@homerdog Well, one ballerina, one male dancer. Easier on the budget that way, my son won’t be needing the steady supply of pointe shoes.
@mamadefamilia Nice to see you again! I hope you’ll keep us posted on how your D17 is doing at Oberlin. I’ve been rooting for her quite a while.
@EastGrad Happy to have found so many dancers’ parents on one thread. I’ve been scouring CC for dancers’ stories and it’s been interesting to see all the different paths they end up choosing. SLACs, Ivy League, big engineering schools… some who lose interest, some who stick with it on the side, some who go pro. It’ll be fun to compare notes.
I love that we have so many dancing children on this thread as well. I will add this about college and dancers: my D16, also a dancer, planned on majoring or minoring in dance at her college, though she did not choose it specifically for its dance program. In early October of her freshman year (last fall), she fractured a vertebra in one of her two dance courses. The professors were wonderful, and managed to include her the rest of the semester and in a truly innovative and exciting way in the end-of-semester performance. I am glad she chose a school with other options. My guess now is that she will major in biology or environmental science. I am still hoping she goes back to dance after her back heals. My D21 told me a year ago that she did not plan on doing a conservatory program or pursuing dance intensively in high school, although we have a terrific ballet academy very close to our high school. This was when D21 decided to stop ballet. It was harder for me than it was for her. :">
DS21 doesn’t dance any longer. He did some ballet and hip hop when fairly young and prior to transitioning. Happy to hear about your dance adventures though – he may be aiming for art school, which is a significantly different path than DS17.
Just popping in to say Hello! I have a DS who graduated college last year, a DS17, who just paid his deposit yesterday, a DD21, and a DS24 (i.e. I’ll be here for a long time!). So relieved to have both high school and college decisions DONE!! I look forward to sharing the journey with all of you!
Hello all! I don’t have a dancer, but d21 is a musician/artsy. She’s smart and teachers love her, except for the ones who hate her. S18 is more academic and a better tester, but I think d21 is more determined.
She’s on a regular/honors track for next year, with band, art, bio, honors English, honors history, geometry, and German. I’m concerned about the workload for her. I have a feeling I’m going to need a 3.0-3.4 thread!
Same boat. S19 is a better test taker but D21 is the hardest worker I know. Barely puts down her backpack before she’s sitting at the dining room table starting homework! And teachers are some of her best friends!
D21 is really into visual novel games like “DanganRonpa” type things and Picross on her phone. The only time she gets animated is when she talks about those.
She is a “grinder” with academics. Not the smartest by far but does put the effort in w/o being told.
@BingeWatcher@homerdog d21 is very focused, but rushes. Our middle school isn’t very challenging, so i don’t know how high school will go. I love how different my kids are though.
@mom2cats, we live in West Texas , nope our middle school is not challenging at all. The school she goes to is all
girls. The school goes from 6th to 12th and it is tiny.
If D stayed she would probably get VAL or SAL, but she wants the most challenging high school our ISD has (now, remember, I said we are in West Texas) so that says alot. The school is challenging for us but would get blown away by other schools in major cities.
We live in a crazy competitive school district in IL. Middle school and high school offer tons of opportunities, lots of honors and APs but also tons of stress. My husband and I believe education is very important but we almost find ourselves more concerned with S19 and D21’s psyches sometimes. Lots of tiger moms and dads around here but we try to make sure our kids have balance and sleep. Our kids feel pressure enough from their peers. Our middle school preps kids well for the high school so D21 has had plenty of homework over the last three years and has had to chance to be in accelerated classes for math, English, and social studies.
The high school is big - 2200 kids. Sports teams often win state championships as do scholastic teams like Science Olympiad and Mock Trial. Most kids excel at one thing, since it’s hard to make the teams and each EC takes a lot of time. That part stinks. For example, the only kids who make the boys varsity tennis team have been playing tennis exclusively tennis since sixth grade and almost all travel around the country playing USTA and are well ranked nationally. Crazy. Almost glad that D21 has ballet outside of school. She should be able to fit a few other things into her schedule if they meet mostly during or before school. Both yearbook and the school newspaper are actually classes so those might be options if she continues to like to write. And there are plenty of volunteer groups that have flexible schedules so that a student can join in when they are available.
Our school is not competitive and we don’t have a lot of money. Still, the kids have a lot of opportunities to be involved, and they are mostly happy. We don’t win much, but almost anyone can join the teams and learn how to play. It’s very different from highly competitive schools the next town over, but it was better for my son. My daughter will be able to play with the tennis team, even though she started last year.
In one nearby district, I know that many smart and motivated kids don’t get into advanced math in middle school because the class sizes are limited, and only the highest scoring qualify, with the cutoff being moved every year. It should not be limited at that age if you meet basic requirements. Parents of kids who want to be in advanced math in high school then must send them to summer classes.
@mom2cats Believe me, there is something to be said for a less competitive high school. We have a handful of good Catholic high schools where many of the local kids choose to attend instead of the local high school. They can play three sports, be very involved in other activities, and most likely have a better chance of being at the top of their class! Big schools aren’t for everyone. I’m sure our S19 would have liked the experience of a smaller high school but now we know…and will probably be looking at LACs for him when it comes time to shop for college.
I’m so glad to see this thread finally taking off. I’ve been gone a while dealing with life. Well DD21 was accepted the HS she applied to and did so well on the entrance exam she was placed in honors math & science. It doesn’t matter if you’re a straight A student in all honors in MS you not only have to take the placement exam but also challenge every class if you don’t want to be placed in their standard 9th grade classes. So she is pleased. Only 3 weeks left for MS. Oh my!
So it begins…took D21 to an empty school parking lot for her first experience behind the wheel…
She did ok, but was stressed. We will keep at it. Her hard breaking was causing my seatbelt to cause some discomfort. But you guys know, they gotta start some where.
Yes, mine will be 14 in a couple of weeks, but I want her to get used to being behind the wheel. Since we live in Texas and she will have to drive. And she wants to go to college in Dallas area. So she needs to get used to it.
But it will only be in empty parking lots with me until she gets her learning permit.
If it was up to her, she would never learn to drive. I must go slow with her so this is how I am doing it.
@BingeWatcher I highly recommend Driver’s Ed in a Box, it’s an online program. You have to x hours of ‘classroom’ instruction before you can take the test for the learners permit at 15. With this program you can do all of the classroom hours on line and actually take the test on line then go in person to turn in the stack of paperwork, take the eye test and the picture for the license, much easier and less stressful!