<p>Two more weeks to go for D15 to finish school.She is ready to take a break.Summer school starts by end of june.</p>
<p>D15 was announced as co editior in chief of the school newspaper for the forthcoming school year.Usually only seniors get the position.She is thrilled.</p>
<p>@Apollo6,that sounds interesting.Is the program fee based?Is there a selction process?</p>
<p>That’s wonderful news for your D, tripleamom! D has about a week and a half before school is out, and then a whopping two days before summer school starts. I feel kind of bad for her.</p>
<p>maxwell, I know for sure that my D’s schedule is going to be harder next year.</p>
<p>@suzy100,Thank you.Just two days break isn’t enough.What is she doing in summer school?</p>
<p>@maxwell,its going to be harder academicwise.I think she has learnt her way in HS in a year so that school be less challenging.She now has a sense of what to do and expect.
she is sad that her senior classmates in journalism will be gone for ever and she may not have classes with some of her friends next year.These are the things she worries about so far.</p>
<p>Maxwell-
I think in general it is easier. The transition has been made, they are growing up, and selecting classes they " want" to take. My girls love the challenge of harder classes. They hate being bored in classes required for graduation !</p>
<p>Both my girls have summer birthdays. D2 will get her permit mid July. She is desperate to drive. Big change for her when d1 went off to college. Her ride to school, target, movies etc went away. Back to asking mum and dad to take her places.</p>
<p>Heading to the lake on Sat with 90+ temps. Some of the kids at the lake this weekend will still have finals next week. Hard when half the crowd is finished and kicking back.</p>
<p>Hope everyone has a great memorial weekend!</p>
<p>@tripleamom, she’s just knocking out her PE requirements. 8 weeks of her summer. I’m sure some of it will be fun (I think they go canoeing and rock-climbing, etc.) but she has to be there by 8:00 so no sleepovers during the week, etc.</p>
<p>Her birthday is today, and I’m trying to get ready for 15-20 teenage girls invading. SlipNSlide is purchased, need to set it up and make sure it works. Water guns, water balloons are in the mix as well. (Thanks momsings!) It’s 90+ temps here this weekend too. OY!</p>
<p>Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend as well!</p>
<p>tripleamom congrats! I have a soft spot in my heart for those newspaper kids-what an honor to be selected so young!</p>
<p>suzy happy birthday to your girl-enjoy all those teenagers. :)</p>
<p>Gibson we really miss her brother and his taxi service-he won’t be home from his Euopean adventures for another 4 weeks. :(</p>
<p>maxwell sophomore year will be much harder for her-just the way the school is. She has the art and tech requirement done and they were easy classes-no easy classes next year.</p>
<p>Have a great weekend. We are off to the annual Memorial Day soccer tournament-they never win but they sure have a lot of fun!</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>From what I saw with S1, school is more engaging as they move up in grade, but everything intensifies and is busier.
I know that S2 is going to have a more challenging sophomore year because he is going to miss his older brother. They are very close. :(</p>
<p>momsings- hugs to you. Is this your first leaving the nest? I promise it won’t be as hard as you think and the year speeds by. My elder D is in Europe like Pepper’s son. She left May 11 and won’t be back till July 11. I am looking forward to meeting up with her in Barcelona at the end of June.</p>
<p>Note: do not believe the pictures on the slipnslide boxes. They are way smaller than advertised. Went back out and bought another to make it longer. Here’s hoping nobody breaks a bone. Doc next door said to send any injuries over to him. :)</p>
<p>Agree with the other posters: typically, sophomore year classes are more difficult / challenging and require more HW than freshman year. Some kids find the challenge exhilarating, others struggle with the increasing workload. But they’re past the adjustment of freshman year, and mostly they’ve already settled into friendships and activities so that helps. Overall difficulty depends hugely on how much they choose to challenge themselves above-and-beyond minimum classroom expectations, e.g., trying academic competitions, stretching their wings in ECs, and leadership responsibilities.</p>
<p>My D2012 got better grades her sophomore year than in freshman year, and still better junior year. First semester of senior year her attention shifted more to ECs and leadership, but she still kept the grades sky-high. She had to work her tail off to get it all done, and I’m very proud of her! Second semester of senior year she devoted way more time & attention to ECs, and less to schoolwork, and her grades reflect that. Still, (to tie to previous discussion) she got into just as good of colleges as her slightly-more-highly-ranked classmates. 
:)</p>
<p>@pepper03, Thank you.</p>
<p>@suzy100,Your PE program looks more interesting.Here D15’s PE is a hybrid program.She has to be at school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 to 11:30 and the rest is online.I don’t know how they do PE online.
