<p>S is very different from D, in temperament and interests. I expect his college search will be different in most respects: how he goes about it, and which schools he looks at. Hopefully, I’ve picked up a few things that’ll be useful for him, too.</p>
<p>AvonHSDad—thanks for your comments and your candor. Very helpful. Our oldest is now in college and she (& we too) made all those “mistakes”. Waiting too long to start the process was the primary issue. Hopefully that will not be as much of an issue with our second.
If you have further thoughts, I’d appreciate hearing them. This holds true for other parents as well.
JAM113–our second child is a music kid. Still not sure if he will take that route in college, but right now he is passionate about it.</p>
<p>@blueiguana,
I am a bit miffed that I didn’t buy the Kindle for her when I had the chance… for whatever reason, I went with the NOOK and I have heard from so many people that Kindle offers lots of books for free. far more that the B&N Nook which gives you “free trials” on the books… and then the other “free” books, more often than not are of poor quality… I think I will have to break down and spend the $ for the Kindle so she can have more options with her leisure + academic ebooks! Thank you for that information on the AP books! </p>
<p>I just received more information today on the summer programs @ Cornell + Brown. Georgetown has a program that my dtr was accepted to… they have rolling admissions. We decided against it because of her age/location(its roughly 4 states away)…Sarah Lawrence has a program as well! I am sure I have more stored away in my head but I just can’t think of them right now! Oh yes, I believe UPENN, but not sure if the app date has come and gone!</p>
<p>I have heard of the Xiggi here on CC… and folks have said how great it is! Have any of your kids done the Kaplan program? if so, what are your thoughts? more importantly, what were the results?</p>
<p>My son is @ UNH here in CT and he did a college tour in the southern states/east coast in his sophmore year… we also did the states schools…He had no interest in the ivies. He decided on his own that he wanted to stay close to home… he got lots of merit aid so that was a big factor for him…I just didn’t want to wait with my daughter…</p>
<p>Well, S is now set with his college choice for this fall and we got an email that the school received his acceptance letter and deposit so that makes it official. After taking this summer “off” regarding all college topics other than the shopping list for S, we will start the process in the fall for our D. Let’s see … that’s about 28 months to go from this September until the class of 2014/2018 will reach their Common Application submittal deadline of December 31, 2013! :eek:</p>
<p>Based on the past two years, all I can say is it goes by much faster than you expect so plan ahead.</p>
<p>AvonHSDad, don’t you dare start the countdown yet! :o</p>
<p>Hi AvonHSDad, rom828, JAM113! I have moved over from the 2011/2015 thread too. Good to <em>see</em> you all!</p>
<p>I think I made every mistake in the book with D (aimed too high, started too late, visited schools she didn’t have a chance at; didn’t visit schools she applied to), so I’m hoping the journey with S will be a little smoother. Definitely will line up some early action schools and many more safety/matches and less reaches. </p>
<p>My question for all: S has a 504 plan (central auditory processing issues; some attention deficit) which means he gets extra time but I don’t know if the standardized test thing will even be an option for him. I’m already lining up “test optional” schools. Having said all that, does anyone have any similar kids and are they going to try the PSAT next fall? Does this “xiggi” method work better for these kids? I was going to try to get him to learn 100 words over the summer (figuring it might help him anyway in school if he boosted his vocabulary). Appreciate any thoughts and ideas.</p>
<p>Hi everyone:</p>
<p>I’m just emerging from the chaos of class of 2011 with my S’s departure next fall to Duke. My younger S (2014) will be along soon and I’m looking forward to knowing a little more about the process this time around!</p>
<p>Classof2015, D2 has ADHD and also tends to freeze up during standardized tests. She attends a non-public school, and there’s a great deal of experience there with kids needing testing accomodations and extra time. They don’t do the PSAT “early”, just in 11th grade, and it’s really just as a practice run for the SAT. </p>
<p>I’m planning on having a private tutor work with D2 as she gets closer to testing time. My understanding is that the xiggi method is what “good” tutors use. I’d love to save the money and have D2 self-study, but I suspect that she will be better off working with someone else to help motivate her–and I know that she will not be happy working with either of her parents on this. 
