<p>D came home last night and told me a rather sad story. Almost every senior at her HS looks forward to their last homecoming dance. D’s friend was delighted when she got an invitation from a sweet nerdy boy and promptly said “yes” to the invite. However, her mom prohibited her from going to the dance. The reason? She needs to study for her last chance SATs to bump her score a few more points (D said her score was “HYPS-worthy”). The test is a week after the dance…</p>
<p>That is really sad. I’m sorry for your D’s friend. There are some events in high school that you never get a “do over” on. I hope the girl’s mother will change her mind. </p>
<p>My S2 is enjoying his senior year to the max. I can say without a doubt he’s having the most fun of any of the past high school years. His last year on the football team is turning out to be the best in school history. His college apps. are in. His classes are going OK. He and his friends always have something going on. In short he is the happiest I can ever remember him being. He is not a top notch student but never has been in that eschelon so there is no big pressure. He has applied early to the state u’s he is interested in so now is just waiting and enjoying being a senior.</p>
<p>S1 ( who was a top student and now a college jr) had pretty much the same type senior year…as much fun as he could pack into the last hurrah of high school.</p>
<p>Not very happy here; d hates her classes and her teachers…hopefully will get better after midterms and when (hopefully) acceptances start coming in so she can relax!</p>
<p>*S1 ( who was a top student and now a college jr) had pretty much the same type senior year…as much fun as he could pack into the last hurrah of high school.
*</p>
<p>that seems to be what D2 is doing.
I haven’t heard anything about her going to the homecoming dance this week, but she attends most of them- at her school kids usually go as a group, which suits her pretty well-
Both my kids are young for their age, and it took them a year or two to really start participating in the bulk of the offerings.
D1 for example, didn’t start in vocal till senior year, but she was good enough that she sang a solo at graduation and she did very well- her paternal grandparents who are normally ohsocritical, even thought she should go pro 
She also waited till junior year to do a big school trip and senior year to join a sports team- however, she had been in yearly musicals, which she enjoyed.</p>
<p>D2 is participating in a Global Technology Academy this year for the first time, fixing computers and taking them to Ghana midwinter break.
In fact today they will be on a local television program in hopes to get publicity( funds) for their work as well as touring Microsoft in the afternoon to give the kids a chance to see the campus and perhaps inspiring Microsoft into sponsoring them.</p>
<p>She seems more relaxed this year ( maybe too relaxed?), she is taking an outside Swedish class for fun, although she is planning on getting a job after fall qtr which should help with Ghana expenses, but just as long as it doesn’t take too much time away from school work.
Since she is taking a year off, I expect she is more casual about getting her applications in than her friends.</p>
<p>She saw her sister really bloom after taking a year off and finding a school that was a good fit, so I think she has a better perspective than some students who may be pretty apprehensive about leaving their friends</p>
<p>Yes, S is enjoying senior year. He likes his classes - and is only taking 6 this year instead of the 7 last year. His soccer team is doing well and he has joined an improvisational theater group at school. Given that he is shy by nature it’s a huge step for him and one that he took of his own volition.</p>
<p>He has more friends this year, is more confident, and it is great to see. Late bloomers and all that.</p>
<p>My d. is so exhausted that I fear for her health. Very tough classes with a lot of work, worried sick about the college applications she has no time to do, and spending every weekend studying for SAT re-take, doing a lot of practice tests, etc. (this is NOT to try to get 2400!) I am sad that her last year with us is so stressful. Would love to have time to do nothing with her, but it’s not happening.</p>
<p>My D fluctuates from extremely happy and relaxed to “I’m too cool for school” every other day (very annoying!). She has a much lighter course load than in junior year (just AP Art and AP Spanish, regular English and government and then TA for Art, which just allows her to spend even more time doing her artwork). Still swimming 8 workouts a week. She retook the ACT in September and improved her score (dramatically on the writing portion), and she took her SAT2’s earlier this month, so test anxiety is over. So you would think she would be enjoying her reduced workload, but she’s just sort of snotty about everything. Doesn’t want to do her chores, doesn’t want to do homework, doesn’t think Mom and Dad know all that much anymore. Part of it is that she has many friends who are in their first year of college now, and their attitude (via MySpace and Facebook, I guess) is that high school is so yesterday. So, I think she’s picking up on that. But then she’s not pining away to start college either. It’s sort of a awkward place for her right now, I guess. I hope it’s just a phase because I would hate for her to not really dive into senior year and get the most out of it. She still has a lot (like 10 or more) of friends in her grade and has gone all the way from kindergarten through 12th with many of the same kids, and it would be great if she could settle down and just enjoy their last year together and not roll her eyes at high school.</p>
