<p>It was pretty impressive to watch D yesterday and today. Yesterday, she talked to teachers about missing work. This morning, she took the math test she missed and after school took the chemistry test. She did this all without any nagging/reminding on our part.</p>
<p>jmnva06, this is one of those moments when watching our kids growing up makes us feel good.</p>
<p>Maxwell that is an awful story.</p>
<p>There has to be a better way but I have no answers.</p>
<p>jmnva06 verynice! It’s great when our children take responsibility for their work!</p>
<p>Gibson that is a quite a schedule-worse than what we are dealing with here-poor kids it seems way too much. They really must love it to stick it out.</p>
<p>Maxwell, out of curiosity - after partial credit, is she having an A now? I hope so. I’m sure she’s learned from this.
It is nice to watch our kids learning to work hard and take responsibilities. </p>
<p>For some, it comes very late though, if it does at all.
My friend has a relative who has a very smart boy who is now 17. His school grades were great when he was young. The boy took the SAT when he was in either 7 or 8 grade and qualified for CTY. did many CTY camps. now he is doing poorly in school due to internet (tumblr, facebook, whatnot) addiction - that’s what they think. It’s terrible to get into that kind of situation in senior year.</p>
<p>Softball update- girls won regional championship on Friday night. Long week but was worth it to see the shear joy on their faces! They did it the hard way, losing to a team they should have beat on Thursday night. Friday they had to play hard to win their way back into the final. Since the tournament is double elimination had to beat the undefeated team twice. Won the first game 13- 6 and nail biter of a second game 9-6. Game finished around 11 pm. The school hasn’t won regions in a number of years,( over 15) so this is a huge deal for the program. Senior girls dissolved in tears. Some of them were sitting the SAT the next morning- they must have been absolutely exhausted. Another reason to get all the testing done in Junior year- you just don’t know what will come up. Rain delayed this tournament and pushed everything back a day, should have finished on Thurs night.</p>
<p>jmnva06- good for your d!</p>
<p>herandhisMom- that’s an awful situation. Hopefully, they can get their son some help. Better to happen this year when he is home, than the following when he is away in college. Hopefully, he can pull his senior year together. If not a year or two at a local community college is not the end of the world and many kids are choosing that option.</p>
<p>Yay for Gibson’s D! So nice to see all of that hard work pay off!</p>
<p>We weathered homecoming here, and now D is settling in to the last two weeks of the quarter and taking the PSAT in two weeks. I talked to her about the English grade thing, and she does not want to say anything to the teacher. She’s adamant about it, so that’s the end of that. I can’t talk to her about grades or anything anymore - she just gets angry and sees me as interfering, so I’m going to stay out of it and hope for the best.</p>
<p>On top of all of that, it’s cold here today and my hair is static-y.</p>
<p>suzy, It’s cold here too. I think we need some heavy snow, right now.</p>
<p>herandhis, yes the partial credit did help. she is having a very low A now. She really should learn the lesson. It’s painful. 
