@Trixy34 No, we won’t - other than he should follow the curriculum closely enough to allow him to graduate in 4 years (barring coops/internships, etc). We’re not requiring anything else… though I should say not “attempting” to require anything else, since there’s no way to force an adult to take certain classes without threatening to withhold monetary support, which we wouldn’t do. We might encourage he consider certain classes, but at the end of the day it’s his decision.
Nope. As parent2one, our only requirement (for us paying) is graduate in 8 semesters. Her college does have first year writing seminar requirements though.
Congrats on starting the last quarter @RightCoaster and @firstwavemom. We hit that milestone on Monday. Time is flying (albeit a bit too fast for me–I want to savor these “lasts”).
And hoping prom goes well @bjscheel and @firstwavemom! Unpredictable weather can really make a mess of things–it rained for my Ds prom last year which was a major disappointment. We have our fingers crossed for better weather this year (while we do junior prom here D’s boyfriend is a junior so they get to do it again!).
I’m pretty sure we’ll probably only need to advise him with regard to the public speaking and quantitative analysis - he would probably be very up for taking those. Writing, however, is a different story.
@professionaldad I love your post. TMI, but when D was about 10, she came back from a visit with dad, and I started to get a lecture because over the summer visit he’d had to remind her about brushing her teeth. I showed him the sign in the garage that included reminders about teeth, hairbrush, and lotion before getting in the car, and asked if he’d not had to remind her about the others. Still, 7 years later, I keep deodorant, petroleum jelly, lotion, and a hairbrush in a soft lunch cooler in the backseat. And cheap earrings in the console. Thankfully, we too have gotten to the point that the cooler is more like an occasional first aid kit.
@Trixy34 Just my 2 cents. I came to the conclusion during app season that D’s 10th/11th grade English teacher was a generous grader. I do love her 12th grade teacher. She is nit-picky and particular, and it’s reflected in the unweighted B. If by some freak of nature, D places out of Freshman Writing, a lopsided discussion might need to happen. I now manage a young person whom I’d like to send back to Freshman writing.
@peachActuary73 - I feel your pain. When he was in elementary school, I was thrilled with the writing curriculum at our school. Then we got to middle school, and he informed me only the English teacher cared if his papers were written well. Grrr. To my knowledge, my kids have never received grammatical instruction. In 9th grade, he had a fantastic teacher and I saw a lot of growth. In 10th grade, he was writing all the time - very intensive, but the kids graded each others papers. (WHAT?!?) Last year, AP Lang was great! She graded written work honestly, but there was a curve component for participation that brought their final grades up equivalent to the other teachers’ classes. This year, AP Lit, I don’t think he’s really writing much at all, and I don’t blame his teacher - there are 29 students in the class! He has some great insights and he has the potential to write very well, but he can be lazy, and he often organizes his thoughts in such a confusing way that it’s sometimes torture to read and comment on his papers. He needs someone nit-picky and particular (besides me) to really demand excellence from him. Yeah, that whole “placing out” of Freshman English is not happening - no matter where he goes. I had forgotten about that. I think his AP scores probably would place him out at public school.
I’ve been looking forward to having my D take Micro or Macro Econ in college because I think She would find one or both really interesting with a vibrant professor. (She took a one semester Econ class in hs as Macro/Micro were not offered.) To my chagrin, it is looking like she will likely be self-studying to CLEP out of one or both to make room in her college schedule for the multiple minors she’s going to try to get.
Besides, both colleges D is still considering include quite a few required Core classes. I hated core classes when I was in college, especially speech & writing ones.
Our third quarter ends on Friday. Kiddo is getting what he thinks is just bad spring allergies, I think it’s maybe a cold with sore throat. He stayed home yesterday and I tried to get him to do it again today, but he thinks he has too much work to make up. Dude, you’re a senior, get senioritis already!
Half of the school is headed out on a field trip as of tomorrow morning, so I should be able to convince him to stay home tomorrow if he’s still sniffling.
