<p>1moremom:</p>
<p>It amounted to “Dors bien, fais de beaux reves, a demain matin.” But apparently, the Spanish teacher used to make references to French all the time. Maybe that’s why he did not test out of foreign languages through Spanish, on which he scored a measly 10 points above French after 4 years of Spanish and none of French? Still blinking…</p>
<p>My kids both tested out of Spanish when they took placement tests during orientation at their respective schools despite getting scores similar to your son’s on the Spanish SAT 2. I maintain there is something weird about those language SAT 2s.</p>
<p>Well, S did not place out using Spanish. Maybe Latin is more rigorous but its placement test less so? Very strange indeed.</p>
<p>Just weighing in as mom of girl in college with a boy in high school. Girl in college absolutely does email me almost every day to chat. How were first classes, how goes it with humidity, please send money…(Am in China, IM and phone not possible). Boy, whom I call most days at home in CA, has this exact conversation with me. </p>
<p>“Hi buddy.”
“Hi Mom.”
“Whatcha doing?”
“Uh, nothing.”
“Studying?”
“Uhuh.”
“Any plans for the weekend?”
“Not really.”
“Anything else to report?”
“Umm, no, not really.”
“School OK?”
“Yeah, I mean, I guess so.”
“OK honey, well, bye.”
“Bye Mom.”</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Another possibility: some people are very visual learners (as opposed to auditory.) I would assume that the placement test for modern languages would have a listening comprehension component as well as a reading/writing component. However, the placement test for an ancient language like Latin would be entirely a reading/writing test.</p>
<p>So the Latin placement test might have been essentially as rigorous and demanding as the Spanish test, but a visual learner might have an easier time with the Latin test, while an auditory learner might have a relatively easier time demonstrating his mastery of the language on a Spanish test.</p>
<p>Since your son is exceptionally strong in mathematics, I’m guessing that he is likely to be strongly visual in his learning style and also comfortable with the logical/symbolic/analytical skills necessary for Latin.</p>
<p>Texas137 - Congratulations to your son! Testing out of that chemistry class is quite an accomplishment. My son said last year over half the kids walked out long before it was over. He stuck it out, just to see how bad it was. It was bad. He took the class from Sadaway (spelling?) and enjoyed it, so it all worked out.</p>
<p>He also did fine with the grammar part of Latin, but never got the hang of translating it. He said his brain just didn’t work that way.</p>
<p>Wow yeah, texas137, quite the accomplishment, please tell him we’re all impressed! My son has Sadoway’s solid state chem now and seems to be digging it just fine. I was informed in AIM today that his schedule is now “perfect”, and when I hinted that the (expensive) photographic tripod is pretty heavy and might not come in the box I’m posting tomorrow, I was treated to:</p>
<p>!! =[</p>
<p>Which apparently is a frowny face following a moment of astonishment.</p>
<p>See? I’m learning a new language in AIM this year. (Similar to, yet different from, the 
icons with which I am familiar.) I wonder if there are any placement tests for this one? ;)</p>
<p>This whole thread is so comforting! I’d been afraid I was the only mom whose conversations with her son was like extracting teeth!</p>
<p>Wisteria:</p>
<p>I had not thought of this possibility. I don’t know what the test was like but will ask.</p>
<p>I am taking a step into “feeling the pain” of moms of daughters after hearing from a friend yesterday. Her freshman D called her at 2:10 am to share “more information than she [mom] wanted to know.” As she put it, “Nothing horrible, but enough to prevent sleep for the rest of the night.” And, as she also said, “those monosyllabic boy conversations sound pretty good right now.” Amen to that.</p>
<p>Wait, did I just say amen to the monosyllables? jmmom, you really MUSt get a grip. :eek:</p>
<p>Marite, join the club. My youngest will talk for hours about football or something, but anything personal stays locked inside. He was at camp for 3 weeks last summer. I got one phone call, and will relay it word for word.<br>
Hello.
Mom, did you get my score? (SAT II)
Yes, it came yester (I was cut off here)
What was it?
Score given. Congratula (cut off again).
Can’t talk. Thanks. Bye</p>
<p>At least he said thanks.</p>
<p>This summer he was gone for 5 weeks. First phone call was to ask me to send his soccer stuff. Less than 30 seconds.
