Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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Had a laugh this week as the school sent out an email ‘warning’ about racy language in a play that the 10th graders were going to see for history class. It was a performance of “Here Lies Love” an “immersive theater” telling of the story of the rise and fall of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos who were leaders of the Philippines during the Cold War. The ‘warning’ was about some text displayed on the wall. The text used a common swear word for intercourse.

At the same time, the English class is reading The Color Purple. No warnings sent out on that! lol.

A little over a month to go until the end of school. S19 is surviving, more or less. AP Calc is tomorrow. Yipes! His HS soccer team is headed into post-season and I find myself hoping they lose so S19 doesn’t miss any more school for soccer games. I must keep such thoughts secret from S19 however.

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HI, remember me? I’m the mom who was moaning and groaning about my D19’s terrible horrible no good day? And I said I’d report back after the meeting with an educational therapist. Well, here I am with a vicarious report.

First of all, something came up with my D17 that I needed to be present for, so my husband took the afternoon off work and he went with our younger daughter to this, so, I heard the reporting from them, rather than witnessing it. He also got booted out of the room about 1/2 through the hour.

D19 had a neuropsych eval last fall, in which it was shown that (as we long suspected) she has mild ADHD. Ritalin and Adderall (sp?) don’t work with her though, they make her more hyper and agitated. Yay. That’s why the educational therapist was recommended to us. So, the educational therapist drew a bell curve and showed D19 that she’s in the 50th %ile for many areas such as processing speed, visual details/decoding, and actually high in math ability and fluid reasoning. But she is 25th%ile in working memory which is impacted by her attentional and focusing issues.

Going through it like that helped D19 feel like she’s not “stupid,” but that she has some real strengths, and that her weaknesses can really be helped by the extra time she gets and by what the therapist can do. Out of everything, having her leave this first appointment believing more in herself was worth everything – her self esteem has been suffering lately. Hearing that she is a smart girl from someone other than her parents meant a lot.

Because of her attentional issues, she will now work in 40 minute segments with short breaks without screens in between (ie no catching up on her snapchat in between). To help things get stuck in her long term memory because her short term memory is where she needs support, she will write more things down too.

The woman had an MEd in special education and was very kind, very gentle. Does anybody remember Doctor Ruth from the '80s? She reminded me of her, but without the accent. My daughter really responded to her. It was lovely.

The educational therapist also asked to see her backpack.

Now, step back for a moment. Have you ever seen one of those rows of garbage bins, wit ha regular one and a recycling one, and the recycling one hasn’t been emptied in a long time and all the papers are spilling out or have the most tenuous hold on each other to avoid hitting the floor? Yeah. That’s my D19’s backpack. So apparently the kid needs to organize that better next year.

And that’s my report! It’s too late for this year, but D19 will probably see the educational therapist regularly next year. I feel bad, truly very angry at myself; if I’d started this process a year ago, she’d be in much better shape than she is now.

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Thanks for the update. Great news! She was responsive to her, heard her and walked away feeling better about herself. That is all good news. You got her in before the horrible junior year. She might not have been so responsive last year so don’t beat yourself up.

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@JenJenJenJen Those parental feelings of self-recrimination are super common after a new diagnosis. We had my DS evaluated in middle school and I was still kicking myself for not having recognized the signs sooner. The reality is you’ve given your daughter a gift that’s going to keep paying dividends the rest of her life. Yay, you!

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@JenJenJenJen do NOT beat yourself up over this. She may not have been open to the idea and the issues change at light speed at this age it seems. The great news is you found someone that sounds perfect and your D is open and excited. This is wonderful and exciting news!

I know those backpacks well.

I “may” have found someone for S19. He likes to meet with the parents first so we will do that thursday and go from there. And…he’s recommended by our pediatrician (which will go a LONG way with S19) and…drumroll…

takes our insurance!!!

Oh I hope he works out. He’s not even in Egypt! S could start with him the week of the 22nd so would have a month while school is still in session…

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If it makes you feel better, my d19 has no executive functioning issues and her backpack (and folders and binders) is always a disaster. About every 6ish weeks, my d22 takes the time to help reorganize it.
It lasts about 3 days each time.

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Reminder, today is the last day to register for the June SAT. While it’s still too early for most Sophomores, just thought I’d remind people.

The big question for D19 is the subject test. She takes the AP World History test on Thursday. So, since the information will be (relatively) fresh in her mind, seems like a good time to take the June SAT subject test.

