For those who like Puget Sound, you may also want to look at Lewis and Clark in Portland OR. It is a beautiful LAC. D15 loved it and they do offer merit money (as did UPS) for test scores and grades, but it was not enough merit money to make it affordable to us.
I’ll add to the book discussion (SciFi/Fantasy reader here), I really enjoyed John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War book. I also read two of the Red Rising series books by Pierce Brown. I have not yet read the third one in the series, but am on the hold list at the library. A fantastic two books in a three book series are Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I don’t know when the third book will be written and published (it’s a hard wait for our family).
For the fun of it, my favorite novel ever (which isn’t sci-fi, but could reasonably fit into the fantasy genre as magical realism) is Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin.
Tried reading some of Helprin’s other stuff, though, and can’t stand any of it. That book, though, is an incredibly convoluted bit of fun, and the fact that I like it even though it is, at core, a love letter to New York City says something, I think.
@mtrosemom we will likely tour L&C while in OR at some point but it’s a reach for S and I don’t expect it to be affordable in any scenario so it will really be more about visiting friends that attend there I think. There is an Oregon Private College week that if you hit 4 in that week (last week of July) you get your apps fees waived. Of course it is the week S will be at WWU so that will not work for us but probably would have otherwise. Ones that have moved on and off his list are Linfield, Willamette, Reed, U of Portland. I just have to decide if we want to do any of this over the summer or wait till school is in session. It’s a bummer that the state schools start so much later as I’d rather consolidate.
@eandesmom, D toured and applied to Linfield and Willamette also. We also toured Reed, but she didn’t like it. If you have any Qs pm me.
@carachel2, I just checked S’s college e-mail and he also got the fly-in offer from Carlton. It is a very good LAC, but I don’t think S would like the cold of MN, not to mention that he isn’t interested in a LAC. Too bad his sister didn’t get that offer when she was looking. She was higher stats than he is. I wonder if they are trying to get more boys to apply??
@carachel2
My D just got the Carleton fly-in email also. They have been stalking her, but she really likes their marketing material (Just 7 miles from the big steer!).
Carleton would be a good choice for her, but we cannot afford it. The NPC and I have a disagreement about what it says I can pay and what I think I can afford.
Count us in on the email from Carleton…just checked D’s email and there it was. On her criteria list however is “don’t want to wear pants”, so I’m not sure she’ll like the great white north. Although, it’s been warmer in AK than IL recently I believe…and UMinn was on the list for the longest time.
I am really enjoying Fake-kid’s Twitter account a great deal. Admissions office, Career Counseling Svcs, Science Clubs, Research Orgs, all sorts of cool stuff from each school. And, this is a slow time of year.
@jedwards70 You reminded me that I do have an audible account. Since they merged with Amazon, I don’t worry forgetting their log-in. I don’t commute hours anymore so I haven’t checked out audio books recently. Yep, we did not like Percy Jackson narrator (later one) either. We loved Jim Dales (Harry Potter.) He is excellent.
That also reminded me to check if Rick Riordan’s latest book came out. http://www.amazon.com/Trials-Apollo-Book-Hidden-Oracle/dp/148473274X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
And it already came out! This is the first one in years that I did not pre-order or get it the first day.
One year Riordan came to our area, and DS19 was super disappointed that we did not get books signed.
I’ll have to check if Costo has the trials of Apollo. I don’t know if he is still popular or not.
Last October I surprised DS19 with Magnus Chase since I had pre-ordered it without him prompting.
It used to be: Mom, so-and-so book is coming out This Month, …Have you pre-ordered it? and then It’s coming out Tomorrow, and then … TODAY!..
No more nagging.
Sadly, the boys are not that into Rick Riordan’s books any more.
I think having read all his books was useful when they read the Odyssey at school.
I do think she has a “disorder” since she is above average in math, she is just so high in verbal in written. We had a hard time getting her labeled as gifted because her performance was inconsistent. But as parents we keep seeing things that were unusual, hence the psycho-educational assessment to validate that we were just not “snowflaking” her.
