<p>$5600 for each year?</p>
<p>amtc - my “life coach” says that the only way that they will learn to not procratinate is to feel the pain from it not working out. I know that this is hard for you (as it is for me…all the time)! I have been told that it is better that they learn this lesson now, while they have good support (you) than in college. Bite your tongue when you feel like saying I told you so or you should have…she knows this already. Just be “the mattress” when she needs you.</p>
<p>Once upon a time, when the engineering job market was weak, I did some graduate work in math both to bolster my engineering skills and to get the necessary graduate hours to teach math at the community college level. Before I had the credits to teach a for-credit class, I taught “developmental math” which was the sequence required of kids who had not passed the state-mandated skills test in high school math. It was basically a sequence of beginning/intermediate algebra.</p>
<p>In these classes, I saw all sorts of “math issues” and did a little research on them. Here’s what I remember: The only true learning disability in play is dyscalculia, which is the math analog of dyslexia. It’s a pretty fundamental difficulty in comprehending numbers and/or mathematical operations. I’m not an educational or cognitive psychologist, but someone who can make As in math classes doesn’t sound like a good candidate. Much more likely is math anxiety/phobia, which is a fear when confronted with math in one form or another–classes, homework, or in this case, standardized exams. Fear causes the “fight or flight” mechanism to kick in, hormones get dumped into the system, and retrieval of some memory can be impaired as a result. Results are what one might expect.</p>
<p>Math is very vertical–each class builds on the previous class. When one fundamental area isn’t mastered, the whole strata is unstable. One thing I found that worked was to determine where the student had “fallen off the wagon,” re-teach that area taking time to build confidence, then re-layering the rest of the strata as quickly as was consistent with maintaining the student’s self-confidence. For students that were willing to work, this was generally sufficient preparation for the TASP. ACT math is generally pretty coachable; SAT math is a little different animal.</p>
<p>On a lighter note, this is the last week of school, but according to the online system, S has final grades posted in all his classes. I had him take his SAT II US History review book, but I suspect they’ll be watching a lot of movies. Best of luck to those in schools that make wiser use of their allotted time and are still working. :)</p>
<p>Seiclan, I know I might be in the minority on this, but if I think back to when I was in high school, the SAT was supposed to indicate reasoning and potential. I’m sure it wasn’t perfect at measuring either one, but it wasn’t what it is today - a test that kids study hours for, hire tutors for, and take three times. I think that some students just kind of naturally resist that approach. My kids do. And they aren’t lazy - they work really hard at things that have value to them. Your son has a ton of great things going for him, and it’s possible that part of what drives him to work hard at things he sees value in is the same inherent quality that makes it difficult for him to give his all to something he doesn’t see real value in. I wish my kids took grades and test scores more seriously, but then I look at them and think that they’re each pretty cool kids. They’ve each found different things they really like to do and they put enough energy into all the hoops parents/schools/society puts in front of them to do “well enough,” but when it comes to how they want to spend their time, there are about 5 things that are more appealing (and arguably more productive) than cranking through a practice SAT test or studying enough Spanish vocab to get 100% - they’ll take the 88% on the vocab test and spend the evening doing something pretty cool. Or relaxing, which I think is valuable too. </p>
<p>All that being said, best of luck to him and everyone taking the June test - my idealism or naivete aside, those test scores really do help with college admissions and $$ for college!</p>
<p>texaspg - NO, TOTAL!!! For our original investment and gamble of $5600, we get 100% tuition and one year of dorm, at today’s rates, at any Florida state university!!! People who didn’t believe it or trust it back then are kicking themselves now. Florida instate tuition is at about $4500 a year now, I think. It would make anyone want to stay instate!</p>
<p>SteveC - great post! Really great information.</p>
<p>seiclan - you were a genius to buy those plans!</p>
<p>Seiclan - When you say total, does your investment of $5600 pay tuition, room and board for all 4 years?</p>
<p>Florida’s instate tuition sounds really low. I think Texas is around 8-9k and people think it is one of the best deals.</p>
<p>When I said total, I meant that our investment of $5600 in 1995 pays for today’s tuition for all 4 years (up to 120 credits) and ONE year of dormitory (no board though). </p>
<p>Here is a link to UF’s cost of attendance page:</p>
<p>[Cost</a> of Attendance : UF | Office for Student Financial Affairs](<a href=“http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/basics/cost-of-attendance/]Cost”>Cost of Attendance | UF Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships)</p>
<p>My mother bought each of my three kids the Texas Tomorrow pre-paid tuition program when they were babies. It can only be used for tuition, but the face value amount can be used at private schools as well. I’m not sure my D12 will attend a Texas state school , however. It looks like she will be NMSF and is looking at some of the full ride schools, so we need to figure out how to best combine the two.</p>
<p>Any Texans have suggestions for state schools to consider? We don’t currently live in Texas. She isn’t interested in A&M or UT at this time. We visited Texas Tech (driving from Houston to Colorado) last summer. It was her first college visit ever and she was favorably impressed. She would prefer a larger city, but Lubbock is nicer than I remembered it from years ago. </p>
<p>This weekend was the prom at our school. They still have three weeks of class and then a week of finals. Everything is winding down, though, so it’s hard to believe they have that much left.</p>
