@DiotimaDM, I knew what you meant.
What a nice gesture!
@bjkmom, glad your D is OK.
@bjkmom Glad she’s ok. Even the first fender bender can come with a lot of anxiety!
Two weekends ago D had her final competition for her sport. She competed on the last day, last session and to get her home in time for an AP exam, had to detour to Vegas to catch a 1AM flight home. She made it!
For D physics C was the hardest. She did BC last year, said everyone said it was hard but they all did well. Had a wonderful teacher who is also the calc 3 teacher. Older D says he prepares them very well for college.
Last day of school was yesterday. Today there is a reunion for the seniors at the elementary school. They take the kids on a memory lane walk and feed them. D and her kinder BFF will speak to the 5th graders. Can I just say I love the public school system here? It’s been wonderful all the way through for my kids.
@greentea3, the senior reunion at the elementary school sounds very moving. I am inspired to try to set something like that up for my younger son’s class (graduating high school in 2020).
@greentea3 wow, your D deserves a big pat on the back for her dedication to get to that AP!
@greentea3, I agree!
S just got his final grades from his online classes. 2 As and 1 B ! The B was in a yearlong class taught in a semester, so doubly proud!
Funny story family talking collectively about high school grades and colleges ect. So my D21 says I can’t wait until I get to college and I don’t have to worry about grades. And we all started laughing saying what are you talking about grades in college probably more important than grade in HS. And she was like oh I thought once you got to college you just took courses and completed them but you didn’t have to worry about grades any more.
@BURGHDAD Perhaps Hampshire College is in her future 
My S has updated his planned major. He now plans to major in philosophy/theology.
I looked through D18’s yearbook this evening and found that we were the only ones to have a joking senior ad. All of the others were serious, with text like, We are so proud of you and all you have achieved, dream big, blah, blah, blah, signed mom, dad, {little sister’s name}, {cat’s name}, etc.. Of course, I’ve always been accused of not taking things seriously … but there’s a (limited) time and place for that. The rest of the time you should have fun with stuff.
Oh, and I think we had another encounter with a stereotypical “Tiger Mom”. The TM’s kid, D18, and friends are having their own graduation party in our neighborhood’s clubhouse next week. DW was talking to TM about it and TM said something like, “I don’t know if my D should attend because she’s not going out of state”, dismissing her kid’s college … which is GaTech, one of the best BME schools in the world! Are you kidding me???
AP Econ went well yesterday. S is officially done with high school!!! Just has to go back to the building one more time to get his diploma. DW signed him up for the Foreign Language test at UGA next week. It’s beginning to feel real!
@droppedit, if you were the only one with a humorous senior ad, it will make all the more impact. Folks need to lighten up!
Congrats @apraxiamom on the updated major for your S. Odds are it may change down the road, but great to have it for now!
@burghdad, wish S didn’t have to worry about grades in college, but three scholarships depend on them!
@greentea3, Physics was by far the hardest AP test last year.
@vistajay, until S gets a job this summer, we are going to be doing a lot of remedial freeway driving and driving during peak traffic and rush hour. His city driving is good but the freeways here can be treacherous.
@bjkmom, hope the car repair was affordable. Glad your D was not injured. A good wake up call as you said!
@melvin123, 2 AP tests in one day are brutal. S had two in a day last year and was shocked that he got a 4 on AP Stat whicih was the second one that day. He had two in a day last week too. The jury is out. Guess we won’t find out until July!
First out of town guests arrive today. Is it too soon to teach S how to clean the toilets? Might let him sleep in today but let the chores begin :-).
Today is S’s last “normal” day of school. Tomorrow he has the AP Psych exam, and seniors go in late Monday-Thursday next week due to PARCC testing. Friday is the last day, and it’s a “go to every class for a few minutes” day. It looks like he managed to pull out a passing grade in Calculus, and he probably will never have another math class that difficult. In fact, he will probably only have one more math class.
All IB exams out of the way here, except French this afternoon and tomorrow morning, but D isn’t worried about that one, she’s one of those that language comes to naturally. They (IB kids) turned in all their textbooks yesterday and basically have nothing to do til graduation 6/16, so they’ve scheduled a lot of field trips and some busy work. One of the classes are having the kids teach the rest of them (they’ve done knitting, line dancing, ultimate frisbee, cooking, etc) and D is excited about teaching them some rudimentary Korean this morning.
