Parents of Class of 2018 thread

[Vicki926]

We're still in school here, finals just finished. My daughter was stressing them big time-didn't do great, some B- , a C+ in Alg 2, that she was thrilled to get, LOL, but even with those, her final grades didn't suffer, so just glad it's over and done with.
Graduation is Tuesday, she plays clarinet, so she'll be there with the band.

She has off Wednesday. That's basically her 1 day of summer vacation. LOL

She's going to be a peer leader next year (2 juniors per like 25 freshman-they meet with them before school at freshman orientation and throughout the year)and has to go on a retreat Thursday and Friday from 8-4 to learn how, I guess?
Monday she starts her summer rec job.

Found out that Medical Terminology didn't fit into her schedule, nor did Dynamics of Healthcare, so she decided in Anatomy and Physiology. Got her schedule and found that didn't fit either-so they put her in Marketing. @@ oh well. She has to take a business class before graduation, but now she won't be able to take the 2 years of health related classes. It'll be fine.

Overwhelmed thinking about visiting colleges..haven't started. The school has trios over the summer, they bus the kids. I need to see if she can still sign up.

 

[DawnM]

My daughter will be doing dual enrollment/early college. However she can still go to her high school before school starts which she can do 3 days a week in the fall if she wants. She can also go to high school for lunch if she wants also 3 days a week in the fall based on her schedule. She will continue doing the high school figure skating team, key club, class of 2018 activities etc. The high school guidance counselor is still available and used to apply for colleges. Since she finishes classes in May she will be free to participate in all senior activities and she will graduate high school with her class. She is still a high school student and gets to do all the high school activities she wants that are not part of a high school class. Basically her classes are just somewhere else adding on about 15-20 minutes to the commute. I will say that I'm very happy that tuition/fees/books etc are all free.

That isn't the way ours works, and the community college is over 30 min. away and no transportation. He can do one OR the other.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

That isn't the way ours works, and the community college is over 30 min. away and no transportation. He can do one OR the other.

Our community college is also half an hour away. My DS is scheduled for 2 dual enrollment classes at community college this fall. The rest of his classes will be AP classes at school, and he will get 2 hours of free time during the day. One of his college classes is 7 to 9:30 PM 2 days a week. One is online. So we are going to have to figure a way to get him to college 3 nights a week until he gets his drivers license in December. At least the school is paying for it including the books.

I have mixed feelings about the dual enrollment. DS is number one in his class right now, but dual enrollment classes are only on a 4.0 scale. So the kids not taking dual enrollment can potentially take all AP classes which are all on a 5.0 scale, which could mean DS loses his top of the class position. He thinks it is worth it, and this is what he wants to do.

He also scored in the 99th percentile on the spring PSAT. So he was very happy about that. He just got home from a week at camp, and today is his first day off in months. He doesn't have work or school today. He says he doesn't know what he's going to do all day.

My youngest DS starts high school in the fall. This will be a much different experience. Older DS is just a very easy child. Younger DS is a great kid, but needs much more active parenting.

 

[DawnM]

Our community college is also half an hour away. My DS is scheduled for 2 dual enrollment classes at community college this fall. The rest of his classes will be AP classes at school, and he will get 2 hours of free time during the day. One of his college classes is 7 to 9:30 PM 2 days a week. One is online. So we are going to have to figure a way to get him to college 3 nights a week until he gets his drivers license in December. At least the school is paying for it including the books.

I have mixed feelings about the dual enrollment. DS is number one in his class right now, but dual enrollment classes are only on a 4.0 scale. So the kids not taking dual enrollment can potentially take all AP classes which are all on a 5.0 scale, which could mean DS loses his top of the class position. He thinks it is worth it, and this is what he wants to do.

He also scored in the 99th percentile on the spring PSAT. So he was very happy about that. He just got home from a week at camp, and today is his first day off in months. He doesn't have work or school today. He says he doesn't know what he's going to do all day.

My youngest DS starts high school in the fall. This will be a much different experience. Older DS is just a very easy child. Younger DS is a great kid, but needs much more active parenting.

I don't know if my DS could take an additional class or two at night in the district he is in, but since DH and I will both be working at getting up before 6am, there is no way we will even look into this. Getting home past 10pm two nights a week, plus the additional 4-6 hours of driving just won't work out.

