<p>I think schools come up with how they want to do NHS, both for criteria to be invited and activities/responsibilities for being in it. My oldest son’s school pretty much invited every kid who was doing well in school (it was a small brand new charter school), and they really didn’t do much. My middle son’s school (huge public school - same as S’15) invites pretty much any student with a 3.7 over higher GPA to apply, and most get in if they’ve done any activities to speak of and haven’t been in trouble. They meet once a month and also do fundraisers and other service projects. They induct new members their junior year in March. To be real honest, I think it’s kind of an empty resume padder as far as colleges go, just because every school does it their own way and so colleges can’t really glean much about what it means to be a member. For some students, it was a meaningless and easily obtained title, and for others, it was quite prestigious to be invited into and provided a valuable experience.</p>
<p>Students are invited to join NHS in the middle of their sophomore year based upon grade point average. Older S declined the invitation and DS15 probably will too. There is a large volunteer hour requirement to actually get the NHS distinction senior year and both of mine were/are too busy to add another large, heaping activity to the mix. I let it be their choice. Here again, I only want them doing activities because they want to, not to beef up their college resume (not saying that others do that, just saying that’s what we do 
).</p>
<p>Our HS doesn’t do NHS at all. They do CSF instead.</p>
<p>Still chuckling over how PN prefers talent show to watching someone trying to rip off her S’s arm.</p>
<p>^^^what’s CSF? Just curious…</p>
<p>California Scholarship Federation. CA version of NHS, more or less.
At our HS, kids are eligible if they got 3.5UW and no Ds or Fs in the previous semester. They have to do some volunteer (unpaid) tutoring either privately (verified by signature of parent of the tutored student) or else at the on-campus tutoring center. It’s only a couple of hours of tutoring required, not a hugely onerous work requirement.</p>
<p>If they’re in CSF a certain number of semesters (5?) they’re eligible for a gold cord at graduation.</p>
<p>Good morning! I saw a list on facebook that S made the talent show, so that’s fun. There’s a kid who read poetry last year, and he’s on the list again - yay! His was really cool. He’s a neat kid. S has a show this weekend, and then I think his schedule settles down for a bit until the holiday show. He didn’t audition for the winter show just because he felt like he needed a break between shows. Yay - way to self regulate!</p>
<p>hope everyone has a great weekend! :D:D:D</p>
<p>PN Your son must be a real cool kid! I wish we could all go watch him. :)</p>
<p>D’s school had teacher/parent conference yesterday. She’s taking two APs this year. Both AP teachers said she was doing really well. As we walked into APUSH room, the first thing the teacher said was “Thank you for sending me such a great product!” The teacher said when he first looked at the list of the students, he thought “why are they sending me a sophomore here!” (The class is mostly seniors.) Then he said “she is so mature and absolutely excellent.” 
</p>
<p>She is struggling with AP chem. but so far her grade is an A. She is a hard worker. I think she’ll be good in school grade. she needs to work hard to prepare for the national exam in May.</p>
<p>Yay for your S PN - sounds like a great kid!</p>
<p>herandhisMom, it’s so nice to get such great feedback from the teachers!</p>
<p>Like a dummkopf, I totally space out yesterday and forgot that the Open House was last night. That’s pretty much the only time I get to interact with her teachers. I’m so mad at myself. :mad:</p>
<p>Our Back to School night is Monday. D is home sick today. I’m teleworking to be here in case she needs anything.</p>
<p>Yay P-N! How cool for your son!</p>
<p>Herandhismom, that is really wonderful feedback! Kudos to your d!</p>
<p>Suzy, after last night, I wish I’d forgotten about open house. I was not impressed with most of D’s teachers and the one who stood out as an excellent teacher is leaving mid-year. The teacher who is supposed to step in as a replacement is not a good teacher. This is the second year this has happened to my D. Yuck, I’m bracing myself for a less than wonderful year.</p>
<p>3girls3cats, that is a shame about having lousy teachers for your D. :(</p>
<p>Homecoming drama continues here. :rolleyes: That is all.</p>
<p>Sounds like fun, suzy! :p</p>
<p>Homecoming drama, Suzy–yikes! None of that here with my sweet, geeky guy :D!</p>
