<p>PN, are you kidding? We spending fall break with them! 
</p>
<p>While Dās studying and grades have improved because of this friendship, sadly I think her sonās may have declined (he got his first B last spring). Iāve started telling D I better not see his grades fall or she canāt hang out with him.</p>
<p>Keepme I have done that and I may do it this weekend. Do your SAT work and I will take you on that busy road with all the crazy drivers that the instructor says you need to drive on!! Ugh.</p>
<p>Interesting to hear how much the AP course workload varies. My D started showing signs of cracking for the the first time this week, and the trigger was AP Bio. She has not been putting that much work in thus far, but this week it all sort of fell apart for her. She missed one lab for a Dr appt and has not been able to catch up. She has a test today that she feels very underprepared for, as not all of the material was covered in class. I told her that this happens in college and the students are still responbsible for the material. She said ā well the is the first AP class that actually feels like collegeā. </p>
<p>Her APUSH class is very easy ( for her anyway) not a lot of homework at all, the grade is almost all based on the tests and then two large projects. Many here have said the daily homework in APUSH is a killer but this is not the case for my D. The first day of class, the AP CS teacher said there would be no homework, everything should be able to be completed in class and so far this is true. D does say there are a few students working hard outside of class because it just does not click for them. </p>
<p>Finally committed to our fall break plans., in MN we have a four day break next week so lots of college tours going on. Strongly considered going to U of Manitoba, but D really wants to check out Cornell College despite some concern over the Methodist affiliation. She is not opposed to a church affiliated school as long as she does not feel like that is the focus of the school. My D is actually on a IEP for some issues that she struggles with and she and I both think that the Once class at a time format there would be ideal. The only other school with that schedule is Colorado Collegeā¦depending on her GPA at the end of her Jr year we may visit there as well, probably a better fit for her overall but more of an academic reach. On the way down there we will visit UW Lacrosse and on the way back Winona State. Neither are necessarily on her list right now, but both would be 100% academic and financial safeties and I want her to have a feel for what those safeties feel like. I am starting to really think about what college will be like for her, and how competitive an environment she wants to be in. She is a serious girl, and very smart, but not driven to need to get 100% on everything and have her time dictated 24/7 by school. She wants to be surrounded by smart students who donāt party much but are not super competitive with each other. </p>
<p>Does anyone know ANYTHING about Canadian schools? For MN residents, the public colleges in Manitoba cost LESS than our public directionals like Winona, Mankato etc and I have this perception that the overall feel of Manitoba would be more academic and focused that our public options here. Their housing options are attactive, they would give her a lot of AP credit, lost of majors that are in her interest areas. Just would love to chat with anyone with any knowledge about what it is like for a US student there. </p>
<p>Since I am sort of a rebel deep down, it would amusing to me to tell people she was going to Manitoba. My family has always been outside-the-box in our decison making and this would definitely be outside of what our family and friends expect our D to so.</p>
<p>Long week, glad it is Fridayā¦wish the weekend were not committed to PSAT prep!</p>
<p>Add my D to the overconfident list, or at least the list of āIāve never had to worry about this before, why start now?ā She is also independent and would never go for it if I told her, āYou have to study for this test for X amount of time today.ā I had hoped that seeing a few colleges over the summer would get her in gear, but not so much. I thought seeing the Northwestern rep in school this week may have been the trick, but it doesnāt seem to have done much for the studying part, just the getting excited to start looking at schools part. Oh well. It will be interesting to see how she did on the SAT. She honestly has no idea.</p>
<p>Wolverine ā Congrats to the Tigers. I am sure people of Detroit can use some good news. I used to follow the Orioles closely - Ripken, B.J., and Anderson days - but donāt follow much now days.</p>
<p>Jazzlandmom - One of the things I enjoy about this thread is reading how different families approach issues differently ā some use more āholisticā approach while others may use more ādirectā approach. I suppose it depends on how your family dynamic works. I do believe, however, we all have parental obligation to point out when our kidsā efforts are not aligned with their expected outcomes. Help them āseeā but not necessarily make them ādoā if that makes sense. Sounds like your Dās effort and her understanding of how to get the expected results are not perfectly aligned. Then the question is how can you help her understand the current path will not get her where she wants to get to.</p>
<p>tigger ā You may want to find out how well kids performed in APUSH AP test last year. If many of them got 4/5s, then all is good. But, if kids didnāt score well, maybe itās something to be concerned about. My D put in a lot of hours last year in that class ā so much reading, so much writingā¦etc. but she did get a 5 so she was happy.</p>
<p>Welcome jazzlandmom!
