My d had the Meltzer books for reading and grammar. Definitely helped with grammar. I can’t be sure about reading whether she really put in the same effort though since she dislikes it so much. She had the panda math book and felt that did a good job helping her brush up on math skills.
Is anyone having their kids do a summer program? They are not popular around here. I know they are expensive and I also know that colleges don’t necessarily look upon most of them as better than other summer activities. S19 will have XC every day and he’ll have some art classes. He’ll have to work on essays. Maybe he will work. I know he wouldn’t want to go away for very long and some of these programs are three weeks or more. The XC coach looks down on the kids going away. If you’ve read any of my comments about him you’ll understand. He’s a piece of work.
I’ve failed in the past to get S19 excited about going away to a program. I’m doing a quick search to see what I can find for a one or two week camp on environmental science, astronomy, writing, or politics. I’m finding a few things but I don’t know if it’s worth presenting options to S19. Thoughts? Do your kids go? Any good programs out there that you can suggest?
My kid did the RPI thing last summer and really liked it, confirmed his interest in engineering. He also figured out the kind of engineering he likes and dislikes. So that was helpful. It was one week long.
They have another program you can take If you finish the first one, but I’m not sure if son will go or not yet. Still thinking about it. You have to apply again I think, unless they waive all of that for repeat customers.
Now that’s what I’m thinking @RightCoaster! It would be great if S19 chose a program wisely and found out if he liked or disliked something that is still an option for a major. When he took AP Comp Sci, he took it for precisely that reason. And, boy, we were surprised. We all thought he would love it but he hated it. Begged to drop it after first quarter and again after the second quarter. He muddled through to the bitter end and got an A- but didn’t take the AP test. He burned his AP Comp Science papers in the backyard when he and his friends had a bon fire at the end of the school year.
We were actually happy that he discovered he didn’t like it. It pretty much ruled out engineering as well since he’d have to program quite a bit for an engineering major too!
@homerdog I looked into summer programs a little bit but it is hard since D has no idea what she wants to study yet. One of her best friends wants to do a summer program for architecture but I didn’t see anything at that school that D would really love. I will keep looking into it but not sure what we will end up doing. D and her BFF used to want to do a certain summer abroad/volunteer program but the dates didn’t work out last summer. We will see BFF over this vacation so hopefully we can talk a little bit more and see if we can find something fun for them to do.
I did see Syracuse has a cool film program that D21 might enjoy someday though!
D is definitely not doing a program we would be paying for. If a local college offers a paid research position to high school kids (they did last summer) she will apply though. Otherwise, she will work and enjoy her summer.
My kid got a TASP nomination so I’m making him write the essays. It’s a very very long shot but I figure the essays he does for this will be good to cut down and reuse for college applications. He read through the brochure and got quite gung ho about the Michigan session, so maybe that will translate into a quality application. It would be great if he got in, but 6 weeks is an awfully long time.
If he doesn’t get in he’ll have to find a job although we’ll knock off a week or so to take a New England college visit trip.
It’s all happening too fast.
@ninakatarina Wow! Isn’t that nomination a big deal? Good luck!!
I took at peek at those TASP essays and if done right, they do seem college app worthy. S19 seems interested if he doesn’t get into the NSLI-Y program this summer so its up to him if he completes the essays on time. Both are long shots for sure, so thinking he’ll backpack overseas with his friend and my husband for a few weeks, then lots of golf again.
D19 got really lucky and has two university research internship opportunities that have been extended to her. She is also applying for some research grant and fellowship programs which pay the students a stipend and provide free room and board. Of course a very very long shot, so those university internships are giving her such peace of mind.
Kids in calculus here get to check out a TI89 for the year so that is what they use for SAT tests. The calc teacher also proctors tests and has reminded them that they do not have to clear out the memory. Plan is to have her take the SAT in March and in June. I don’t think she’ll be taking SAT Subject tests as no school on her (so far) list has them as mandatory.
My '19 is applying to the Governor’s School summer program for visual art.
@homerdog I think you should visit URichmond and W&M. My son ('16) got into both and we really liked them both. He went elsewhere but Richmond was his 2nd choice of schools that admitted him. I am trying very hard to get DD’19 to overlook the fact that URichmond’s mascot is a spider (she hates them) and add the school to her list.
BTW have you seen the joint degree program offered by W&M and St Andrew’s in Scotland? Great way to meet kids from all over
@gusmahler, regarding your inquiry yesterday (but five pages ago!) about whether AP classes count in med school admission class counts, our S13 was accepted to med school and used AP credit for calculus. He did take two physics, at least two biology, and two or three chem classes, but he likes science. He majored in art and minored in economics, so the science classes were his electives. Also, our high school has a policy that they will not give weighted credit for AP classes if the student does not take the test, so you might want to check this.
