Our school district has Parent Portal. We see every days grades if we choose.
Our school district has Parent Portal too, @momtochinadoll but the grades posted are only as good as the teachersā updates. Some of the teachers are quite vigilant about posting grades at least weekly. Others? Not so much. In the past, we encountered some teachers who updated grades twice a quarter, with the second update completed after the deadline for submitting late assignments had passed.
So I did the Erika Meltzer grammar book and a little of the reading book with my d this summer. The good news is I just got a 740 on a Kahn practice test for that portion! The bad news is I was tired and bored when we got to math(I didnāt do that review book- Panda- with her) so I literally just randomly guessed answers, lol.
Iām waiting for her to finish her practice test to see how it went. The best way to get her to complain less about doing a practice test is if she had the opportunity to beat mom.
@mom2twogirls Too funny! Iām pretty sure I could handily out-score S19 on the English/Writing section, but I would probably get a 450 on the math. I canāt believe that I ever knew how to do any of it.
I might try to bribe him into a practice test this weekend, but I donāt think heās really reviewed since the last one he took. He did say that he finally understands radians after they were covered in the first pre-Calc class of the year, so thatās something.
Glad this first week of school is almost over! As expected, S was slow getting up after the first day, he didnāt want to do homework until after 9 on any given evening, and he attempted 0 SAT practice questions this week. He always needs a couple of weeks to settle in.
Today S had no school for a teacher work day (yes they have been in school for 4 weeks now). So we decided to do a tour of our State Flagship Technical school, GA Tech. Suprisingly there were many out of state folks there. It was also packed! The info session was pretty decent , and then they broke us up by alphabet to tour. The guide we got , was one of the sorority girls, also a cheerleader, who happens to also be a senior as a mechnical engineer. sorta wish for my Aspie S, that we had gotten a more āgeekyā tour guide. The first 2/3ās of the tour was about the campus, and all the facilities for students , aka the student center, the arts center, the green space everyone hangs out on, and the gym (and yes we have been to the facility with the pool when S swam on swim team when he was younger; its very impressive). Questions about meal plans, and such ā¦ Finally we saw the academic buildings on the outside, and discussions about where to study, get help, class info, etc. We know that its a great school, very hard, and difficult to get into. S wanted to know more details about the comp sci department, so we need to go back, as they offer more detailed info on different days about academics. He really doesnt care about all the other stuff . i had to explain to him that many other people do. I will say that the campus is a lot greener and spacier than I thought. cost wise, it would be a bargain for us. i did notice that the comp sci degree did not really have much in emphasis in game design. Something right now he wants to do. In some ways other lesser state school (kennesaw , previously polytech), might be a better fit. But the opportunities at GA tech for coop, internships, semester abroad, and job prospects would be great. One thing about their semester abroad is that their own professors teach the classes, so no transfer of credits. Also for out of staters, while abroad you are charged in state tuition for just that semester.
RPI is still at the top of Sās list, but next month we will see UA-huntsville (since he would most likely qualify for the free tuition), and during thanksgiving, while in NJ , maybe Stevens. Next Spring we will see boston area schools, and also RIT. For S, he says that best bang for the buck and getting employed after school is what matters most to him. (still think Drexel and their coop would give him that, but once again during the tour, we did not see the computer dept in detail, probably needs to go back).
Meanwhile my D17 is loving DC and so far so good at GW.
@sdl0625 GA Tech is good school, that would be nice to go there and get in state pricing. FYI, the computer science program at RPI is pretty rigorous from what Iāve heard, and is one of the harder major to get accepted to.
Son19 has a full week of classes this week, plus soccer season gets underway with 2 games this week. Itās going to start getting busy!
Looks like the last of the 2019 kids are back to school! Weāve been back for three weeks. Itās been stressful but no overwhelming. S19 did homework each day of this Labor Day weekend but also went boating with a friend, went to a party Saturday night, and had a fun time at the giant XC invitational on Saturday morning (2000 kids including the boys and girls).
