Regarding sibling rivalries, we have one for the ages here as well. Older sib (S16) is super confident and pretty dismissive of younger sib (D19). Younger sib has confidence issues. She is very nice to older sib, but doesn’t trust him as far as she can throw him. I’m hoping when they grow up, their relationship will improve.
S17 also takes ADHD meds and anything before 11 is a really good night, more often than not its later and then a 2am snack as he has a hard time eating big meals. Up at 5:30 on school days. He does catch up on weekends, especially Sunday.
Homework is 3-4 hours, plus band and work at least one of the nights each.
Screens may not help but it would be a book with a flashlight if the screen wasn’t there. I police to an extent but I travel enough for work he has to be able to manage his schedule on his own whole maintaining grades and so far he’s done relatively well. I’d like him to get more than he does but I can’t force him to go to sleep or truly fight the effects of the meds.
My S17 would say sleep is one of the big advantages of being homeschooled. His friends are all sleep deprived, but he gets 8+ hours of sleep a night. He goes to bed around 11 and is up around 8. This semester he has a chemistry lab that ends at 9:50pm and is over an hour away, so Wednesdays are a late night for him. I think he’d have a hard time functioning on 5-6 hours of sleep for an extended time period.
D17 usually gets about 6 - 7 hours of sleep each night, with a little more on weekends - depending on when her work schedule starts. Due to dual enrollment & having 2 night classes at the community college, last year was great because she didn’t start school until 3rd hour (about 9 am). This year, she still has 2 night classes (one gets done at 10 pm), but her empty hours at school are 3rd & 5th. So she hangs out in a couple of teacher’s offices or classrooms and will occasionally take a nap then. Otherwise, she will sometimes come home to take a nap between high school & her night classes or other extracurricular activities.
QOTD Sleep: Love this topic because I can see what a difference it is making for S17 this year. He has late arrival this year and doesn’t need to be at school until 9am. He is like the other students with all AP classes and has 3-4 hours of homework a night. He dances six days a week so he has little time for anything during the week besides school, dance, homework, sleep, repeat. Last year he was getting up at 5:30am to make it school on time and got maybe 6 hours of sleep a night. He fell asleep in most of his classes and struggled to maintain his class rank/GPA. This year, he is getting 8 hours of sleep every night. His grades are great without the struggle and he is just a happier person. The only change this year is the late arrival so I have to give that a lot of credit for the difference in his attitude. S and I are night owls and would rather stay up late and sleep late. H is one of those lucky people that can fall asleep anytime he wants. I can’t seem to enforce the no devices rule since I am addicted to my kindle and a bad example myself.
Congrats to all of the kids who are happy with their ACT results!
Hey all! Catching up on life and CC!
QOTD1: Spykid gets an average of 7 hours a night, which isn’t bad. We’re up at 5:45 and he’s out the door an hour later. The workload has been intense this year with 7 classes, 4 of which are AP. He also has a ton of work for Constitution team.
QOTD2: We’re very fortunate that our two are best friends. Our DD14 is a junior in college so that may help, too!
ACT Scores are being posted starting today…
D gets about 7.5 hours at typical times, but she only has 6 IB/AP classes plus a job, ECs and sports, relatively stress free compared to some of your kids. Sports tire her out and ensure she will sleep without being forced.
Do your non-sleeping kids exercise?
DS- sleep - often an issue - sluggish sometimes after school and gets second wind often around 10 or 11!! not enough sleep & then grouchy. We are trying to work on this some. Wish school started after 8am!
Cornell is the ultimate stalker. D is getting at least 2 emails per day plus snail mail. The latest email started with “thank you for your interest.” What? D has never expressed any interest in the school. The emails have come from every single college at the university. They definitely win the worst stalker award.
@itsgettingreal17 – Cornell’s marketing is a personal pet peeve of mine b/c I went there and my older son is there now. Their admissions are completely decentralized, and it shows! My son has heard from five of the seven U/G colleges, although the one college that should be contacting him only did so via a coordinated school effort.
I wish I could find someone to talk to up there to let them know what a disservice they are doing to themselves. I have discussed this with fellow grads, and we all agree their marketing needs some centralization. All admissions decisions are handled at the college/school level, and the university appears to do very little to educate applicants about their different programs.
