Dear Mom24boys, so sorry for your loss. My prayers to you and your family.
He has only about a 5k budget for a car. The car he wants is about 2k more and no, Im not going to contribute more money for some turbo charged old bmw.
I said if he can keep his grades up, I will help with insurance base rate with adding a teen driver. Our other son, we paid his first 6 months of insurance as well.
He just had to quit a job because they would no longer be flexible with his activity requirements for school. So he has no income right now. As he added 2 more choirs, plus his lifting/football, voice/piano lessons, and marching band camp, Im not sure what job will give him the flexibility he needs.
So yes, ultimately if I am going to foot the bill for some insurance without him being able to chip in for awhile, he is going to have to be more realistic.
I told him he doesnt need to rush into buying a car as there are not a huge amount of options right now. However, the 2 he has chosen thus far have to be off the table. Its him continuing to try to engage in discussion and tell me how wrong I am about these 2 cars thats wearing on my nerves.
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Many, many hugs to you and your family. We have been in a similar situation. I am sure you are not looking for random advice right now, but I regret not getting my S in regular therapy right away. He seemed fine and was using your kidsā coping mechanisms and it all crashed two years later. Would hate to have the crash happen when they are far away at college.
Has he taken both of them?
My kiddo did better on the preACT compared with PSAT. (Following in his sisterās footsteps; she got I think a 30 composite, but 1180 on SAT)
So we are gonna focus on ACT and abandon my faint hopes of NMF
Yes, I hear ya. They know everything right now.
We are still paying D19ās car insurance, fwiw. She has a decent part-time job, too. She splits her apt. rent with us, though, so I guess thereās that.
The twins are very oposed to therapy. I plan on joining a group for widows and possibly going into therapy myself.
I went through my oldest crashing in college when my husband went through his stem cell transplant. I do not want to repeat that and hope the twins older brothers will be able to guide them and possibly talk them into therapy.
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Heās taken both and has done well on both, he is going to focus on the SAT since he will also be taking the PSAT as well in the fall. The tutor also gave a few reasons why we might want to focus in the SAT. There are higher quality materials out there for SAT prep, More schools will superscore the SAT over the ACT, and the SAT is usually a better fit for students who are stronger in math.
@Mom24boys Sounds like you know what you are doing and have a good plan. Sucks that you have had to develop that knowledge! I always feel like its my one big parenting fail (that I am still paying for).
PSAT math studying. D is doing this; went over her results from her test in October. she missed in the math section quite a few in the non-calculator part, she went over what she missed and flat out said she just didnt remember some of those problems. i think she will keep going over and over those type of questions.
on the calculator part, she couldnt find her hand-me down calculator; so asked for a new one like some kids had in her class. Did you know that graphing calcs come in all sorts of metalic colors and have color graphing capabilities now? we are now the proud owners of a rose-gold one; hoping that will encourage her to use it!
Havenāt posted in a while. Our ā23 child finished strong with a 4 UW. Took the AP Chem test and felt that there was so much her teacher didnāt teach them - found that out once they started their own prep. Mayāve been due to virtual learning, the teacher or a combination. Glad itās done though. We started college visits. Went to University of Delaware and walked the campus and then went to Penn State. Weāre in Pittsburgh now for a wedding so we also walked around Pitt. Must say, self-guided and virtual tours pale in comparison to the presentations my older 2 experienced. Iāll be glad when those start up again. We plan for more visits this summer. Hoping to at least get a feel for size and setting. Right now criteria is not rural, major, and location. Hoping to also visit Duke, NC State, Rutgers, UConn and Cornell. Current list is 15 so lots more visiting to go. We try to make it fun like visiting the creameries and taking pictures at notable places. Also stopped at Hershey as a mid point. So glad to finally get out and enjoy.
2 āinternshipsā are scheduled to start 7/6. One with our county and one with the Army. Both pay a stipend and are virtual. Super excited about them. Luckily one is in the morning and one starts at noon. Also planned to take DE Psych at a local uni (virtually) and a SAT prep at a local cc. Still waiting to hear on those.
Iām worried about Junior yearās schedule. 4 science classes (AP Bio, Honors Physics, Organic Chemistry, and Micro/Physio), but they feel confident in doing it. Add AP Lang and AP Calc and I wonder if itās not too much. Their sibling did something similar but we were concerned then too. Theyāre charting their own path so weāll see how it goes.
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Sounds like a great year for your kiddo!
Curious what you thought of Pitt, as we also plan to tour it.
@Gatormama Pitt is a great school. Various family members graduated from there and we also went to Blue and Gold Days for their older sibling. A few things I remember was how well integrated it is with the city and the great school pride; it was infectious (H2P). On this tour we really just walked around to look at the campus and local area which is vibrant. We stayed at a close hotel so we could walk around and feel the vibe; Iād recommend that.
Good luck on your tour.
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Happy Fatherās Day to all the dads, men, or people supporting like dadās!
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Is there a ābest timeā to take the ACT for my S23? He wonāt be taking Geometry/Trig until 11th Grade. His PreACT in 10th Grade was 30 overall. He will be very busy with Varsity sports this coming Fall. Heās a 4.0 GPA and generally does well with standardized tests, but (secretly) I wish that they become TO when itās his turn to apply for pre-med.
Our school takes it early March of junior year.
eta: Our school gave the preACT 1 week into sophomore year this past year. My kid barely put in any effort. I wasnt shocked his scores ranged from 25-32.
Hi everyone - just introducing myself. Iām the mom of two daughters - a rising junior (class of '23) and a rising 6th grader. Weāre just starting to look at schools with the oldest, but itās a pretty open field at this point. Our biggest issue is that our daughter has strong stats but is undecided because sheās interested in a lot of things. Sheās a really great visual artist, but leans towards illustration/digital and character development, rather than traditional studio art. Sheās also really strong in math and science, loves writing fiction, and has been known to say āWell, psychology sounds interestingā¦ā Weāre in the northeast, the Jersey side of Philly, and she doesnāt think she wants to go too far - but New England, or Western PA, MD or VA probably arenāt out of the running.
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Hi! I donāt really plan on participating too much on this thread because my junior wonāt be a high stats kid, but I enjoy reading. I just wanted to say hi as a I am also in the Jersey side of Philly and have one in Rutgers Camden and another at Rowan because of phenomenal merit and financial aid offers that should get them through without debt. So far Iām more of a fan of Rowan. The honors program is great. My oldest went to Elizabethtown which I loved for the personal attention, but Rowan comes pretty close, despite being a much bigger school.
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Hi there! I was a high school teacher around here for 8 years and I was always really impressed with my colleagues who had graduated from Rowan. I think they do a great job ādown there!ā (Itās down there to me, because Iām right around the corner from the Cherry Hill Mall!)
My kid isnāt high stats either. Kids with less than a 3.5 can go to college too. 
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I agree!