Glad youāre here. People here always have good suggestions. I love our CC community.</p>
<p>Homecoming game and dance this weekend. Itās raining. But I was told the game will go rain or shine. It should be a weekend dedicated to PSAT. But I guess not. Dās school has extremely laid back attitude about PSAT here as well. (like yours, @Maxwell.) </p>
<p>@FromMD, she dressed up as the cutest peter pan. 
with wig and ears and everything. Itās so cute I canāt get over it. 
@suzy,
yes, peter pan is always okay and he never grows up and thatās fine. :)</p>
<p>@herandhisMom, awwwww Iād love to see!! </p>
<p>@tiger, about APUSH, itās a lot of work. I think it depends on your Dās interest. My D. loves history, so she didnāt mind the work. In fact she enjoyed it. She is taking environmental science this year. itās a different story, even though itās an easy AP.</p>
<p>Iām pretty sure S is thinking, well sis didnāt study and she got NMF. Iām as good as she is. Not. His language skills are probably comparable (bad), but his language TESTING skills not. Difference. Still, he promised to do a couple sample tests this weekend. Thing is, need to go back over tests once they are graded and try to analyze the errors to āget into test-makerās headā, as someone said, and he wonāt want to do that. No way to improve if you donāt understand your mistakes, or even know what you got wrong. Sigh. Iām ready to offer monetary bribes. I know he isnāt interested in going to a big NMF school like D, but $7,000 from our flagship is worth going after. Maybe Iāll offer him half. </p>
<p>APUSH is a killer in our districtās schools. They like to boast that scores are all 4/5s. D loved it anyway. Lots of essay and DBQ HW and reading. S will not be taking it, doing micro this year. Not a history lover.</p>
<p>AP bio is tough for S. Teacher is great. Kids love her. But there is a lot of concern about the new test and the lower scores last year, so sheās really pushing them. Kids not expecting that. AP bio is supposed to be the easy AP science at his school. They donāt have EnvSc.</p>
<p>jazzlandmom, I empathize. I always want kids to use their break time to get ahead since schedules are so busy and if they would, things would be easier when they arenāt on break. But Iāve learned that my kids get so wiped out that they have to have some down time to recuperate before they can accomplish anything. For a full week 's break I usually wait at least 4 days before I start nagging. I might insist some of that down time be non-electronic. Go rake leaves, hang with friends, kick a ball. </p>
<p>mittentigger, last year D applied to McGill since a couple of her older friends from HS are very happy there. I donāt know much. I learned that Canadian schools are more expensive than our state flagship, but cheaper, a lot, than the expensive privates here. Admission is stats based, not holistic. You can look at their admission criteria and know if youāll be admitted. Small scholarships are plentiful and also stats based. Large scholarships are less plentiful and a bit more holistic. Class sizes are large, like some publics here. That is standard there and nobody expects to have small classes.</p>
<p>S went to homecoming past 2 years, but now decided the dance itself is ālameā and isnāt interested this year. Heās scheduled to work night shift next Saturday, so for sure he isnāt changing mind last minute. He might go to the Friday game and festivities. I always think these groups of couples going out to dinner are so cute, too bad to miss it.</p>
<p>Last season soccer game last night. 3-0 and he had a beautiful cross assist. On to post-season.</p>
<p>FWIW, I think these kids are probably right. And itās easy enough to check. Have them take the practice test under timed, test-like conditions and see the scores.</p>
<p>This generation of kids has been taking standardized tests from the moment they entered school. Theyāre pretty used to this paradigm by now. They may know more about how theyāre likely to do than you do as a parent! Itās tempting to push the test prep, but thereās a trade-off with other activities, and almost all of these kids have something that would be better to do than to look at prep books and flash cards. (Sleep, for one.)</p>
<p>Just being contrary here.</p>
<p>grrr, my draft disappeared.</p>