<p>I’m hoping to help my D12 with her college list this week. It doesn’t look like the counselor will meet with them this year. She has come up with a list on her own, but I would like to help her add a few more to it.</p>
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</p>
<p>Based on interest in Tech/no interest in A&M or UT, I’m guessing she’s not heavily invested in US News rankings (not necessarily a bad thing). What’s her intended major?</p>
<p>Seiclan - that is really nice! </p>
<p>[Cost</a> of Attendance : UF | Office for Student Financial Affairs](<a href=“http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/basics/cost-of-attendance/]Cost”>Cost of Attendance | UF Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships)</p>
<p>It looks like you have a 500% return based on 5700 tuition x 4 + 5250 for one year of housing at U of F.</p>
<p>Pamayawaa - If you dont live in Texas, can you still make use of this prepaid plan without incurring an out of state cost? </p>
<p>Texas flagships are A&M and UT and if you are ruling them out, then UTDallas is the only other tier 1 school. A&M and UT have very highly ranked engineering schools.</p>
<p>Right now she is interested in Psychology. She is not interested in prestige, but needs intellectual challenge - not sure she would get that at Tech. She felt that the students at Texas Tech seemed happy (subjective, but important to her). UT and A&M seem too big, but she hasn’t visited. She does better in a friendly atmosphere, so I suggested A&M, but she hasn’t pursued it. At this point Texas Tech is a financial safety.</p>
<p>mspearl - is your daughter´s math tutor teaching her the ACT or SAT math material? If your daughter is not a math person, like my daughter, she will not be able to do well on those tests unless she is getting tutored on the exact same tests. Those tests could be very different than what is taught at her school. Make sure the tutor is teaching her from the right practice tests. The good news is math score is the easiest to improve. D2 has been studying for math IIC since April. She is going from low 600/high 500 to mid 700 now. This is doing 1-2 hours a day of practice test.</p>
<p>mspearl asked:
</p>
<p>Yes there is: [url=<a href=“http://www.ncld.org/ld-basics/ld-aamp-language/ld-aamp-math/what-is-dyscalculia]Dyscalculia[/url”>http://www.ncld.org/ld-basics/ld-aamp-language/ld-aamp-math/what-is-dyscalculia]Dyscalculia[/url</a>]</p>
<p>From the Wikipedia page on Dyscalculia: “a specific learning disability involving innate difficulty in learning or comprehending mathematics. It is akin to dyslexia and includes difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, learning math facts, and a number of other related symptoms.”</p>
<p>oldfort - wow, I really admire (and envy) your daughter’s dedication to raising her math score. </p>
<p>DS is going to meet with a calculus tutor once more before Friday’s AP Calc final but I am not sure that, without putting real practice time in, he can pull off the A on this one (given his 85 average all third quarter). </p>
<p>He never seems to care as much about grades as I do and I am not sure if it is “because I do” or just his nature. I hope that it isn’t his nature, since he really does want to go to medical school someday (and college GPA is mega important for those admissions).</p>
<p>oldfort: It looks like you daughter’s hard work is paying off. Good for her!!</p>
<p>texaspg: Yes, the plan says even if you move, it will still cover the costs at the in-state rate. What I don’t know is if there would be any instate admissions advantage (probably only an issue at UT Austin). I’m thinking probably not.</p>
<p>I stay out of D2´s way. I would have preferred if she didn´t take the test because it´s taking a lot time out of her already busy schedule. Because she is taking IB math SL, it doesn´t cover a lot of material in IIC. </p>
<p>She consulted her sister about it. D1´s response to her was, “What do you have to lose? If you don´t do it, you would always wonder.” I told her that I would pay for the tutor if she would do the work.</p>
<p>Seiclan: Way to go! You made a gutsy call and it has proven very valuable to your family.</p>
<p>Mspearl: A non-math person can increase SAT math score with practice and strategy. DD will really have to roll up her sleeves, but she does not have to master all of the math material. The SAT math questions come in varying degrees of difficulty: Level 1, 2, and 3 are pretty easy. 4s and 5s can be a challenge to non-math types. She just needs to learn to recognize the questions that pose the real challenges to her. Break them into three categories. Some of them, she can learn to do with a tutor or study-buddy. The second category, she can learn to exclude one or two answers and guess (saving time to invest in Level 3 and 4 questions that she can get correct with a little time). The final category is questions that she always gets wrong: learn to recognize them and leave them blank, investing the saved time into level 3 and 4 questions. I non-math type student can still get a 700 or 710 with the right strategy. This method also keeps anxiety down because you know that you do not have to get them all correct and you gain a certain amount of control. She will do great!</p>
<p>seiclan - I learned long ago that my daughter does much better when I ignore her schoolwork. I never ask her what her homework is for the night or if she’s done it or anything like that because she just grunts in response. She is much more productive when I have no interest or response. I do help if absolutely needed but she is who she is and there’s nothing I can do to change that at this point. </p>
<p>We are looking at colleges that better match her personality than our high school does however. That means a smaller LAC with few if any requirements and the ability to create your own major and classes which is something she thrives on. She is VERY creative and enthusiastic when she directs herself, no one can tell her what to do. She’s written a young adult novel which she’s in the process of getting published (not self-published), she is creating an independent study class in ceramics for herself for next year, and taking two computer-based classes next year, etc. She’s just a round kid trying to fit into a square hole high school in NYS, but it will improve next year when she is done with Regents and APs and can take creative classes of more interest to her.</p>