His race was insane. He got knocked down early at the 400m mark and got trampled. Luckily, the two kids who stepped on him werenāt wearing spikes. He got up and ended up beating his best time by 30 seconds. Heās not a superstar but he felt good about the results. Another meet tomorrow and has French and APUSH tests on Thursday so heās already worried about that combo. Tests seem to come fast and furious this year. In BC Calc, heās already had three quizzes and a chapter test!
Our little dilemma - S struggled a lot last year in Honors Chemistry finishing the year with a C. In response to that they moved him down to regular Physics for this year. He knew that was coming and welcomed it. But now that the school year has started, he is finding the regular class is way too easy. The teacher handed out a packet of problems that they were supposed to work on for the first week and a half. S finished the entire packet in 15 minutes. Teacher didnāt believe he could actually do that and checked his answers. All were right. Physics teacher has recommended that he move back to honors. Son is very hesitant to do so after what happened last year. GC is also not thrilled with moving him back up. We are all trying to decide how to handle this one.
One last day of summer here and itās S17ās birthday! He asked me if he had to go to XC today and I said no. Heās over the required amount to be in the first meet (hasnāt missed any) and went to both the Saturday and Labor day practices. Iām not sure he actually will skip, but I gave him the out of he wanted it.
School starts tomorrow,no zero period till next week so I need to double check the bus schedule lol.
@me29034 Thatās a rough one. Our schoolās physics department is like yours. Regular is REALLY easy and AP Physics is known as the hardest class in the science department. (We donāt have honors physics). Even kids who had solid As or B+s in Honors Chem crash and burn in AP Physics. Maybe have your son find kids currently in Honors Physics and see what they think so far? If the GC thinks he should just stay in regular, maybe thatās the way to go. So what if he has an easier class? Especially if heās not a STEM student for college, it wonāt matter.
S19 decided to avoid the Physics dilemma this year and take Earth Science H. It was a weird choice. Almost everyone he knew sucked it up and took AP Physics. He will take AP Physics next year when the other classes in his schedule arenāt as tough as this year!
Good luck with the decision!
@me29034 My D16 struggled for a C in honors Chemistry - her teacher was lazy and wasnāt used to teaching honors, so he just gave them the AP curriculum (he even finished the material in early May). Maybe something like that was going on? D16 got an A- in college chemistry so she must have learned something.
Because of that experience, I put S19 in regular chemistry last year (pretty easy A although plenty of kids struggled) but now heās afraid to take AP Chem at all. In hindsight, I wish he had just taken honors.
Juniors can take active physics (for kids who struggle with Algebra), regular physics, honors physics or AP Physics 1 (or skip physics and take Geosystems regular or honors). Even with regular chemistry, S19 was allowed to take AP Physics. Itās too soon to tell how it is - S19 is still griping about all of his friends being together in a different section. Heās only taking two APs (Physics and Psych) so hopefully heāll do OK. At the moment, AP Psych seems to be the only class that seems fun. He has a lot of bland teachers.
He is really bored with his engineering class (says its taught like āelementary school artā and wants to change to regular computer science despite telling me he āhates computer scienceā anytime I suggest that he take it. I think itās because GF is in that class and says itās fun. I guess Iāll see if he talked to his GC today.
i think that chemistry and physics are two different sciences, so because you did poorly in one, doesnt mean you will be poorly in another. Way back in the day i struggled with chemistry, both in HS and college, but did really well in physics.
JMHO
D19 struggled mightily with honors chemistry last year, ending up with a C- for the class. This year she chose to wait on taking physics and instead take AP Environmental Science, and she seems to really like it (after four days in school).
Life is about to get chaotic as she is applying to design for the fall theatre production, and the director has chosen the fall show to be the Cappies show. 
So first quarter ends November 3 and the Cappies show is the week after. (I hope her grades stay up.)