Second and last phone call was to tell me not to bother with his cleats, just his shin guards. Left on answering machine.
One email from him, in response to a long newsy one I sent. In it’s entirety: “Camp’s good. Gotta go.”<br>
But at least I knew he was happy. I managed to pull some of the details out of him when he got home.</p>
<p>My older one is a little more communicative, but certainly not effusive.<br>
He does have a friend who loves to talk. He’ll talk to me for a half hour or more when he calls, catching me up on the minutia of his life before he even asks for my son. But he’s the only male (including my H and my dad) who does this.</p>
<p>What I hate is that any time I ask a question, which I am compelled to do since rarely is anything volunteered, I am accused of “grilling” them.</p>
<p>Re: grilling – yes, and I know I’ve gone too far in AIM if the response is:</p>
<p>DUDE</p>
<p>This thread is making my day - what a riot! Yes, Marite - I agree that it’s comforting to know our curt conversations seem to be “the norm”!</p>
<p>Dear Moms,</p>
<p>Mothering sons is like whistling in the dark. I think conversations with S1 are good only if he has gotten a miraculous amount of sleep the night before (rarely happens that he sleeps more than a few hours) and whether or not he chooses the time to call. The oddest thing about phone calls from him is that he doesn’t seem to know how to end them. They kinda fizzle out and I have to be the one to say, well, I hope you are doing well, see ya, and he sounds sorta hurt that I am ending the “conversation.” DD at least sends newsy emails.</p>
<p>And S2, who is still in the house, is like an explosion waiting to happen.
YIKES. Good thing DH likes to talk to me.</p>
<p>momofthree:
</p>
<p>I had a good laugh at that! Very familiar.</p>
<p>He really only calls if there is a problem (computer broken, etc) and then it’s not clear how to hang up. (Of course I could keep asking him questions for hours, but I try to restrain myself. I keep hoping he’ll bring something up…)</p>
<p>Thank you all. My S has often reminded me how females use so many more words per day than males. I do wish I had more feel for the day-to-day routine</p>
<p>Yeah, sounds like most of us have pretty “cryptic” sons. My son has always been pretty quiet about how he FEELS. I can pick up when he really HATES something, but not much else. He does talk more with his sister & his dad, but rarely about his feelings. He sometimes tells some things to his cousin (same age, also a senior in HS).</p>
<p>When we visited colleges, they were “all beautiful & fine.” I expect he’ll continue to be pretty enigmatic. I’m glad he seems to adjust to different settings pretty well–changing elementary schools, various summer programs, different HS, etc. </p>
<p>He loves to PM his friends, but don’t know how much he’ll keep in touch wiht us. Maybe he’ll PM sister (two years younger), so she can tell us how he’s doing when he leaves for college in the fall.</p>
<p>My daughter on the other hand, is MUCH more vocal about how she feels & sometimes has a tougher transition than son, academically & sometimes socially. Everyone I’ve spoken with has mentioned their sons tend to be much quieter about feelings than their daughters. Societal?</p>
<p>This is one area where I will totally acknowledge the differences.</p>
<p>My 22 year old D regals me with those TMI conversations that keep you up late at night fretting.</p>
<p>My S – today, I called him after no contact for more than a week. Just like everyone says, it’s me asking questions, him giving short answers.</p>
<p>then, he says, “wait, there is something…”</p>
<p>Me (wow, he wants to talk): “sure, go ahead”</p>
<p>S: “Could you transfer more money into my Flex account?”</p>
<p>Ah, sure kid, glad we had that little chat.</p>
<p>Actually, my brothers are rather like this too & when I used to call home when I was in college, my dad would answe wtih, “Your mom’s not home. Do you need money?” I would try to talk & get very short answers & finally give up in frustration. They did read my letters, so I wrote often.
They have always been very nervous about pricey phone bills (tho I paid them out of my earnings & they never were high at all). Now with the Costco phone ards & free long distance, they’re finally a bit more relaxed about long distance calls. Still tough to get my dad to talk about much & easy for us to get mom to talk.
I think it’s partly societal gender differences, but have no “proof.”</p>