And Happy Birthday to your girl!</p>
<p>gibson–yes, older S is the first to leave the nest. I am so thrilled for him, and yet…it is bittersweet (as I am sure you know).</p>
<p>@tripleamom, congrats to your DD15 on newspaper for next year. That’s really cool! </p>
<p>DS15 is now a rising Soph and had a great 9th grade year, so <em>it’s all good,</em> as he would say. To DH & me, it will be <em>good</em> when all DS’s Summer activities kick in so he has less time to be under-foot at home. At least he’s practicing his cello & we are going cello shopping tomorrow! And he turns 15 on Monday, though I haven’t gotten my act together on a gift (other than the cello). Am taking off work next week though and we have a few fun activities planned to surprise him.</p>
<p>@GoAskDad, Have fun cello shopping! We’re going to clarinet shopping next weekend. It’s exciting. D. has been playing the clarinet since 4th grade. She’s been using her uncle’s old clarinet. For marching band, we spent $60 (!!! DIRT CHEEP! :D) and got her a plastic clarinet, case included! When she tried out for all state, her clarinet teacher lent her the teacher’s clarinet. Finally she’s going to get a good one of her own. It’s exciting. The way it works, we will go to the shop so she can try several. Then she take take two back home to try for two weeks. Then she will make her final choice and return the extra one to the shop. We’ll have all this process done just before she goes to her CTY camp at the end of June.</p>
<p>Oooooh! I <em>love</em> cello shopping! Make sure you (1) bring along someone knowledgeable to help you choose well; (2) take your time and try lots of cellos before you decide; (3) buy a good cello case to protect your investment.</p>
<p>We bought D2012’s good cello (as opposed to the student-quality instrument she keeps at school – she walks to-from HS and it’s just too much to schlepp a cello in addition to backpack, lunch, and whatever other cruft she needs at school). Her beloved first cello teacher (the one she “graduated” from at the end of MS) came along to help her choose. We made a day-trip to [Robert</a> Cauer Violins](<a href=“http://www.cauer.com/]Robert”>http://www.cauer.com/). They have rooms and rooms full of cellos with cost ranging from a <<$1000 (you don’t want one of those!) up to >>$100,000 (I wish!)</p>
<p>We spent hours and hours deciding, and would’ve been utterly lost without professional advice. We spent more than we’d originally planned, but my D has been so dedicated that we’ve more than gotten our money’s worth. A good instrument makes a huge difference in the sound quality you can produce, and the better the player the more of a difference it makes. </p>
<p>“Fit” between cello and player is very important – just like it will be in choosing a college in a few years. ;)</p>
<p>GoAskDad: Cello shopping sounds like fun. My DS turns 15 on Monday too but it’s always hard to figure out what to get him. So this year he is getting a couple geeky T-shirts. (e.g., One atom says “I think I lost an electron.” The other atom replies "Are you positive?). On Tuesday he starts Drivers’ Ed. :eek:</p>
<p>We may be guiro shopping here. DD13 just informed me that she needs to take one on her upcoming orchestra trip. It’s the little ribbed gourd-shaped wooden thingy that percussionists scrape with a stick. Not near the investment of a cello and no concerns about fit!</p>
<p>Hey, thanks for cello/instrument shopping advice, everyone. Much appreciated! We brought home 2 cellos to “try” and DS will play them for his private instructor tomorrow. Not sure we’ve found the right one & have more stores to visit over the next few weeks. Shoot, it’s the price of a decent used car by the time you’re done with instrument, good case & bow - so we plan to take our time. Have been saving for a while, but wow - what if he suddenly decides to quit! At least his HS provides a cello for school use & he has been renting a surprisingly good one for home practices, lessons and school concerts. We just haven’t wanted to make the investment in a “real” cello up until now.</p>
<p>@STEMFamily: Happy B-day to your DS15! Our DS15 has spent the day goofing around with his siblings and this is the first year he hasn’t had a soccer &/or baseball tourney this weekend (nor do our other kids, which is odd), so we aren’t used to being home on DS’s B-day. End of school was so busy that I didn’t even get him a gift (yet), but those T-shirts do sound fun. </p>
<p>Suddenly, all of our neighbors have purchased lake houses and boats, so they are all gone over the holiday weekend. Our neighborhood is a ghost town! DH & I are obviously in the wrong lines of work… Interestingly, many of these families are getting near to sending older kids off to college, too, with all the expense that entails.</p>
<p>GoAskDad: Happy Birthday to your S too! Ours is just hanging out at home playing video games and watching TV. Since our schools get out before Memorial Day, we have celebrated many of his birthdays while on vacation so he’s enjoying being at home. Plus I think both kids are still decompressing from school.<br>
I think it is unavoidable to have nagging doubts about kids’ commitments to something when you are making a major investment. (I suppose a lot of us may have some of those doubts about colleges too.) I wondered the same thing about D13 when we were looking to buy a marimba three years ago but I must admit having her own was the spark that really lit her fire. I’m amazed at how much she practises now totally of her own volition. On the other hand, she has been hounding us for the last 2 years about letting her audition for a drum corps…sigh</p>
<p>I had to post after I saw all the posts about cello shopping. I have a 2015er who is a cellist.</p>
<p>mihcal1, my son’s teacher has recommended Robert Cauer’s time and again! We have never been because we ultimately decided to continue to purchase instruments from Fred Meissner up in Washington since we know him and we get 100% trade in on our instruments (my 2012er is a violinst). If it turns out that my 2015er is totally serious about being a professional cellist, I will invest more $$ but his current cello, $2,500, is sufficient for his needs.</p>
<p>GoAskDad, my 2015 cellist also turns 15 this week. Yes, instruments are expensive. We are a moderate income family and our instruments are our one investment and the only thing we own of value (more expensive than our cars). The good thing is that their value usually appreciates rather than depreciates like a car. We paid 5k for my oldest son’s violin (we had help with costs from several sources) but it’s now valued at 15K. I will be insuring it as he goes off to college and I do recommend that good instruments be insured with separate musical instrument insurance.</p>
<p>PS For his birthday, he went to see The Avengers with friends and ate at Pat and Oscars afterwards. </p>
<p>Ok, back to lurking here. :-)</p>
<p>S15 is a bassist, so I love hearing about the cello buying! We bought S a really nice bass 2 years ago when we realized that this was his passion. It was definitely an expense equal to a nice used car. It cracked me up, because S15 didn’t understand why we didn’t buy S12 a nicer car (especially when my brother bought my niece a nice shiny mustang, for pete’s sake), and I had to remind him of where the money has had priority in our family (musical instruments). :)</p>