The con is that we have no idea where she will be applying. So we don’t know if any school she will be applying to requires it. We basically won’t know where she applies until she gets real ACT/SAT scores. But getting an SAT subject test out of the way early can’t hurt, right?

Anyone else taking a June subject test?

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I agree that it cannot hurt to test early if the kid does not mind getting up early Saturday morning.
My kids do not mind at all. I mean, they grumble, but they show no stress whatsoever related to testing. It is just a test, they say.
S19 will take Math 2 on June 3rd. I wanted have him take one subject test at a time, so he took only one last Saturday. I wish the scores come out in 3 weeks as they did in years past. May scores will only come out a week after June test :frowning: so no chance for a quick retake. :-L

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We were considering the June World History subject test, but it isn’t offered at our high school and is the day before S19 has a big music exam. It’s about thirty minutes away, so he’s going to skip it. I hope we don’t regret it! He will take US History, Literature, Math 2, Chem and possibly Bio next year in May and June.

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We are waiting until next year and only taking math 2 and chemistry. I haven’t noticed any schools we are looking at that recommend history (at least not for a STEM major, so that one isn’t on our radar.

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None of the schools on D19’s list accept SAT IIs so she is not taking any of them.

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I’m not sure if it’s true, but I heard August SAT spots filling up. If your son or daughter is interested in that test, sign up now! I had a feeling it would be a popular date…

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My daughter decided that World History isn’t one of her strong suits, so she will be taking a different one next year. Probably Chem after AP Chem.

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I did finally find a school that offers the August test date. I had to actually start registering for that date to see test centers available.

But I decided to just sign up for June 3 for now. I am hoping he has some time to practice now that the musical is done.

I was afraid that if we wait until August all the recently aquired math skills (functions) would fade and something might come up and Aug is the latest he could take it to get scores back by the time he applies.

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Good luck to all the AP World kids tomorrow!

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DS16 is home from college and is taking DS19 for breakfast and dropping him off for his AP World exam. He’ll pick him up after and take him to lunch. I am so fortunate to have 2 boys that have such a close relationship. I definitely don’t take that for granted. This is DS19’s first AP exam. He really has a good attitude about it. He says " I’m not going to be stressed about it. It won’t affect my grade or GPA . I’ll do the best that I can and hope to get at least a 3. If I don’t get credit for college credit, I’ll take the class . That’s not the reason I took the class." Our school system pays for the exams so he doesn’t have the concerns regarding cost. Good luck everyone.

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My d is taking her first 2 AP exams today. APWH and Stats. And she is a kid who already has lots of test/school anxiety. Sigh.

I told her basically the same things your son is saying @carolinamom2boys. I also compared it to her Science Olympiad competitions, where medaling is fun and nice but it’s not a big deal if you don’t. That seemed to help a bit.

I spent most if yesterday evening working at convincing her NOT to study. She has worked hard all year and studied extra the last few weeks. I did convince her to relax some by watching YouTube videos of James Corden and of the new Avatarland stuff at WDW. I caught her studying again later before bed and got her to compromise to only spending about 20 more minutes on it before putting it away and relaxing/sleeping.

We have to pay for ours though, so she worried we wasted money. They also have to ride the bus to and from the testing location, so I won’t see her until around 4pm today to see how it went.

She is the exact opposite kind of student I was. I’d have done the minimum all year and then would have had to cram the last couple of weeks, but I also wouldn’t have been very stressed about any of it.

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my DS is also taking the world AP test today. He did study some, but did not take the actual course all year (on level world). I told him its practice for next year when he has 4 AP classes. i really wish WH and USH would offer honors though. On level was way to easy for him, and AP is just so much extra work.

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We’re fortunate to have honors level classes in English, history, government, etc. My S19 is not up for AP classes in those subjects (but might be willing to try US Gov. since I gather that one isn’t too bad). He’s also not up for SAT II tests. I don’t think any school that requires them would be in our budget anyway.

But good luck to the AP World kids who made it through! My D16 had a terrible teacher, left one essay completely blank on her test, didn’t really study and STILL got a 3 and college credit for it. I think there must be a very low bar for passing (or there was that year, haha).

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We can’t take APs until next year, so no pressure here. But thanks, @homerdog - I ran online and registered D19 for the August SAT after seeing your post. I also couldn’t see schools until halfway through the registration process – and only one school is offering it within 50 miles of us. Glad I registered!!
Now I guess I have to follow through on setting up the prep course.