Our AP scale is 6.0. Honors is 5.0.

My son is not #1 in his class. He is a strong student but not a stellar student. I haven't asked where he falls, but he is on the A/B honor roll and is somewhere in the top quarter. He has to work at it harder and work longer at getting the grades. He knows that. He is smart, but it doesn't come easily.

There is a program where you meet on the CC campus and do half high school and half college, but we don't live in that district.

I am happy with what he has decided. He wants to get involved in some extra curricular activities and we are encouraging that. I think he just needs to be a teen for the next two years and enjoy college when it comes.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I don't know if my DS could take an additional class or two at night in the district he is in, but since DH and I will both be working at getting up before 6am, there is no way we will even look into this. Getting home past 10pm two nights a week, plus the additional 4-6 hours of driving just won't work out.

Our AP scale is 6.0. Honors is 5.0.

My son is not #1 in his class. He is a strong student but not a stellar student. I haven't asked where he falls, but he is on the A/B honor roll and is somewhere in the top quarter. He has to work at it harder and work longer at getting the grades. He knows that. He is smart, but it doesn't come easily.

There is a program where you meet on the CC campus and do half high school and half college, but we don't live in that district.

I am happy with what he has decided. He wants to get involved in some extra curricular activities and we are encouraging that. I think he just needs to be a teen for the next two years and enjoy college when it comes.

Wow! I never heard of a 6.0 scale! Our honors courses are just regular 4.0 scale. Crazy how it's different in different places.

I don't blame you for not wanting to drive. I don't really want to either, but DS was trying really hard to find dual enrollment online classes only. It just didn't work out. He did all the research himself, and he worked with the school counselor. He was ready to give up, and I gave in and said we'd drive him. It should be only one semester. He will then have his license. Although with Michigan winters we may just still drive him.

I completely agree about needing to be a teen! My DS has always been mature for his age. He got his first job the day he turned 14 and takes really difficult classes. He's involved in several extra curricular activities (not sports.) I'm always telling him he doesn't have to do all that. I swear he acts like he's 15 going on 40. I have no idea why he's like that. My friend always tells me he's an old soul.

 

[DawnM]

Wow! I never heard of a 6.0 scale! Our honors courses are just regular 4.0 scale. Crazy how it's different in different places.

I don't blame you for not wanting to drive. I don't really want to either, but DS was trying really hard to find dual enrollment online classes only. It just didn't work out. He did all the research himself, and he worked with the school counselor. He was ready to give up, and I gave in and said we'd drive him. It should be only one semester. He will then have his license. Although with Michigan winters we may just still drive him.

I completely agree about needing to be a teen! My DS has always been mature for his age. He got his first job the day he turned 14 and takes really difficult classes. He's involved in several extra curricular activities (not sports.) I'm always telling him he doesn't have to do all that. I swear he acts like he's 15 going on 40. I have no idea why he's like that. My friend always tells me he's an old soul.

I hadn't heard of that either, and my guess is that if he goes somewhere with a 5.0 scale, it would be adjusted.

 

[mrsv98]

DD's HS is going back to a 4 point scale her senior year, they say that most colleges use this scale and it will make it easier for students to know where they stand.

AP scores are out and DD got a 4, yea! So that is 2 classes down (believe me, we are looking at colleges that accept the scores!) She will have two more Jr year and 2 or 3 Sr year so she should have a pretty good start.

How is everyone's summer going? Too fast? Ours is!

 

[clori]

My dd started a city summer job yesterday working about 20 hours a week for 6 weeks. She is working at the local public access tv station. Yesterday was mostly orientation. Today she is working with the other teens on setting up an art gallery for adult art that will be put up. She will be doing things like editing videos, teaching a youth class, and assisting at a youth multi media summer camp. She also has to take a 2 hour city wide training class each week (for pay) focusing on things like how to do a resume I guess. She is still waiting to hear if she will be accepted into a 1 week day time program for junior achievement.

Our highest grade is an A+ which is 4.0 for college prep, 4.5 for honors, and 5.0 for either AP or DE. Since not all classes can be taken on an AP/DE level it is not possible for anyone to end up with a 5.0. The school doesn't tell the kids their rank other than announcing the top 10 near graduation time.

