<p>Just got S2’s report card, if things keep going like this we may have to go find ourselves an A- student thread. 85 in Latin (best grade he’s gotten yet), 87 in honors English, everything else in the 90s. Yay!</p>
<p>BarristerDad118:</p>
<p>Extended family also comes in handy if they are dispersed about the country since it give you more places to stay when visiting campuses.</p>
<p>Mathmom:</p>
<p>Congrats to S and there’s plenty of time left to lift things to get rid of that pesky minus.</p>
<p>Mathmom - nice report card!</p>
<p>BarristerDad - Enjoy your trip. We’ll be in Orlando, too. (Disney World) Shame we have to pack jackets this year. Seems no one is escaping this artic blast.</p>
<p>DougBetsy</p>
<p>I will be staying close to my sister’s home EXCEPT for a trip we are taking to the Space Center on Saturday to see the return of the Endeavor. I am looking forward to basic R & R. Have fun at Disney World; I hope the crowds are not too much out of control!</p>
<p>BarristerDad and DougBetsy - have fun on your Orlando vacations. </p>
<p>Mathmom - congrats on your son’s report card. I got my kids’ reportcards yesterday too. D’s wasn’t her best, but it was still excellent (and she’s pretty confident that she can boost the one grade that gave her a problem - AP Physics where she got a 91 UW - so not really a big deal), 7th grade S’s wasn’t great, but it was better than I thought it would be in some areas (the “specials”) - and mostly what I was expecting (in his academic subjects), since I already met with his academic teachers on conference day.</p>
<p>FindAPlace - thanks for pointing that out - about trying to enjoy this Thanksgiving as next year is likely to be a bit crazy. Does that mean that I shouldn’t encourage my D to do a practice test or two for the SAT and ACT, both of which she’ll be taking in December? I would really like her to practice - at least a little bit. :p</p>
<p>Oh, drat! I didn’t know Endeavor was landing on the 29th. We’ll miss it 'cuz that’s our return day. Pooh.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2:</p>
<p>LOL! My message was for the hard working parents to enjoy! We’re all older than our kids and have much more on our minds … like how we’re going to help them fund college in the face of a topsy turvey financial market. They “just” have to get in. True, the bar seems to keep getting higher with that “just get in.” It will be interesting if we see the class of 2010 in CA getting more focused.</p>
<p>Nah, we’ve already laid out a road map for DS of how many hours a day will be spent on school work, even though relatives are visiting. His CTY online linear algebra class is a challenge which we hope, in the end, will be worth his effort. I have to smile when I hear him talking about something which applies the concepts he’s learned.</p>
<p>FindAPlace - you’ve already figured out how many hours a day your DS will spend on school work over the break? Amazing! I don’t think I can do that! S, my 7th grader, has several projects due the week after Thanksgiving, so he’ll be busy, I’m sure. D is always busy, and I know I don’t have to worry about her and her school work. I’m a little concerned about those tests in December though. I think she’s taking them as if they’re for practice - but I’d really like for her to get them out of the way and put some effort into prepping for them - just a little!</p>
<p>Your S must be pretty motivated to take a CTY online linear algebra class? I’m glad he seems to be finding it useful.</p>
<p>S has a major APUSH research paper going, with some number of notecards due after Thanksgiving. I keep pushing him to do them now instead of next weekend, when his brothers will be home & he’ll want to hang with them.</p>
<p>And what’s up with this slew of college junk mail from places we never heard of? He must have checked off something on the PSAT that said “Yes! I want to receive glossy brochures from small, faith-based colleges in far-off states!” :D</p>
<p>I am SO glad I found this thread. I feel very connected to all of you from all corners of the country who can empathize with me. It is such a relief. We can really help each other (sorry, folks, I’m sounding maudlin!) over the next 18 months…Uh, oh! I just realized my little girl will be graduating in that short a time span. </p>
<p>Well, I suppose we will all of us be so consumed with vicarious angst, we won’t have time to fret about our juniors graduating so soon, will we?</p>
<p>No, I’m fine with an A- average. I don’t think even if he got straight 100s in AP courses he could negate his freshman and sophomore grades. It would take a miracle for him to get an A in Latin, and an A in English is only slightly more likely. He is who he is, and I’m fine with it.</p>
<p>mathmom, I agree completely. We have to love our kids for who they are (and that is pretty special anyway) not for who we wish they could be (which we would probably like a whole lot less anyway). My D with a solid B+ who takes the hardest possible courses just because she loves to learn is good enough for me, much better than some kids I know who try their hardest to get the easiest graders and who have complicated spreadsheets about how to get the most GPA weight for the least amount of work (I kid you not-D personally knows this girl-her father set up the spreadsheet when she was in 8th grade).</p>
<p>Queen’s Mom - that girl’s father is insane! Really! I think your D is in a much better position for success in college, because she knows she can handle a variety of work from different types of teachers, and not just take the easiest route to the highest grade.</p>
<p>Queen’s Mom - All that girl is going to learn from that spreadsheet is how to game the system. While being aware of such things is good to know, but to drive major decisions like what classes to take from it is, well, I agree with Limomof2, insane.</p>
<p>There are parents out there who try to teach their kids how to the game the system. My son has a friend who was offered a summer job. The job involved data entry. For a certain segment of data he was being paid something like .75. His father told him to hire to of his friends and tell them that the pay was .25 so that his son could pocket .50 for each piece of data his friends entered. My son’s friend refused to do that, and my son did not take the job.</p>
<p>Wow, human nature and its depths will never cease to amaze me.</p>
<p>yup. Oh, and I meant to say “two of his friends”.</p>
<p>Northeastmom - I’m glad the boy didn’t do what his father encouraged him to do - that’s just awful.</p>
<p>Now we’re off and running.</p>
<p>S2 spent this past weekend at ND with H and FIL. Originally we treated it only as a good excuse to go to a football weekend (FIL and H are alums). But now S2 is really fired up about the college search. He’s seen a few colleges informally over the past couple of years, either with older brother, or visiting cousins (BU), or as tourists (UMich, West Point, Navy, Yale, Brown, Harvard, MIT), or sports camps (Wesleyan, UNH). This was his first actual “prospective students info session” with an admin counselor. FINALLY, someone other than a parent talking about what it takes to get into a college…same things I’ve been saying since going through it with S1, but now he’s listening.</p>
<p>He’s already asking when he can schedule other school visits, as he has invitations from a couple of S1’s friends to visit their schools (which he has expressed an interest in). And I’m hoping to see a renewed effort in the dreaded French IV class.</p>
<p>On the downside…he may be just a teensy bit in love with ND. But who wouldn’t be, after the pageant of a football weekend?</p>
<p>After that game - and the last two seasons, who would be fired up about ND football :)</p>
<p>Seriously there are very few places like ND for a football weekend… and I can see the appeal…</p>