<p>My son isn’t doing the prom either. The week after he asked his first ever girl friend, she broke up with him and said she only wanted to be friends. (She had said no, she doesn’t like dances and when he asked her to homecoming she said if he really wanted to go she could go and wear ear plugs.) They had been dating since June. He had liked her for several years before they started dating.</p>
<p>I found out a few days later when one of my friends texted me and ask what happened. I had no idea, but he had changed his facebook status to single. I was out, so I called him and he said when it happened he didn’t want to tell me and then it was too awkward to tell me and he figured it would be easier on facebook. Times have changed.</p>
<p>I really do hope they stay friends, but this experience will make it even harder for him to ask someone to prom next year.</p>
<p>We just got back from a junior day at Truman State. It was our 2nd visit and we liked it even more after this visit. We met a number of faculty members this time and came away very impressed. Students were just like the ones we met on our first visit, very down to earth,friendly, well-spoken, and serious students. About 45% of their students go right to grad school and 60-65% are in grad school within 2 years of graduating.</p>
<p>To say that Truman emphasizes writing and critical thinking is an understatement; it is in the fabric of everything there. Every major requires 2 writing enhanced courses (minimum of 25 pages of written work with rewrites and feedback is required). Every student must also take a Junior level integrated learning seminar that is also writing enhanced. All majors also require a capstone course/project that is often a major written work.</p>
<p>It probably does not have all of the bells and whistles that a private LAC has but you will get just as good an education at Truman as you would at some of the really good Midwest LACs like St Olaf. And in our case, it will be about $15-$20,000 per year cheaper than many LACs.</p>
<p>Re. Service, my 2012 daughter has enjoyed participating in an AIDS/HIV awareness theater group which performs skits for local high schools. She also volunteers at her IB school as a wilderness leader and in the campus store. All of these activities are fun for her. My 2014 son gave up his study hall and has worked all year as a tutor at his school. He mostly tutors ESL students in algebra and geometry. He is so busy outside school with sports, music, speech team etc. that the only way he could do service was to get it in during the school day. It worked out very well and he got some good recommendations.</p>
<p>Good evening! Just got back from a long day in San Diego. UCSD was very nice. D1 and S2 toured UCSD 5 years ago without me. I had driven around before, but have never gone on the tour. We met in some sort of auditorium and all the tour guides raved about the video they were going to show, but then they had technical difficulties and couldn’t show it. About half the people there were admitted students and fortunately the admitted students went on separate tours designed specifically for them. The tour was great. Our tour guide was great. S3 really liked it. But, he was starving and did not want to go to the admission session. They have 6 residential colleges with different educational “themes” or emphasis, which mostly effects general education requirements. The campus centers around the Geisel (Dr. Seuss) Library. Dr. Seuss was a La Jolla resident and big benefactor. The library is a very weird looking building which kind of resembles two hands holding an open book. The campus is very close to the beach and there are a lot of Eucalyptus trees everywhere. The guide pointed out that Eucalyptus trees look a lot like all of the trees in the Dr. Seuss books. THey have the “Stuart Collection” of art spread about including what looks like a small house (think the house from UP!) hanging precariously from the Engineering building. S3 said he really liked it and it is definitely on his list, although I don’t think at the top. After the tour we picked up D1 at SDSU and went to lunch in Downtown SD. We explored downtown a little, she gave us a quick tour of SDSU and we drove home. So kind of a long day. </p>
<p>Community service: In our school district each student is required to do 40 hours of community service (over 4 years). S3 has done a variety of things including working at 5K’s and track meets. All of his Yacht Club Junior Board activities count as community service as well. In addition when they are seniors they do a senior project on a prospective career. It is quite extensive including observation hours, an interview with someone with that occupation, a written report and then a power point presentation is presented to a panel of 4 (including a teachers, community members, etc…).</p>
<p>re: community service hours - the Bright Futures scholarships in Florida have a community service requirement, so many kids in the state amass hours of community service (the top scholarship requires 100 hours over the 4 years of high school). S13 has gotten hours in a variety of ways. He has taught tennis to young children at a public court (physical fitness and teachning healthy habits related - so it counts). Another way was by particiapting on a Relay for Life team (American Cancer Society) - putting together a team, planning for the event and participating would probably be several hours. I also know HS students can be mentors to younger kids through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.</p>
<p>Haystack~ We visited Truman today for the first time and I was very impressed. Besides the great academics and research opportunities, the students and staff seemed very friendly, and I thought the campus was great. My D has Smith on the top of her list, but I think she was very surpised by Truman. Both she and my nephew('13 also) were very impressed. I really think it would be a great option for her. I was happy to see that there is a train station not too far away because the drive from our town is about four hrs away, but seems like it takes forever to get there!</p>
<p>We loved Truman as well. DD was a little ho hum about visiting but it skyrocketed to #2 very quickly. </p>
<p>Midwestmom–I didn’t know about the train station. That will be something we will have to look into as well. It’s about 5 1/2 hours from our house, not bad, we are used to longer drives, but to do a round trip to pick her up is longer than I would want :D. Our oldest was about 4 hours away and took the bus back and forth quite often. It picked him up right on campus so that was nice.</p>
<p>OK, nevermind the train option. The train doesn’t go from here to there—well, it could route through Chicago and back, taking about 15 hours each way.</p>
<p>I like Oddly Lucky!
