So, so happy to see this!! Hope your household is taking time to luxuriate in the joy!!! 
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We definitely were for a little while ā but then the next phase of the process hit and my daughter has started feeling overwhelmed.
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Glad to hear my daughter wasnāt the only one who struggled with declining acceptances, probably because some of them she loved more than where she ended up.
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Difficulty turning down offers suggests that your D made a good list for herself. She should give herself a little love for that!
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Thanks for that perspective!
I also think that while she appreciates intellectually the cost difference in schools, she doesnāt fully grasp how much money tens of thousands of dollars is in real terms. I donāt think most 18 year olds can grasp that.
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Felt momentous: I bought my kid bedding for their dorm room (!!!). I happened upon some while shopping for something else and decided there was no real need to wait. It is getting too real - argh.
This will be our first out the door to college - wah!
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We are still down to 2 choices at the minute, but they have shifted slightly and arenāt the 2 choices I thought! One is different. The surprises are never ending. Thank goodness there is a deadline coming up because I think this would just keep going for a while. 
Luckily we all like both choices a lot, even though they are very different. I see a decision being made this weekend - hopefully. 
I hope the rest of you are enjoying the last few weeks of senior year. Itās definitely starting to feel real. My son just got his license last week and is now driving himself to school- he could not be any happier with this new freedom. He is actually getting up earlier just to get to school earlier- I feel like I can actually see him growing up in front of my eyes this week. Such a big shift in his whole demeanor. He seems happy and ready for independence.
For the rest still deciding, good luck with all the decisions this week.
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Count me in as another parent still waiting for their child to make a final decision. My son is down to three choices- The three schools are different in almost every way and in three different parts of the country (all require a flight). Son and DH are at one of the schools today for an admitted student event. I am hoping he can make a decision by Sunday night!
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This is our exact situation. One on each coast and one smack dab in the middle, each one at least one flight away, and all very, very different! One week until it is over! Ahh!
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It is so stressful. I think my kiddo could be happy at each of these schools, but he really needs to decide. He was waitlisted at his top choice and I think it is very hard for him to imagine himself anywhere else, which is the leading cause of his indecision. Once he makes a choice, I think he will start to get excited. Good luck to your student!
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Sigh. Great trip was had to Greece. Came home and found out my kid bombed, seriously BOMBED one of his classes for last quarter. For AP Chem classroom and lab count as two different classes and two different grades on the report card. He failed lab, like with a 34%. The only grades for the quarter were the four lab reports - he averaged a 92 on the two he turned in, but unfortunately those two were only worth a combined 30 pointsā¦ and he didnāt turn in the other two, which were worth a combined 50 points, were zeros. His first and second quarter grades were good - a relatively low A and a relatively high B, so right now the end of year average is āonlyā a low C. But (1) thereās only like 2 weeks left of academic stuff this year - seniors are basically done after APs (even though there are five more weeks of school) so who knows if thereās any opportunity to get a decent fourth quarter grade to help pull up that average for the year and (2) Iām so frustrated with this process. At his IEP meeting at the start of the third quarter we all agreed that Iād step out and let S25 manage on his own - his case carrier and guidance counselor asserted theyād step in and help. So I did step out. I sent a note to the case carrier and guidance counselor in mid-March, concerned because there were no grades entered yet for Chem lab and I wanted them to check with my kid and the teachers to make sure all was on track. Still nothing. I sent an email to the Chem teacher on April 3rd - 9 days before the end of the quarter and a week before we went on vacation to let him know weād be out of town and that S25 might need some help with prioritizing assignments and to let us both know if there was anything that he needed to focus on before we went out of town - at that point there were still NO ASSIGNMENTS listed in the portal. I got no response.
We come home, the quarter has ended, and thereās still nothing listed. Now that grades have posted, I can see that there were four assignments, all posted after the quarter ended, and he failed. Teachers are supposed to explicitly reach out to parents for students getting Ds or Fs, and here, I kept asking for help and got nothing.
Yes, of course itās my kidās responsibility to manage all of this. This is, frankly, exactly why Iām worried about college for him. Heās so bright, but heās not good at dealing with problems - in this case, he didnāt understand the directions on the lab report, kept putting it off, and then it was too late. Sigh.
