Parents of the HS Class of 2013 - Page 5

Kelowna · 10-22-2009, 01:10 AM

I have a musical theater kid, but she is only in 7th grade and thus not belong on this thread

My freshman is doing very well ( no surprise here) , quater ends next week BUT he is feeling sick tonigh and with the flu (you know what kind) spreading here, I don't know if he will go to school tomorrow or not??? He is adamant he is going, feels like he can't miss a day - probably not that sick yet

For those that have electronic access to grades - don't you think it is a blessing and a curse at the same time? Especially close to the end of the term? I keep checking like crazy...

DS started a film class tonight, his passion. With this new activity twice a week the next two months are going to be interesting (read exhausting).

Question - is your freshman working harder than last year? I am a little surprised, a little worried, a little shocked but I must say that mine is not! He has homework, but not too much (yes, I know, he utilizes his time really well on the public transit - almost an hour each way) but he must be just getting a lot from the classroom lecture/discussion because he is sure not studying at home...

Longhaul · 10-22-2009, 01:22 AM

Kelowna

Working harder than last year?

Hmmm - Difficult to say. He has many more late nights, but the ECs are running much later than last year. He is exhausted before he even begins his homework. And an ADD kid - so by night he has had it. I can't get a handle on it -- Is it more work or is he just partially focused?

I can say Bio is kicking his butt. This certainly isn't the Bio I had in school.

We don't get grades/conferences until Thanksgiving. I very much want to call a few of his teachers & "check in" but he is adament to handle himself. I'm trying to not micro-manage. We do not have access to on-line grades.

historymom · 10-22-2009, 02:16 AM

All you parents of new frosh
are excited but my gosh
can we please just let them chill
enjoy these years before the mill
of testing, ECs, GPAs
CS projects our new greys?
Right now they need to find their way
Enjoy the start of each new day
Senior year comes far too soon
They'll get surly you'll be a loon
Don't rush it friends
Enjoy their ride
Lay back, swim with the coming tide
Guide their course choice but not much more
keep quiet on the college score
Start too soon they will rebel
And Sr. year will sure be...unpleasant

mamabear1234 · 10-22-2009, 02:56 PM

My freshman is working very hard, but she is playing a sport too, which cuts her time way down. I'm so glad the last game is tonight! But then she has 2 weeks to get a song together to audition for the musical. It's quite competitive, so I think her chances of getting in are about 50-50. The largest amount of homework is social studies, with lots of reading, research, and essays. She finds it interesting, just very time consuming. Historymom, I would be happy to let her chill - she wants to do it all, so I think this is the time for her to discover what she can handle and still maintain satisfactory (to her) grades. Of course, anything less than an A is not satisfactory to her.

Our ability to look at grades at home is finally working. We like it - the kids ask me to check sometimes to see if a grade is in there before they get the paper or test back, and my son doesn't tell me much, so I can see how he is doing.

toledo · 10-22-2009, 03:26 PM

I can't believe this thread has started so early. My baby is in this class. He's following his big brother (college sophomore) and big sister (high school senior). Unfortunately, grades haven't been real important to him in the past, and to quote him, "Grades don't count until I'm in high school." Sports are very important to him and he thinks he wants to run cross-country in college. This will be an interesting adventure.

PaperChaserPop · 10-22-2009, 03:29 PM

DS2 lost the student senate race

. He thought he had it in the bag. He was surprised by the large number of kids running for the seats. The loss is a good lesson for him to actually RUN for an election in the future, and not take anything for granted.

Now, he needs to prepare for the national K-12 chess championship. DS2 and three other 9th graders from his school will be making the trip to Dallas in December to compete for both individual and team championships. The competition will be intense, but I think they have a fair shot at the team title.

Rachacha · 10-22-2009, 03:45 PM

Couple of questions - is my D2 the only freshman kid on the board here who has NOT had a meeting with her/his GC yet? I don't think the GC would recognize her if he passed her in the hall. I know they have to spend most of their time & efforts with seniors and with the problem kids, but really....

