That’s awesome, I may steal that!
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Helping give good info to freshman parents on the freshman board!
FYI for the rest of you who may not know her from the other threads, this is another parent with a decent amount of experience who over researches everything (meant respectfully, smiles2122). So a good source to listen to.
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Our experience too, with S21. But I think it’s given me a better perspective. Kid didn’t have a ton of options, but he’s super happy now and finding good opportunities where he is. So fit is important. And finding Safeties your kid loves.
I’m not sure what really matters. Test scores noone cares about? Inflated grades? Rigorous AP schedules (ours offer none)? Convincing essays (probably)?
Im just going to encourage my kid to follow her bliss and I’ll back off on all the rest. Hopefully she’ll find her voice and be able to tell her story well in a couple of years.
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I love your outlook. 2021 definitely shifted our perspective too. I wholeheartedly agree to search for safeties that the kids are excited about.
I’m trying really hard let my S25 carve his own path and I’ll be on hand to support and encourage him when needed. We’ve already discussed that he doesn’t need to take the most rigorous path in every subject for the sake of it and burning out in the process. I think it’s going to be a mix of rigor depending on what he is more interested in. Right now that appears to be the English and History courses and possibly his foreign language.
D21’s high school experience left a lot to be desired. No time to relax, socialize or sleep, including weekends. It was pretty sad looking back on it. Then adding the nightmare of that college application season, it gave us a lot to reflect on. Thankfully, she’s having a wonderful freshman year in college. She has found balance, finally.
I’d say the biggest thing on our plate right now is trying to find the right medication for his ADHD. He tried meds in elementary school but he could not tolerate the side effects. Since high school has started it’s become clear to him and to me that we need to reconsider trying for different meds. I know if we can find the right one things will dramatically improve for him. I hope the process doesn’t take too long.
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D25 is booked for a summer program at Cal Berkeley (we live in San Francisco). It’s the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC), she’ll be in the Psychology and Neuroscience camp specifically. Nothing prestigious or anything. Instead, a chance to explore a possible area of interest.
With S22 it was clear early on where his interests were going to take him. With D25, there’s going to be more exploration to see what she lands on.
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That camp sounds amazing and great way to learn about different sciences! My D did a music camp (also not prestigious) a couple years ago and loved it. The pandemic kept her away but they announced they’re having it again this summer. I hope she decides to go. How long is your camp? The one near us is 4 nights but being on the east coast there are a bunch with all different ranges of length and difficulty for admission.
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Camp goes for 9 days. They hear lectures, try their own diagnoses, visit medical facilities, and have hands-on workshops (brain dissection!). Plus social activities and trips out and about. The days run from 9:00 am to 10:15 pm.
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That camp sounds amazing! I tried to talk S into a camp this year, and he was having none of it. Right now the plan for the summer is a week with grandparents in San Antonio, skeet practice two afternoons a week all summer, two weeks of 1/2 day band camp, a 10 day trip to Alaska, and a skeet competition (or whatever they call it) at the end of the summer. And hopefully his brain won’t atrophy from all the video games I anticipate he’ll be playing in between things.
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My younger daughter is HS class of 2025(elder one is a senior, so just have been through the application process but each one is different). She is interested to take an elective (journalism 1) which she is really interested in but that makes her take foreign language 3 outside of school. The school does not report outside course through school transcript. Does anyone have input if this is a good plan and how does colleges see it? Also is there any recommendation of outside high school Spanish class (possibly virtual) that you have? Thanks a ton in advance!
If your kid’s school doesn’t report outside grades, you’ll end up sending two transcripts.
As for online language instruction, it depends. There’s some very good options out there, but if your kid isn’t the sort who does well in online courses, foreign language is arguably the hardest subject to take in that modality, generally speaking.
Thank you so much. Agree - it will be hard to do online but they have been doing it for a year or more in the lockdown and so far did ok. Can you please point me to the good online foreign language class? Additionally I just found out the class her school offers is a dual enrollment class, so it may be just better to take at school.
If you happen to live in Southern California Method school is who my daughter used for Spanish 3 and it was actually very easy for her. Since it’s a charter school it was also free which was a nice perk.
My school district contracts out with the University of Nebraska’s online high school for foreign language classes, at no additional cost to students’ families. Many families opt instead for Brigham Young University’s high school foreign language courses, because despite the cost (not terribly high, I am told, though I haven’t checked) they have a really good reputation and they have a much wider range of languages to choose from. IIRC you were looking for Spanish, though, and both of those should have that.
D is looking at possibly doing a summer camp for sports medicine. Does anyone know of a good program? Not sure it will work with her club sports schedule, but thought I would at least look into it.
Hi, just joining in. D25 is the last of three kids and my only daughter. Siblings are happily at 2 LACs, so we’re leaning that way for her as well, but we’ll see. Thanks for starting this thread; it feels early but the landscape is changing so much that I feel I need the company.
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Most schools send a school profile to
Colleges that explain their grading scale so colleges are aware that schools grade differently and do theme that into consideration
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My freshman is. undecided between photography, ceramics & art for fine arts. Can you share your experiences and thoughts on this. Thank you!
My daughter wanted the digital design elective and put it as her #1 choice after concert band. They put her in her #5 choice which is intro to drawing, she’s not happy with it and tried to find an alternative. She’s accepted it and just goes along with it now. So no matter which one your child wants there’s a real chance she’ll not get it depending on her other classes. Can she choose all of them and just number them in order? For next year her #1 is again digital design but her #5 is ceramics. She would be more ok with pottery than basic drawing or intermediate art/drawing. For what it’s worth, if she were to stick with fine art which drawing is part of she could develop her portfolio and take the AP art class junior or senior year if she wants to submit it during college applications.
Thank you! I want to know how easy or difficult these classes are. My daughter wants to get take easiest fine art course.
I guess it would depend on her abilities. My daughter is an artist already and the intro drawing class is way below her skills so the teacher has her do more intense work. If your daughter just wants easy maybe it’d be better to look for a different elective that’s interesting to her. There’s probably a bunch of non art related courses. Our school offers things like culinary, music, forensics, criminal justice, automotive, wood working, child care, health science, etc. Is she taking foreign language?