Wow, I cannot believe this thread is going already!
We have a D21 and a D23. Different girls, already thinking we will likely do completely different tours for the younger one (D21 has a wide variety of interests but leans humanities, after 6 tours it is clear she likes small-medium suburban LAC or Unis where she can rock climb and explore the outdoors; D23 is all math all the time when she is not dancing ballet (15-20 hrs per week), and hates nature/outside/grass/sun/etc ). Their commonality is they both play violin, one with lots of artistic flare and one with more technical precision.
We are at a private k-12.
D23 will do PreCalc in 9thānot a ātrackā at her school, just invited to skip a level in 5th grade. D21 is in Precal now(Algebra 1 in 7th) which is the most advanced track at the school and is wow plenty hard so it is interesting to have one that finds math so easy. However, History and English are just not as natural subjects for her so that has been her āgrowth experienceā this year. There are only 3 honors āoptionsā for 9th grade and she will do all like her sister, but we may see if she can do a math-y elective that is listed for 10-12th, since she technically has all the pre-reqs etc. What she does with ballet/dance through HS may really change her course in where she ends up applyingāwe just have no idea.
All the parents with ones already into college are a big help in this processāthanks!
Slowly winding up the end of the year for D23. (Sheās homeschooled using online providers and public school classes - when she is 16, sheāll do in-person dual credit at community colleges).
She is in 8th grade by age but is all over the place in terms of her ability levels in different subjects. She finished her high school level Chinese 2 course and got an A. Difficult course and she worked her buns off, so Iām proud of her. She has one more week left of her AoPS precalc class, then sheāll finish her middle school Civics course next week and then her high school chem course in mid-May. Her middle school pre-AP English course goes until the third week of May and gives her the most grief because it feels like a bunch of busy work to her - and she hates busy work and sometimes just doesnāt do the busy workā¦so I donāt know what sheās getting as a grade in that and Iām kind of afraid to look. She had a hard time doing work she didnāt want to do last semester in that class and therefore barely got a Bā¦she promised she would do better this semester and do work on time even if she sees no point in the assignment, so my fingers are crossed. Sheās a hard worker when she feels it is worth the effort, but sheās still a kid and gets mad at assignments that seem like fluff or time-wastersā¦sheās got to get over that attitude. Sheās almost done with an online college level course that she is taking pass/fail. That one wonāt show up on the high school transcript because it is through Udemy and not an official college course. Sheās taking it because she was interested in it, and sheāll get a certificate if she passes the course. I think thatās it. Will be happy when next month is over. She has a busy summer ahead of her with Girl Scouts and camp and travel, but itās all fun stuff and the stress will be overā¦until late August, that is.
And after four years of marimba lessons, my D23 has declared that she doesnāt want to do percussion anymore. At one level Iām kind of sad about it, but on the other I look at the timesuck that is music lessonsā¦
Iām curious what sheās going to use to fill her time now, thoughāsheās not the sort to let herself have nothing to do.
Hello new community. I have a rising high schooler and juniors in Hs and college. Exciting times!
@dfbdfb Our child also stopped music - viola - and now weāre not sure what the EC will be besides athletics. Hopefully something else interesting comes up in high school.
Current freshman schedule: Algebra 2/Trig, H Chem, H English, H US History, Spanish 3, Pe/Health, and AP CS Principles. DCā23 doesnāt currently have a strong interest in a subject area or career field. All around good student with no discernible spike. Weāre ok w that just very different than older 2.
@dfbdfb - no doubt she will find something to fill her time! There are so many options in H.S., sometimes the toughest job is to close a door, so there is time to dig deep into something the kid is really passionate about. The ability to close a door shows maturity - jmho.
@dfbdfb - Our graduating D19 had 5 years of violin before HS and gave it up going in. Hard to let go but a passion for a sport and art replaced it. I donāt see it as a waste of time. The music foundation will always be there and who knows when in life this gift comes back round again. Dropping music was hard for us as our family has always valued music (even though I did the identical thing going into HS). Her sister took it all the way through HS and won a major local scholarship with it. Now D19 is competing for the equivalent local art scholarship and has an interview coming up, fingers crossed.
Just realized I posted in the HS Class of 2023 (not 2019). Oh well. No more for us. Weāre empty nesters in a couple of months.
Hello, I am also interested in starting earlier with my 2d DS. He picked a major quite some time ago, and so far is sticking to it. it looks like we will be searching for a school that offers an Architecture major.
MY S23ās biggest ECs are playing video games and watching Youtube videos Okay he runs with a city wide running organization and heāll continue that. He thought about playing Ultimate at his high school but heās protesting that there is a boys and girls team and it should be genderless. He does music somewhat. He took piano lessons until the teacher moved to Germany and he was taking voice lessons via Skype but he puts no effort in practicing. He does like to make soundtracks for video games. Iām sure heāll join some clubs related to programming or such once he gets to high school.
Last Day of school was todayā¦8th grade thatās a wrap!!! High school here we come!!! My twins will have about a week of downtime before they start summer tutoring. They are both taking AP Bio in 9th grade and have been given a summer reading assignment as well as 2 other summer homework assignmentsā¦good thing they both are science nerds!!!
School ending in late May is such a jarring concept to those of us in NY where statewide exams run from June 18-25. The flip side is that they donāt go back until after Labor Day!