<p>Homecoming is really late for us, not till end of Oct. We are in softball region play off drama. Last night was canceled due to rain. Tonight game delayed due to the poor condition of the field. Girls won in 5 innings. Home at 10 pm. Now the 2+ hrs of homework begins… and we get to do it all again tomorrow night and the next and the next if they keep winning.</p>
<p>Gibson: you’re located in one of the states who play softball in the fall! The weather is so much better from August-November.</p>
<p>We live in the northeast. Practice starts the 1st Friday of March. Hopefully the snow has melted, if not practice is indoors. Games begin April 1 and run thruogh Memorial Day Weekend, so the for the early games the girls are wearing their heavy UnderArmour tops and bottoms; by the end of the season they deal with the heat.</p>
<p>Fall softball also allows the college coaches to scout recruits playing real games, not just college exposure tournaments with their club teams.</p>
<p>hisandhers - great to hear about the good feedback from your D’s teachers! We always like it when OTHER peopel realize just how fabulous our kids are!</p>
<p>3girls3cats - ugh. So sorry your D has lousy teachers to look forward to all year. </p>
<p>suzy - homecoming drama? i have three boys, so I can’t really relate! S went with a group - dinner at one house, then they all went to the homecoming dance, and then S ended up at McDonald’s afterwards with yet a different kid. </p>
<p>Looks like the PSAT is two weeks from today!</p>
<p>Yes PSAT is coming up. This is just their practice. I hope my daughter does well. She did two practice tests and they’re pretty good. She didn’t study for it because I figured there is no point of doing that this year. Next year she will take it more seriously.</p>
<p>No homecoming drama here, either. My daughter has a cute dress, and she’s going with a group of her friends.</p>
<p>She’s taking the PSAT in a couple of weeks, too, along with all of her class. I’ll be interested to see how she does - I don’t really have much idea.</p>
<p>So far, all of her classes are going really well, except Algebra II. The first unit gave her a lot of trouble, but the material they’re working on now is easier for her. I remember that Algebra II gave me more trouble than BC Calc when I was in high school, so I’m sympathetic. I’m helping her right now, which I think will be enough. Her main problem seems to be that she doesn’t enjoy math, so she doesn’t want to put forth the effort that would make the material really stick.</p>
<p>threesdad. Yes, we play school ball in the fall and travel in the spring. I can’t imagine balancing school ball and travel ball in the spring. I guess states adjust tournament schedules. We spend most weekends in the spring traveling to GA tournaments with her travel team. Softball girl is not looking to play in college. She loves the sport, but doesn’t want to be “owned” by the college playing a sport. I think she will play club or inter-mural. I can see her just loving to play with boys and smacking the ball further than they can : )</p>
<p>This leads us to another problem- she moves to the U16 age bracket and most teams in her ability level are spending weekends and $$$'s traveling to college exposure tournaments and she is not interested in that. Her team folded after the summer and we are left trying to find a team that is a good fit. Not easy. At this point, she is concentrating on school ball. I am struggling with the fact that she may be stepping back from the sport. Why can’t 15 year olds just play for fun? very frustrated with the whole set up and the " coaches" dangling college scholarships that are few and far between… and very few girls can make a career out of softball.</p>
<p>Ok- rant over!</p>
<p>PSAT prep is under way at our house. D’s never taken it or the ACT so this is her first “real” college prep test. I suppose she may use it for a summer program. Mostly she’s just working on getting familiar with the format, and learning some strategies for the stuff that’s harder for her (sentence completion, it seems, is the toughie).</p>
<p>AP Euro…whew. Her teacher provides downloadable Powerpoint notes that make no sense. Her book is a standard AP textbook but her teacher goes off on weird tangents. Only half the kids that take this class even take the AP test, since most don’t feel she prepared them well for it. I get the sense from her that she doesn’t care to “teach to the test”…in that case perhaps someone else should teach the *AP *class? It is what it is, I am helping her study independently. </p>
<p>Otherwise sophomore year is going pretty well. Pre-AP English is a challenger, this is the year they are really strict about writing with clarity and organization and structure, especially for research and analytical papers. D struggles a little with it as she is a math/sci kid, but hopefully it will end with her knowing how to write well.</p>