@peachActuary73 A few pages back, you asked about our Clemson visit, so wanted to circle back with a full report.
From the time we landed in Greenville, we were clearly in Clemson country. Orange everywhere. Even an orange sports car in the rental lot right next to our generic rental. Paw prints painted on the streets intermittently. However, Clemson was still a good 50 min drive away. We arrived on Sunday and took a drive around campus, stopped at the bookstore and picked up a Clemson shirt. Drove over to the campus hotel (which was already full when I booked, so we stayed off campus). It sits between the lake and a golf course and is a beautiful setting, but OTOH, didn’t really look like a nice easy walk to campus. We drove by the stadium, which was awe-inspiring. It sits right on campus and is a real presence. D even noticed the band practice field, which had a tower for the director to view the configurations. Then we stopped in the downtown area adjacent to campus, and had dinner at Chipotle. The little downtown area is very cute, with shops and restaurants. D wasn’t sure how she’d ever be able to make a decision between Ohio State and Clemson.
The next morning, we went to the Admissions info session and tour. The Admitted Students day (this Friday) was full, so we just went in for a regular visit day, followed by a meeting with an advisor from her major. There was limited parking on campus, so we were advised to park at the Clemson Presbyterian Church and catch a shuttle. The info session was pretty standard, as well as the tour. The campus is beautiful and, though confusing for us, seemed very manageable once you get used to it. The tour guide said she has a car on campus, but rarely uses it. (Freshmen are allowed to have a car on campus.) There are shuttles to both the Greenville and Charlotte airports (maybe Atlanta too, but I can’t remember). She said she and her friends have taken the shuttle to Greenville and just spent the day there, for fun.
We had to drop off the tour early to meet with the advisor. (Tour was supposed to go until 10:30, but we dropped off about 10:55 in order to make our 11:00 meeting.) We weren’t sure what to expect, but D went prepared with several questions. Good thing because he didn’t have anything prepared, and just asked her what she wanted to hear about. She asked about their Criminal Justice program (her major). Turns out, it’s only a couple of years old, so still developing. He showed her the curriculum requirements, and D was happy to see some of her APs would be useful. Then she asked about internships. He said that their Career Counseling area deals with that, but that she’d probably find better internship opportunities back home in the Boston area over summer break. (Mmmm, not really what we wanted to hear.) We intended to grab lunch on campus and then get some of their ice cream, but D’s knee was hurting and she didn’t want to walk any more.
As we drove away, something just clicked in D’s head and she made her decision. She’s going to Ohio State. I think it came down to lifestyle — city vs. college town. Where could she best imagine herself living for the next 4 years?
So, Clemson was beautiful. It was worth visiting, as it clarified things in her mind. And it’s such a relief to have a decision.
Of all of son19’s finest qualities, writing is not one of them. He has good ideas and is creative, yet lacks the ability to link it all together. Hence the lopsided SAT score, super high math score , English not so much. For some reason, both of my kids like to use overly large and unnecessary wording. They both utilize the same writing style, although son17 has a better grip on it. I think they must have had the same English teacher, or they were taught a similar method/style in our high school. Either way, not great! Son19 is enrolled in a creative writing workshop right now, so maybe he’ll learn something.
I’m sure son19 will be required to take some sort of writing class as a freshman and that’s probably going to be more difficult for him than next level physics, lol.
We won’t make son19 take any class he doesn’t want to take. Son17 has asked for some guidance along the way for us so far, and I think son19 will consult with us as well. We will let them meet their academic advisors to formulate a plan, and then just guide them as needed if asked.
Congrats on a great decision @momzilla2D! That must feel so good to have that part behind you. It sounds like it was a good idea to do the visit and really feel good about the choice.
I might make some suggestions about course choices with my S19, but I have full confidence that he will do whatever he wants. He’s so ready for me to be out of his business - despite the fact that I don’t think I had ever seen any of his high school work until we needed to send a graded paper to one of his schools.
For those who have been on this journey with me the past year, some of you will know that this is a big deal. S19 is going on a college visit! We are headed to Nashville!
