Is anyone’s kid signed up for Raise.me? I’m excited they keep adding schools, but since the micro-scholarships are “part of” any package awarded when they get accepted/attend, I really wonder if it is worth the trouble. They do say right up front that it is really designed for low-income and/or first gen students, but it will be interesting to see what happens when our kids get to the application process.
My DD19 is signed up for Raise.me. It might be good for them to see the value of good grades and being involved in activities and community service. I figure there’s no harm in it.
DD19 had a terrible second quarter, struggling to make all Cs due to lack-of-turning-in-assignments even though there is no issue with content knowledge. No theatre activities this quarter since we saw the result of too many conflicts in first quarter. Had a Real World conversation and she begged to audition for spring theatre production, vowing she would use the production as an incentive to get all grades up. So we’re going with it. I am honestly not sold, but my better half privately pleaded her case as well. (Yikes.)
Hmmm–haven’t heard of Raise.me, but I will look into it! @orangefish, hugs. I think you’re right to let her go ahead with what she loves, especially as an incentive.
Here’s a great tip from @Skates76 on the Class of 16 Parents’ List:
“BTW, speaking of lists, D16 and I have a fairly unique way of doing her school countdown. Whenever a school made her list throughout the entire process, I would download an app related to the school preferably the main school app or one specific for campus visits, and placed them all in a “Colleges” cluster on my phone. When a new school came on board as a possibility we added it, having two nearly full pages of apps at one point, and as they fall completely off her list they are deleted. I just had to go back into the cloud and re-download the app for her scholarship weekend school, and happily so.”
Has anyone had their DC take a course online? S attends a very small school, therefore his choices of academic classes is limited. Since he didn’t take A this year, he can’t take B next year and gets put in a study hall. The concept seems so foreign to me as D16 attended a completely different school where study hall doesn’t exist.
My DS’16 took AP economics (macro and micro) online through Virtual Virginia. His high school is large an offers a lot of AP classes but doesn’t offer those 2. It was a pain to get the school to allow it. I even bought the textbook so the school wouldn’t have to, which is against the VV rules. Son was mostly on his own in the library every other day to do the class. The only support he had was an old SS teacher who proctored his tests.
Holy freakin’ COW - we just received our first piece of college mail!!! And she has not taken, recently anyways, any talent search tests, been enrolled in any classes or signed up for any info. She took the PLAN through NUMATS back in 6th grade and that was the last time we have done anything through them (too expensive!) But we still receive regular mail from them so I’m sure they sold her name, don’t have any other idea how they would have gotten her information. It’s just TOO early, she is stressed enough about HS!
Hello all! Mom to a D19 and figured I needed to start thinking about college. Wow - can’t believe some of y’all got college mail already! My d is struggling in Bio - the teacher is legendary for being tough and I’m really hoping he grades on a curve bc she got a 48 on the last test. Aiyee !
Then I found out the highest grade was a 57. Phew!
Anyway, I’ll be doing a lot of reading here to get up to speed. So glad this site is here!
Welcome @Gatormama . I first found CC when I joined the Parents of Class of 2016 last May. I’ve learned so much and have gotten so much support and friendship from that group . I only hope that this group is half as supportive and friendly , and I will be truly blessed.
Welcome @Gatormama! @ILMom13579, D16 saved all her college mail until she was accepted. Every piece in a large, decorative box. The day she received her first acceptance, she recycled it all.
So my daughter came home last night and said they’d sprung it on the class that they would be taking the PSAT next week. It was the first we’d heard of it. I am hoping this is for practice? Anyone else’s school do this in ninth grade?
@Gatormama, the “official” PSAT is given on two specific dates in October (a Wednesday, and a Saturday, iirc). I have never heard of an official PSAT on any other date. This must be a practice test.
Disclaimer- I am not an expert on this, but this is what I have observed as a layman.
My son took the PSAT 8/9 in October. It was nice to see the first preview of how he does on that kind of test.
Unfortunately for him, they sent home the score report on the same day as first semester report cards. There is no way someone scoring as high as he did should be getting b’s and c’s in his favorite classes. Apparently high school teachers really care about whether you turn in homework. Who could have seen that coming?
We are starting to set up tours for DS17 so I figure I should jump on this thread earlier than the 2017 one as my 19 kid will be higher maintenance and he will be tagging along for a few of them.
@Gatormama I am guessing it is a practice PSAT as well. Here it is always in October. DS19 had the opportunity to take it this year (paid) and we elected not to. He’s an amazing test taker whereas DS17 is not. As DS17 was taking it, I didn’t need them comparing scores.