 

[Vicki926]

DD's HS is going back to a 4 point scale her senior year, they say that most colleges use this scale and it will make it easier for students to know where they stand.

AP scores are out and DD got a 4, yea! So that is 2 classes down (believe me, we are looking at colleges that accept the scores!) She will have two more Jr year and 2 or 3 Sr year so she should have a pretty good start.

How is everyone's summer going? Too fast? Ours is!

Julia got a 5 on her AP exam. She was thrilled. I was too..and surprised, LOL, sometimes she gets test anxiety and doesn't test well.
Summer is busy for her. Works all day, goes out most nights with her friends. Cheer starts today for her, she's happy to be back.

I booked our room at Disney for next April, because both my kids will be going down with the school band.

 

[Vicki926]

My dd started a city summer job yesterday working about 20 hours a week for 6 weeks. She is working at the local public access tv station. Yesterday was mostly orientation. Today she is working with the other teens on setting up an art gallery for adult art that will be put up. She will be doing things like editing videos, teaching a youth class, and assisting at a youth multi media summer camp. She also has to take a 2 hour city wide training class each week (for pay) focusing on things like how to do a resume I guess. She is still waiting to hear if she will be accepted into a 1 week day time program for junior achievement.

That sounds like a great experience!

 

[Vicki926]

Did anyone start yet? Get their schedules?
We start 9/6. My daughter has started to stalk the mailbox waiting for her schedule, but I think it'll be another week or two before they come out.

 

[mnrose]

Our schedules were on line yesterday. Daughter already has an issue (no math class assigned....she signed up for AP stats, and I'm guessing it's a conflict with something else on her schedule)...she really does not want to take precalc, which might be her option.

 

[okeydokey]

We go to the school to sit with a counselor to schedule. My son's schedule can be tricky depending on availability of what he needs and many courses only meeting once a day. I have been going back and forth with the local community college about what dual enrollment classes he can register for. They have different requirements for AP credit than the University he most likely will attend and they say he already has credit for a class through AP. It doesn't seem to fit what the University says he will get.

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Hope everyone had a great summer and getting ready for what everyone has said is the year of all years! Thursday is technically my son's first day but he has to go Wednesday for the Freshman first day to run some ice breaker classes and tours. Schedules came out last week and he is pretty happy. He has Honors English, US History, Physics and Math 2. He also took AP Chem 2 and Finance & Investment Our school runs on a 6 day rotation and the only issue he has is 3 of the 6 days he has lunch twice a day! He wants to try to move one of them to a study hall but does not want to mess with anything in schedule and has the 2 labs to work with . He got a job this summer at a local grocery store and he is really loving it. He works in the Shop From Home department. They are really great as far as school and schedule. The said school comes first. Hopefully that sticks. We have a college visit set for September, October and November and we went to his first choice in August for a 2nd visit. Will be taking SAT a few times and ACT as well.

I am trying to remain calm but my head is literally spinning between trying to decide if it is best to work with someone to help us with applications and aid or just do it on our own.

 

[clori]

Though the high school knows dd won't actually be taking classes there they still gave her a schedule. She was excited about her Spanish 4 honors teachers since she had her before and loved her but quickly remembered she won't actually have her. All grades go Tues-Thursday but only Freshman go in the morning Tues/Wed and other grades go in at 11:15.

She has a dual enrollment orientation on Tuesday at the high school with other students doing all dual enrollment but not until 1pm. She should be getting her books then. Other than that she will probably be helping with the activities fair on Wednesday. I don't think she is going in on Thursday. There is no school Friday. She will start dual enrollment classes Tuesday at the community college.

This summer dd really worked hard and improved in figure skating. She went skating usually 4 days a week before work which didn't open until 10am. It paid off and dd was able to pass 2 tests in front of a judge. Now she can only skate twice a week until November (when hockey gets all the ice time) and needs to learn a new routine for the figure skating team. DD has mostly a recreational skating background with group skating and a founding member of her high school figure skating team. At the test, a director of a skating club called me and dd's coach over (who is also a coach at that program) and told us that since dd had been practicing in the mornings over the summer with members of their team that she now considers dd part of them for all social events. I love how no matter where the kids go to school or what figure skating club they may belong to they all get along and support the skaters.