- this is not a good emoticon. I can’t find a better one to fit this kind of situation. (help? ) </p>
<p>Addiction is terrible. Internet addiction is terrible. That’s one thing that makes me feel good to have a busy kid. I also know high school students who have no life outside internet. It’s really bad.</p>
<p>D is also taking the PSAT in two weeks and I have been helping her work through a prep book for it. Her older brother was home from college this weekend and commented on the prep book sitting out - “she’s only a sophomore!!”</p>
<p>Which got me thinking. I personally think it would be nice if D finished all her PSAT/ACT/SAT testing (except subject if necessary) before senior year. If she can spend this year between the two PSATs doing light prep but regularly, I can’t think why she wouldn’t get her highest score next fall. There’s no more material to learn, though vocab always grows I guess. It seems logical to me to prep for the SAT at the same time as the PSAT and take them close together. Then if the score is strong enough for the schools she’s considering, leave it and move on.</p>
<p>ACT is a little different but if the SAT/PSAT goes well, she can do that junior year, later.</p>
<p>Anyone else thinking about the scheduling of this stuff like this?</p>
<p>My D15 is taking her PSAT practice test next week. She’s staying today, tomorrow and Wednesday after school for some free practice sessions. I’m glad her school is offering that because unfortunately, she doesn’t have the discipline (yet) to do it on her own. </p>
<p>I know this PSAT doesn’t count for anything, but she might as well be prepared for it, if only to get a true read on what her strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to the real thing.</p>
<p>I’m with you OHMomof 2. I would really like the testing to be out of D’s life as soon as possible without making her utterly miserable. I think it’s very doable for her to take the PSAT and SAT next fall but I suppose we’ll evaluate that as we get closer. The school doesn’t recommend this but everything else I’ve read or heard disagrees with the school’s advice. I’m also wondering whether it’s better for her to take the ACT in lieu of subject tests or to take the subject tests as they come up. The ACT offers a lot more flexibility in that it’s not tied to any particular class and is offered throughout the year. Anyone have any experience in this?</p>
<p>I’d try the ACT regardless. Most schools will take either it or the SAT, and some kids do better on one than the other. S’12 had a better ACT score and used that for colleges rather than his SAT.</p>
<p>If you know that your D won’t apply to schools that won’t take the ACT over the SAT subject tests, then that’s one more reason to take it, I think.</p>
<p>For my D, there aren’t any SAT subject tests worth taking until late junior year so we can postpone that decision…she will take the ACT though, for sure.</p>
<p>I found this list which may be helpful: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14314359-post4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14314359-post4.html</a></p>
<p>…I think it’s likely that more and more schools will begin to take the ACT instead since that seems to be the trend. This list is already out of date by at least one - Columbia no longer requires the Subject tests.</p>
<p>I think my D is going to take the SAT Math II subject test in June - she’ll just have finished honors pre-AP calc which I think is what is covered on this test. She might also take the American History (or whatever it’s called) SAT II test in June also, since she’s taking APUSH this year.</p>
<p>The plan for now is for her to take the SAT and PSAT in the fall of Junior year so studying for both can accomplished at the same time. She’ll probably take the ACT soon thereafter - December? That will leave time to take both ACT and SAT again if she needs to in the spring and hopefully be done.</p>
<p>I have to say, I would never have known about the SAT/PSAT synergy (and studying plan) if it weren’t for the great help I received from those on this thread who have been through this with older kids. Thank you all very much!</p>
<p>And Maxwell, don’t you be wishing snow on us so early!!</p>
<p>Gibson that is wonderful! Congratulations to those girls!</p>
<p>Mine is home today. The cold she has been fighting on and off for while turned nasty over the weekend. She is on an antibiotic to see if it will help but they see no evidence of anything bacterial-which is why I hate bringing them to the doctor and avoid it if at all possible.</p>
<p>If she isn’t better tomorrow we have to go have bloodwork to rule out mono! I suspect it’s a virus that she hasn’t been able to fight because of the schedule she has. Last week in addition to classes there were four soccer games including two played in the cold rain.</p>
<p>I have made a firm decision and have made it clear to her. From this day on if I say no school it’s no school. This may sound odd to some but she feels she needs to be there every day no matter what. She has been so intent on being on top of everything that it wasn’t worth fighting over to keep her home. Well we still won’t be fighting-I have gotten a grip and realized I am still the boss whether she likes it or not!</p>