@mom23travelers I feel your pain. DS19 would have had a 4.0 first semester…except for those missing Health assignments. Kills me. Still, it was a vast improvement over 8th grade so I’ll take it.
I think @ItsJustSchool is right about the official timing of the PSAT. They must be giving a practice test? If so, great idea!
Welcome @eandesmom!
Thoughts on course path for D19?
Current undergrad target is physics and then graduate programs in astro physics or theoretical. Current GPA is a 3.62 thanks to someone not turning in 2 assignments in health of all things. Weighted is obviously higher. I do not expect him to make that mistake again but it’s not the ideal way to have started freshman year! He should test extremely well and will be looking to be competitive.
Questions are specifically on the Core and STEM classes.
Current load is Honors English, Honors Bio, Algebra 2, World History 1, French 3
Planned load for next year is Honors Chem, AP WorldH, Pre-Calc, Honors English, French 4
Given what we have available at our school, this is what we were thinking
Junior Year: AP Lang, AP Physics 1, AP Cal A/B, AP USH
Senior Year: AP Lit, AP Physics 2, AP Calc B/C, Senior Civics (req)
He will have music all 4 years so between that and the PE required credits (we will ask for a waiver but at best may get 1 year waived out of the 1.5 and likely none) there isn’t much “extra” to work with.
In Junior Year he will have 1 available year long “extra” slot
In Senior Year it will be the same, unless he gets a waiver on PE.
The options he wants to consider are Theater Tech and Exploring Computer Science. Both are year long. I can’t see that either add a whole lot to his rigor though understand the appeal. The rest of the STEM classes offered are really low level and of interest.
My question is, should he consider additional math or science classes instead? If he did, what would be the best choice for his area of interest?
Science options would be: AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Environmental Studies , Astronomy (which is of interest to him but regarded as extremely basic and easy), and Physical Geology. His school does not offer Physics C
Math option: AP Statistics.
Not much to choose from. Thoughts?
@eandesmom, does your school normally do Calc A/B and then Calc B/C? At our school it was either/or (A/B was a slower pace than B/C). I might consider getting feet wet in a community college Math course Senior Year. I would advocate having some fun course (theatre tech). But I would also encourage non-school deep diving into some physics area of interest. I really think the non-school activities give a chance to really explore deeply, maybe even get into research, and interact with the community. It is really that supra-high-school activity that allows the kids to soar.
Think of the classroom instruction as acquiring the tools, but then how one uses them, plays with them, and engages in the wider world is where the deeper learning comes in. Plus it is nice to get into a community that is larger than the school. competing or collaborating county, state, nation, or world-wide gives an added depth of appreciation.
I bet it is the PSAT 10.
I have to say that I am quite impressed by the freshmen here who already have some idea what they want to do with their lives. My senior is still changing her mind about majors. She is currently on the third one since September, though I can say that there is a common theme. Fortunately they majors are all common enough that the schools that she has already applied to can accommodate the changes.
My S19 has no idea what he wants to do. His life is entirely centered around basketball but I think he is finally starting to realize that this may not be a good career path. He has stopped growing and while he may get a few more inches, genetics are not in his favor. He may end up dropping from D1 to D2 in AAU this spring which is huge for him. He will be trying out for a D2 team this weekend. He used to play for this team but left to go to D1 a few years back. This week he told me wanted to try out for his old team again. The coach loved him and has been trying to get him to come back so we have no doubt he will make it. He is only 5’6" now and just can’t compete in D1 with the 6" tall point guards who can dunk.
Next week we will get our course sign up sheets for next year. He enjoys history more than anything else but I’m not sure I want him in APUSH which is the normal progression at our school for top history kids. We are trying to convince him to double up on math. He is taking Algebra 1 honors this year and doing well. If he can take both geometry honors and algebra 2 honors next year it will put him on track to take AP Calc his senior year (and also at our school you take either A/B or B/C, not both) . In science he failed his biology midterm but has bounced back with a current A average in the third term so I am hoping they allow him to stay in honors for chemistry.
He’s a smart kid but has trouble staying focused and has issues with certain types of authority figures. If he doesn’t like or respect someone (coach or teacher), he reacts in ways that hurts no one but himself. I think its just a maturity thing, but failing tests on purpose has got to stop.
Had to look up what in the heck the PSAT10 even was. So yeah, maybe it’s that. But I also disovered that there is a PSAT 8/9, so maybe it’s that. We shall see… Thanks all!
My daughter is working in Tech Crew at her school and loves it, eandesmom. It’s a big time commitment (including weekends, all day sometimes) but she’s really enjoying it. I would think your son would like the change. (His schedule makes me quail in horror, just reading it!!)