<p>As previously mentioned, my son’s doing a 4 week SAT prep class at a high school in a different community. It’s normally a $320 class and it was only $100. The first week’s assignment was to take a whole SAT. My son’s taken <em>forever</em> to finish, but it does look like his writing and critical reading will be in the 700s easily, but the math…sigh. He’s still chugging away trying to finish geometry (been at it for two years!). If he could somehow break 650, I would be thrilled! He gets all the ones right that he knows, but there are a certain number that he doesn’t know. He’ll be taking Alg II through AoPS this summer (and a friend’s son has kindly offered to help him for free as a sort of tutor if he needs it). The classes are hard for my son but he admits he learns when he takes them.</p>
<p>I doubt my son will get high enough on the PSAT to make NM in the fall, but I confess it’s a goal of mine. PSAT could mean $$$ and with this son, we have few options for paying for college besides loans, though we do qualify for Cal Grant As and the Blue and Gold plan, but I don’t know if we’ll be in Ca. for my son’s college years.</p>
<p>Too much to think about! Good thing I don’t share with him all my thoughts. :-)</p>
<p>Welcome, Trilliums!</p>
<p>One funny story-my son’s doing chemistry this year through a co-op. (We homeschool) I also use a tutor online twice a month ($20 an hour-yeah!) and he’s doing pretty well but doesn’t particularly like it. Someone from an email list saw a post of mine and asked if my son would tutor her son in chemistry, so my son started today. LOL The other student is a couple modules behind, so it works out fine. It’s pretty funny, but if he can earn a little $$, he’ll like that just fine. :-)</p>
<p>muf123 - maybe you should look into some of the LAC’s? Some of them have to try to keep their male/female ratio where they want it, and that can give a boy an advantage. The three schools you mentioned are very different - are you going to have a chance to visit?</p>
<p>sbjdorlo - that’s really neat for your son! I think tutoring someone else will really cement the concepts in his own mind too. My dad was a prof and always said that you really learn something when you actually teach it.</p>
<p>Our family will be challenged to fund college for 4 kids over a wide time span (+ DH/I arent Spring Chickens, either), so our kids will definitely have Summer jobs + apply to merit-aid schools - where their respective stats put them in the Top 25% (or higher) of admitted students. </p>
<p>For those in a similar boat, post #63 on this thread is very enlightening. If one spends any time over on the CC Fin Aid Forum right now, its plain to see that some students & families could have used a strategy like this. FYI only not advocating this for anyone but our own family. YMMV </p>
<p>Funding 4 college students is a MAJOR challenge these days. Full ride would be nice. :)</p>
<p>I know I’ve talked about this problem about my daughter’s band several times here. Today it hits again.
D. did marching band while there is a conflict between band and AP chem. So she and several others practiced after school for marching band. After the season, it’s concert band. All those who were not physically in band quit, because they were just drum line people. they don’t have their instrument. D. was supposed to stay, because she plays the clarinet and the oboe. Because of the conflict, she has to occasionally sacrifice AP chemistry to be with band to practice. She brought lunch twice so she could be with band partly use the lunch time. The last time teacher saw her showing up in band room, he just shake his head to her and told her to go back to chemistry. so that’s what she did. She auditioned for all county with the permission of the teacher, got the first chair clarinet, which is a place she really wanted. </p>
<p>The teacher didn’t tell D. about her seating. He apparently didn’t even feel a little bit of proud of his student who got the first chair. We found out from the listing posted in a school when she did the solo festival. </p>
<p>In spite of that, D. got the music from the teacher, and has been practicing for all county for weeks. </p>
<p>Well, all county is tomorrow. Today the band teacher told her he is not going to let her do all county.
D. is understandably upset.</p>
<p>Maxwell I think I would talk to the principal about this. Muf- glad to help!!
