Yes, test is done for D22. D22 began the volunteer work in a NGO now.
I’ve mentioned previously that we’re doing SAT/PSAT tutoring for S22, via Varsity Tutors. He’s making good progress. It seems a fine use of a mostly bust summer, thanks coronavirus.
One concern I have: will they end up canceling both the PSAT and the SAT administrations this fall? It’d be shame for all the effort put in over the summer.
@sfSTEM Are you registered for the fall? My guess is PSAT will not happen in many places, and I can see SAT being limited to '21 kids only. I have a '21 and '22. All the talk on the '21 parent boards is how are we going to get our kids tested. Seems like 90% of the July ACT sites cancelled and nobody is optimistic about the August SAT actually happening. If kids go back at all in my area, it will be 2x a week at most. That *may work for a school day administration of the PSAT, but without being able to administer single day national exam, College Board will have some considerable changes to make to accommodate school systems on different schedules and allow kids at home whose systems have gone to virtual learning to all have access. How many versions of the test would that take? Just another layer of complications.
@Rue4 S22 is registered for the November 7 SAT. The PSAT at his school is administered in class on National Testing Day. It’s a good point about the schools themselves. His school is working out how it will do instruction this fall, may be a hybrid model of in-class + online.
COVID-19 is spiking now, and multiple states have paused re-opening and mandated masks. Hopefully we get back to lower rates by September.
S22’s Catholic high school has announced a combo in-person, online learning program this fall. Some details:
- Alternating days of in-person, online instruction
- Two cohorts of students, limited mixing between them
- 16 kids max per classroom
- Block schedule of only 4 classes per semester
- Reduced # students per teacher (50-75, not 125)
- Classrooms set up to maintain 6’ social distancing
- Office hours are virtual only
- Day ends before lunch, lunch not served by default
- Optional lunch available, supervised outdoors
- Masks, of course
Knock on wood, hoping for things to work out here in San Francisco.
Just found this site - so helpful. I have a son who is class of 2022. Can’t believe he is heading into junior year. Praying we have some in-person schooling this fall as on-line was tough. Currently not planning on SATs until the Spring - he’s already complaining about AP summer work and I can’t imagine adding something else. Nice to “virtually” meet everyone.
S22’s HS is going all virtual for the first semester with little details on how it will work. They also canceled ALL fall and winter sports. Not ideal since he is a winter athlete and played varsity as a sophomore.
Trying to get him to focus on SAT prep but he does not seem overly motivated right now.
@ElonMomMD , sorry to hear that! I am sure for an athlete that is crushing. Here, it depends on your sport. Football is high risk and at a minimum will be pushed back but some school systems have cancelled or trying to move to the spring. Soccer and basketball are winter sports but moderate risk and cannot start until we are in a phase that is essentially back to normal, so those seasons are in jeopardy even though they start mid-November here. Cross country is minimal and looks like it is going forward as a fall sport unless we revert to stay at home. My S22 runs cross country and has been practicing all summer, but he mostly does it to stay in shape. His real love is soccer. He’d be despondent without a HS soccer season.
Even though all public school districts in our area will be closed for the fall (or at least the first quarter), D22’s private, and the 2 other privates in our area are still planning for in person, 5 day a week instruction. With no homeroom/advisory, assemblies, sports, lockers, or lunchroom it will still all look very different. Of course, 4 weeks until the first day of school so things can still change.
While D has a good GPA, her PSAT scores were not good. Or even decent. But to her advantage, all schools on her preliminary list already were, or will be, test optional, through at least 2022. She is thrilled to have some of that stress off of her as she knew her scores would limit her options. So for her/us, that helps with the pressure.
D22’s private school is planning in person classes with zoom mirroring for families that are not comfortable with a face to face option. They have a small enrollment, so can social distance desks, lunch will be outside, grade cohorts will not mix (separate bells to minimize passing in hall). They have installed UV air scrubbers and hand washing stations, and will temp check every morning on entry. It is a surprise to me that all fall athletic teams will continue to play as normal (field hockey, soccer, tennis…). D is more of an arts kid, and I doubt chorus and drama will happen. Can anyone explain the logic of that to me?
S22’s school decided to move its start date from Aug 20 to Sep 8. San Francisco has seen a spike in cases and is on the California county watch list. Being on that list means schools - public and private - cannot be opened in person. The delay gives SF a chance to get the new covid-19 cases under control the next few weeks.
It’s interesting to hear all the different plans for school.
Our HS is offering either 5 days in-person or fully virtual. No hybrid as a choice. We are supposed to get more details this week about how the remote learning will go when we have to do that. And we have until Aug 17 to sign up for virtual instead.
S22 will do seated, but we are discussing if he should change his 2 1-year IB classes and take those in 12th grade instead. Testing didn’t happen for IB in May and grades were weird it seems, so maybe pushing it off another year would be best. But then that’s all the IB tests in 1 year, which seems like a lot.
I have a D24 as well and we’re trying to figure that out. Not a great way to start high school.
My daughter’s school had us choose either all virtual or on campus A/B schedule (2 days in person, 1 day virtual, 2 days Independent study). Initially they offered 5 day full time in person but they were forced to switch to hybrid in order to meet distancing requirements. The start was pushed until September 2nd. We may still all start virtually because our county is on a monitoring list and not yet meeting requirements for physical reopening,
Our D started her online high school classes today. I cautioned her that things might not go smoothly on the first day, and sure enough she hit a snag in her first class. Seems that the Safari browser on her Mac does not get along with the Google meet that her school is using. Luckily, our son gave her his laptop to use with a FireFox browser and things have been working well. He’ll install Firefox on her Mac over lunch and she should be good to go.
@Thorsmom66 , Welcome!
@Rivet2000 , Google Meet should work seamlessly on Google Chrome 
Aug 3rd school start is early! We have six more weeks or 50% of the break left
This is our normal HS starting time, but earlier than most. She did install something over her lunch period (Chrome or Firefox, not sure which). She texted to say she’s back on her Mac, so alls good
Our School Board just finished a five-hour zoom meeting, and finally voted on a plan for the high school. They will offer families a choice between all virtual or an A/B plan like @InfoQuestMom described. We need to decide by Aug. 10th. It’s not clear that any, or all of the AP classes my S22 plans to take will be offered online, and he prefers to go f2f (even partially), so that is probably what he will do. It is interesting to hear about all of the different plans, but the reality of school starting back up also makes me nervous. We live in a college town, so our population will double in 2 weeks:(
We have the same issue with AP classes. We have been told there will be compromises in both the virtual and on campus options. The district got both parent and teacher choice by midnight last Saturday. They start building master schedules first and then they will have to see how conflicts can be resolved.
We just got S’s July ACT scores. Composite of 35, with a 36 in Science and 35 in the rest. We are happy!
I wasn’t even sure he’d take it since we didn’t have a close location. I checked again on the very last day you could register and a spot had opened up about 20 minutes from us, so I took it. And then he lucked out that he was at one of the handful of locations in the state that ran the test. I’m glad it worked out so well for him.
@Luanne Wow! Congrats to your S22. That is a fantastic score, one that will give him a leg up even at test optional schools.