I learned how to program (badly) on a punch card machine… AND I dropped the cards, once. You only do that once. Then you number…meticulously. FWIW, I do not like programming. I think the initial introduction soured it for me.
@picklesarenice - I agree on the PE grade. This year my 9th grader took the required 1 semester of PE. The whole semester was running. Each week they had to run the mile that was graded : below 7:30 was a A, 7:30-8:29 was a B:8:30-9:29 was a C; 9:30-10:29 was a D; slower than 10:29 was a F. Ugh my guy is a skinny band asthma kid. He started out the semester slower than 10:29. We had to go to the asthma doctor to get an long term inhaler on top of the rescue inhaler he uses before exercise. Luckily it worked and he ended up being able to run 6 minute miles. But there for a while I thought it was going to tank his grade big time. There is no reason for grading like that.
As for a graduation gift, my DD doesn’t want a class ring so I think I’m going to get her a classic piece of jewelry,like a simple bracelet or necklace. And a laptop for college as mine (aka HERS cuz she monopolizes it) is heavy and getting old.
@canypava my D does dance student teaching at her ballet studio, but only 1 class - not as much as what your D is doing! That’s awesome.
On the life skills front, my D has improved leaps and bounds since she started HS. I’d love to say this was some deliberate plan where I taught her things, lol, but really she’s just got to wake up nearly an hour before I do in the morning so she’s had to fend for herself in terms of breakfast, making/packing lunch (there is a cafeteria at school but she thinks its gross) and generally caring for herself. She’s great, actually… so long as you don’t open the door to her room :)) which is a classic teen disaster. We have a ‘don’t ask, don’t peek’ policy. 
my tech crazy S is already expecting a new google phone, new laptop (even though he has very ligh one), smart watch etc… for college.
I’ve been trying to keep up with this board, and just can’t quite do it! Jumping in the middle of the recent posts: My kids (D19 and S17) can both cook and do their own laundry (just this summer we added “cook one dinner a week” to their chores, and they’ve each done it twice now, including shopping on their own with S driving…S can drive reasonably well and D got her permit on Tuesday). S has his own bank accounts and bank card, but he hasn’t needed to do much in the way of managing the accounts so far. Definitely room to grow there. D will get same after she takes consumer economics next summer. Neither one is very good with any kind of appointments (in fact, they often babysit or cat sit for various of my friends/neighbors, and I’ve had to work hard to stop being the “middle man” on setting up those gigs—partly my friends’ fault for asking me instead of contacting kids directly, but then I have to nag kids to check their texts and respond). S is great about managing his data use on his phone, D still needs some help with that!
S will probably get a laptop for graduation if we can hold out that long before replacing his current (very old and barely functional) one.
@picklesarenice That stinks on gym grade. I think every kid should get an A in gym if they show up for class, try something, and learn something. Maybe just a pass/fail would be better for all.
Gifts for son17 graduation….hmmmm hadn’t thought about that. He might need a new phone by then, or maybe an ipad. One of the schools he wants to go to gives every kid a new computer as a freshman that they can keep for 4 years, loaded with a bunch of stuff the school uses. He has a macbook now that he likes anyways. He’s not much of a present person anyways, he hardly ever asks for things.Not a big consumer, more of saver and keep it simple kind of person. We are lucky.
@picklesarenice, sorry to hear about your 8th grader. I really dislike when PE is graded on skill vs effort (B in ice skating –that’s me). Isn’t the point to try to have kids learn to be active throughout their lives and maybe try something new? And not end up hating PE? For her to have an A in everything else, I really feel for her.
@thermom, it’s still really awesome no matter how many classes your D teaches! Such an experience. My D’s strength is tap so she teaches that along with jazz but she still takes ballet lessons which I think is great. My D’s room is also a do not enter zone. It’s quite small, which doesn’t help, but her dresser needs a big clean off, you can’t even see the surface. Her floor is home to many pairs of shoes that apparently can’t find their way into the closet. I will encourage a clean out at some point this summer, with maybe some bribery involved (ice cream might work). And don’t you mean your D has improved by grand jetes?!
Ok, I’m not joining the club of thinking about graduation presents just yet. You can’t make me, you can’t make me.
