<p>My D. told me her favorite bio teacher may leave the school because her husband is going to be the assistant principal of the school. The rule is his spouse can’t teach in the same school. Too bad. At least my D. is done with biology unless she’s taking AP in the future.</p>
<p>OK, this is random, but I just got the info on my D’s freshman spring dance. (I won’t bore you all with the details, but the freshman go without dates, are taught dances, this one includes a dinner, etc. etc.) Anyway, the invitation says that the girls are supposed to wear “fancy” dresses, but nothing strapless. What??? I’m all for decorum, and won’t let D wear something super-short, but good luck to all of us trying to find something that isn’t strapless - those are few and far between. Also, this precludes lots of the swapping that my D and her friends would have done so now I’ve got to go buy her a new dress for this. poop.</p>
<p>Suzy, Straps can easily be added to a strapless dress…perhaps some rhinestone straps or something that will not need to have matching fabric.</p>
<p>^^OOOH - great idea! I would never have thought about that. Thank you!</p>
<p>I am pretty thrilled with the teachers S2 has now and will have the rest of high school. Most of them will be the same ones S1 has had and as a whole they have been engaging and excited about their subject matter. The upcoming highlights are the teachers for APUSH, APEURO, Physics and Calculus. None of them are allowed to move or retire says I.</p>
<p>Suzy- can you add a shrug to a strapless dress? We have done that in the past for the girls attending Bat Mitsvah’s etc</p>
<p>Countdown for us too! High school finishes May 24. D2 is counting down the days. She is so ready to be finished. Trying to arrange drivers ed classes for her. Attempting to get a group together ( $40 discount). Most of her friends are the eldest child in the family, making me smile at the stress this is causing some of the moms. So much easier the second time round.</p>
<p>D1 finishing up her freshman year and will be home Sat for a few days before she flies to Oxford on Thursday.</p>
<p>Wow- this has been a quick year!</p>
<p>Just joined in on the Class of 2013 thread for the eldest so I figured I should jump in with both feet and get in early on 2015. </p>
<p>As noted by many, D15 is alrady forming her list based on tours and info she is getting while D13 is going through the process.</p>
<p>stuckintx and others: Your d15’s list is based on what? Did you make appointment before you went to visit the colleges? I’m asking because my daughter sort of has her list, but it’s just based on what she’s heard about those colleges. She doesn’t really know them. I think it’s about time for us to find out more about those colleges. Would like to have some suggestions.</p>
<p>Hi- just saw this thread and definitely want to join it. My d15 is a B student, but has a lot of problems with science and math. Right now, she’s made honor roll 2 of 3 marking periods, but it 's been a struggle for her. Her dream school is PSU, main campus, and if it weren’t for science and math, she might have a shot. So PSU is her reach school and we’re trying to figure out what some matches and safeties would be. She wants that real college campus experience. We live in the Phila suburbs.</p>
<p>Edited to add: she is just taking regular college prep classes, no honors. She will take honors history next year, and would like to ake honors french but they dont offer it in french until 11th grade, unfortunately. I dont think it would be a god idea to take honors in the other subjects. So many people here take honors level for granted and go on about how any AP classes they take, so I hope there are some nice colleges out there for your average, non- honors/AP level kid. :)</p>
<p>There’s an interesting thread in the Parents Forum on when to start college visits & how to start. Here is the link & I hope I post it correctly! Poster intparent gives a nice checklist of sorts. Hopefully there will be even more responses. The various parental perspectives on this topic are good to hear, IMO.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1335746-when-did-you-start-visiting-colleges-how-did-you-start.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1335746-when-did-you-start-visiting-colleges-how-did-you-start.html</a></p>
<p>SansSerif–there are plenty of great schools out there for your D. There are a couple of great threads in the parent forum that discuss colleges for B students.</p>
<p>Hello. I’m another one with a 13er (D) and S15 so thought I would join here too.</p>
<p>Older D is taking AP tests this week and next and the teacher definitely makes a difference. We had a really bad physics teacher until a couple years ago but the new teacher has been great. I’ve heard from the parents of a college freshman(who had the old teacher) that their D is really struggling in college physics because she learned next to nothing in AP physics. None of the kids even attempted to take the AP test.
At our school APBio is really hard but I’ve heard more than one alumnus heap praises on the teacher, and most kids get 5’s.</p>
<p>We’ve been on a few visits for D13 for which we dragged S13 along. Generally he’s been pretty attentive but we are also not making him attend all the info sessions and tours if he doesn’t want to.</p>
<p>Oops. meant S15. I’m probably going to do this a lot.</p>
<p>^^That made me laugh, STEMfamily. :)</p>
<p>Good idea on the shrug with the dress! We’ve got 2 weeks to figure it out. </p>
<p>We have passed the midway mark for this last semester, and D is not particularly motivated. I can’t imagine what last semester senior year will be like. ;)</p>
<p>@Goaskdad, thanks for the link. It’s very helpful. </p>
<p>Talking about dresses, we just got a pretty one for D. from deb, and shrug. I actually got the idea from here. 
Thanks ladies. </p>
<p>D. will take AP Gov exam next week. She is nervous. Hopefully she’ll get a good score. We really hope she does well in her first AP exam.</p>
<p>Sanserif–I’ve already got my eye on York College in York, PA for my DS15. He’s definitely a B student, but does well in science/math–not so much in english. I’m sure you will find the right fit–you have 3 more years to find great colleges!</p>
<p>This does not involve anybody in Class15. but since I don’t know anyone in 14, and some of you have older kids, so maybe you can give some insight - for a very close relative. He is HS class 14, very smart boy. tested SAT at grade 7 and got very high score in math. so he qualified for CTY, TIP, etc, and did those summer programs. but he slacked off in school quite a bit - or maybe I should say he didn’t pursue anything more than getting decent school grades since he started high school, due to change in family life, etc. Now he’s a sophomore, going into junior year. GPA is good > 3.95. taking honors, no AP at all. is not involved in any school activities except maybe a school play. He does TIP summer program in sciences. He is a brilliant boy with a resume that is not too bright. </p>
<p>Now suddenly he is worried because all his friends in TIP (or CTY, I don’t quite remember) are probably going to good colleges. He is worried he’s not going to be accepted to the kind of college he wants to get into. </p>
<p>What should we (or his parents, maybe over-educated, but have the laissez faire attitude towards kids’ education, which I kind of like) say to him?
Is it true that based on his stats, he most likely won’t be able to get into the “kind of college that his friends go”? Oh well, I think it might be true, but… does it matter? </p>
<p>And, he still has “no idea” what he wants to do in the future, which I guess is not uncommon among kids his age.</p>
<p>Maxwell, I’m definitely no expert, but I think there is time for him to improve his chances at top schools. It sounds like his grades are good, but maybe his schedule could be harder. I’d see if he could change his schedule for next year to include AP classes (assuming the school offers them). He should study for the PSAT. He should try to get involved in things at school (or outside of school) that interest him. And he should get a job. :)</p>
<p>Thanks suzy!
I’m encouraged to hear your comments. Certainly will pass the message. </p>
<p>Would like to hear more comments. :)</p>
<p>@Maxwell, I agree with suzy - get a job for the boy. It makes him a more responsible person. I know when my kids are that age/grade, I’d like to have them either get a job or do volunteer work, just so that they know what it’s like to take responsibilities.
At least he sees the problem. That’s a good first step. Even if he doesn’t go into top colleges, he can get into a decent college and still be successful and happy, if he is motivated.</p>