<p>Welcome again Jazzlandmom! I completely empathize with you. I had a D like this too and there was nothing I could do to prod her to study except on her own terms. In retrospect, I would have been wise to follow PNās advice. The motivation really has to come from our kids and as PN says, either a less than optimal score will motivate her or it wonāt. But the nudging from us is so often counterproductive and only ends up harming our adult relationships with our children. Iām still picking up the pieces from my rebel girl. I hovered over her, anxiously wringing my hands over her unwillingness to āplay the gameā and she did not appreciate it one bit. Come and vent here when you have that urge to scream! Thatās what I do. People have wonderful suggestions and lots of support. (Maybe try Celesteās brilliant idea of offering home baked cookies?) </p>
<p>Mittentigger, even though my youngest definitely has the ability to take even a basic class and elevate it to something that was never intended, in the case of her AP History class, I donāt think thatās the case. The school warns in advance about the demands of this class and dissuades most kids from taking it. There are extensive writing assignments each week and hundreds of pages of reading to go along with them. Iām sure itās possible to skim through some of that reading but itās still a substantial demand and no matter how fast a reader or smart you are, thereās no getting by on a quick effort. If anything, the smarter you are, the more you work. The kids who choose this class tend to be motivated and love history and research and so get a lot out of it. D is loving the class but is also feeling the workload. By contrast AP Comp Sci has not yet ramped up and the homework load is negligible. Iām sure that will change as the year goes on. </p>
<p>I donāt know much about the Canadian schools except for U of Toronto which is a very highly regarded school equivalent to one of our best universities. Itās much cheaper than the expensive private schools here. A Canadian friendās daughter was a good candidate for tippy top schools here and elected to return to Canada to attend U of Toronto.</p>
<p>IJD, it depends on the kid. All standardized tests are not created equal. The ones most are used to are easy and straightforward and really not comparable to the PSAT/SAT. Some kids need more prep in order to have the confidence to take the test. These are kids who are anxious and can second guess themselves out of the correct answer. And then you have those on the other end of the spectrum who need to be a little less confident and slow down. They may fall into the traps on the SAT and choose the answer that looks right on quick examination but turns out to be incorrect on closer review. And then there are those who just donāt click with the test at all. They may need prep in order to understand the logic of the test creators. </p>
<p>Now having said all that, I completely agree that a kid who takes a practice test or two and scores well probably doesnāt need to spend a lot of extra time prepping for the test and that time can certainly be used better on other things, even (especially?) downtime! I donāt think my D will end up doing any prep at all this weekend. She and her summer friends are planning to work on developing their app and she would like a rest from the long hours of this past week. Iām 100% with you that sleep (along with some good nutrition) is more important than anything else.</p>
<p>celesteroberts and other AP parents- My dās school has very few students scoring less than a 4 on APUSH or any other AP tests. My D got a 5 on the APEuro last year with some effort and study sessions, but the class itself was much less work than pre-calc or chemistry. Part of it may be that my daughter LOVES history of all sorts and knows a LOT of it already , which will not be the case for D2 in a couple of years. </p>
<p>Regarding McGill I know that school has a good academic reputation, but is also more expensive. You are exacytly right- cheaper than many US privates, but more than many publics at least for OOS. My daughter is fairly introverted so looks better for schools that are less holistic so that works to her advantage in Canada and also Europe. Does anyone else have a student entertaining overseas study fulltime? She thinks she is in love with Cardiff. From a cost perspective, it would be workable because a Bachelorās takes only three years and it costs less than many of the private schools here. Every class is in your major, though, and I donāt think that part makes it a great fit for her. Can you imagine 4 Biology or CS classes each semester? Of course the transportatation costs would be huge. The rep at the college fair said they offer āgoodā scholarships for US studets who have enough AP tests with good scores. No idea what she thinks āgoodā is though and I am still getting my head around having her acrosss the country let along across the ocean. I told her she can apply, but not to count on goingā¦</p>
