<p>Good morning all - we had some heavy rain here in SoCal last night. Currently waiting to see if D’s softball game will happen, or if we can have the morning “off”. I bet you can guess which one I’m secretly hoping for!</p>
<p>@gotomom wrote: “GertrudeMcFuzz (I still crack up at your name!)”</p>
<p>lol - I found this board when D14 was in middle school & nuts about musical theater. The MT forum is probably the most active of all the CC forums, so I stumbled upon CC when searching for MT opportunities for D. She was currently playing Gertrude McFuzz in a local production of Seussical the Musical, so I borrowed that name. That seems like so long ago now - & D has evolved into a classical vocalist with aspirations of singing in / conducting professional choirs.</p>
<p>A couple of items I thought might be worthy of discussion:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Advanced Math --go2girl '14 is a natural math student but I felt that rushing her ahead (HS Algebra 7th grade; Geometry 8th grade) did her a disservice. By the time she tooks the SAT and ACT, she was already in Calculus. There is a lot of brain growth that goes on in those latter teen years that make them more ready for more advanced math concepts. Keep that in mind. Also, once your kid is done with pre-Calc, have them take the Math 2 subject test. Otherwise they have to relearn the material. And pushing them before they are ready can have major consequences.</p></li>
<li><p>Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership - fondly known as HOBY. In your child’s sophomore year, encourage them to discuss attending a local HOBY seminar. It will be life-changing. My daughter was her school’s ambassador and it provided her with amazing opportunities to explore her own leadership potential. She attended the annual HOBY World Leadership Congress in Chicago, met kids from all over the world and many remain her best friends to this day. Adcoms are very familiar with HOBY and are usually very enthusiastic about the program.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m another parent from the Class of 2015 group also joining this group. There certainly are a lot of us! While my D15 knew going into HS where she wants to go to college and had some ideas of what she wants to study, my S18 has no idea! </p>
<p>I learned by experience with D that rushing into honors and AP classes too soon can make for stressful times. Our HS does allow freshmen to take AP Human Geography, but the teacher said it will not be an easy class or easy AP test. We heard to expect 2 to 3 hours of homework a night and most kids in sports or band should probably not take the class. Needless to say, S is not taking it. </p>
<p>So glad the rain came and went through the night, woke up to a beautiful (WINDY) day. Looking forward to D18’s tournament in Huntington Beach tomorrow. </p>
<p>@GertrudeMcFuzz I was curious about your moniker too. Thanks for sharing the story behind it. Very cute! </p>
<p>@go2mom I appreciate your insight into (not) pushing math too much, too soon. It reaffirms advice a good friend shared with me. I’ve never heard of HOBY but it sounds very interesting. Will investigate and mention to D18.</p>
<p>@jennie11 Welcome :)</p>
<p>I second the HOBY comment. Great experience! </p>
<p>" I learned by experience with D that rushing into honors and AP classes too soon can make for stressful times."
- jennie11</p>
<p>Understanding that each student is different, I have to agree with jennie11, generally. Our first 2 kids pounded the APs pretty hard. (DD’12 took 10, DS’14 took 9) There is some up-side to that, but there is some down side as well. We are going to take a different strategy with kid No. 3.</p>
<p>glido–I totally understand where you’re coming from. The AP road to rigor is not necessarily the best one for every child. I wish go2girl’s high school had offered more dual-enrollment classes. Go2girl decided just to take two of the 4 AP tests for credit she could take this semester, but she stil has to take “AP test” finals. The amount of studying is just ridiculous. It would be one thing if the classwork let up or her other three classes weren’t also incredibly demanding…I just could not put my son through it. It’s definitely one of those, “If I knew then what I know now” moments. That said, since AP is often the only thing offered at high schools, they more often than not attract the best teachers in a particular field and the most academic students. The problem is when the class size for an AP class gets unwieldy and does not encourage discussion (especially in the social sciences/humanities.) go2girl had a very good teacher for chemistry but not as an AP Chemistry teacher. She taught what she taught and did it well but not at a level or depth for the students to do well on the AP test.–despite hours upon hours of nightly homework and grueling quizzes and tests. So I would certainly advise parents to really investigate the teachers and the class format (homework expectations, etc.) before jumping enthusiastically on the AP bandwagon. </p>