How does your school handle NHS? In our school the students can be recommended for the English HS starting freshman year. There is usually something specific that gets them recommended, and they have to be inducted every year- one induction does not cover them all 4 years. The students can do math HS starting sophomore year, and the school makes it very very clear what the requirements are so that if you want to do it, there is sufficient time. During junior year the kids can do the other subjects: science, foreign language, ss. Again, the school tells them in advance what they need to do to get inducted. Now… In the fall of junior year the kids are told whether they qualify for NHS based on GPA. If they qualify they fill out the paperwork and go through the whole process getting rated by the teachers etc. They need a minimum of 45 community service hours in order to qualify. The part that I don’t understand is that the school does not give sophomores the " heads up" regarding hours. They just expect them to hand in the 45 hours in November of junior year without telling them prior that this is necessary. I only know about this because of my type A personality. It takes quite a few months to accumulate 45 hours, and beginning the process during sophomore year makes sense. The hours must be obtained after January of sophomore year, as is noted on the school web site. My thought is that the school does not discuss this with sophomores because this way it will attract those kids who are earning the hours because they really want to, and not because it will get them into the NHS. Then in the fall of junior year they can say " by the way, you have the gpa and if you happen to have completed the hours because you truly wanted to contribute to society, you can apply" Does this make sense? I know that I am venting…do other schools tell students during sophomore year what the requirements are, or do most schools do nothing and then spring it on them in the fall of junior year like our school does? Again, thanks for listening to me vent.</p>
<p>Maxwell, what possible reason can the band teacher have for keeping your D from All County!? That’s just not fair! I hope you figure out how to deal with this because there’s no way this should be allowed.</p>
<p>Twogirls, well, thank goodness, there is no honor society for each subject or in fact of any kind in D’s school. Nor is there NHS. Again, thank goodness. D will sign up to be a peer tutor next year. I’m pretty sure anyone with an A in a subject and an interest in tutoring is allowed to do this. In addition, the kids are expected to perform 20 hours of community service each year and to design a community service project that they complete by the end of junior year. It may be the one thing I affirmatively like about this school. It does seem to me that there should be a link on the school webpage describing NHS, its activities and its mission, as well as the requirements for induction. I am a big believer in transparency.</p>
<p>@ Max, your DDs Band teacher may be the evil twin of my DSs Orchestra teacher, separated at birth. Why is your DD just learning today that she cant participate in All-County, when the activity is tomorrow? Normally, Id have the student attempt to handle the situation with the teacher first, but if the performance is tomorrow then I, as the parent, would definitely step in at this point. Can you go with your DD to the school in the morning to speak with the teacher? If you dont get a satisfactory response, Id definitely move to the administration right then-&-there. In our area, students who make the equivalent of All-County in 10th, 11th & 12th (all 3 years) are eligible for certain scholarships & awards. So this may have broader implications for your DD than simply tomorrows performance (which is a big deal unto itself). Please let us know how this turns out. I could write a book about my DSs Orchestra teacher and how she strives to keep the most talented kids down. Its maddening to watch, and worse yet to be caught up in. </p>
<p>@ twogirls, I agree that the NHS service hours requirement should be clearly posted for all students especially since theres a certain window of time for service to be completed. I dont know the requirements for NHS at DSs HS, except that it starts Jr year. He should <em>probably</em> have whatever the requirements are, or be on his way, but I will ask him to look into it. Thank you for the idea on that!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I sent an email message to the county music coordinator. He called the teacher to ask about the situation. Then guess what?! the teacher called my daughter to reprimand her because she told us about it! I emailed the director again and told him what happened after his phone call. Anyway D. will be in the all county tomorrow. I think she’ll have a great time. and I’m glad she is not doing band with school anymore so we don’t have to deal with this teacher. </p>
<p>Once a friend of mine told me a joke - what is the difference between God and a high school band director? - God knows he is not the band director. :p</p>
<p>Everything is clearly posted on the web site. I guess my issue is that they do not discuss this at all with the sophomores, and then spring it on them junior year. What if a student or parent has no idea that it exists? I can’t imagine how they can do all the hours in the fall of junior year. I think that the guidance counselors should probably contact the sophomores who may qualify so that they are given enough time. 3girls consider yourself lucky!! We also have peer tutors in our school, but there is no community service project. It’s interesting to see how different schools operate.</p>
<p>@ Max, yep - your DD’s Band Director and my DS’s Orchestra teacher must be related. Glad it worked out for your DD and glad you became involved.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo, I agree with Pinotnoir, your son is doing great by tutoring others. That’s the best way to reinforce the knowledge he has learned. Also it’s great for his social skills. </p>
<p>maxwellequations - if I treated my students like your daughter’s teacher treats him, I’d be fired.</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouragement, PN and helps. He felt good about it and yes, definitely brings out his leader side and conversational skills-it betters his chem skills and lets him take charge, a win-win situation. </p>
<p>He recently performed some cello duets at a fund raiser and took the leadership position since the other boy was more reserved and less experienced than my son. He’s come a long way, for sure. I never would have believed it possible knowing where he was three years ago. </p>
<p>Maxwell, I am very sorry this has happened to your D. I am sure she is beyond disappointed. How are you guys handling it?</p>