<p>I think a lot of this is her fear of her position on the team. She is a swing player and I think she is afraid of losing her spot if she isn’t there every day. It is a very odd team and I have seen really good players “punished” before if they aren’t part of the in crowd-I wish I could phrase it better. I told her if that happens it happens-she needs to learn no matter what she has to take care of herself first and not be driven by fear-which is how these people seem to operate that team.</p>
<p>If it is mono I fear for her schoolwork-she could get very far behind very fast. I am trying to stay in the day though-if she has a good day that may mean whatever she has may be responding to the meds-or maybe just plain old rest and fluids!</p>
<p>@suzy, I really need a snow day! :p</p>
<p>@SansSerif, it’s great your school offers review. I don’t think my D.'s school has anything like that. A local CC has a SAT review course. They met several times in the summer, and then once a week since school started, until last week, for October SAT. D’s school is very weak in standardized tests. </p>
<p>and marching band is crazy…</p>
<p>^^Pepper-I hope your D does not have mono. That is worrisome! Wish her the best!</p>
<p>S2 will take the PLAN tomorrow and the practice PSAT next week. I am glad that our district allows 10th graders to take both. No prep just to see where he falls on his own. I agree that kids take both SAT and ACT to see which one s/he is better at. Our HS PTSA also offers an assessment test to let students evaluate which one is better for them. My S1 took both and he did better on ACT. There are differences between the two and most institutions do accept one or another.</p>
<p>S2 post “likes Grand Valley State University” on his FB and happily informed me of its low tuition rate for OOS. During the summer he met a guy from the camp who is student there. The funny thing is my H was born and raised in Michigan and he never heard or knew about that school.</p>
<p>re: testing: </p>
<p>With our D’12 she took the SAT the same week as the PSAT. Combining the testing that way minimized stress over those exams because they were together in time. Those scores were high enough that she (and we) didn’t feel the need for her to do any more testing, so she never took the ACT, but did take subject exams. Again, she grouped her subject exams in 2 groups, one with the AP exams (the weekend in the middle of exams) and one really early on right after she finished the classes and in the middle of a bunch of other testing. So she really did spend the least amount of mental energy (and prep time) possible on testing and was done (for all intents and purposes) by May of Junior year.</p>
<p>I was thinking that D’15 should take the ACT sometime this year, but she has a standing commitment on Saturdays, and there doesn’t really seem to be any good reason to have her test instead of fulfill her commitment. Perhaps June will work out, but if not, I’m not terribly concerned. </p>
<p>I was thinking that it could be fun for D’15 to go visit big sis over spring break. Sort of a college visit, but not really. But I’m not sure that either of them would really enjoy it. I think I’ll postpone thinking about that one for a while as well.</p>
<p>Of course, D15 came after the PSAT review yesterday (CR) saying how she “already knew all that stuff”. She’s okay in English but not great, so I really doubt she already knew it all - or else it was a pretty superficial review, which is totally possible. </p>
<p>For kids like her who are not on any advanced track for math (she’s taking geometry this year and will have algebra II next year) they let them know there will be a lot of stuff on the test that they won’t be familiar with. My only concern is that she does as well as possible with the items she does know.</p>
<p>She’s very stubborn and I think that the main purpose of the practice PSAT will be to show her that perhaps she doesn’t “know all that stuff” and that a little studying might be a good idea for when it actually counts.</p>
<p>Haha IJustDrive I like that plan-think about it later!</p>
<p>Do we have any Nook or Kindle users here? I have a Kindle but haven’t used it to take out books from the library or even to buy one. My daughter has to read a book per quarter and since she is home with some time and she hasn’t even started it yet I thought this might be a good opportunity to read.</p>
<p>Any suggestions most importantly for the book-if you know how to use the Kindle that would be the icing on the cake.</p>
<p>The only kinds of books she can manage to get through are about history-preferably the Civil War era. It can be fiction or non-fiction but she has to write a paper after reading it how it changed how she felt or thought about something. The shorter the better! :)</p>
<p>Sans I think we have the same daughter! She is in Algebra 2 and is good at math but her verbal skills are going to kill her-but like your girl she knows everything so she is about to get a rude awakening-hey it’s good this is just a practice test! :)</p>
<p>Thank you IJD, your experience confirms our plan.</p>
<p>S’12 is a natural test taker and never did any prep at all. D is a more diligent student but not as strong a test taker…and is very interested in doing prep work. For her I think this kind of grouping will be best.</p>
<p>We’ve been working with a book that explains some basic strategies - leaving longer reading passages until the end of the section, recognizing clue words and patterns, knowing which sections go from easy to hard and which don’t, that sort of thing, followed by practice questions.</p>
<p>Anyone use PSAT score for summer programs?</p>