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D25 was also dejected after getting waitlisted from her top school. Making a final decision has helped her start to imagined herself somewhere else and get excited. I hope your son can start getting excited once he chooses too.
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This would drive me crazy. I am sorry.
- assessments should be a key part of learning - when a student doesnāt get quick feedback they have no chance to learn from their mistakes nor to make changes for next assessment. The point of school is LEARNINGā¦ugh.
- If they say they are doing something or there is a process, they need to stick to it. I am held to that in every role I have (paid and unpaid). Not exactly good role-modeling for students that they need to keep to their own commitments in a timely way either.
- None of that means you canāt still hold your kid responsible for their end of the bargain.. All can be true!
That said, I am so glad you had a fun trip! those memories will last longer, I am sure:)
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Iām glad the trip went well, but Iām sorry about the situation you returned to.
I am not the kind of parent who steps in to ask about extra credit or do-overs or anything in terms of grades. My kid got what my kid got, and there may be questions about next steps and how to improve, but the grade is a reflection of what the kid did at the time there was an assessment.
In the situation you describe, however, you have an excellent case that the school screwed up. Not entering any grades until after the end of the term and not responding to emails asking about assignments, processes agreed to in IEP meetings, etc. is unacceptable. If you want to raise the issue for your son to get some extra time to get the assignments completed and the third quarter grade changed accordingly, you would have an extremely strong case.
If you donāt want to because you want your son to learn a lesson from his inaction, procrastination, etc. in the hopes that it better prepares him for college, I understand. But I at least wanted to raise the option to you in case itās something that your family wants to pursue (and Iām saying this as someone whoās been in the education field for over 20 years).
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So glad you had a good trip but so sorry to hear about the assignment issues. S25 would be a straight A student if he remembered to turn things in. Itās so frustrating. I hope you get this sorted out soon.
Very busy few days here. Yesterday they announced that S25 and one other student made National Merit Finalist at a school wide assembly, and he got his picture on the school IG and FB accounts. Glad he was recognized for this accomplishment, as it definitely boosted his spirits.
Tonight is rescheduled prom, and Iām praying these kids will all be safe. Tomorrow night heās going to another schoolās prom with a girl that heās never met, but his friend set them up. Hoping itās a fun night for them. And Sunday is the final band concert of the year (and of high school!) where all of the seniors are recognized one-by-one. It will be very bittersweet!
Graduation is two weeks from today. Where has the time gone?!?
Hope decisions are made smoothly for your students and that everyone has a good weekend!
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If her son is at risk of his acceptance being rescinded due to a failing grade (yes, it happens) then she needs to intervene IMO.
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I really struggle with situations like this. Iāve taken a few personality quizzes for work and they always come back with things like āstrong sense of justiceā, āappreciates predictable outcomes based on known rulesā. Anyway, when people donāt abide by agreements or policies or whatever, it gets my goat, and add in the instinct to protect my kids and itās a recipe for confrontation. At least Iām self aware of my tendencies so I try really hard to tamp them down 
.
In your situation, itās definitely tough because youāre trying to let your son lead, but I agree with @AustenNut , Iād raise this right up to admin asap. Your son is 18 or so, and it can be really hard for kids to transition from kids-that-need-to-defer-to-adults, to adults that should understand when and how to self-advocate effectively. I think thereās probably a way you can involve him in your actions so that he learns effective ways to advocate for himself in a timely and respectful way.
(Recognize that this advice is coming from someone who thrives when surrounded by rule-followers, so take it with a grain of salt!)
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This was partially the reason S25 is now dealing with an F. It took involving his counselor (S25 did that himself by ccāing the counselor in a third unanswered email to the teacher) for the teacher to start reacting and helping.
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None of this is acceptable. How is any student supposed to stay on top of grades if theyāre not entered until after the quarter is over?
And then, the fact that your S25 has an IEP, and neither the case manager nor guidance counselor are doing the agreed-upon tasks (or responding to you) ā none of that is okay.
I totally get taking a step back and letting the student handle it ā my ADHD kid is actually super organized and meticulous, but she finds it hard to prioritize tasks and gets frozen when thereās too much to do, so on weekends I help chunk it for her and suggest a schedule.
In your sonās case, Iād consider contacting the school.
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