<p>So many choices.</p>
<p>Celesteroberts, good luck at soccer sectionals. My D2 will be playing HS soccer next year- she is a keeperā¦hopefully there are many sectionals in our future as well. How exciting for him to be part of a good team and be able to make the contributions he has made this season.</p>
<p>I have different advice for jazzlandmom, who says her D āplans on going to a university in the USA. She also wants to go to a top, competitive school.ā</p>
<p>Rather than nagging her D about studying for standardized tests, I suggest jazzlandmom sit her D down and say something along the lines of: āLetās see what schools in the USA might be good matches for you. To figure that out, youāll need some test scores. How about you take a practice SAT and see how you score? Then we can look for some USA colleges where youāre in range.ā </p>
<p>She can register to sit an āofficialā SAT, but a better and quicker and cheaper way to get that same info is to use College Boardās [Free</a> SAT Practice Test](<a href=āThe SAT ā SAT Suite | College Boardā>Downloadable Full-Length SAT Practice Tests ā SAT Suite). Once she has a set of scores, she can see how they measure up by flipping through a book like the Fiske guide or Princeton Review that shows interquartile ranges for lots of different colleges.</p>
<p>This approach has two potential benefits:
(1) she will see what her realistic options are likely to be
(2) if her āwishlistā doesnāt line up with her realistic options, then it might motivate her to study (without mom needing to nag!)</p>
<p>I saw a few pages back about the hs softball pitcher being scouted & throwing close to 70! DD couldānt hit that speed throwing down hill/downwind in a hurricane!!</p>
<p>This past summer at Nationals she pitched & hit against a few lower level DI pitchers who were throwing in the mid 60ās. Every player on D;s tam put the bat on the ball - they lost 5-2 and it was because of errors - D (all 5ā3 110 lbs of her) only allowed 1 earned run).</p>
<p>Big sports weekend for D. She has a big college softball showcase Saturday & Sunday mornings. saturday afternoon is the County field hockey tornament finals - 1st time in 5 years Dās school team has made the finals.</p>
<p>She/we were busy last night & this morning emailing her her weekend softball schedule to prospective coaches who are attending this weekends event. Hopefully we donāt have too much rain.</p>
<p>mihcal - thatās brilliant.</p>
<p>Wow thanks to all who have replied with such great advice!
@slackermom we live in one of the countries of the Persian Gulf 
Oh and can i borrow your studious family friends? LOL</p>
<p>After reading all the advice, which i really needed, this seems to be the best plan: My daughter has made it clear that she does not like to be told when she should study. So, i will find a calm time to sit down with her, along with some milk and cookies of course, and we will list the goals for the week. And she can choose when to study, as long as she is done by the end of the week. And after that, i agree with the opinion of to provide an incentive to celebrate this achievement!
Thanks again!</p>
<p>Jazzlandmom, someone mentioned that fish is good for the brain So, Iām planning sushi night for the nights before all the big exams - although S piped up āFish are our friends, not foodā [sigh]</p>
<p>Threesdadā¦did you used to post on Heybucket? I think I recognize you lol.</p>
<p>The varsity football game is cancelled tonight. Iām so happy! All I could think about is my daughter outside cheering in the cold rain for 2 1/2 hours and getting sick the weekend before the PSAT. I feel a little guilty.</p>
<p>^HA! I totally understand that 4CookieMonster!</p>
<p>Threesdad, good luck to your D this weekend!</p>
<p>Itās going to be a quiet 3-day weekend here. Hope to get some down time with my D to discuss all things college - different schools, what their acceptance profiles look like, and finances. Itās supposed to be beautiful here this weekend so perhaps we will do it in the hammock. :)</p>