<p>If anyone is getting discouraged about all the superlatives on this thread, just send me a PM and my rocky road will make you feel better!<br>
I will note that not only are my two kids not best friends, I think it is only recently that they can even STAND each other. Even saying they “begrudgingly respect each other” might be going too far. :)</p>
<p>Well, about my kids, S#1 is a junior at a small college in CA. So far, so good.
This summer, when I was picking him up from work one day, his boss came out to “congratulate” me on “this wonderful young man” my “excellent son,” in whom he had “full confidence.” I blushed. Wonderful pianist–all Chopin, all the time. D#1 is a senior this year. She is homeschooled, (attends school part-time), competes in figure skating. Excellent student. Beautiful, mature, serious, helpful. Wants to be a dentist and just got a job at a dentist’s office. Working on college apps. What will I do without her next year?
S#2 is in 9th grade and was homeschooled until a couple weeks ago. He is keeping up with a crazy schedule and getting As so far. This kid is so hard-working, reliable and obedient at home–very quiet, neat, organized, a puzzle fanatic (crosswords, sudoku, etc.) He plays piano and is just so adorable everyone wants to pinch his cheeks! S#3 is in 7th grade, very witty, dramatic, quiz bowl MVP. No patience for piano, a slob --“Oscar” to S#2’s “Felix.” Makes everyone laugh, but shirks all physical labor. D#2 is a 4th grader. So excited about having her first viola lesson today! This is the happiest kid on earth, sunny outlook on everything. Sociable, popular. Wonderful big sister. Hugs me every day. D#3 is in 1st grade. She wakes up angry and bosses everyone around. She loves to sing, though, and has naturally curly hair. She is having a bit of trouble learning how to read. I was so excited last night when she ran up to me holding a book and announced, “I can read! I CAN READ THIS!!” I thought it was a big breakthrough–until I saw she was holding a book of nursery rhymes that she already had memorized. . .but I let her “read” it to me anyway. D#4 is 3, almost 4 and has been practicing cutting her own hair. She has a very cute lisp/stuttering problem and an imaginary friend. . .</p>
<p>Mine were not the ones who at an early age displayed “impressive” intelligence. Rather they displayed “impressive” levels of naughtiness. The five of them are all pretty close in age, year to year and a half apart (GBGBB) and were close as little ones and still remain very close today. I think of all the things they have done and accomplished their closeness is my pride and joy.</p>
<p>As a single mom I hoped every day they would come home and not give me horrible news of what the other did that day. Sometimes it was horrific but we always managed to pull through. We moved across the country (think Grapes of Wrath) and I know I could not have done it without all their help. They manage to pick up the pieces when I least expect them to.</p>
<p>I would like to think that maybe other posters might read this and realize that even though it can be really hard when they are young and I swear some were so awful that I didn’t know where they would end up, it did get better. </p>
<p>One son is at an ivy having the time of his life studying subjects he never dreamed of (summer research at Harvard med), the other is a midshipman as a aero engineering major flew helos this past summer, middle daughter is a college senior graduating with high honors and looking at med schools, oldest a surgical nurse planning on vet school and youngest a senior that I HOPE will graduate.</p>
<p>Never thought I would get this far or be so happy for them.</p>
<p>Of course I would be happier if they came HOME for grad school. That is why we moved 3000 miles away!!! Middle daughter ended up at Nationals for her sport last year and has managed to do great research 2500+ miles away from me…I swear she used to need me attending practice daily…well, at least that is what she said.</p>
<p>Of course, they all managed to still argue and antagonize each other from thousands of miles away and pull me into it. You’d think I would have learned by now. </p>
<p>Son that graduated val from hs, attends an ivy with outside scholarships and has done great research managed to get himself expelled from preschool.</p>
<p>And kindergarten.</p>
<p>And first grade.</p>
<p>It got worse before it got better. But it did. And we are where we are today, okay. And some days way better than okay. When my other son called and said he flew the helo (he dreams of jets) from the carrier I thought maybe everything will work itself out. Same dreams as when they were little, just a crazy path to get there.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>^^ Great post and what an exciting path you all have taken!