What made things so tough for her was around 5th grade they divided the kids up into groups based on math ability. Those in the highest group got accelerated in not just math, but also science. They were also pushed into AP classes in 9th grade while my D was told not to take them. It was hard for her when she started HS because it appeared she was being passed by her peers. Things have worked out well for her since and now she knows she needs to put a lot of extra effort into her math classes. Khan Academy has been a big help too.
@mtrosemom I forgot about Patrick Rothfuss! I read those two, but I’m wondering whether he will actually write the third; it’s been a while since the second one was out.
Thanks for all the book suggestions (and confirmation that it’s not just my laziness in regard to Anna K.). Please, feel free to carry on with discussing colleges and kids!
@CaucAsianDad re: #5091 H and I have often discussed the ways our kids’ first school seemed to try to put roadblocks in front of accelerated kids. It was like they were going out of their way to not move kids forward. Glad it all worked out well for your D since then.
@Ynotgo I think my S’s school must assume S has a chronic condition we aren’t talking about due to the generic appointments he misses school for. Anything other than a school-sponsored trip, illness or a medical appointment is also an unexcused absence for him – when I called a couple of years ago to tell the school S would be late due to a car accident, it was marked as unexcused. Lesson learned.
@eandesmom Thanks for the detailed info on those schools. I doubt they would be of interest to S, but I’d like to go. They sound just about perfect to me.
Happy dance for everyone whose kids reached their goal scores on ACT/SAT!! <:-P <:-P
My D finally got her ACT writing score - blech I am just going to assume the colleges won’t care and just look at the composite. She is supposed to get her SAT score tomorrow from the free school day. Interested if it will be better or worse than her ACT. She is signed up to take the ACT again in June just to get above that magic threshold number. We will see (has she put any time in to study…no)
@eandesmom My H loved boys on the boat. We were just at barnes and noble Saturday night and he was telling me buy it (it was on his kindle so I can’t read his) I normally get books from the library sent to my iPad but I have so much reading here on cc that I would run out of time to read my book! So i bought a few and it’s definitely weird to read an actual book! And I have to keep the light on too! If that’s the worse of things to complain about…
@jedwards70 thank you for the heads up on my heavy reading.
@payn4ward DC21 is a big Rick Riordan fan and has read the Apollo book and reviewed it for their school newspaper already. A couple years ago I signed DC up to take the National Greek Exam from the American Classical League, because he was reading books about mythology to go with the Riordan books. He got a perfect score, and I had no clue about a number of questions when I looked at the test later. DS17 still reads the books when he gets a chance, if only to be able to converse with his sibling.
DC21 just buys them on his Kindle, so I can’t really surprise him. (He needs the Kindle because he’s farsighted and doesn’t like to wear his glasses when reading for fun.)
@payn4ward I am sorry you missed seeing Rick Riordan. One year we went and it’s sad but I can’t recall if it was S17 or S19 who was able to go, the other had a conflict. At the time both boys, as well as SD14 were very into him and sharing all the books. He is a fabulous speaker! We were able to get a couple signed but I don’t recall which kid has them at this point. I’ll need to tell the boys a new one is out. I’ve stopped buying them as they can get them at the school library now lol.
@greeny8 I know what you mean about it being weird to hold a real book. My kindle is old and rarely charged up so I end up doing Kindle on my phone most of the time. I resisted for the longest time but for travel, it really is a life saver as I tend to read rather quickly and then have to buy more while gone and haul them all back home!
@Ynotgo that’s awesome about RR! Our kids would probably be good friends due to that alone. D STILL pre-orders his new books or wants to go to the bookstore right away to get them. Last year we skipped school and drove to Austin to hear him speak at an authors presentation. He was fantastic! D said “it was kind of like a concert for us book nerds!”
