<p>My daughter’s dance company has all kinds of mini FB groups that are private. It allows them to post videos of works in progress without anyone seeing them who shouldn’t. Pretty smart (but don’t ask ME how to do it!).</p>
<p>Thank you!! Maybe tomorrow I will attempt to create a FB account. D15 is having meltdowns due to a paper that she finds " stupid" and a “waste of her valuable time,” while D12 is sending me pictures of herself kayaking in the college pool and eating ice-cream sundaes. Yep- two different kids!! </p>
<p>We went to the mall after school and got her a dress for the NHS induction ceremony. Took her 10 minutes to find a dress- found it on the rack inside the fitting room. Evidently somebody else did not want it!! It was the fastest shopping trip I ever experienced. 
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<p>Did I mention that my D put a 2014 jar in her room? Every night she puts in a happy memory of 2014 ie getting her license etc. She intends to read everything inside the jar at the end of the year. </p>
<p>Good luck to the ACT takers tomorrow!!</p>
<p>Hmmm I just realized that she passed her road test in 2013… But that’s ok because the license arrived in 2014. </p>
<p>Do those of you planning trips during the week of Presidents Day have the whole week off of school? For the first time in my memory, DS has Tuesday off as well as Monday so we are planning to drive to visit Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. Then on spring break, we are planning to visit NCSU, UMD-CP and Pitt. DS may be “sick” so we can also visit USC (California) on a Monday in March. Our school district allows 5 school day absences for college visits but only during senior year. </p>
<p>We do seem to have a very good College and Career Counselor now though. The kids have an advisory period about once an month and she sent an email with a presentation she had put together. It was a really good explanation of the costs of attending college (including the breakdown of tuition, room and board, books, etc) along with example costs ranging from our local community college and state university to Ivy Leagues. Perfect timing for presentation to the Juniors! Whether they paid attention or not is another story but she did mail it to all parents too.</p>
<p>Hi all, posting after a long time. But i am following the thread. Interesting discussions. D15 had a good first semester. Maintained her grades and her class rank has gone up 
She has gone to Stanford on a fully paid trip for debate tournament. She got lucky as one of the teammates was not able to make it and the asked her to fill in. Its like a mini vacation for her.</p>
<pre><code> The assistant principal in her school came to all the students who are doing good and appreciated them personally. This is the first time the school administration is trying to do something of this sort.She is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper at school. She is driving herself crazy rewriting most of the articles saying they are not up to her standard.
And with college visits none here. She refuses to come. Her thing is we can visit when she is accepted.The topic is closed for discussions. She gave her SAT in Nov. Got a good score but need a better one so took Jan. test waiting for the results.She is driving me crazy most of the time. I cannot wait for this process to be over.
</code></pre>
<p>Welcome back tripleamom and please join us in the LB!! Congrats to your D as I see she has some accomplishments to be proud of. </p>
<p>My D is also part of the " I won’t discuss college" club except perhaps once in awhile on her terms. She will do college visits but in the past she refused to discuss them ( says because she was a sophomore). Hopefully she will insert some type of opinion so that she can narrow her list a bit. She recently stated she would apply to UPitt - we visited during late summer and she gave no opinion. </p>
<p>Getting her ready for the ACT. My H just made her an omelette and her bag is packed and ready to go. Reminded her to use the bathroom right before the test ( always a mother I guess)!
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<p>Stem my D has off the entire week- Feb 17-21. </p>
<p>No kid activities this morning, but the dog does not know what “weekend” means. Fortunately, the dog doesn’t have to take the ACT. </p>
<p>Good morning and happy testing!<br>
My dear child had a huge melt down last night–pressure is finally kicking in to where I need to step in.
My mantra “this too will past.” is not working.
I’m glad that I am not a high schooler, because if I was, I would have been already been admitted to the padded-wall room. I work with kids all day long, and have for 25 years, and each year especially the last 7-10 I have noticed that the stress we use to see in older kids and young adults have crept down to my sweet young ones.
I don’t know where this is headed in our society but I don’t predict a good outcome.
Sorry, about the rant–at least it wasn’t about the weather this time. 