%-(
@MichiganGeorgia I am appalled by that grading system for PE! At any age I would never have been able to run a 6 minute mile. Or possibly a 7:30! “Fast” is not a measure of fitness alone. That makes me SO angry to read! Way to discourage kids from getting healthier or enjoying running for the sake of running.
@picklesarenice I am so sorry for your D, I cannot believe the teacher didn’t alert her, that’s just cruel and unecessary.
@IABooks Now if only there was an ACT section on street smarts and life skills S17 would be golden. He makes a mean thanksgiving dinner including stuffing the turkey, apple pie from scratch and much more. S19 on the other hand would/will explode the top ramen and burn the mac and cheese.
@WhereIsMyKindle, @mamaedefamilia and @dfbdfb I decided to amp up the spreadsheet today and add in inflation. Muhlenberg is coming off the list, just not worth it at this point. I chopped 5 schools off and voila, we are down to only one ED/no EA school. Lessened my stress right there.
@mtrosemom depsite S17’s fabulous cooking abilities he forgets to eat all the time.
@RightCoaster that’s about all S19 can make and would choose to make even if he knew how to do more. Well, he can microwave a mean pot pie. He could live on that and cereal daily and be just fine.
@2muchquan my husband has never called the insurance company either.
@srk2017 mine have been doing laundry and making their own lunches about that long. The laundry started b/c they are the same size and would get SO mad if I mixed up whose stuff was whose. So much easier if they just wash their own independently! So yeah, they may be wrinkled at times but they both know how to separate, wash, dry and iron.
@thermom teaching classes is amazing and I’d think counts a lot more, at the right place, then much of the “leadership”. That is supremely neat if you ask me.
@HiToWaMom I’m looking forward to seeing them tonight!
@picklesarenice wow that is so sad and frustrating! ~X( I would be complaining to whoever would listen.
@MichiganGeorgia 6 minute mile! Amazing! I would’ve failed the class. Running is not my thing.
@eandesmom yay for the shorter list and reduced stress :-bd
I found this. I’m glad to see our combined 46 years of schooling will be put to good use when reading FAFSA instruction.
https://twitter.com/dynarski/status/740924970285555712
S get to be a junior paid instructor at his Tae Kwon Do studio this summer. It will be very part time, only when the Master is out of town teaching seminars. His first gig is tomorrow night!
And I may have swung a D in the PE class where you had to run a mile. No matter how much I ran, I at best was a 9:30 miler. I typically ran 10K’s in 63 minutes. But I could run the whole thing w/o walking. That should be worth a C at least!
Both my kids were big into the idea of a double which I like for first year. For the QOTD- I have a google spreadsheet set up for each school my daughter is interested in and over time we made columns for all the things we need to know for each school–apply by major, how many recs, counselor rec needed, date due for scholarship/honors consideration (often much earlier than apps are due), subject tests, common app or not, etc etc etc.
@picklesarenice Sorry to hear about her disappointment.
If you think PE will continue to be a problem in High School, let her do a summer class or a sports she likes that counts as PE credit (such as soccer, T&F, tennis, swim team, golf, etc.) Lots of kids do that to protect GPA and rank, sigh.
DS19 got a low B in PE in middle school. Yes, it was performance based. Although he maintained high 90s with homework, etc, until the end, presidential fitness test gave him 60% and it was done for.
I told him you are not taking any more PE as you are going to get a GPA hit (in middle school, ha!) =))
Only one semester was required though.
@picklesarenice I agree–that sucks about PE. DS’s school requires a semester during the academic year every year, and he can’t opt out even though he plays a school sport in the spring and a community sport in the fall. Hoping your D’s HS teacher has a better policy if she’s forced to take it.
