DS19 is taking AP Stats because that is what top math track does in his High school. The highest math he can get to is AP Calc BC as a senior. A number of colleges don’t even give credit for AP Stats. However DS13 took it in 10th grade and he said it was an interesting class. So I guess that’s good.
DD19 will be transferring to a new school district for 10th grade. I was surprised to see that she can’t even register for classes until August, just a couple of weeks before school begins.
She also plays volleyball. Thing is, volleyball season starts before the school year starts. So she’ll have to try out for the team over the summer, when she will know no one on the team. The school has a summer conditioning camp, so I guess that’s where she’ll be meeting her future teammates (if she makes the team, of course).
@gusmahler Sign her up for the summer conditioning camp! DD did it last year and it was 50% volleyball girls. Even though it will be intimidating, I think it will make her feel more comfortable when the first day at the new school rolls around.
15 missing assignments in English 9 Honors so the quarter grade is – wait for it – a 61. An F for the 3rd quarter. #sigh
Ugh @OrangeFish . Does your school have a portal that you can see what grades are for assignments and what’s missing? We have gotten into the habit of checking it fairly frequently because my son has had errors made by his teachers saying assignments were missing . He saves all assignments and have produced them to have the grades corrected .
Yes, our school has a portal, but some of the teachers do not use it until the end of the quarter (when it is too late to do anything about it).
@OrangeFish Does the teacher have weekly office hours?
I call “mandatory office hours” in such cases meaning staying after school for ~40 minutes. DS has to attend office hours every week until HW is caught up and do a retest/extra credit if offered (usually when below 80% with max 90.)
Does the teacher accept homework by email? DS kept forgetting to turn in his printed revision, so I sat down with him until he composed his email and attached his file. The teacher read it and updated the grades in 10 minutes! His went from 88 to 90 in that term, well worth the nagging.
No weekly office hours and absolutely no assignments submitted by email. The English teacher does not like technology. (Probably explains why the electronic gradebook was not updated until the last day of the quarter!)
I would check with the administration at school to see what their policy is regarding how often teachers are required to update their portals. If the teachers are not in compliance , the principal needs to be aware and hold them accountable .
Our teachers love the technology fortunately. Some assignments can be submitted only through the google docs and the teachers put comments in the google docs and return them.
I suppose schools differ a lot.
oh no @OrangeFish it’s so frustrating! Any chance some of those assignments were turned in and then lost?
@OrangeFish that is just too bad. We have the same issues with technology here. Some teachers update a couple times a week. Others just put a grade in at the end of the term. There aren’t any requirements here on how often they post.
When my son missed a few assignments I started asking him daily “what are your assignments for each class?, have you done them?” and then “let me see it”. He started doing everything just to get me off his back.
We are starting the Nagging-Daily program on Sunday. This is simply not working.
Muhlenburg? Oberlin? Point Park?
So sorry OrangeFish. I face that daily balance of when to nag and when to back off to allow him to develop responsibility. The trick for me is that what worked for one kid is absolutely the worst thing to do for the next kid. my son isn’t failing anything but his grades are totally out of whack with his abilities if he would just turn in homework.
I have only done down the teacher intervention road twice, ever, with any kid. Our schools is very adamant about the kids fighting their own battles. I agree with that. At a certain point, or in most ways, nagging does NOT work with my kids. I have to let them fail. So far, that has ultimately worked but it is painful. In theory, S should be able to regroup and fix things for the semester final grade. I know him, and he is banking on it. Bottom line is though is that he isn’t tracking things as closely as he needs to for the grades he wants and the school options he wants.
We toured 3 schools this week for S17. I am hoping seeing those schools, none of which he wants, inspires him to make sure his grades are where they need to be…so he can tour what it is he does want. We shall see. I’m not getting on the nag train. I told the kid to fix it (the missing assignments and grades) and that until it was fixed, he is losing certain things that are a natural consequence. I am really tired of giving privileges back to have him lose them again a few months later when self control goes out the window though!
As with @mom23travelers he’s not failing (though close in one class) but totally out of whack with his abilities and goals. He bombed one class first semester because it basically was “beneath” him and he couldn’t be bothered to turn stuff in on time or follow up to get grades fixed when minimal things were recorded. Similar issue now and the intellectual arrogance just isn’t going to play the same way it did in middle school when they didn’t care if he was late and gave full credit, plus, when he aced the test. He may well still ace the test. They won’t let him make up the missing work or in some cases turn it in at all if late.
Hello. I am going to start following this thread for help regarding my 2019 son. I have another son who will graduate in 2017.
My 2019 son has expressed in interest in exploring some sort of engineering track. He seems to like mechanical engineering at the moment. He has stated he might like to work for a sports equipment firm designing things. I said “sounds fun!” Now we just have to help him figure it all out. I personally don’t know much about engineering and the whole process of becoming an engineer. My wife and I have have primarily worked in the software business sector.So we could use some advice for son 2019 as he goes thru high school.
So far as a freshman he has done well academically ( all A/A-) and has participated on a First Robotics team, HS and club soccer team, HS lacrosse team, and has gone to a few student steering committee meetings( not sure he is super interested in that). He made the decision recently to double up on his math classes next year so he will be on track for calculus in his senior year. Hopefully he can continue his good study habits. He is your typical nice, white, suburban boy from the burbs of Boston.
As far as schools go, I would imagine he would be interested in staying in the north east. I doubt he will go to UMASS our state school, he didn’t like it all when we visited with his brother. He might like to go to a DIII school where he can study engineering and play soccer. He also really likes UVM, which has a new STEM center being built, fun campus and near the mountains for snowboarding. He’s one of those plays hard/studies hard kind of people.
Fortunately for him we’ve saved up the money for him to go wherever he wants regardless of any merit money. Maybe we can luck out with him and find a good school for him and save us some money. That would be great!
Hello and welcome @RightCoster. I also have two boys DS17 and DS19. Class of 17 thread is busier than this one with all the testing going on for juniors.
DS19 would love to work for Boston Dynamics 
At this point, I would help/ensure he gets strong foundation in math and actually enjoys math. Anything done while enjoying is much easier. Also, I would support science subjects as they get more difficult during high school. My goal is not necessarily to keep good grades, etc, but to help overcome hurdles till they can pedal themselves and enjoy the ride.
Thank you payn4ward. My son really enjoys math. He also took an honors Biology class this year which is very hard, and a lot kids dropped it early on. He stuck with it, got a B+ first term, but then 2 straight A’s, so he feels proud for figuring it out. His plan is to take some AP science and math classes when they are available for him, I think junior year. I think he’s set up an all honors classes schedule for himself next year. I’d like him to do some extra math work, like participate on the math team but he has said he is just going to stick with robotics which is more fun, and keep playing his sports. He does not have a ton of free time. Math team might push him over the edge.
@RightCoaster welcome! Mechanical is a great field for that area of interest. I agree on the Math and Science. Mechanical is one of the most competitive majors at a lot of schools (because it is so versatile) so if he is strong in those subjects, taking honors or AP, that will help his overall options. Materials and Metallurgical Engineering would also be good for that area, You will also find good club soccer at many of the schools so I wouldn’t limit yourself to D3 only either either recruiting or walk on.