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<p>Good luck to all the ACT testers today! I’m going to take a pass on the FB group - the last thing I need is another way to spend time online 
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<p>Good Luck to all ACT-takers today, including my own DS! He hopes to be “one-&-done,” but we’ll have to see about that. I’ve been proud of the way he has kept his chin up about testing (and prep), but I can see he’s tiring of it all. Can’t blame him. Last night, I briefly considered signing him up for the March SAT (it was the last day to sign up w/out a late fee), but decided against it. He thought he did well enough on the Jan SAT, and scores will be here on 2/13, so we’ll see what we have in-hand at that time. I thought it might be “easier” for him to turn around & take the March SAT, while he was still In The Zone, but it could also just be cruel, ha, ha.</p>
<p>I am so glad it’s the weekend. Has been a long week.I plan to go back & try to catch up w/the thread this weekend.</p>
<p>@twogirls, I really like the happy memory jar idea! What a wonderful idea.</p>
<p>I find it very interesting reading about all the different courses available in different parts of the country. S12 and S15 attend/ed the same science magnet school and so many changes in just 3 years, although the program is still fairly new and adjustments are always being made.</p>
<p>S15 is signed up for AP Calc B/C, AP Psych., Choir, German IV, Materials Science, Tech. writing (each of those for one semester), English IV, and a two period science research class where they work on a senior capstone project with a mentor-either off school grounds or in a lab at school.</p>
<p>Big debate here was taking AP Eng. lit or not. He is taking AP Eng. Lang. this year, and while he is learning a lot from a very good teacher, it is a bit of a struggle that he would rather not contend next year. Also debated taking AP comp.sci vs. AP psych. Still don’t know if he made the right choice, but he made it.</p>
<p>We have had 7 snow days so far and have lost over half of spring break. I am so disappointed, as we were going on a driving tour from MD to Maine and back. I need to make plan B, but I am just so frustrated at the moment. </p>
<p>Good luck to ACT test takers-S is still deciding whether or not to take it. He has a big issue with finishing in time, so I think not.</p>
<p>I am good for a FB group maybe if the name is neutral to what the group in your daughter won’t be able to figure it out @twogirls?</p>
<p>My daughter hates dances-too loud, doesn’t like music, and no interest in dating-she is on a mission and can’t waste her time getting distracted. </p>
<p>So my kids will know that I have a FB but they won’t be able to " see" anything? Is that how it works? I agree with need2learn in that it will keep me online longer! 
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<p>Yes if they go to your page they may see you are in a group but if the group has a name that they wouldn’t associate with anything having to do with them they won’t know what you are up to-and only group members can have access to the posts on there if it is set up as a closed group=just make sure they don’t get your password!</p>
<p>Thanks Pepper!! </p>
<p>Don’t you just hate it when life/work/etc. keeps getting in the way of indulging in your guilty pleasures…like surfing threads on CC? >:P Good luck to the test takers today!!</p>
<p>I feel like I’ve been non-stop on the run since I finished my training in NJ almost 2 weeks ago. The one day I had with a decent amount of down time I spent setting up rental car, hotels, and scheduling campus visits/academic meetings/etc. for the spring break extravaganza trip. At least that part is somewhat coming together. I forget who mentioned “chauffeuring” the college process, but that sounds like how we’re handling it. The kids do some research and pick the schools, and the parents do a lot of the legwork to arrange the visits. Seems to be working so far…but a week in the car could prove…interesting. 8-} </p>
<p>keepme…Sounds like your road trip will be just as hectic as ours. Good luck to you!!</p>
<p>Re: The Looney Bin…I’m already a Diamond level lifetime member of the Bin and I love the idea, but I’m not a FB guy. Guess I’ll have to settle for the partial support group experience here on CC. </p>
<p>:-j </p>
<p>Prom…My D has actually already bought her prom ticket. She does have a BF this year, so I imagine that makes a difference, but she has never been one to want to go to dances or wear dresses. This year it seems to be changing quite a bit. She has discovered fashion and even chose a couple dresses for no specific occasion. Never would have thought that would happen! She did go to one dance a while ago and thought it was horrible…inappropriate, etc…but even then said she heard Proms were better, with stricter rules, more chaperones, etc and the current principal is tougher on those things than the past one.</p>
<p>College search… She has continued her renewed interest in looking at colleges (after going through her stack of collected mail and scoring colleges based on how many things they sent lol) She is currently very excited about Wellesley. She loved it a while back (We have never visited…but she did love a summer visit to Boston). She really liked Wellesley when she first got mail from them, and now has actually researched and loves it. </p>
<p>Good luck to all the test takers today!</p>
<p>shoboemom – we went to a local presentation for Wellesley (my D was not interested but they sent her a nice invitation in the mail and she decided to check it out). We were both very impressed by what we heard and now it’s something she is considering. We haven’t visited, though.</p>
<p>@Stemfamily-Wow that is a long drive between OSU and Texas Tech. Both OSU and Texas Tech are two of major universities that our HS graduates attend. </p>
<p>@GoAskDad-I was also debating if S2 should take SAT in March. It is too bad that scores release after the regular registration ends. S2 said he would take it again, so he is registered.</p>
<p>@marylandfour-My S1 took AP Comp Science and AP Psych. AP Psych counts toward his degree plan but not AP comp science. Both are great courses although AP comp requires more Alg background. Our debate for S2 is also the AP Lit or not. I spoke with his AP Lang teacher during the open house. She gave me the AP Lang grade requirement in order to continue on AP Lit. It is clear to ME S2 should not do AP Lit. There is an Honors Eng IV available to seniors and my S1 had a great teacher. We are going to request that teacher if S2 chooses Honors Eng.</p>
<p>Good luck to all the ACT test takers today!</p>