We also start after Labor Day and the kids finish up on June 19th. I like having all of August off but it does get to be a slog by May! And, strangely, S21 already had a final exam this week. His pre-calculus class includes some seniors and seniors spend the last month of school doing a “senior experience” so they have to take finals before that. S21 says the remaining sophomore/juniors will be covering other content in the next month to prep for calculus.
My kid’s last day is tomorrow! Our school year typically starts in mid August.
@mamaedefamilia Same here…Aug 13 is the first day of school.
D21 is finished all classes except American History. I think she takes that final next week. She is studying for SAT2 exams now. Tomorrow night she attends Homeschool Prom (huge and held every year for homeschool high school students), then hopefully next week she gets her driver’s license. All will be over late morning on June 1. Then we are on a plane to bum around out west and relax a bit.
Looks like we found a spot for her for Spanish next year. She tested into our local state college’s fall 2019 Advanced Spanish course after taking their placement exam. Her registration forms are being processed now, so hopefully we’ll confirm her spot in that class next week. Once that’s done, all her courses will be paid for and confirmed for fall 2019 and I can relax.
DS has finished with all coursework and exams but still has to attend for another two weeks. His AP Chem teacher is teaching the class a bit of Org Chem which is great as he hopes to take that course next year so a little exposure in advance is super.
He got his Chem and Phys SAT Subj test scores - 800 and 780. He is stronger in Physics so he was a bit sad but still a good score.
He will volunteer at our local ReStore for 60 hours starting next week which is required for the boarding school he will attend next year. We should get feedback soon on how he did on placement tests and get his schedule for next year confirmed.
He leaves mid-June for NSLI-Y and once he returns only has 4 days at home before time to leave for the new school. Next year will bring huge changes for our family.
@yearstogo Those are wonderful scores, congrats to your son!
Also, congrats again on his boarding school acceptance. Must be a bittersweet time for you. What a great opportunity for him though!
@yearstogo Congratulations to your son!
@yearstogo Congrats to your son!
Hi everybody! Hope the end of the year is going well for all of your kids. D21 is in her last week right now, Today is a full day and the rest of the week are shortened days that consist only of 2 exams each day. She is so ready to be done and het her summer going!
She applied to be a volunteer CIT at a local environmental camp and was so happy to be accepted. She has a few days of training next week then gets to pick which weeks she wants to work. She only has to commit to 2 weeks but will likely do more if she doesn’t get another job. She went to this camp for years when she was younger and loved it so I hope she will have fun. It is based out of a nature center that rehabilitates sea turtles and I know she will love being around them!
She also applied for a job at a new restaurant that is a Chipotle style concept. She was so excited about it and they called this weekend to set up an interview. Unfortunately we were up in MA for the weekend so she could not do the interview until today. As we flew home yesterdays eh go a text saying they had already filled al the positions and would keep her name on file. She was sad about it but I’m sure if she really wants to she can find something else. She needs to find something very flexible because we do go on vacation usually twice a summer and we have not planned our dates yet. 
Happy end of year to all who are winding down, only 9 full days left then exams, we are all ready! In looking at jr curriculum I am wondering if anyone’s kid has experience with AP Seminar. I think it would be an English. I am afraid of my kid biting off more than they can chew with that class, along with AP Gov, AP Calc AB, AP Physics, Spanish 4, and band and required gym/health…I know kids take challenging classes with appropriate “rigor” but this seems like too much. The counselor did not seem to discourage it, but it leaves little time for other things…Thank you in advance.
@MPT3D my d21 is finishing up AP Sem right now. It was her sophomore English class. It was a great deal of work but manageable with her other courses, all honors including precalc. She thought it was very beneficial. That being said, she couldn’t fit the partner class AP research into her Jr year schedule (5 other AP classes) so no capstone diploma for her. My research didn’t show a ton of perceived value so we’re ok with that. If you feel it’s to much trust your instinct, plenty of rigor in the schedule already
@MPT3D, my D was planning on taking AP Sem to increase “Rigor” as her school has IB and the rumor is (amoung kids) if you don’t do IB then you must do AP capstone. Well she will already be stretching so thin with AP CalcBC, AP Physics 1, AP chem, AP psych, AP Lang, data structures and the biggest beast of all Academic Decathlon. I told her since we are only apply to auto merit schools that admit on test scores and GPA. She does not need “Rigor” although she has it for sure. she was relieved, had her schedule changed out of it.
School has been out a week and she is already working on Academic Decathlon…beast!!!
@BingeWatcher WOW! that is some schedule! Sounds plenty rigorous to me. Sounds like she loves being academically challenged, though, and that makes a difference.
My daughter winding up the year. Keeping the UW 4.0 in place again. Got results for PSAT 10 of 1380. Hopefully with some prep she will be able to improve on that a bit. Took AP Hug a few weeks ago. She thought she did okay. Has SAT Math II test on Saturday morning. Saturday is also the start of 7 weekends in a row of travel softball. We are planning on working in some college visits for some of the trips.
Found out today from an MRA that she has a torn labrum in her throwing shoulder that will require surgery. She has been limited in throwing all of this year and has undergone about 3 months of PT and strengening and it still bothered her. She was not happy about the fact that she has to have surgery but is glad there is a definitive reason for her pain and a way to hopefully get her back to normal. She can still hit without pain or causing further damage so we will wait until after the travel softball season is over to schedule the surgery.
@BingeWatcher Ditto, @mamaedefamilia , that’s certainly a very rigorous schedule! S21 will be taking 3 APs (APUSH, English, Calc AB) and I’m a bit worried about him handling it.
S21 still has three weeks of school left and is working on group final projects in nearly all his classes (and not happy about it). Right now, DH has just taken him to the DMV to take his learner’s permit test. Crossing my fingers that he passes! I’ve been nagging him to study but not sure how much he actually has studied.
@BingeWatcher I honestly don’t know anyone who has only applied to auto merit schools. What schools are you considering? Seems like your D is going to get into these and she shouldn’t make herself too stressed if that’s the plan!
@JESmom I am concerned for next year too - three APs plus multivariable calculus, but it is what it is. She took two APs this year and “thinks” the exams went OK - we’ll find out in July. Now we just have to get through SAT subject tests this weekend before a well-deserved rest.
Good luck on driving permit. My D has her license and I have to say we are loving the flexibility of having her drive.
They got back from the DMV and S got his permit! He and DH are having their first practice session tonight. Glad DH wanted to be point person on the whole driving thing.
Congrats on the permit! I’m glad NJ requires 6 hours behind the wheel with a licensed instructor before they get the permit - at least D had a little experience before I had to drive with her!
@VikkiG5 thanks for your perspective, would your daughter be able to do the research in senior year? My D21 is concerned about rigor as we are in a large public school and she wants to stand out
@BingeWatcher thanks for your experience, that seems like a very rigorous schedule for sure, best of luck!
To add to the mix there is a dual credit class in international studies which sounds interesting. This would not satisfy social studies requirement, so it would need to be taken as an elective, so possibly giving up band. I like an unweighted non academic class like band or art thrown in for a little break, silly me! I also feel like these kids should really look for a good fit that is affordable. I almost wish the process was blinded, so you pick schools based on criterion like major, size, location, cost etc and you never see the name so you don’t have preconceived notions of what the school is like.
My eldest just finished freshman year at Pitt: great fit, nice dorm, sweet roommate, overall good year, so I know it will all work out, just don’t want D21 to burn out and be unnecessarily stressed.
Thanks again!