@MichiganGeorgia the only contributions that can be tax deductible are pure donations. Fees would never be considered tax deductible by any school. So yes, if you donate more than the $2100 required in fees (which is likely uniform, insurance, transportation, choreo, maybe camp, etc) then that would be deductible. Nothing else.
In some cases there is an “expected” “donation” lol, and that would be deductible. But not fees.
And I feel your pain on the A/Georgia Tech. S19 has absolutely shot his plans for CalTech and Berkeley down the drain and likely many of the other schools on his list But it’s his plan and his to execute as well.
There are other schools and I can’t afford CalTech anyway! LOL.
That said, one A- in freshman year will not necessarily hurt as long as the trend goes up and for Cal schools, not at all as they don’t count freshman year at all (but I am not telling S that!).
@homerdog, I know many kids skip AB and go straight to BC. It is a much more difficult math year. I like the slower math pace of AB and BC. My S13 had no difficulty with either course. Since he took 4 APs (as well as honors courses) sophomore year (AB was one of those APs) and 5 APs and 2 IBs junior year (BC was one of the APs), it was nice to have more slowly paced math. Kids that take this path often double up a math with AP Statistics at some point (like S19 did this year as a freshman) and take IB HL Math, which is challenging, in their senior year. IB HL Math has topics similar to your “Math Topics” Class. In our school, about 25 kids take IB HL Math out of a class around 425 or so. My guess is that each graduating class has about 50 kids complete BC Calc, which includes those 25 kids who take IB HL, and about 125 kids complete AB Calculus, which includes those 50 kids who took BC Calc. There are several people on CC who adamantly feel that no one should take AB and BC Calculus. I know my kids, and this path was a terrific fit for us.
AB is required before BC here. My son said the first semester of BC is a lot of repeat of AB but I think they do it that way for the IB kids. Our school doesn’t offer IB HL Math only SL (and math methods) so the mathy IB kids finish SL in 11th and then take Calc BC in 12th without having had AB. There aren’t enough kids taking it to do 2 classes of BC.
My youngest doesn’t love math but is on our math fast track because her middle school specialty program required it. She is finishing Hon Algebra 2 now. Next year will be Math Analysis then on to Calc AB. She may stop after that.
D19’s first mandated state test is tomorrow (Biology). She tests well, so I’m hoping she will score high enough to add 10 points to her final exam grade. As it stands now, she’s looking at a weighted 2.9 GPA for freshman year. Ugh. The one good thing is it looks like she will squeak through Honors English so she will not need to go to summer school.
@OrangeFish I read somewhere that clicking on “helpful” means hugs when it’s needed. Next year she can start again!
@MichiganGeorgia The $$$ is for uniforms and to pay for their Disney trip. I guess I could try to deduct?? I would probably end up on the audit fast-track, but it’s a thought!
Well, the lax team lost in the semis. So if D19 wants to go to the theater gala on Thursday, her dance card is now wide open. Watch her decide tomorrow night. UGH.
Finals start for us next week. She’s facing an F in Bio unless she pulls off a miracle.
I hear all of you about spending money on extracurricular stuff. If our kids love something, we will let them do it. $10K a year for ballet. I don’t mind paying for that since (1) she absolutely loves it and (2) it will definitely help her stand out on applications when the time comes. 25+ hours a week of ballet plus two professional productions a year where she can shine? Worth it. Plus, even though we aren’t saving that money each of these years, that money will be freed up once she goes to college and can go towards tuition.
Our son played tennis for a long time and that was costly, just as much as ballet. He’s decided to run XC instead this year so now we are down to the price of running shoes and XC summer camp. His art classes are expensive but, again, well worth it as he is a kid who just has to draw and paint and will get guidance from his private art teacher for his AP Art portfolio when the time comes.
The other thing about extracurricular activities is that it keeps them busy and I know where they are almost all of the time. Between school, studying, and activities, there’s no time for drinking, etc. Our freshman already knows kids who have too much time on their hands and have been caught boozing it up or smoking pot. I also think our kids are learning some serious time management skills! I’m very thankful that they have found things they enjoy outside school.
I haven’t been here since the start of school and now I’m returning with end of the year blues. DS flunked English and Geometry first semester. He took an online makeup course for Geometry and allegedly has a 90-something. But he flunked the second semester in class (essentially not doing assignments as well as lying about getting them done). So this summer he is taking English and Geometry in summer school (each class is 3 hours/day in classroom for 3 weeks). Counseling, music lessons and helping me with a summer theater project will round out the summer. Please tell me age 15 really is the worst for boys!
I can certainly sympathize, @jeannemar !! (see my post a couple above yours)…
It sounds familiar to my own teenage troubles. I came close to failing all my freshman classes, got suspended, got in loads of other trouble, and woke up only in time for junior year. I managed to do well the next two years and ended up with college acceptance and a scholarship to boot.
Now, I know, life is more complicated, schools are more competitive, and things cost a fortune – but I also know that despite going to a pretty crummy undergrad college with zero reputation, I managed to end up in a fulfilling career, working now at pretty much the best job in my profession, and with a great family.
I try to remember this when I get tunnel vision about the latest stupid thing my kid does, try to put it in perspective
Hugs to everyone having such a rough freshman year!
Try to remember that many many schools really don’t look at Freshman year that closely, it’s more about 10/11th. UC/Cal schools toss it out entirely.
I really don’t know where S19 will end up. We have 4 weeks here still but the C in World HIstory and C- in French 3 are stressing me out. Especially French. Allegedly he did well on a WH test last week and that should come up but French is seriously stressing me out.
My son19 has posted all A- and A’s so far, but this term he is slipping a bit and will need to rally to finish well again. He’s been really busy with sports and social things, so he needs to get back to the basics and just focus a bit.
I think he’s burned out a bit and definitely looking forward to summer already. Still at least 3 weeks of schoolwork to go, I’m hoping he can figure it all out.
For you others with kids struggling, it will all work out. Just try to help them get thru this tough time.
I think freshman year can go 1 way or the other for so many of them.
Our school finishes on Jun 2 with the last 3 days being half days. My son’s last exam is Tues. He will not be attending on the 2nd because his brother graduates that day, and he will not go on June 1 unless something major happens. His English teacher remains relentless and has assigned yet another major project due this Friday , after he just completed a major project than spanned a months time. This to me is excessive and unnecessary . I’ll be so glad to be done with this year. DS19 had far more work in this one class than DS 16 had in all of his classes combined including AP Physics 1, AP Calc BC, AP Gov, AP Econ and AP English Lit. That’s crazy.
The end of the year is so hard and they are so young that they can’t see the forest from the trees. Or at least our son cannot. I keep telling him that letting his As go now would be a shame since he’s put in so much hard work. With only finals left, he needs to find some grit fast and suck it up! He’s trying but I can tell even his best intentions are skewed by how tired he is. We are letting him skip soccer all week, study, and sleep. Studied until 8:00 last night, enjoyed some good laughs watching The Bachelor with his sister, and got to bed at 10:00. On Friday, it’s all over and on to sophomore year!
@OrangeFish same here (6/24). We escape most state testing this year, it’s this week for sophomores. S17 will have one to take the first week of June, ELA I think, but it’s a joke.
S19 has a monster honors English Novella to finish and the EOC for Biology but neither of those should be an issue. Not sure what else he will have. EOC doesn’t impact grade though in bio, just a stupid state graduation requirement test lol. S17 on the other hand needs to get through his PreCalc final, final AP Physics project and another go at the ACT.
Those are after all the state mandated testing.