@srk2017 My D is applying to Pitt too and we are interested to see what may happen with merit money. Though in the past year they have apparently been having financial issues in PA so we will watch carefully and see how the budget cuts may affect PItt. We have visited and liked the campus and programs but we visited the same day as Carnegie Mellon which we all liked a lot more so it’s hard for me to remember as many positive details about Pitt. This was also early in the process and I think I’ve been on 30 tours since then so a lot of it blends together 
Leadership is so complicated. My S15 was the classic class pres and team capt for 2 sports. He was up for a number of big merit competitive multiple interview scholarships. My D17 is much more the quiet type but has had a few small club things and major adult leadership stuff in her volunteer position. Effectively, even though I doubt it comes through on paper or in an interview, she is a far stronger leader than he is. Yes, he is gregarious and popular for being a nice guy to everyone which is a great life skill. But when it comes to organizing and motivating people to get a difficult task done she would be far stronger. I’m hoping that admins will be able to see this quiet version of leadership has value too.
Wow, about 65 pages since I started posting. You guys are writing faster than I can read …
Our school year is over; hopefully at SAT testing done, one SAT subject test complete; one to go in September; DC working on essay with the help of a very admired older AND knowledgeable friend.
Other than that, I am glad my kid gets a break and is enjoying summer. There is a light creative summer camp with few daily hours and plenty of time to relax.
On the chore front I am happy to report
- ironing
- button sewing
- grocery shopping
- daily lunch cooking and AMAZING weekly baking
- some initial banking and urgent NEED of budgeting
- limited alone driving since September (we are sharing a car).
I plan to start small teaching units on bathroom and kitchen cleaning, investment banking, recipe/cooking expansion, more personal finance, small repairs once January 1 is here and all college apps are in.
My DC has currently 12 schools on her GC-approved list, two might come off the list after visits, but we’ll see. It’s a nice mix of merit-aid, need-based aid, ALL out-of-state. We live in the deep South and I completely understand the need to get out of here. I love it personally but I can see how limited life would be for a teenager or young adult. Hunting and fishing dominates the youth culture … Not a good fit for my liberal, creative theatre kid!
My DC is awaiting the last/third SAT results next week - two very decent old SATs/one rSAT with great PSAT scores. NMSF is on the bubble - three points above last year’s cut-off. but who knows with the craziness of Commended and National Hispanic cut-offs. About half of the schools on the list would be automatic merit, half would give need-based aid. DC plans on one REA at most favorite school and RD on the rest …
I’m glad that my child has taken over … all I offered was research/secretarial skills and a credit-card plus budget for fees and score forwarding. We’ll see …
Does anyone know if we can claim CB fees and admission fees as tax-relevant expenses?
I think performance-based PE grades are ridiculously unfair.
Our students are all required to take PE all four semesters for all four years, even if a three season varsity athlete. I think health takes the place of PE for a quarter or maybe half a quarter. I vaguely recall CPR certification also (convenient recertification for lifeguards). No one is exempt and summer class is not an option.
The class is graded but the grade is not calculated as part of the GPA.
On the whole ‘ED @ the Ivies’ subject…I really do not know how many spots are available for unhooked applicants. Our HS sends a student or two (or three or four, varies by year) to each of the Ivies/Stanford/MIT, but a large percentage of these students are recruited athletes, and/or legacies. (We seem to have athletic legacies at Dartmouth, but then some years D admits on academics.)
Using the Ivies as an example, each of the schools recruits almost the same # of athletes. There is slight variation, but not a lot, and I think at one point, Yale didn’t even take their full allotment.
So Dartmouth with its 4300 undergrads will accept approximately the same # of athletes via ED as Cornell with its 13,500 undergrads. Let’s call it 250 (may be 225…I haven’t looked at these figures in a couple of years).
D admits via ED 482 of the 1116 freshmen. Approximately half of those are recruited athletes.
Cornell admits via ED 1196 of 3180 freshmen. Almost 2.5 times as many admitted ED but with same # of athletes.
Princeton admits approximately 30% of legacy applicants. Legacies represent somewhere in the 12-15% range of the freshmen classes at the Ivies. Add the legacies to the athletes, and there are not that many spots remaining for the unhooked ED applicant.
As the class size and percentage of the class admitted via ED grows, there are more ED spots for non-athlete admits.
My perspective may be skewed by the large # of athletic admits we have to the Ivies/Duke/G-town/Stanford/MIT & NESCACs.
I do think the ED card is useful one level down, however one wants to define one level. (Tufts, a very un-NESCAC member of the NESCAC, Colgate, Lehigh, Wake Forest, etc)
Just rambling…