<p>Parents, just curious if any of your kids using CC to look up information? I just found out that there are 8th graders in CC already started HS Class of 2018 threads. I am wondering when is a good time introduce my DD1 '18 to CC, but I’m worried if I will overwholmed her. She is focusing on getting good grades for MS and have not much time to think of high school or colleges yet. We didn’t even get the chance to talk about her summer plan, but I plan for her to attend UCLA summer camp to help her setting goals to attend UCLA and prep for the next 4 years. Like couple kids here, she also will have JV Goof practice during summer and our HS doesn’t offer any summer or nonlinear classes for upcoming 9th graders. :(</p>
<p>@go2mom, welcome and thanks for sharing about HOBY program. Seems like the school will need to pick the ambassador among 10th graders, don’t know if my shy DD1 will be interested or not, but I know my DD2 '2020 would love it.</p>
<p>My advice is to have students stay OFF CC! I think the level of anxiety and competitiveness exhibited on some of those “chance me” threads is over the top. Reading them is bound to make anybody nervous, particularly a middle schooler (or even a high schooler). Having been through this roller coaster once, I can tell you that although it’s good for parents to have a plan and strategy in mind, a kid’s focus right now should be to do well in school, discover an extracurricular or two that they love and can pursue with commitment, and enjoy being a kid. </p>
<p>CC can be a great resource. But it can also a source of stress and anxiety, even for parents! I don’t intend to tell my DS '18 about CC at all. Of course, she may discover it on her own but I would advise her to stay off. My DS has never been on this site and I’m sure would advise his sister to do the same.</p>
<p>I agree with 2014novamom. CC is a great resource, and parents really need to keep informed, but most 13 and 14 year olds will find all of this overwhelming. HS is stressful enough so keep them sheltered for a while. Our kids all have access to find CC on their own and if they take the initiative to research college on their own and find it, then perhaps they are ready for it. Otherwise, no.</p>
<p>Another vote for the kids to stay off CC. My D is aware that I spend time here & I often tell her about things I read about, but I viewed it as a place to research potential schools, get my questions answered & vent my concerns without involving her in my angst. The kids on here, in general, seem stressed out and hyper-competitive. Plus many seem to be mega-overachievers, and will give “normal” kids a sense of being left behind. I’ve found tremendous value here as a parent, but not sure about the students’ experience.</p>
<p>Couldn’t agree more with jennie11 and 2014novamom. I have found CC very helpful in a variety of ways and learned a lot through other peoples experiences (and am happy to share whatever knowledge I have gleaned for having been through the process once). But I think this site could easily make a high schooler crazy. I think many of these threads need to be read with a certain level of skepticism and it is easier for adults to decide what is useful information and what is misleading or plain old wrong. So I would warn against having a kid spend time out here and encourage them to spend their time studying, engaging in the ECs they love, and acting like a kid while they can still get away with it. </p>
<p>2014novamom - those “chance me” threads make me crazy. Even the comments made with the best of intentions can cause anxiety of be misleading and some of the comments are just plain old mean.</p>
<p>The only time my 2015 D has looked at CC was after both of her ACT’s when the kids discuss the answers. Otherwise I just tell her the interesting things I come across. She spends enough time on Twitter, she doesn’t need this!!</p>
<p>I would also agree with the other sentiments voiced about keeping kids off of CC. I sometimes cut and paste things I’ve found useful into emails to my kids – everything from tips on the SAT/ACT/Subject tests to putting together a list for the dorms!</p>
<p>Thank you all for hour advices, I was just amazed by other youngsters on how early they start planning everything. And those chance me threads always seem so impressive! </p>
<p>Sometimes I wonder about the honesty of chance me threads or does CC just attract the top students. It’s just like when my D15 tells me that everyone she knows has a 27 or higher on the ACT and so many 30+ scores. A 21 is average so either her friends and classmates are really smart/good test takers or there is some exaggeration of scores. I think the latter because everything is so competitive and kids are embarrassed if they think they don’t measure up. </p>
<p>@jennie11 – It’s easy enough to figure out how your school stacks up with the national average if you look at Naviance or the school profile that gets sent to colleges. When my DS says his friends got very high scores, I believe him since the average SAT at his high school is 2200 and the average ACT is 33 according to both those sources. </p>
<p>2014novamom–exactly. Our school profile says the average ACT is a 25 so it’s not likely that my D is talking with only those who are not only well above the national average, but also above the school average. I keep telling her to not compare herself because there isn’t full truth being told by the students. I won’t need to worry about S18 in this area as he doesn’t compare himself to others, although a certain amount of it would likely be healthy and beneficial for him. </p>