My instinct is to hold off on the tutoring for awhile, since I think her highest scores will come from maturation at the start of 12th grade. But we’ll see what her school counselors suggest.</p>
<p>And yes, let’s hear it for test-optional schools! I’m very very glad that UC and Cal State will no longer require SAT IIs.</p>
<p>The Xiggi method, as my 2011 son described it, is a very logical, straight-forward, common sense approach. It’s not rocket-science. It is very fundamental and well thought out. It is not a gimmick. We found it a great, comprehensive place to start. As my student got more comfortable he made changes as he wanted. I would recommend it as a solid place to start. It can save a lot of frustration, stop and start, and feeling lost - not knowing where to start - when undertaking such a big topic.</p>
<p>I mentioned it a few pages back, but will offer again, a couple of years ago I transcribed the Xiggi method from the pages of CC to a pdf where it is easier to navigate, print, highlight, etc. If anyone is interested feel free to send me your email via PM and I’ll send it to you. Come to think of it, that’s how I actually found CC…■■■■■■■■ on the internet looking for study methods. On a google search up came Xiggi’s method! :)</p>
<p>Have an awesome day everyone, and a special shoutout and wave to my fellow 2011/2015 parents!</p>
<p>^^Thanks Slithey and blueiguana – good to see some more familiar names! I will definitely check out Xiggi for him. He is a very concrete thinker so it sounds like it would work for him.</p>
<p>Yes – big sigh of relief and total complete calm at last for this 2011/2015 parent. 1 down, 1 to go.</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>Well in our house graduation and the launch of the Sr sibling is coming shortly and our 2014student is picking sophmore classes. It has been quite a journey with our 2011 and will be an equally exciting, albeit different journey for our 2014.</p>
<p>All I can think is , “May already” ?? As this year has flown.
Summer here wont include any fancy or expensive programs, though our kiddo2 will be keeping busy.</p>
<p>I am wondering when/how I can even suggest test prep for our soon to be sophmore…that whole process seems so far down the road…though I suppose it’s closer than we realize, isn’t it.</p>
<p>fogfog–I was wondering that myself. I have asked my son if he eant the SAT question of the day and he said yes, so I sent him the link. I doubt if he has done anything with it yet. Blueiguana sent me the link for the xiggi method. I haven’t looked at it yet, but maybe I will pass it to my son this summer.</p>
<p>This is what I have been posting about guys…balancing all of the highschool years and knowing that the college application process/SAT testing is looming… I want my daughter to have a healthy sense of the “now”, but also take her future very seriously.and not waivering from the task at hand… all while not looking like a crazy mom in the wings! As we know, they only have one shot at these last 4 yrs before they finish highschool and it goes by way too fast…my dtr only has 38 school days left as a freshman. Its mind boggling… </p>
<p>I don’t think its too soon to begin the SAT prep process. My daughter will begin to peruse the SAT books that XIggi recommends on her down time…many of her EC’s will be wrapping up soon, so her down time will incraese. Even if she gives an hour/day, it will be of benefit to her. Her summer will be spent at the Choate Rosemary Hall program. So August will be a month of decompression for her…hanging out with friends and sleeping… as Choate’s program will be very rigorous and she will be in class 6 days/week. I will probably encourage her to do some SAT prep work in August and to start looking over her AP psychology syllabus so she can get a head start on the work that will be ahead of her… for some reason, her principal feels that sophmores are not ready for AP work… and I am not sure if she will struggle… so I want her to be prepared!</p>
<p>NewHavenCTmom: My '14 son figures that he has 563 days left in HS … and he cannot be happier. While he loves to learn, he wants to do it elsewhere. He is not a big fan of those who chose not to take academic things seriously. Over the past three or so weeks, he has become more goal-oriented. He also spends some time hanging out with some of my seniors, all of whom have made college plans. No one pounded him over the head with SAT prep stuff (he’s taking it on Saturday). We sort of said, “I found this or I found that.” I know that he has flipped through a booklet here or a website there. I’ve learned, with this son, that a more passive approach works. With the oldest, he took the lead – “can we purchase this AP book or look at this site?”</p>
<p>As for your principal’s views on sophomores and AP, it’s understandable if he or she has been in other places where the kids did not perform well in the classes or on the exams. There has to be some degree of maturity for a student to succeed in the classes. I’ve had sophomores really embrace their learning and score 5’s on the exams. I’ve also had seniors not care all that much and fail the class and exam. It depends on the kid.</p>