At kid’s school community service is lumped in with the work experience requirement for graduation. DS12 is a certified coach and teaches teens and preteens tennis. They have both volunteered as ball people and lines people at adult Challenger level tennis tournaments in town, they were both reading buddies at the local library (little elementary school kids are so cute) and DD13 has worked a Christmas at a local retail store. It’s very difficult to find the time outside of school unless it’s related to an activity they are already involved in as someone else mentioned above. In the summer, too, when many of their friends find jobs they are usually traveling to tournaments - a bit difficult on the employer if you’re away for several days every other week. Unfortunately, the island is a fairly small pond so traveling is essential.</p>
<p>Glad for the great visits! We’re at lehigh for a tournament. Pouring rain. Typing with my droid in a ziploc bag. I’d hope to do a quick tour around campus after the tournament, but the weather is so miserable so we’ll head home to dry off.</p>
<p>At my son’s school, the service requirements are built into the curriculum. During 10th and 11th grade, they’re involved in an offsite individual learning project with an organization of their choosing. A capstone project is required in 12th grade that focuses on something learned during the 10th and/or 11th projects. </p>
<p>One cool thing about this area is that a student could fulfill their requirements by volunteering at one time events. They don’t require the same committment that an ongoing activity does.</p>
<p>We just returned from CMU’s spring carnival. It is really fun in the CMU quirky way but unfortunately the weather meant that the last day of the buggy races were cancelled (search CMU buggy race on youtube). The carnival really captures the spirit of that place…silly, quirky booths by student organizations but with clever twists and t hemes plus an obsessive attention to detail. THen the buggies…not your usual soapbox derby but high tech and very cool little vehicles. It was also robot week, MFA art show, and an impro theatre show…just a normal week of wild and wacky and high tech. Everytime I go, I am reassured that my son made the right choice to be there. HE fits right in.</p>
<p>I am working hard to keep my kids close so I left D with S after dinner and he found a place for her to stay, took her to a college party, etc. I know that after my brother left for college we grew apart quickly and only reconnected much later. WHo knows how many times she can visit him next year… He may not even come home this summer if he gets a summer job with a professor or works at robotics camp. </p>
<p>Next week there is an IB college fair in DC I hope to take D to. It is just for kids pursuing the IB diploma but it will probably be a zoo since there are quite a few schools in the area offering the IB. If it is just too crowded, we will be in and out quickly. Interestingly, there are a number of international unis attending so it might be interesting to hear how they deal with applications before the IB numbers are published.</p>
<p>Spent part of the day on the soccer field with smallest child (someday to be S17 I guess). He went to head a ball, other player went to kick it, ended up kicking him in the mouth. Jammed a tooth up so far into his gum that we all thought he’d swallowed it when we couldn’t find it on the turf. Went to ER to be sure nothing else was wrong too, found fractures in jaw and the tooth way up in his head. Off to the best oral surgeon ever. Tylenol 3 with codeine seems to be working but there went the Sunday college chat with my daughter. Nasty cold rain here in VA with talk of sleet and snow flurries slightly west. Last snow we got was on Halloween. Unreal, this weather.</p>
<p>Holy crap, 89Wahoo! That is awful! I’m so sorry to hear about S17’s injury. Keep us posted on how he’s doing.</p>
<p>I’ve enjoyed a nice lazy Sunday today. Went to church and after that I’ve just been hanging out. Took a magnificent nap on the love seat with a dog snuggled in on either side, after listening to the rain. Dh took all 3 kids to see The 3 Stooges. Totally not my thing although I adore slapstick- I always thought The 3 Stooges just was too mean spirited to be funny. The report when they returned: all the guys thought it was funny and D thought it was mean-spirited. Wonder if it is a female vs male perspective or something?</p>
<p>That sounds awful, 89wahoo! I’m so sorry! I hope your son handled it well. My S18 got harassed by a bully on the school bus on Friday and was so upset about it that he was unable to go on his boyscout camping trip. When it rained on Friday night and was cold all weekend, I was grateful he had stayed home but I’m still mad about the bus incident. When I emailed the principal I was too embarrassed to say that he had to forfeit taekwando class as well. Looking forward to him getting a little further along in taekwando…</p>
<p>Wahoo, it does sound awful, sorry to hear about it.
Nothing good or bad happened here. My daughter was a bit cranky having to miss lunch for some activities at school. When I got back from swimming she took a nap. I don’t see her as much as anymore.</p>
<p>Wahoo…oh my! that must have been horrible…my mouth hurts just thinking about it. It sounds like your son is a real hero if tylenol is keeping him OK…but keep checking on pain worse/better. My S seemed to have an amazing tolerance for pain…I hope he improves quickly and the tooth is back in its proper location and stable.</p>
<p>Big, big supporter for the tae kwan do lessons to help a kid with bullies. I was …tiny…foreign…nerdy with an accent…the perfect victim for bullies. I studied karate from 11 through college and started again for health reasons in middle age. While I never, ever thought of using it against bullies (generally bullying for me was teasing me about my looks/accent/clothes and pinching or pulling hair so a punch or a kick was a bit of a nuclear option) it did wonders for my coordination (so I improved in other sports) and even more for my self confidence since I took classes with kids much older than myself. By end of middle school I was teaching little kids and novice adults so I was confident enough to ignore the stupidities of the bullies and drama queens. I didn’t need to hit anyone to feel self confident, but yes, breaking 2 boards while weighing 95 lbs definitely gave me some type of internal sense that I was more than what the world saw on the outside. That is the magic of martial arts for the small, puny and nerdy. </p>
<p>Make sure the teacher emphasizes self control (physical and emotional) over self defense and that your son has chances to be with older kids and adults in his classes because that builds tremendous self confidence to see older people who struggle to learn, are uncoordinated, and mess up too. Tae kwan do or karate where there is little interaction between different age groups is generally not as rewarding or effective as at dojos or schools where there is a family/community attitude. If you son starts to get bored or discouraged, try a new school rather than giving up the art.</p>