@stencils Weāre in the Dallas area, our first day back to school for the new school year will be Aug 13th!!! Iāve lived in Dallas my whole life and remember way back in the old days when we used to start back after Labor Day as well lol. Times have definitely changed!!
@Momof3B same for usā¦ Awards Day was today and then they HIGHLY encouraged everyone to go ahead and start your summer! My S23 and a group are heading to the pool as I type and then have a late night video game session planned for as long as they can stay awake! I plan on waiting until after the long holiday weekend to remind him he has a summer reading assignment for AP history and PreIB English My D25 just wants to binge watch some new season on Netflix as she is tired from a week of travel team soccer tryouts - itās been 88 and humid all week. Hello summer! @stencils going to school the month of June is jarring for us! Itās the best month to be at the beach! State testing was completed before Spring Break (late April) We always are done before Memorial Day - itās the traditional Summer Kickoff weekend! We do start back August 14th mainly because any later and you donāt have enough time for football season to end before Christmas break!
Last day of middle school for my D23 was yesterday. Now she goes from a Kā8 school (500 students, but because itās a language-immersion school students rarely enter after kindergarten, so there were 19 in her class this past year, all of whom sheās been around for 9 years) to the second-largest high school in the entire state (which is only ~1,900 studentsāweāre a low-population stateābut still, thatās a good bit bigger than 19 in her grade).
But first, a trip to the lower 48, where sheāll be the trailing sibling while D19 goes through orientation. Fun fact: Mississippi State (D19ās school) has, alongside orientation for incoming students, an entirely separate āorientationā for siblings entering grades 9ā12 the following year to get them excited about having an older sibling there. As a professor at a different college myself, all I can do is look on with awe at a school that clearly has some serious recruitment game.
Our last day of school isnāt until June 25 and then we start back August 29 but high school sports start back the 26th and both D20 and D23 will be doing fall sports so that is when we need to be ready to go for the new year.
Wow. Canāt believe it. Iām here for S23. Time flies so fast. I was also on the parents thread for D16 and D19. I recognize a couple posters on the 2019 thread.
S23 is very different than his sisters. The sisters are very much self-motivated and required very little guidance from us from everything like doing homework, brushing teeth, taking a shower, knowing when enough is enough on electronics, etcā¦
We are moving this summer too, so he wonāt be going to the same HS from which his sisters graduated. Amazingly, he did well on the placement exam (he swears to me he didnāt cheat ?), so heās in the max number of honors classes offered by his HS. He also got a nice academic scholarship award based on last yearās grades, LORs, placement exam, and standardized test he took in fall of 8th grade.
The HS his sisters graduated from didnāt offer AP classes. In reality, while no classes were designated as āAPā, many students took the AP tests anyway and most did well. My DDs didnāt take any AP tests since I didnāt think getting a 4 or 5 on them would have been useful their colleges. S23 is on track to take AP courses so I supposed he will take some AP classes where it would make sense. The AP thing will be very new to me.
D16 will start her final year at WashU and D19 is headed to West Point. D16 didnāt know about WashU until early junior year. We visited WashU during spring break junior year and she fell in love with it right away. D19 told me in 8th grade she wanted to go to West Point. With S23, I havenāt mentioned anything about college yet. Too early. Everything is wide open with him. As with his 2 sisters, we didnāt push them into any one or two specific schools. We just let them target a few schools and let the admissions chips fall where they may. Weāll do the same with S23. No pressure kiddo. ?
Hello everyone! S23 is my third and youngest kiddo. He will attend the same high school that his older siblings attended and is already registered for classes. No AP classes are available to freshman so all of his core classes are Pre-IB (math, language arts, science, history, and foreign lang). His favorite subject is math and he is on the advanced track to complete Calc 3 by the end of high school. He runs, swims, plays hockey and soccer. Heāll likely continue a couple of sports in high school for the social benefits and to stay active. He is organized and self-motivated so I believe he will do well.
His passion is programming which he has been doing since third grade. He has a comp sci internship this summer that he is really enjoying and that will likely continue throughout high school. He wants to discuss colleges but I am encouraging him to relax and just enjoy high school. Looking forward to sharing this journey with you all!
Happy summer everyone! S23 finished up yesterday, all Aās for the year which was a first! He also tested into algebra 2 / geometry for next fall which made him pleased. He and his sister will both be running cross country and sheās very social so sheāll smooth his way with the kids on the team. Looking forward to having them both doing same activity/season. Thatās a rarity!
So excited to continue the discussion and cant believe it has started already. My D23 is my eldest and tough to think of her moving out for college.
Coming to her upcoming HS year. New school new journey. Still sitting hours after dinner discussing career choices. Hopefully its normal is many households. The whole process is new for us, learning with each passing day. She plays golf. Just started last year and seem to caught up well. She is very good at Taekwondo. She has been winning gold in her category at AAU states last two years and attending nationals. Not sure how we can continue her martial arts for a few colleges have martial arts team.
Fairly good at academics. No concern there so far. Looking forward to the discussion on college choices.
Okay he runs with a city wide running organization and heāll continue that. He thought about playing Ultimate at his high school but heās protesting that there is a boys and girls team and it should be genderless. He does music somewhat. He took piano lessons until the teacher moved to Germany and he was taking voice lessons via Skype but he puts no effort in practicing. He does like to make soundtracks for video games. Iām sure heāll join some clubs related to programming or such once he gets to high school.