 

[mnrose]

Wow! I never heard of a 6.0 scale! Our honors courses are just regular 4.0 scale. Crazy how it's different in different places.

I don't blame you for not wanting to drive. I don't really want to either, but DS was trying really hard to find dual enrollment online classes only. It just didn't work out. He did all the research himself, and he worked with the school counselor. He was ready to give up, and I gave in and said we'd drive him. It should be only one semester. He will then have his license. Although with Michigan winters we may just still drive him.

I completely agree about needing to be a teen! My DS has always been mature for his age. He got his first job the day he turned 14 and takes really difficult classes. He's involved in several extra curricular activities (not sports.) I'm always telling him he doesn't have to do all that. I swear he acts like he's 15 going on 40. I have no idea why he's like that. My friend always tells me he's an old soul.

Ours is also a 4.0 scale. Nothing extra for Honors OR AP. So AP Calc B/C (which my son is taking) counts for exactly the same in your overall GPA as Choir (which he is also taking). The commitment level, to say the least, is not the same. LOL.

 

[WVMomof3]

Our AP classes are 5.0, nothing extra for Honors. Though, I have come to the conclusion that there is no fair way to do GPA. Last year some of the kids complained that kids were taking study hall to boost their GPA, because kids taking the same amount of APs, one had a study hall one took something like band which is a 4.0 class, the study hall kid gets a higher GPA. The solution by administration was just to drop study halls. Another issue my daughter is having, her and her friend have the same amount of APs, straight As for both, the friends GPA is slightly higher because my daughter came into high school with 2 credits (Spanish and Math1) her friend moved here for high school, so does not have those extra credits of 4.0 classes, therefore her GPA is higher. Also, kids here can take extra classes online if they pay for them, so some kids pay $1000 for the extra 9th class taking an AP which gives them more 5.0 classes. I know a lot of schools are doing away with valedictorian, and now that I see how unfair the system can be, I think I agree. When all classes are 4.0 and then you can have someone who potentially took no honors or APs be valedictorian is not right either.

 

[WVMomof3]

How soon do your schools put out schedules before school starts? My daughter got her schedule on a Monday night, school started Wednesday. She had scheduling conflicts with 2 of her AP classes and could not get into both. My problem with this is she spent hours doing summer homework for that class. I thought that was so wrong of them. She ended up getting switched to another AP class which meant she had to hurry up to catch up with summer homework. She found out first day of school that she was able to add the other AP, but a friend with the exact same issue did not get schedule fixed until a week after school started so he was a week behind. Just wondering when other schools post schedules and deal with problems.

 

[mom2rtk]

How soon do your schools put out schedules before school starts? My daughter got her schedule on a Monday night, school started Wednesday. She had scheduling conflicts with 2 of her AP classes and could not get into both. My problem with this is she spent hours doing summer homework for that class. I thought that was so wrong of them. She ended up getting switched to another AP class which meant she had to hurry up to catch up with summer homework. She found out first day of school that she was able to add the other AP, but a friend with the exact same issue did not get schedule fixed until a week after school started so he was a week behind. Just wondering when other schools post schedules and deal with problems.

That would irritate the crap out of me.

My son had a scheduling conflict and couldn't take one of the AP classes he wanted. But at least he hadn't had summer work assigned.

 

[clori]

My dd's schedule came out about a week ago. Since dd ended up with a blank spot on her schedule which changed to AP Study and a teacher change for Spanish. In dd's case her schedule doesn't matter since she is doing dual enrollment but she has to have a high school schedule initially I guess. If she was going she would have had AP Government instead of AP Study. Another girl she knows has several blank spots and only 2 classes but I'm guessing that has changed by now. Most schedules should be finalized by today since it is the first day back for teachers and kids start tomorrow. Last year dd was supposed to be in an English elective but for whatever reason that didn't work out and she had a blank spot on day 1 not even a study. We don't know why they have the kids list some alternates when they don't give you those classes if needed. Fortunately dd was able to get into gym/health since she needed those credits at some point anyway.