Does the school have bootcamps to review before the AP tests?
That is so disappointing. The students see someone get punished for choosing to be vulnerable. Unbelievable. (Not to mention the effects on the teacher.)
Sigh.
The entire country needs a mental health break. Wherever we can be kinder, more patient, less demanding, more helpful, then that should be our goals for functioning right know.
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Yes, but what kid is going to want to do one more thing during the last two months of school during the pandemic?! 
I honestly donāt care at this point. I just want to get through the school year with reasonably good mental and physical health. I am praying for a vaccine for all of us before college in fall 2021. I know I should be grateful that I have stable employment, and I am, but I am so tired of working from home and never-ending Zoom meetings.
@rbc2018 IMO, that was a terrible mistake. What a great message - letās punish somebody for their honesty and resiliency.
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All I know is College Board has been flooding our inboxes with AP class/exam news. I delete them immediately.
I donāt care what happens at this point with most of Sās AP exams. If he takes them, good for him. If he does well, good for him. If he doesnāt do well, fine with me. I canāt even imagine sitting and concentrating on anything these days so I will be the last one to judge him if he doesnāt take them, or if he does poorly on them.
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Some of Dās virtual events are as early as noon on a weekday. Like what? Sheās in class!
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Wow, that is soooo bad. Iām sorry for him and for the kids. Wrong message!!!
I will give Sās school props on trying to promote connection and mental health. Because weāve been 100% remote all year, they set up a new thing called Real Talk that meets (via Zoom) twice a week for 30 to 45 minutes each time.
Students got to request 3 teachers and, for the most part, they were placed in a group with one of them. (I think 9th graders were randomly assigned.) Each group is 16 kids ā 4 from each grade. Sometimes they have āschool assignedā topics but mostly the teachers try to make it fun and a place to chit chat and connect with each other and the teacher.
My Sās teacher does silly games and they just hang out. My S has one of his close friends in his group, but has developed relationships with the others. I think itās good for the younger HSers to get a peek ahead at what the juniors and seniors are up to.
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D21ās school district has this whole week off as mid-winter break. (They still have spring break in April). In previous years, Iāve felt like mid-winter break was useless (we donāt take ski trips like many families do in our area), but this year Iām very thankful for it. Although she still has her jobs to go to, the relaxation sheās feeling is obvious.
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Some schools are just dumb in my opinion.
(My filter is gone today.)
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I occasionally pick up a weekās worth of breakfast and lunch for D21 (school district pushes this hard). The first time I went, at 11 a.m., kitchen staff asked me where my daughter was. Um, sheās in school for another two hours, until after youāre done distributing food. SMH.
Same with my D. She has seen virtual videos online/youtube, researched her top 2 and although Iām sure in a typical year she would have been interested in visiting, she doesnāt feel like she needs to go visit during the pandemic. I was looking forward to visits to colleges as well. We were able to go to several in state and just over the border to a reciprocal state the summer after her sophomore year through a program with the high school and glad we did that, but none of the schools appealed to her because she wants to go somewhere warm.
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Mental health week should be no homework in electives!
Iāve been hinting in here that my sonās AP Physics teacher is unqualified. (The old teacher left last spring and wasnāt replaced.) Well one random day the guy just doesnāt show up for class. Next day shows up with crazy hair and no explanation. I feel for the teachers too. Thank goodness this is the AP where CB knocked off 3 chapters.
IMHO, they should make the AP tests relatively easy this year considering everyoneās collective anxiety level. My S is required to take them all. Heās hanging in there like a champ.
Meanwhile my D24 has a brand new very ānew mathā teacher. Makes up real world problems that you canāt answer with the information provided. Who needs that right now? She had a great remote semester last time but is unhappy now. Ugh.
I really feel for the juniors. All this mess and the counselors are suggesting that they need to be coming up with highly creative Covid ECs. No more I took up baking or what have you.
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Huge eye roll for the Spanish assignment. One good thing about the terrible snow/frigid weather is D is getting 2 snow days after having Friday for teacher work day and Presidentsā day off. So a great mental health break for her. And we in my area of west Texas are not on the Texas Electric grid, so no loss of power yet.
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My kid dropped an AP class this year to switch to an elective and it has been a big help to have a few classes that are mental health positive this year. The teachers are extra lenient on late assignments and use some class time to time to chill out or catch up on stuff needed for the more intense courses.
Sure, it would be fantastic to be able to kick up the rigor and show colleges you can be an academic beast with all the free time right now, but Iām fully supportive of the kids who need to prioritize mental health.
I wonder how this will have a domino effect on the younger students, especially with math and subjects that need to build up to the next level. I donāt envy the teachers who will need to adjust their plans for years to come to make up for various shortcomings.
For all that our seniors are missing and the health and mental issues, it must be pretty stressful for the sophomores and juniors who need to worry more about their gpa and extra curriculars. Although everyone is in the same storm as they say, not everyone is in the same boat. The disparities between having teachers who have handled this well, home environments conducive to learning, and regional covid rates will really cause some wide gaps.
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Houston, TX mom hereā¦ sort of. We are actually stuck in Omaha, Nebraska right now. What was supposed to be a 3 day weekend volleyball tournament here has turned into a one-week stay since we canāt get a flight back to Houston until Friday. Although it was close to -20 here with rolling blackouts, we actually got the better end of the deal than my husband, who is stuck in Houston where roads are largely impassable, power is out for more than half the city, temperatures were a record low of around 5 last night, and power, water, gas, and internet infrastructure is all failing or unstable in parts. Meanwhile my senior twins are just happy to be trapped in a hotel with 10 of their teammates/friends and their coaches. It has provided a bit of a mental break from the stress of college admissions and covid-area school since most Houston schools are closed today. They will try to do virtual school if it occurs the rest of the week. If 2020/21 is an alternate universe, Houston is at the vortex. And many of our kids started their high school life with the devastation of Harvey freshman year.
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Sounds like an adventure you and your Ds will remember and talk about forever! Any change of scenery is great!
Stay safe and warm!
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I could have written this because itās my thought. What are we getting out of this we didnāt during other virtual sessions already?
Plus it gives him no information about ādo I fit in here, are there kids who look like me, who like the same things I do, etcā
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My son has one that starts at 10am on a weekday. Ummm, he has school.
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Haha, well thatās basically what our parents told us and how a lot of people in my generation did it, so itās just reinventing the wheel. And you know what, they survived and these kids will too.
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Your kids are much better off in Omaha where they know how to deal with the weather than down there in Houston, although I do feel bad for your husband. My daughter at UT has said it is a mess there and sheās lucky to have her power in her sorority but many apartments are out, frats are out, sororities out, etc. UT is allowing anyone off campus to come and warm up at certain dorms and get some food, thank god. Itās going to be a mess when it warms up based on the number of people saying they have frozen pipes, pools, no power, etc. The weather has not been friendly to Texas at all the last few years. Her friends were in awe at seeing 3-4 inches of snow yesterday. I think more is to come as well. Ugh.
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Iām trying to get my S21 to sign up for accepted student events, and heās not very excited. Good to know heās not alone. I may resort to bribery!
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