Did you know there are camps based on his books? Apparently you go and dress up as different Greek gods and Demi gods… ALL the kids at the presentation were raving about it. And the older ones like to go and be counselors! Who knew?!
@Gator88NE Yes, sign me up for that Starship Troopers class as well – I’m a Heinlein fan and looking at the science behind it sounds fascinating!
@MotherOfDragons Heh, when I saw your post I was thinking “I’m sure I have Pattern Recognition somewhere in this house” and sure enough there it is on my bookshelf. A friend loaned it to me months ago so I’d better go ahead and read it.
@jmek15 Not sure if you’re familiar with it, but Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is an excellent book (first in a trilogy) about the court of Henry VIII, with Thomas Cromwell as the main character. Definitely “heavier” than the Phillipa Gregory books (which I also like). Feed sounds really interesting and I’ve just put it on hold at the library!
Yep, I’m quite familiar with this. D11 has non-verbal learning disorder (NVLD). Significant disparity with verbal being some number of points higher than math is one of the indicators. The schools here call the kids who are gifted and have a LD “twice exceptional” which I think is kind of silly (but at least there is a term for it). My D is good at the “not-so-mathy” sciences (definitely not chemistry or physics). She is majoring in integrative physiology (and dance) because she finds that area fascinating.
D17 who is autistic is the opposite with math significantly above verbal. She is definitely a STEM kid, but she also enjoys writing stories and having in-depth discussions. I guess the lesson is not to feel like you shouldn’t try something just because of a diagnosis.
@CaucAsianDad Glad to to hear that things are working out for your D.
In our school, where my kids started in 6th grade, math placement puts kids in Honors in Math and Science and english placement puts kids into Honors in English and Social Studies. The placement is done either Spring of 5th grade or August of 6th grade. Then it stays that way mostly for 7 years. It is rare for kids to move from Honors/AP to Standard or vice versa.
Our elementary school had 3 different math groups beginning 3rd grade. During the first period (math), they move to their leveled-classrooms and then return afterward for the rest of the day. They had reading groups as well and read different books. I did not pay attention to DS’s reading groups much as DS’s started Kindergarten not reading (three years of Montessori preschool was spent on cutting bananas and washing windows, not learning alphabets) and finished K reading. That was good enough for me. DS17 was in the first group from 3rd grade, and in 5th grade they did Pre Algebra. At 6th grade he entered Algebra 1 Honors after a placement test. (This was the interesting placement test where the secondary math teacher told me that DS17 will be in multivariable/diff eq in 12th grade. wait, What? you predict future into 6 years?)
The same elementary school put DS19 into the first group in math. Probably because of DS17. Wrong! During teacher conference the homeroom teacher very apologetically said DS19 will be moved (down) to her third math group.
I could imagine many parents pleading ‘noooo… my snowflake belongs to the first math group!’… I knew DS19 did not belong there. He was adding 2+3 with fingers while the class was multiplying and dividing. I was like what were you teachers thinking? It took him several years to be able to read analog wall clock. I did not realize because there were so many digital clocks at home.
Fast forward two years, DS19 also made it into Algebra 1 Honors and Science Honors in 6th grade and is on the same track as DS17 since then. (I had been very worried that DS19 might be placed into Prealgebra in 6th or back to Algebra 1 at 9th grade as that often happens to some students.) I figure either he caught up or “the math track” has a wide margin.
Maybe CCC could have a book club component too? I just caught myself thinking that it was so nice to have reliable recommendations instead of guessing how accurate some book review by a stranger on the internet might be. :))
I do think I’m going to just have to make a list though to set aside until after the college list, essays and applications are complete.
@2muchquan You’ve convinced me I need to actually use my Twitter account this summer too.
I don’t commute hours anymore so I haven’t checked out audio books recently. Yep, we did not like Percy Jackson narrator (later one) either. We loved Jim Dales (Harry Potter.) He is excellent.