Now it’s party planning time. Addressed a bunch of announcements last night and she will pick up stamps on her way home so we can mail them off. I’ve ordered the cake and am working on favors now, but trying to decide on the type of vessel to include them in. At least I have my spreadsheets to make me feel like I’m organized.
Packing spreadsheets are already done, but will have to be honed down because it will be a big hassle to move that stuff several states away…I started them when I thought she was going to be at our state flagship an hour and a half away and it was nothing to take two cars full of stuff. I just hate to pay NYC prices or shipping for certain items.
I’m just happy because she is so stoked about school and can’t wait to make the change from ultra rural (passes cows/horses/sheep/llamas on her drive to school) to the big city. Plus she is ready to get away from all the people she’s gone to school with for 13 years (especially the grade grubbing/competing to be the one who can complain most about being stressed IB kids) instead of having to see them at Virginia for another 4. She is really sick of them LOL!
@sunsheyen greetings from NYC! Definitely don’t pay to ship a lot of stuff. You can pre-order from BBB and pick it up here in the city. Prices should be the same. Start with less than she thinks she’ll need, snd you can always fill in later. She will love NYC!
I agree that 2 APs in a day is tough! But I think my D wouldn’t mind at all if there was a short break so she could grab something to eat and clear her head for a minute. She likes getting things over with.
She doesn’t complain nearly as much as I do, and I complain a lot more in this forum than I do in real life because I’m kind of hoping someone with the ability to make changes will think some more about this. I was trying to think about why APs don’t have at least a half hour break in-between and the only reason I could think of was bussing. Wonder if there’s some reasonable work-around? I think most of us will agree that by hour 6 of testing without a food or walk-around break, for many kids that second test becomes flawed as their brains are too tired and low on fuel to properly reflect what the kids really know.
@droppedit I feel so bad for that boy that his mom wasn’t proud of him, regardless of where he’s going. But I have to admit to sometimes scratching my head about why a particular kid is going to a particular school. I guess I wonder what’s so special about that school that I missed, or what does this kid value that I didn’t notice? And I love hearing why, and becoming better educated. Ga Tech was definitely one of those head scratching schools for me. Before CC, a friend’s D who had a whole host of opportunities chose to go to Ga Tech and I couldn’t figure out why she chose there. I had no idea that they had a strong program and was actually a terrific match for this girl’s interests. Of course it’s actually none of my business, but how I wish I knew this before so I could have responded with genuine enthusiasm to the mom’s announcement rather than a generalized “oh that’s great, I hope she enjoys it”. So thanks to all you CCers for that good info!
I like to know why kids pick a school, even though it’s not my business and you often can’t ask, because it helps everyone with the process. Now that I’ve learned a lot I can usually respond with enthusiasm because every school has something good about it. I get upset about unaffordable schools for middle class families and big loans though.
@melvin123 , I think a good way to ask would be, “That’s great, what does she like about GA Tech?” delivered in an upbeat, interested tone. You would likely elicit an enthusiastic rendering of all the great programs which appealed to that kid.
I think most people have no idea how many kids have a really specific idea of what they want to study, and look for the school with the best match of their interests rather than just a “name” school or the highest ranked place they get in. If you don’t know what you want to study or you are planning to major in something that many schools cover well, then fine apply and go to the best school you get in and can afford. But it’s a lot harder when you are going after a specific program, and more difficult for others to comprehend unless they’ve done the same research or have the same interest. I know when other parents at my son’s HS see the list of schools where my son was admitted and was awarded scholarships, and then see where he chose to attend, they will scratch their heads, because they have no idea that for his major it is probably the best choice in the region.
S graduated today. Transcripts are on the way to his college. He doesn’t want any pomp, excitement, extravagance. He got a gift from my husband and my gift to him is a diploma (literally! I ordered him a fancy one.) I think he’s been looking ahead to college for a while now, at least since finals ended. He’s become very forward-focused. I never thought we’d homeschool, but it’s worked out well for him.