Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
561

S21 started school this past Wednesday, and things are fine so far. He is not too impressed by his math teacher.

He had surgery a week before school started and got the drains out the day before school. (He’s transgender, and the surgery was related to that. Everything went well, yay!) The school has given him a key to use the elevators and we got him a rolling backpack. It will be about a month before he is supposed to lift things and wear a regular backpack.

We asked for the schedule a few weeks back, and his counselor sent it with the comment that “His math class doesn’t fit. What would he like to take instead?” Huh?!? He wants to take math! >:P 2-year college is a common goal at his HS, so perhaps that was her thinking? Anyway, math fit fine once she put him in Honors Chemistry instead of regular (not sure why that was messed up either).

The other snafu was that his old name showed up on the iPad the school issued him. I took the court order and new birth certificate to the school’s registrar. It seems like she should be familiar with the software where they enter names. 8-| But, she put them in this order:


First Middle Last

despite the fields being:


Last First Middle

So, the teachers called him by his middle name last week. :)) We think that should be fixed by Monday, but his Google Classroom account is still messed up.

He is in a 4-year art program, but has decided he’s probably not interested in an art-related career. But, he likes the people in the program, so will stay at least for this year. His latest idea for a career is elementary education. He is really enjoying a 3-year program he’s in at our local Natural History Museum. They learn about a variety of sciences and all the functions that go into running museums. He enjoys being an assistant counselor for the camps, so that’s why he’s currently thinking about becoming a teacher.

The only change he plans to make is to switch his first semester of art from freehand drawing to digital art. He has AP World History as his only AP this year. (He took AP Physics 1 last year.)

@havenoidea Our schools also have only 6 periods. I dislike it quite a bit. S21’s schedule fits this year because he isn’t taking PE (because of the planned surgery and long recovery). For S17 in 10th grade, he had to take world history at the community college to make things fit. He never had room for electives that were more exploratory because he was in an engineering program that took up one period per year.

S17 just got home from his summer research and will be home for about a month. Their schedules don’t mesh well for family vacations.

S17 took Calc BC in 10th and then dual credit math & CS in 11th and 12th. He was sure he was aiming for a STEM major, so Stats didn’t make sense for him.
S21 is taking Precalc this year and I’m guessing he will probably take Calc AB and AP Stats in 11th and 12th.
Different kids.

562

@JESmom, we’re in similar situations. My S21 was diagnosed a few years back, but 9th grade was a higher degree of difficulty and he got overwhelmed. He’s continuing at the same school but with a tutor this year to help him keep on track. Sounds great in theory; we’ll see if it works in practice. Fingers crossed.

563

@Ynotgo I’m glad that your son is recovering well from surgery and that the class scheduling snafus are being sorted out. I remember you from the Parents of 2017 thread - sounds like your other son is on the quarter system. It must be nice to have them both at home right now.

564

@Ynotgo Glad your son’s surgery went well and the school stuff is getting fixed. Dealing with school bureaucracy can be such a PITA. I’ve been waiting all day to find out of S21’s schedule actually showed up in the mail or do I need to go down to the school to get it – friends have already received theirs and D23’s middle school schedule already disappeared in the mail. Wish they’d just email everything!

565

@Ynotgo, so happy your son’s surgery went well too. I hope your son and all of our 2021 kids have a great year!

566

School finally started this week and seems to be going well! Son did not make the Varsity soccer team, but is captain on the JV team which will help him check off the leadership box on upcoming applications.

He is taking AP Stats and AP WH and both teachers gave them the multiple choice sections of an old AP exam as a baseline test and he scored 52% and 76%, respectively on the exams which is not bad considering class is just beginning.

He likes all of his classes and teachers and knows some kids in all of his classes which is great.

Good luck to everyone!

567

So, one week into sophomore year. Last year S21 was diagnosed with ADD and anxiety. It took quite a while to get his medication at the right levels so his grades suffered. He is so worried about doing well that he thinks he may want to drop his sport for the Fall. He says he will join some clubs but he said that last Spring and did nothing. This sport was his major EC last year (his only sport, done for 2 seasons/yr). Nothing that makes him recruitable for college but a solid EC with a good chance of being a captain by senior year bc it is a small group.

So, do I push him to stay with it? I think he should try and he can always drop it if it gets too hard to keep up. My feeling is that less than perfect grades with an EC are better than all grades and no/minimal activities. Not to mention, he will miss out on social aspect.

Any advice?

568

@Momma2018 That is a hard decision. My older D19 has very few ECs and it is frustrating as we are trying to fill out her applications now. I guess I would encourage him to try the sport for a few weeks, if he really resists maybe get him to agree to at least join one club? It didn’t work with my D but maybe it will go better for you!