I’ve been reading all the comments here about testing, and even though I’ve been through this before and was comfortable with not having tested yet, the conversations here were beginning to make me feel about anxious about falling behind. So, this morning I had a conversation with S about testing. This is how it went:
Me: We should talk about test dates for the SAT. There is one is March. I think that would be a good time to take the first test. That gives you a few months to prepare.
S: OK
Me: Then we can schedule a retake of the SAT and a try at the ACT in June right before the end of the school year when you are done with courses for this year and before you forget everything over the summer. This was when big sis got her best test scores.
S: OK. That sounds good. (long pause) You know, there is one kid in my grade who has already taken the real SAT. Can you believe that?
Me: Yeah, I’ve heard of people taking it early.
S: That’s nuts (shaking his head)
Then he left to go to school. Its nice to get a reality check away from the crazy CC world.
@me29034 Yes. Crazy CC world! I met a mom at our high school who didn’t even know parents could sign kids up for ACTs or SATs. She thought the kids just take the SAT offered at the high school in March and that’s their score!
S19 needs to choose senior classes in Jan and started talking about it last night. He’s unsure what to do about math. He’s in BC Calc right now but is really curious about stats. His options next year are a Multi-variable Calc class or AP Stats. His teacher is pushing them towards the calc class because she thinks they will forget their calc if they skip a year and then take it in college. While I get that, S19 may not even be taking calc in college. And, if he did, we’d have him start at the beginning anyway. And, if he ends up doing something more in the social sciences, I think his math classes in college with be stats classes. Anyone have any advice? Does it look bad to jump off of the calc train?
As for other classes, he’ll take the dreaded AP Physics that all of his friends are moaning about this year. He’s going to apply for the Writers Seminar Honors class instead of AP Lit. Only 30 kids get accepted into the writing class, though, so they offer two sections with 15 kids. Then, AP French, AP Macro, AP Portfolio, and one tbd. Maybe Philosophy.
He was getting all worked up that he doesn’t have a “focus” when it comes to his classes. He didn’t double up in science or history to be pointy. (He didn’t use that word but that’s what he meant.) I think he’s been talking to seniors who are telling him that’s a good strategy. Too late now. And I don’t even think it’s a big deal that he didn’t do that. He’s taken honors or AP in every subject. He’s well-rounded. It’s just who he is. Not pointy.
@homerdog If he’s already taken Calc have him take AP Stats. My son19 likes it a lot, and my son17 who isn’t a super math guy thought it was OK (didn’t love it, but found some of it interesting). Your son may end up having to take calc in college again, so I say learn something new now - like stats.
I thinks son19 will take AP Physics, AP Calc, and maybe AP comp sci. I’m not sure on computer science though, he’s not a coder, but has taken some web-based coding classes in the summer. I doubt he’ll take any AP English or history, but we’ll see.
@ninakatarina congrats on getting the TASP nominee. Should definitely apply. Even if not accepted maybe you can get some good Common App essay topics out of it, or re-use some of them for other college apps. It would give him a head start on the process and maybe some save time and stress over the summer/fall.
I’m a bit mystified about who might have nominated the kid, but excited about the opportunity. Right now I’m running a delicate balance between pushing the kid and letting him rest. Next year is going to be insanely hectic. We are traveling over Christmas so there won’t be a lot of time for him to work on essays unless he gets inspired while we’re driving and writes on his phone.
Congratulations @ninakatarina on the nomination! <:-P
@homerdog It sounds like he would like AP Stats. His class schedule looks loaded anyway and will not be looked down on.
I remember one of the college rep from an engineering school saying,
“We want 4 years of math. AP Stat is not a math class,” blah blah… AP Stat is considered taking an easy load in senior year, but it depends on the context of overall courses and individual kids.
I think, for a science/engineering major kid, Multivariable/DiffEq route may help a little.
S17 took the multivariable and was placed in the upper level Calculus in college (for those with BC Calc score of 4 or 5), but struggled quite a bit. I do not think lower level Calculus would have been any easier. He will take DiffEq next semester, but it will be at a whole new level. God bless him or as kids say RIP. 
5152. My daughters BC teacher back in August parent night told parents of non seniors if your not going be in a STEM related field that Multivariable is a waste of time and take AP Stats.
Stats was interesting. How difficult it is depends on the teacher from what I’ve seen. My d19 took it last year and the math itself was fine but figuring out how to explain things was harder for her. I think it was a good class for her. She fought to keep her A and it took a lot of work to do so. The class all did very well on the AP exam and felt it was super easy. Their class final later that week was harder.
It was one of my favorite classes in college and I’m not a math oriented type person usually.
I think for someone who is interested in it, it would be a good classto take to further gauge that interest.