<p>Ha! My son has been rolling his eyes at high school for 3 years now…Finally he seems to be grudgingly admitting that it has some good points:). He is still, of course, rolling his eyes at his mother. But I will say, not even close to as much as his sister did.</p>
<p>Bunsenburner, what a sad story. Some parents need to get their priorities straight. She won’t let her go to a dance a WEEK before the SATs?? Is she going to be over her daughter’s shoulder telling her when and how much to study in college next year? Geez.</p>
<p>Not a good year for my son! His senior class has 50 boys and 30 girls. The boys are tired of the girls (or tired of fighting over them) so most went stag to homecoming. DS’s number one priority in a college is lots of girls! </p>
<p>Spraining his ankle in football kept him out of two games. He came home yesterday and announced that impetigo is spreading around the school, including several football players. Just great!!</p>
<p>He had the lead in last year’s musical, but didn’t even get a part this year.</p>
<p>Things have got to get better, right?!!</p>
<p>Forget what I said about getting better. DS just came home from lunch saying he did something really stupid during his calculus test. He had written some formulas on a little slip of paper and taped it to the inside cover of his calculator to help with homework when he was first learning the formulas. After each test, students have to bring the calculator to the the teacher so she can clear it and that’s when she saw the formulas. He volunteered to take the test again, but the teacher said she needed a day to think about it. She did comment that he is one of her best students and knew he did his homework every day. He’ll be very lucky if she lets him get by. This was a valuable lesson for him.</p>
<p>toledo, when it rains it pours. Hopefully your son’s streak of bad luck is coming to an end!</p>
<p>Take heart Toledo, this too shall pass. Notice I said this was my sr. S’s happiest year yet? It’s only because jr. year seemed to be a minefield of disasters for him. One thing after another… I thought it would never end but it seemingly has for now anyway (knock on wood). Hopefully, it will pass for your S too. There’s still a lot of time left in Sr. year.</p>
<p>My son is loving it! School comes so easy that is is almost a game to him.
looking forward to a challenge in college!!!
He goes to a small school too… around 200 and all the guys are doing the single thing this year.</p>
<p>I feel badly that we didn’t know that it would be this stressful. We sort of promised Junior year would be the toughest, but now theres applications and decisions to deal with. Most days are okay, and she has the right priorities even when they are not ours, but she is coming to grips with things like missing out on “Country Fair” to travel across country to visit a college. She was selected to participate for a program at Smith College, all expenses paid. DAd told her not to talk about it, so friends won’t know why she’s not there. She has gone to the same country fair, at the same small school for 13 years, but this is her senior one! I sort of feel bad that it may not get any better from here. My college days were great, but I just don’t know anymore.</p>
<p>My son is not enjoying senior year so far. He has a bad case of senioritis… just wants to get out of there and move on with his life. Which makes me sad.</p>
<p>He’s also quite stressed out, and I am thankful that he got all his college apps done already, so he doesn’t have that hanging over his head any longer.</p>
<p>I hope he will calm down and enjoy what’s left of his senior year, but nobody can do it for him.</p>
<p>(Although, last night he was uncharacteristically excited because his “stock market portfolio” went up by 14% and he was ahead of everyone else in his Economics class. Unfortunately, we adults in the big wide world know how a big gain one day can turn into a big loss the next.)</p>
<p>DS is definitely enjoying senior year. Everything he’s worked on for the past few years has come to fruition, and it’s a sweet, sweet time. Knows where he wants to be and who he is. He planned for his courseload to be somewhat lighter this fall so he could get other projects/apps done, and is looking forward to next semester, which should be challenging but fun.</p>
<p>Bittersweet for my D. Her fall sport is about to go to the state meet, where they are favored to win for the third year in a row. This is the winding down of 4 years of hard work, unparalleled friendships, and moments of triumph. She’s taking too many AP’s (6), but couldn’t be talked down. Tried to get her to drop Calc, but she said it was the “fun” one. This weekend she files her app to the college of her dreams. Once it’s in the virtual “mail” then a big sigh of relief, and anticipation of good news (she’s an eternal optimist.) It’s hard for us to see all the “lasts”: Homecoming, big meets, even the first day of school, when, yes, I made her stand on the front porch for a picture. </p>
<p>Thank goodness I have more chicks, but this is the first, and I wasn’t prepared for how much we’d come to like her as an adult and how much I know we’ll miss her when she’s gone.</p>