For those who (like my D2) have an older sibling/siblings, is the GC the same (our school assigns them alphabetically). I posted here previously about the sibling comparison issue - I want to get that set straight with the GC, the sooner the better, that our D's are totally different people with different academic/EC interests and talents...with this guy I think it is going to be a challenge.

toledo · 10-22-2009, 04:54 PM

Sorry to hear that, paperchaserpop. I often think high school kids don't think about who would do the best job when voting.

PaperChaserPop · 10-22-2009, 06:19 PM

Rachacha, I have three in hs now. DS1 and DS2 have the same GC. DS2 hasn't met with his GC yet. I spoke with the GC recently on DS1's college apps. She mentioned that she also has DS2 assigned to her. Kids are different and I worried about comparison issue too.

Kelowna · 10-22-2009, 10:48 PM

PaperChaserPop - sorry about the senate race BUT the chess competition should be exciting! Good Luck to your DS and his team!
Rachacha - we have not met with GC either! I mean I did talk to her when DS was picking up his classes, but it was not an official meeting of "the sides" so to speak. I feel we should have one shortly though...
This is my first through HS so no comparison issues at this level to speak of...
DS is down with the flu. This is a third person in our house to be struck with it. Another sleepless night in front of me. Alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen...

mamabear1234 · 10-22-2009, 10:50 PM

Rachacha, my junior son has not ever had a one-on-one meeting with a counselor. There is a brand new counselor (no GC experience) for our section of the alphabet. My freshman doesn't really have a need for a meeting, she has a good idea of what courses she will take. I do feel bad for the juniors whose parents are not informed about the process, tests, etc. I'm not worried about comparisons by the GC, they are very obviously different kids, but my oldest did so well that the teachers ask the two youngest if she is their sister.

mnmom62 · 10-28-2009, 08:30 AM

Only reason that we've had contact with the GC is d has a 504. The prep call for that went poorly because GC is not familiar with 2E kids, just like almost everything else she apparently is not familiar with. The 504 went perfect, but the call when I had the SAT II/AP questions went sour - along with my request to have d take the PSAT as practice this year which was a no-go.

We were lucky in some ways, the Musical would have been impossible because of timing with Debate, and she was set on Debate, feeling that she gets enough of the rest at dance outside of school. She did join the select choir that she was asked to audition for and is taking a few private voice lessons through the school.

Sorry for the disappointment PaperChaserPop and hope that your son recovers quickly Kelowna. I thought that d would have a lot more anxiety and stress about the workload but since the first bad night - we've adjusted her schedule so that she doesn't have that tech class on Wednesday nights and that seems to have done the trick.

Kelowna · 10-28-2009, 11:03 AM

Back to school on Monday and taking 3 tests that same day. End of quarter is this week - it was not a good time to be sick

Longhaul · 11-02-2009, 04:38 PM

As I review my feeble bank account & need to prepare financially for my kids summer (I have 2 little ones besides the 9th grader), it occurred to me that perhaps it isn't too early for the 9th grader to start exploring career options this summer.

He is too young & unmotivated for something as serious as internership, but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have him do some web search on career stuff. Is this pushing it?

The idea came up because an old neighbor's son just changed major to Computer Science. My son had no idea what it was & what could be done with it.

If you don't think it is too pushy, any ideas as to what types of careers are outside of the "norm" sciences?

Our town pushes all the college prep kids to sciences or law. My son's private school pushes more towards humanities (English, foreign language). I just think he may be totally ignorant of all the tech jobs.

And as a final note, except for a 2 week art program and summer reading this kid did nothing last summer. I can't go through another summer of sleeping into the afternoon & intense gaming til baby brother's bed time followed by texting til the wee hours. I need him to have SOMETHING to do that has some productivity to it.

He'd do CTY classes if we had the $, but left to his own unstructured devices...

PlantMom · 11-02-2009, 05:24 PM

Here I am at college confidential again. Old habits die hard :-) My two older kids are in college, but the "baby" is well into his freshman year of high school. I can't believe this thread is here already. My class of '13 kid is a non-traditional student (homeschooling/online schooling) and taking Algebra II, Honors English I, Honors American History, Chinese II, Honors Bio, and Life Management Skills. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this year with NO college applications looming, NO AP courses, etc., etc.

Nice to meet you all before the college craziness happens!