D21 is doing well after a month of school. I think seeing her older sister struggle with what to put in her activities section college applications has gotten through to her as she all of a sudden joined a bunch of clubs! Who knows what will stick but I am glad she is at least trying some new things. She is a great soccer player but for some reason refuses to try out for the school team (plays in the town rec league), but since she has started to branch out I am trying to lay off about it. So far she has gone to meetings for Key Club, GSA, Environmental Club, Best Buddies and Tree Club. She already has decided not to do Key Club, the community service requirement is huge and she is worried she will not be able to keep up. She has a lot of LGBTQ friends so I think she will stick with GSA. Environmental Club and Tree Club are similar except Tree Club is run by a very charismatic, cute senior boy so I know she will stick with that one - she already joined a committee. :)) She really wants to volunteer at our local environmental. nature center that has all sorts of fish tanks and rehabs sea turtles but you have to be 16. She has found the contact person and will apply there in January although I am guessing it is very hard to get a position.

Oh, and she is also applying for something called Society of Arts & Letters. I’m not really sure what it is but I know she had to submit photographs as part of her application.

We had meet the teacher last week and liked everyone. For such a huge public school I am always impressed with the teachers there. She has a ton of work but is handling it OK so far.

569

@Momma2018, I don’t have advise for you. But if your son will be apply to schools that take a holistic approach, I agree the sport would be a great EC but I don’t think I don’t want academics to suffer. Now take that with a grain of salt as we are in Texas where ranking is King.

D is starting to have anxiety this year. She has the times where she gets sad and fearful of the future. Like she is scared of dying, scared she will never have a life partner and spend her life alone. She has the feelings of sadness crop up here and there for no reason.

Academically she is knocking it out of the park so far…She feels she will let her teachers down if she does not repeat her strong academic year.

As far as socially, she is improving with a very small friend group and has done some normal teenage hanging out with them. She has a male best friend that she and he test constantly, and study outside of school together.

So it seams like this year she is doing better but I am wondering do I take her to the pedi for anxiety? She is already on Ritalin (for 5 years) for ADHD-I.

The good thing is she is talking about her feelings and fears with me.

570

Thanks @BingeWatcher and @momtogkc - he says he will try some clubs and maybe pick it back up for Winter season only. The coach is pretty low-key so I think if S changed his mind, he could start up partway through the season.

@BingeWatcher - have you done a neuropsych exam for your D? That was where they flagged the anxiety as a source of some of his issues. And - they were exacerbated by the ADD medication which is a stimulant. I hate the idea of all of this medication but it has made a real difference.

571

@Momma2018, she has pedi appt in 2 weeks, will check labs. She may need a neuropsych exam. . I am also setting a counselor appt for her.

Glad your S has it worked out.

572

I have the same struggles as some of you with S21 not wanting to do EC’s. He’s one week into school so I’ll be starting up the nagging again. If he could at least go along with whatever friends have tried (he’s new the school but has a lot of friends from middle school who did their freshman year there).

On the medications – S takes a non-stimulant (intuniv) for his ADD and that has worked well. He doesn’t have anxiety but I know some do find it useful if a stimulant is a problem with anxiety.

573

D21’s main EC is school theater. It may not be this way everywhere, but in our suburban NY HS, it’s a fun and welcoming group. Very accepting of all kinds of kids, quirky, creative, different, and there are lots of opportunities: classic drama, musical theater, one-act play festivals, write your own one-act play, directing, stage crew, art crew, pit for the musical, etc. Just an idea!

574

Update on D:
D’s lab work came back fine, Dr. said mild anxiety. She struggles with guilt if she is not studying something. Counselor is working with her weekly right now. She journals her feelings and thoughts when anxiety, guilt and sadness come into her mind (occurs at times when she has nothing to study).

She is widening her friend circle a little bit (wonderfully sweet nerdy boys).

she is making positive steps forward

575

@bingewatcher glad to hear your daughter is working through it all and has help. These years can be so hard and I feel this generation has it harder than any before. I’ll be thinking of you both.

576

Good luck to all of our kiddos who are taking the PSAT today!

577

My d’s high school doesn’t do them during school! If you want to take them, you have to pay and she takes them this Saturday! Bummer. She’s not happy about the 6:30am wake up call Saturday! Good luck everyone!

578

@BingeWatcher Glad to hear your D is making progress and widening her friends circle - my D is starting to widen her circle as well and I love it (starting to get friendly with some old friends that had kind of drifted away.)

D was not happy to have to take the PSAT today but at least she should do better than last year when she forgot her calculator! I actually don’t even know how she did, she never gave me her information to go online and I never got anything in the mail.

579

our school only offers it to 11th graders.

580

My son is taking it completely unprepped - we’ll see how that goes. School gives priority to juniors, but then opens it up to sophomores if they still have seats. I think he mostly chose to go as they give them donuts before the test - can’t imagine that helps with testing.