Maybe we should start a thread for everyone whose kids have been expelled from schools? (raises hand…)</p>
<p>Today…I’m just happy ldboy made 3rd chair out of 35 percussionists. The little sophomore beat all the juniors and seniors including the drum captain on snare and gets to rock a four mallet audition (his strength) next week. Director says he is performing at region band level and we still have 6 weeks until UIL. (I’m getting stars in my eyes thinking he might go the distance to State…okay…snapping out it.)</p>
<p>He really struggled his freshman year. He’s an exceptional musician, popular with his peers…but quiet and passive. We found faculty seemed to be just writing him off because he wasn’t aggressive. He has a wonderful private instructor who is a timpanist with the Houston Ballet and Austin and SA symphonies and she has really taught him how to be confident in his abilities. And boy, is he showing them all.</p>
<p>ldgirl, of course, continues in her overachieving, gregarious, ‘rule the world’ ways. Nothing she does surprises us.</p>
<p>D1: Full ride; very accomplished as an undergrad; almost finished with her first graduate degree. </p>
<p>D2: Full ride; great musician; off to a wonderful start in undergrad</p>
<p>D3: Self taught and fluent in Chinese; founded a Mandarin Club and persuaded her HS to offer Chinese language classes- her school will be the the first in our part of the state; currently using her contacts to help them identify instructors; very promising musician.</p>
<p>katwkittens,</p>
<p>I thought my brother was the only child ever to be kicked out of preschool. Who knew?</p>
<p>^^ WildChild was kicked out of preschool, too.</p>
<p>D1 was kicked out of a montessori school for biting a kid who took cuts in front of her in the line.She drew blood - she was out. Not an auspicious start. She was also rejected the first time she was tested for the public school gifted program back in elementary school. Her handwriting was bad. She couldn’t spell. Was lousy with math facts. And held her pencil funny. Did not get placed in the honors track when she came into her private high school - tested too low on the placement exams.</p>
<p>I’m a very big believer that when they tell you “No” it’s just the start of the journey.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree mammall. When we moved into a new upscale community years ago from the inner city it was decided, soley on the basis of our previous address, that D1 did not have the academic pedigree to keep up with her new peers. They asked me to agree to hold her back a year for her own well-being. They went on to tell me how advanced the other students were because their parents were engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc. I have no idea what they assumed I did for a living, but obviously they believed it was something less than the community standards. </p>
<p>I demanded for them to support their beliefs and refused to let them hold her back. They sort of threw up their hands as if to say, “okay, guess you’ll learn the hard way.” D never missed a step, never had a problem. She scored in the highest percentiles on a standardized test they administered at the end of the year. When they got the results they had the nerve to tell me what a good job THEY had done getting her up to speed. Just remembering that still makes me angry to this very day.</p>
<p>My 1 and only is 14. He just started 9th grade, and was accepted into his school’s I.B. program. He tells me he loves high school, and seems to be enjoying all of the “way better than Middle School” lunches. 
So far, (and this is only week 3 of 9th grade), he has joined the Anime Club, (he confirmed that it’s def. a social club), Forensics, and HOSA. He plays violin in his school’s orchestra, and was chosen to be in the county’s Middle School Orchestra last year, as well as the Eastern Region of our state’s Middle and High School orchestra. He tells me he plans on trying out for similar groups this year too. This will be his 3rd year participating in MSEN/Saturday Academy Program. He is also a Boy Scout. He is a very easy going young man. A relative of ours told me he is a “simple guy”. Yes, it does not take too much to make him happy, and because he asks for so little, I try my best to give him his desires. I, too, am a single Mom.</p>
<p>I guess I can brag a bit about my kid here. Her accomplishments didn’t seem so spectacularly stellar until I saw MomofWildChild’s post inviting PMs. When she was moved to an upscale community in 4th grade she was 2 years behind academically and needed private tutoring to catch up. She graduated with an IB diploma, top 10%, 4.88 weighted GPA on a 4.0 scale, 3.89 unweighted, and is now loving life at her top 30 LAC. </p>
<p>There is a family wedding tomorrow in a town half way between her college and home. When asked if she wanted to come “home” for the rest of the weekend she said “Of course I want to go home…back to school!”</p>
<p>My college junior daughter called me yesterday because she had moral dilemma and she “knew” I had the right answer. I basically told her I would exactly the same things she was doing or planning to do.</p>
<p>The boy is a second year grad student and he is off the payroll!</p>
<p>Not much elso but health to ask for…</p>
<p>My son could not tie his shoes in kindergarten.</p>
<p>He acheived “Perfect Paper” on the National Latin Exam…four years in a row.</p>
<p>Still not so hot at tying shoes.</p>
<p>^ lol - neither of my daughters can tie their shoes - they tie them once through painstaking effort, then leave them tied, slipping them on and off without retying until the shoes wear out.</p>
<p>I’m very happy to have heard and learned about your kids. We all talk so often but know so little about one another (just basic stuff). Sometimes it helps to understand ones viewpoint when you understand more about their life. I’m just so amazed at the accomplishments of these kids…It looks like we have all sent our kids on the path. Now we just have to wait for inevitable detours! lol</p>
<p>Brag for the day:<br>
DS, a very busy junior at a LAC about an hour plus from home heard from my DH that his grandma was in the hospital yesterday and that I would be with her for a few days. “Dad, if there is anything I can do to help, I can be home in an hour. Let me know if you need me for anything.”
That’s my boy.</p>
<p>D scored a hat trick (3 goals) at the last high school varsity soccer game against their toughest competition to date. :D</p>
<p>And who said hockey moms have all the fun? ;)</p>
<p>( I missed the game, but Dad was there. My turn tonight.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>From one soccermom to another, I know what an accomplishment that is. Congratulations to her! </p>
<p>pmrlcomm, I agree with you. I always enjoy learning more about people, whether it’s face to face, or online. It’s so easy to get caught up in the ‘stuff’ that’s on the surface here on CC, particularly in the political threads, and I admit that I’m guilty of doing this, too. I have a feeling that we’d all get along much better if we were having our discussions sitting around my kitchen table with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, rather than sitting in front of our computers in different states and countries. :)</p>
<p>My parents got so frustrated that they locked me on the porch until I tied my shoes. Guess what: all of a sudden I figured it out.</p>
<p>D was HS valedictorian with straight "A"s all four years in a Gifted HS program. She is currently a college junior, persuing a visual arts BFA, with a concentration in Fiber Arts.</p>
<p>S is a high school Soph at the same Creative and Performing Arts HS that his sister attended, with a focus on drama, the subject not the lifestyle. He is a free spirit, gets "A"s and "B"s, with the occasional “C” to keep his parents activley involved in his education. Not as driven as his sister, but more affectionate (still King of Hugs) and quick to find humor in situations.</p>
<p>If only there were scholarships for Rock Band and Guitar Hero…</p>