An xkcd applicable to the discussion of the relationship between chemistry and physics (while also pulling in other fields), because thereās apparently an xkcd applicable to every possible topic of discussion: [url=<a href=āhttps://xkcd.com/435/%5Dxkcd:%C2%A0Purity%5B/urlā>https://xkcd.com/435/]xkcd: Purity[/url].
@orangefish Wow that they let her do that. At our high school you must get at least a B in Honors Chem as a prereq to being allowed into AP Environmental Science. Obviously AP ES is not in Sās future.
@homerdog @eh1234 Our school only has two level of Physics for juniors - honors and regular. Here AP Physics is calculus based and only offered to seniors and only after taking honors physics as a junior. The problem with regular physics that son is finding is that there are kids in it who really canāt do math. He said he is amazed by the kids who canāt figure out if they are supposed to add or subtract. There are kids struggling with that packet that he finished so quickly. Butā¦ if he moves up, he will be with all the really smart stem kids and he will probably be the one struggling at the bottom of the class. He could just stay where he is and get the easy A. It might not be such a bad thing. He isnāt going into STEM so no need to have a good background in physics. Colleges wonāt know just how easy the class was.
@sdl0625 I agree that they are two different subjects but our school tends to be pretty strict about wanting a good grade in Honors Chem to be allowed into Honors Physics. Thatās why he is where he is and why the GC doesnāt want to move him.
@me29034 I say rejoice in the easy class. I know itās not in most kidsā natures to just relax and get an easy A, but an easy class gives him more available time to work on his other classes. S19 took a super easy social studies class freshman year and it was a joke. He never had any homework and never studied and got an A. He complained for a while but then realized that it freed up time to spend on his harder classes and it resulted in a solid overall GPA that year. The kids who took the World History Honors class instead of this easy social studies class had less time to spend on their math and science honors classes and it affected their grades across the board.
I like your point that the AOs are not going to know the class was so easy for him. Totally agree!
@OrangeFish S19 might double up on science and take APES and AP Physics C. I never seem to hear anything but positive things about APES no matter the high school. And heāll have to take Physics because, according to his GC, he needs to show heās taken Physics in high school. Thatās a bummer because I was hoping heād have some space for some āfunā classes like Debate or Creative Writing but I donāt think thatās going to happen.
@me29034 Hmm, if that is the case, an easy A sounds pretty good. Maybe the kids who canāt do math will be encouraged to pick another science class and the pace will pick up a little? S19 has taken a regular history class (got a 98 without doing anything at all) and some regular English classes (he just hates it but I made him take honors this year).
Our school took away honors physics the first year they offered AP Physics 1 (which is Algebra based), and then brought it back a year later! Hopefully, S19 is not in over his head. There are some super smart kids who probably had calculus sophomore year and AP Physics C this year, which is supposed to be the most difficult class in the school (I think that one requires taking another physics course first, but these are also the kids who will take full courses in the summer to get ahead)
I donāt know if he is a STEM kid or not since he wonāt admit to actually liking anything (he definitely is not a humanities kid!) He was looking forward to physics but having a teacher who stares at the floor and speaks in a whisper should take care of that potential interest (especially since she also teaches AP Physics 2).
@homerdog ā Dās school counselor also said D will need to take Physics as a senior as āall college bound students must take Physicsā). [insert Dās moan here.] D is not a math whiz (but she successfully scored Pass Advanced on her Algebra II SOL last year ā go figure?) so AP Physics will not be on the schedule. 
Is it a good idea to visit the college representative at your boarding school while you are still a junior? Or only the senior should visit the college reps when these folks are at your boarding schhol?
If it is a good idea, whom do you visit? How do you select which college reps? College list includes ives and top non ivies.
@infinityprep1234 We have so many reps coming to our high school this fall. They host an hour long presentation and then, if thereās time, the kids can ask questions. The GCs keep the group to 50 kids but, so far, some of the groups are smaller than 10 kids. Iāve signed S19 up for five of these presentations. We have a tentative list, so heās going to presentations that match his list.