The worst though is that my college Jr still received mail last summer encouraging him to attend Cornell Summer, the program directed at HS students.
Rant over. I still loved my time there!
Another ACT 35C in the family!
Just an interesting tidbit…
Dd contacted a couple of universities last yr using a different email address than the one she used for the CA. As the notifications arrive about her application having been received, somehow they are going to that other email address than the CA email. It sort of creeped her out bc there is absolutely no link between them. The only thing connecting them is she used her real name when she made contact. They must have started a file back then with her name and the email she used and it became the default contact. (Sure glad she still checks it occasionally. She never uses it anymore bc it is a nickname and her CA email is her real name and she has used it ever since those contacts bc they would refer to her by her nickname which is only used by her niece and nephews.)
@Tgirlfriend and @payn4ward I am so saddened for those families and your children. How devastating! Loving on my kids. Life can change in an instant. It definitely puts everything in perspective.
Congratulations to all the great ACT scorers! Best of luck to those still waiting for scores!
@itsgettingreal17, Cornell and Cornell Engineering is stalking my S also. He got that same e-mail today that said “Thank you for your interst in…” Hahahaha. Sorry, no but thank you anyway.
For my daughter, it’s Cornell Business and Cornell Hotel Administration (or whatever it’s called). She is amused.
Are other kids doing DE this year? D17 is taking two classes at CU-Boulder, one in engineering and one in humanities. The engineering class is a survey of renewable energy topics within EE. This is exactly what D wants to go into, so couldn’t be more perfect. The humanities class is LGBT Studies which I thought would be pretty easy, but D says the engineering class is easier. She complains about all the reading in the LGBT class which is funny because this is a girl who always has her nose in a book. I guess school books take time away from pleasure books!
But I think the best aspect of DE is that she is getting a taste of the college experience. She goes MWF and has both classes with an hour in between. She told both teachers at the beginning of the semester that she was a HS student doing DE and apparently the engineering teacher was quite flummoxed, shaking his head and saying things like “I had no idea CU allowed that.” Last week she told him she’d be missing a class in October for a college visit to Gonzaga and he said “What, you’re thinking of going somewhere other than CU?!” She’s got an A right now, so I guess he isn’t holding a grudge!
Sibling rivalry
My kids (ages 16, 18, and 23) get along almost embarrassingly well. They hug each other spontaneously pretty frequently and say things like “I have the best siblings in the world!” I know – it’s like drinking sweet tea, right? Oldest D is an extremely gentle soul and I think her mission in life is to make people feel better about themselves (though sadly, she herself suffers from low self esteem). D17 has a bit of a temper and can be very short with S18, but he usually deflects with humor and has her laughing in a few minutes. They are all very compassionate even though their personalities are quite different. I know I’m lucky in this area!
@MotherOfDragons, oh my gosh, your younger D’s green screen hair! If I tell my S18 this story he will want to date her.
@snoozn D’s DE this semester is Chinese because there wasn’t an Arabic class offered at the level she needed. Well, apparently her gift is with unusual languages, not just Arabic, because she’s at the top of the class :))
We’re hopeful of an Arabic class being offered spring semester. Regardless, she’ll continue with Chinese. In fact, if the second semester is offered during the January winter session, she’ll take it then and do the third semester in the spring.
Has anyone been to one of the U of South Carolina Top Scholars dinners?
sleeping D17 used to go to bed at 10 but this past year it’s closer to midnight. She has cheer 3x a week, work 3-4x a week and homework 4 hours a day. I don’t know how she does it but she likes being busy, it keeps her on track.
siblings My girls are a year apart. D16 and D17 are both gifted, extremely bright, but D17 still feels like she is the dumb one walking in her sisters shadow. I have tried everything to give D17 more confidence, but she is who she is. My only hope is she gets into her reach school (she’s qualified but it’s highly selective so it’s a reach for everyone). I think that will give her the boost she needs, that she got into the school her sister didn’t. That’s what motivates her…competition. But they are best friends so there is no obvious rivalry.
Congrats on the fabulous ACT scores!!! Go kids!