Congrats to everyone on their DC’s 10th-grade years!
Academically, DS 20 finished the year with all A’s and B’s (B-'s count don’t they?) by the skin of his teeth. It was a struggle to the end. While I’m glad he got the marks, I’m a little worried that some bad habits were rewarded. DW and I, however, gained much gray hair and probably lost many years of life expectancy! He’s trying to solidify his place on the class of 2020 3.0 to 3.4 GPA thread. Does that thread exist for the 2020’s yet?
For next year he’ll be taking APUSH, AP Physics 1, German 3, English, and PreCalc. I don’t know if all of those will stick or if he’ll move down a level in one or two of those. I’m not sure of his goals, but my goals for him are to do the work and turn it in. Sounds simple, but he’s not there yet. We won’t be testing at all this summer. Every bit of maturity will probably help. He took PSAT in October, but we still don’t know the score because he would not meet with his GC to get it!
Athletically in lacrosse, he did pretty well earning his 2nd varsity letter and an unsung hero award while battling a knee injury for the 2nd half of his season. His team won a playoff game in an upset. He’s a specialist and went up against several senior D1 commits and pretty much held his own.
We will try to start a few college tours this year while on the way to/ at LAX tournaments. For our other two DC junior summer was the time to visit 1 large school and 1 small school to begin to get a feel for the differences between large and small schools. So far DS 2020 isn’t showing any preference for a school size or major. Plenty of time for that, I know. Right now, he thinks he would like to continue LAX in college, but I don’t know how real that opportunity is. With new regulations, coaches can’t contact recruits until Sept 1. I don’t know if the phone will ring then or not. His HS and club coaches seem to think so, but we’ll see. Freshman year he lost most of his season to back stress fractures and this year he fought an MCL sprain. Not expecting any scholarship dollars, but maybe his sport could get him some soft merit money or an admission boost somewhere.
DS 2020 is our third. I think I’ve said it before in this thread, but this college search will be different.
For DD 2017, I used to close my replies with ‘Onward and Upward!’ Perhaps for DS 2020 I’ll go with
And the summer of freedom has nearly begun! DD passed her drivers test so all that stands in between her and the best summer ever are a few pesky exams this week. It will make her summer job much easier to manage, so I am thrilled for her but it will be strange to be that much less involved in her comings and goings.
I hope everybody’s enjoying the long weekend!
S20 still has a month of school. Academically, this has been a challenging year. After ending freshman year with a 4.0 UW GPA, he might get 2 Cs this year. Ahhh! And this is because he did not hand in his projects. His school changed the focus this year to the “whole child” approach to learning - meaning more project-based learning, less exams/quizzes and he’s not liking it. Last year, he got all As because he can ace the exams which are 90% of the grade even without turning in homework which is 10% of the grade. Now, in some of his classes, tests are only 60%. When he doesn’t turn in homework/projects, his grades suffer. And I am the one stressing out! @Dave_N I feel your pain. I, too feel like I grew a few years older this year. I am hopeful for next year. I might use your mantra - Serenity Now!
Summer, he will do SAT prep and volunteering in the community.
The tennis season finally concluded. The boys did great. They won the third in the county and also the championship in the state sectional. They are not in the top tier and none would be at recruits level, but these titles are all first for the HS in recent years. Alone the way, they missed several days of school. Now it is time to turn the focus back! S20 has finals start in 2 weeks. He is also to take SAT next week and then ACT the week after. And his EMT class starts in a week. The kid will be pretty busy.
DS20 classes are winding down with three weeks to go. AP classes are just doing little projects here and there and his elective he finished months ago with an certification test for something electronic iscet… maybe. Was inducted into the NHS last week and got his academic letter for it, then an activity letter for another club as well. Just trying to keep his focus so any last little grades dont get ignored as hes ready for the year to be over. He has 2 fine arts classes online this summer (to get them out of the way so he can take other preferred classes ) to get started on but that can wait until we are back from vacation!!
Here sophomore, jr and seniors can receive invite letters at the beginning of the year based off the GPA but each year they have to meet all the criteria by end of year to stay NHS.
@whataboutcollege- An SST meeting is a Student Study Team meeting. The student’s teachers, and possibly other educational team members, (guidance counselor, school psychologist, speech-language pathologist, admin) meet with the parents to review the students strengths and challenges and make a plan to address the supports the student needs to be successful. Sometimes a student is referred for tutoring, counseling, or educational testing.
@Redslp thanks. In our case D20 is gifted, diagnosed with ADHD and may also have an undiagnosed language related disability. She has always tested very high on multiple choice reading/verbal tests but poorly on essay exams. Everything is misspelled and her writing is difficult to read. We are pursuing additional testing and possibly accommodations including using a keyboard for all written work, including testing.
This has been a hard year and I’d like to get things in place to make next year easier
@VickiSoCal- Sorry to hear it’s been a tough year. Finding the right services and supports for a twice exceptional student is challenging and the overlap between teasing out the effects of the ADHD and a potential language learning disability will be complicated. Will she have an Assistive Technology evaluation?
I do not know what is next. That’s what I hope to establish at the meeting. For 10 years we’ve just got by with, well she gets As and Bs so she’s fine. In October ahe dropped Calc AB with a D and then got a perfect score, no questions missed on the PSAT math section. That’s not “fine” anymore.
@VickiSoCal We are in the same boat. D20 was diagnosed with ADHD this year. It took 8 months. In the last month, with just medication and teachers sending her lecture notes, her grades started improving. Unfortunately, it came a few months too late to affect the final outcome. It irritates me because she will now miss being an honor graduate because her D was literally two points (not percentage points but actual points) away from a C, and you can’t be an honor graduate if you have any Ds, regardless of what your GPA is (hers is still above a 3.5).
@tutumom2001 sounds very similar she started seeing the therapist in October and went on medication last month. Things are better but still not perfect for sure. It’s mathematically impossible for her to pull a couple of her grades up at this point luckily no D’s here.