@momzilla2D Thanks for the review. Don’t think you “officially” shared the decision, or I missed it. Congrats on the Ohio State decision!!
Regarding requiring your student to take certain classes - we are just interested in S19 graduating on time if not making the most of his time by starting/finishing his masters during the 4 years (the program he will be attending allows the Distinguished Scholars kids some flexibility with their AP/DE credits to make this possible.) That being said, regardless of DE or AP credits, all Delaware students are required to take a Freshman writing course. S19, despite having credit thru AP Lang and DE English Comp 1&2, will have at least one writing class. He is a solid writer but I feel it will be a nice balance to a math/science heavy course load. Otherwise, he is 18 and extremely responsible - my job as course advisor is over and I will happily turn that over to the school. 
For course selection, I’m just going to impress upon DD to stay on track for 4 years. And if she wants to complete her double major, that’s going to mean nothing but the essentials. I wish there was a little more wiggle room. The second major can drop to a minor or just a collection of electives but for now she enjoys telling people she’s going to double major. She has turned in her preferences for Gen Eds as part of the orientation registration form, and highlighted in the course catalog which electives within her main major she wants. So we pretty much know every class she wants or needs to take- I just hope her choices will fit in her schedule.
D16 had advisor issues during her freshman year that caused me to turn into somewhat of an advisor for her. I know way more about gen eds at her school than I should need to know as I helped her navigate her way through them. Since then she hasn’t really needed my help, but still asks my opinion every time course registration approaches. Now its along the lines of 'Do you think I should I take this elective or that one, which would be better career wise, or how do you think this course sounds, or is this schedule going to be too much?"
I am hoping to be more hands off with S19. He is more independent by nature anyway. I am hoping that he tells me what he is taking. The school he is deposited at has a very strong program to get the kids out in four years, so I’m hoping that advising will keep him on track.
@ninakatarina - sorry he’s not feeling well! Allergies are the worst! have you ever tried stinging nettle? There are herbal supplements - DHist and Respirall are the ones I have taken. It’s amazing - stops the nose runs. So does Astelin/Astepro, but that’s prescription.
Looks like our kids’ advisor experience has been/will be the same @me29034.
In general, D16’s advisor has been very good with providing advice on classes such as when to take, which classes are tougher than others, etc… She’s always come to me though and asks the same as your D16… which elective…this or that one… this sounds like a fun class, what do you think…etc…
For D19, she’ll be told what classes to take, so I’ll be more hands off. She’ll be given a choice of courses to take after her first year, so she might ask me for advice there. All non-engineering majors have to take a 3-course core engineering sequence sometime during their 4 years, so she might ask me for advice there too.
@bjscheel I agree with the “hope” about her choices fitting her schedule. That was the same issue with D16. She was last in the queue for picking courses as a freshman & sophomore so she couldn’t get some “cool” courses. Now that she’s a junior, we haven’t had to worry her getting the courses she wants because they get to pick classes closer to the beginning of the registration period. It’s not impacted her ability to get the required courses for her to graduate on time though (fortunately).
@elena13 - Sometimes I wish I had never seen S19s work. Lol. For some reason, he likes to use me as a resource - even tells his sister she’s nuts for not asking me to review her writing. But I don’t get it, because it always, always, always ends with me criticizing him mercilessly, him arguing against every suggestion I make, us getting into an argument about the use of paragraphs with me concluding that his teachers are doing him a disservice by teaching him to write the way he says they are instructing him, and then him not taking any of my advice in the re-write! Maybe he just enjoys fighting with me.
@bjscheel - wow! You guys are on top of things!
@Trixy34 just be grateful it isn’t both kids. Mine insist I help with editing, get furious at my suggestions, I threaten I will stop if they don’t appreciate it anyway, they insist they do and to keep going, and it goes on and on. They do use most of the suggestions though, so there’s that.
D19 is saying it can continue when she is in college because I can edit using google docs. I pretend it would be impossible for me to learn the program at this advanced age. I don’t think she had given up though.