<p>RE: APs and classes for 10th grade. D (Class of 2011) took AP World History in 10th – a ton of work. And no real learning going on there – no analysis, no thoughtful discussion of similarities between ancient civilizations and current times. Really a big turn off.</p>
<p>I met with S’s GC and picked out classes for him – not an AP in sight, and there may never be one for him. This is a kid who struggles to get a C in some classes. I asked for classes at the level where, if he puts in time and effort, he can get an A or B. So now he has a mix of Honors and Regents classes. I don’t want him demoralized. The AP thing isn’t for everyone.</p>
<p>Offering another point of view here: my older child ('09) took AP World History sophomore year and found it neither difficult nor a lot of work (and she hates history). It really depends on the child.</p>
<p>I recognize a lot of you who have older kids, but I have an SAT prep tip for those of you going through this for the first time. Start with a good PSAT score or serious practice test and study it carefully. If your student is way good in one area, I’d advise not to work on that area. My son’s sophomore PSAT score was pretty high - specifically, crazy high in verbal, not so great in math…I thought that with a prep course, he could maybe get to NMSF territory. Wrong. After spending $$$ and time on the prep course, his math score inceased as much as his verbal score dropped. He had taken the SAT at about the same time with the same results. </p>
<p>The test prep had screwed him up on the verbal part…he didn’t need their “test taking strategies” because he actually knew the answers. So we sent him back to test prep for math and told him to forget everything they taught him on verbal. Next SAT, his math score went up by 70 and his verbal by 50.</p>
<p>We used private tutoring for D and I liked that better.</p>
<p>Hi Blueiguana, missypie, Classof2015, AvonHSdad,fogfog and others from the 2011/2015 thread. Wow- nice to share another journey with all of you for our 2014/2018 kids.</p>
<p>Well, as if getting D1 off to college was not enough for one year, D2 is likely transferring to a new HS next year. We’ll find out for sure within the next few weeks. </p>
<p>On the subject of APs: Sophomores are only allowed to take AP European History or AP Human Geography at D2’s HS, neither of which appeals to he and we’ve heard horror stories from other students that the 2 AP classes required tons of work and were not that interesting. D1 didn’t take APs until Jr. year and she did fine with college admissions so I am not pushing them on D1. </p>
<p>Appreciate the test taking tips from Blueiguana, Avon & Missypie (I will have to look up the infamous xiggi method!)</p>
<p>I came upon the '11/'15 just recently. What a bond they all made. So I thought about coming over here early. </p>
<p>D1 '11/'15 will be attending Wellesley in the fall. One down. </p>
<p>D2 '14/‘18 is a freshman at a charter school w about 40 kids in her class. She is part of an Art “major” there. She just finished a 4’x4’ outdoor s’more sculpture. It looks delish!</p>
<p>She is a dancer too and may get back into it this fall after not dancing for 2 years due to knee surgury.</p>
<p>D3 and D4…are there '16/'20, '21/'25 threads yet?</p>
<p>My 2011 grad, known as Bluejr to my 11/15 friends, didn’t take APs until Jr year. He only had APEuro available as a Soph and had zero interest. Two polar opposite teachers (likable teacher, decent shot at an A, ill prepared for the exam VS not likable teacher, virtually no shot at an A, but well prepared for the exam if you hang in there). He doesn’t like the subject so neither sounded like a decent proposition to him. Now the kids have the option of APEuro, APWorld History, & AP Human Geography. My 2014, S3 is one of those quirky kids that loves History and has done well in Honors World History this year. He was recommended for AP next year and wants to do it. Fine by me. He’s a totally different kid from Bluejr so I’m sure his course selection will be different.</p>
<p>@mommylaw - S3 was to have changed schools next year as well so I don’t envy you. He will stay because he’s in a speciality program, but we loose transportation so I’m going to be driving him for a year until we are comfortable with him driving. The thought of driving to school at 6:30am doesn’t thrill me one iota :mad: I know a lot of people do it but I’ve been spoiled by bus service. Oh well, he’s my youngest.</p>
<p>@missypie - You said what I feel so well. In short, S2 self-studied and if more had been necessary to meet his goals we would have put money into private tutoring to target the necessary areas, NOT a blanket prep class. I wasn’t impressed with others experiences (or their results frankly). As with everything, you know your child individually and YMMV!</p>