
<p>My brother loved Dirty Harry. He spent his teenage life rolling around the floor pretend to shoot the imaginary bad guys. Now he is a police lieutenant.</p>
<p>I hope our kidsā high school lives will not be spent just to pursue the college acceptance. They should get involved in what they love and from those activities they will find out what colleges are suitable. Not the other way around ā¦</p>
<p>I completely agree, HiToWaMom. All of my adult nieces and nephews and my two older kids are working in the real world in jobs that have some relationship to what they loved as kids. My S has his dream job-as a kid he liked to take things apart and see how they worked, now he gets to do Mythbusters type things for money. </p>
<p>I have pictures of my 8th grader āteachingā her stuffed animals when she was a toddler-from the moment she started preschool she enjoyed helping the other kids with their work-and now sheās running an afterschool classroom for K-1 kids. She loves it and the experiences are coming her way. Sheād do it even if she didnāt want to teach, not because it will help her resume.</p>
<p>Heās actually gotten a lot more reasonable. When he was little he wanted to be the second black president (thatās actually what heād tell people, he said that 2036 was too long to wait for the first), a human cannonball, or the doorman in a fancy hotel with a shiny uniform with buttons.</p>
<p>CJ-</p>
<p>Yes that is a stereotype I have heard as well! I guess we like our jobs well enough that it hasnāt held true for us yet. Maybe weāll change our minds in the future- weāll have to see what happens.</p>
<p>[I hope our kidsā high school lives will not be spent just to pursue the college acceptance. They should get involved in what they love and from those activities they will find out what colleges are suitable. Not the other way around ā¦]</p>
<p>I think thatās what the advice ābe yourself, find your passionsā boils down toā¦ and I think thatās the message Iām taking to heart from the threads. Why are you going to kill yourself to be miserable? Life is too shortā¦</p>
<p>Now if only there were jobs for people to build lego models all day, my younger son would be completely happy.</p>
<p>It is so disheartening when I hear physicians discouraging others to pursue a career in medicine. I would love for any of my children to follow in their parentsā footsteps. To this end end I am keeping my mouth tightly shut, and letting them see by example that medicine is a fulfilling career where you can make a difference in peoplesā lives. My son (High school class of 2013) is considering medicine, and my daughter (high school class of 2017 and the reason Iām in this thread) isā¦well, Iām not going to say anything, not even here, anonymously on CC!</p>
<p>Oh, but there IS such a job, novimom! There probably arenāt too many, mind you, but Iāve seen some of those reproductions of landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and my hometown has scale models of the factory district, downtown and some of the Victorian homes all built by the Lego professionals. My S would have killed for such a job at one time in his life.</p>
<p>Both my older 2 are premed. One a sophomore, a the other getting ready to graduate HS. My youngestā¦animals. Always. From the get go. Wants to be a research zoologist. Save species ā¦ Weāll see about that! Im in the medical field, and I think being exposed all their lives to children who were sick, or had special needs has made them see things a little differently. And 2 of my kids have their own special medical needs, making them appreciate their doctors and nurses even more. I think itās REALLY hard to know when youāre in 8 th grade what you want to be.</p>
<p>That being said, both my older 2 have said to take as much math and science as you can and to take AP if possible over DE. APs are accepted almost everywhere, whereas DE are not. Some colleges wonāt accept DE or online classes at all. Also, DE classes are figured into you college GPA, whereas AP are not. My oldest had 25 college credits through AP classes. It allowed her to skip some lower level easy classes, but really was most helpful when she changed her major (yes, IT HAPPENS) because she wasnāt behind due to having so many classes under her belt already. BUT, if you know where youāre going, And know they accept DE classes, and KNOW youāll get an Aā¦then a good way to boost GPA before you get there. Just something to ponder while youāre making HS class decisions : )</p>
<p>Commenting on Novimomās post that was a comment on HiToWaās postā¦I agree completely with this:</p>
<p>āI hope our kidsā high school lives will not be spent just to pursue the college acceptance. They should get involved in what they love and from those activities they will find out what colleges are suitable. Not the other way around ā¦ā</p>
<p>I had so much fun in high school, all while volunteering, working, participating in tons of what we now call ECs, and taking honors and one AP class. It was not this conscious path to college. I think the first mention of college was the second half of 10th grade when the GC talked to us in small groups about making sure we had some ECs. I feel like my boys are missing the fun of HS b/c they have to be conscious of the resume. It is a nationwide problem.</p>
<p>Novimomāre: building Legos. Take a look at the MIT Media Labās Facebook page. I have been following it for years as my boys used to love building Legos. Sadly, they have moved on, but I thought it was the best use of many of their younger hours. We visited the Media Lab a few years ago b/c my son had been in contact with the Scratch programmers (suggesting enhancements to their modules). Those MIT grad & PHD students in the Media Lab are still playing around with Legos. I think their focus is how children learn via playing, and I donāt know how this leads to an occupation, but it was fun to see Legos and Mindstorms in a grad lab.</p>