First day of school
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| Fri, 09-08-2006 - 12:08pm |
Well, the first day of school went as well as can be expected. I think DD15 is actually excited about several of her classes! Of course the first day wouldn't be complete about a late night run to the store for a critical supply! Despite two warnings/questions, DD was sure she wouldn't need a raquet ball raquet for the first day of gym (today), but of course the gym teacher came into homeroom on Th to say "I expect you to be prepared tomorrow" LOLOL good thing Sports Authority is open until 9:30 at night!
DD has an interesting schedule - two days a week she has a "free" first period that means she can sleep a little later! On Fridays she has three classes, then a "double lunch" (a free period right after lunch, then a double gym period, then a last period free. Not too shabby! long lunch, gym, then done for the day! It's a bit weird because their gym class is at the college they're affiliated with, about 30 city blocks from the HS. So if she wants to hang with her girlfriends after school on Friday (what they LOVE to do), she has to take the subway or bus uptown to school to meet them, then catch the subway downtown to go home. Sort of a pain. But she seems OK with it - I guess she'll figure it out!
How are other teens doing in these first days/weeks of school?
Sue

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Hi Sue!
I was wondering how your DD's 1st day went -- sounds like she has a pretty neat schedule this year!
After the first day, DD said she'd felt like she never left! So far, she doesn't like her Geometry OR her Biology class. She feels they are too rudimentary, too slow and there is too much review. She complained last night that she's been learning the same things in science classes since 6th grade. I don't know about THAT specifically, but she's bored. From moving from public school to private school, we didn't know that you could test out of some classes, etc., so we just stuck with the schedule recommended by her 8th grade teachers and that seems to have been a mistake. Oh well, live and learn. Her career goals don't exactly include math or science, so what the heck, easy A's, I guess. I think she's a bit concerned about the effect not being in all advanced courses throughout high school will have on her college acceptance.
DD does, however, LOVE her AP Euro class and seems to be keeping up with the work. Then again, it's only the 2nd week of school, lol.
She's already signed up with the drama department for it's annual trip to Ashland OR, for the Shakespeare festival later this month and is especially excited about the productions they'll see this year: The Importance of Being Ernest, Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. I wish I could go, lol! She went last year and had a blast.
Last year DS' thoughts about school were that it was 'stupid and boring'! This year, the school reorganized it's advanced/honors curriculum (yay!) for 7th grade students and he is in all advanced classes all day long with all the same kids. (Except elective, which is Computer Animation and he is thrilled with that!) So now, he has so much work to do that he's definitely not 'bored', but it's still all 'stupid' in his mind. {Sigh ....}
Glad your DD had a good first day!
Julie
Our kids had 1/2 days Wed & Thurs and the first full day is today. I guess since they have 6 periods, they did 3 classes on each day for a longer intro period. I can't believe the schedule my DD has--Anatomy & Physiology (she wants to be a nurse), physics honors, AP Calculus, Spanish IV, psychology and her English class is Violence in American Culture. I read the synposis of the last one and it sounds like a college course and actually very interesting. It should go along well w/ psych. I am lucky that my DD is very studious and I never have to nag her about doing her work cause she likes to get good marks. I went to an all college prep high school which was relatively small (about 200 in my graduating class) so we just had the basic subjects. Her school has all levels of academics including a voke school, but since the school is so big, they also have a lot of electives to choose from.
My DS also started 5th and had to go to a new school and take the bus for the 1st time. His elem. school was only 1/2 mile away, so I used to drop him off in the a.m. and then he would walk home. The 1st day, he didn't pay attention to his bus number so he didn't know where to go. So he did take the bus w/ his friend who doesn't live too far away. I'm glad he didn't panic. So yesterday, I called after lunch and said did he get on the right bus. He started to make up some story about how he didn't know the bus number and he had to call his sister for a ride, and just when I start to get worked up, he says, no I did get on the right bus. He's a little comedian, that one. He "loves" his main teacher, who is young and blond (he's no fool) and he says she's a mixture of his 1st grade teacher and Drew Barrymore.
dd's first day of high school was very excited - but was eclipsed in my mind by my ds's first day of kindergarten...
regardless - she had a good day and the whole week they had short days - 8:45-1:20 with each class only meeting for 25 minutes or so...
she's most excited about japanese - and comes home everyday with a story about the class and / or the teacher... the rest of their freshman year is filled with required courses so nothing too exciting though she admitted that she likes 4 of her 6 teachers and she'll just have to deal w/the other two
her school day will start at 8am and she's finished at 2pm... that's because everyone gets 2 free periods and hers are the last two of the day.... theoretically she could leave but she will be joining lots of clubs - which is encouraged and they all meet after school - she'll have at least and hour and 15 minutes to get a headstart on her homework before she meets w/clubs - so i'm happy for that....
that's our summary!
Rachel
Yay, I found a board for my current Mom-status, lol! My baby just entered 9th grade for HS (she's 14 y.o.).
First day was Wed., for 1/2 day of new-student orientation. She's going to a music magnet school that starts at 5th grade, but we kept her at her private school as long as we could. The private school only goes as far as 8th, so it's public school time for her now. My two older dd's (now 21 & 19 y.o.) also went to the private school up through part of middle school and then transferred to public school, but not with as smooth a transition as we had with the "baby".
I win the bad mother of the year award for not knowing she didn't have to wear the uniform on Wednesday. Since she didn't have to be in until 9 that day, I offered to drive her. As we pulled up, we both realized that NO ONE was in uniform. Then a handful of kids came wearing them, but they were ::GASP:: boys! Finally, one girl came in uniform. And what a uniform it is, too! A polo shirt w/ logo, and khaki pants. How awful ((sarcastic snicker)). I still don't know how we were supposed to know. Nowhere on the letters or paperwork was indicated that the uniform was not mandatory for that first half day, tsk.
Well she likes the school work, has made a few girlfriends, and likes riding public transit (2.5 miles) and getting special school bus tokens. She has done her homework without prodding, because she wants to continue being on the honor roll. The school is so small that they don't have honors or AP classes, but she says she's not bored. She does hate the book that she had to read over the summer; the english class is continuing to work on that, springboarding off of what the summer assignment is. She can't wait until they're done with it. It's about the Vietnam War, not her favorite subject.
New student parent welcome night is Tuesday, then Back-to-School night is the following week. My middle dd went to this school, also for the HS grades, and graduated 2 years ago, but I will go to these parent functions because a lot of the teachers have changed and I want to make a presence. I also don't want the teachers who may remember my middle dd, to think that we think that's something special. I also don't want my 14 y.o.'s experience to be colored by what her sister tells her about these teachers & staff; I want her to form her own opinions and have a fresh experience. I wonder if that's possible, though.
Perhaps the only thing I don't like about our public schools is not having the supplies list until after school starts. So on our Sunday trip to Staples, there will be crowds. What I noticed is different, is that the teachers handed out their teacher/student contracts on the first day. I don't know if you have these in your schools, but these are what I call the letters the teachers create, outlining their grading method, student expectations, penalties, etc. There's a space for the student & parent to sign at the bottom to tear off & return to the teacher. I've always seen these on Back-to-School night, and been confused, since Back-to-School night is never the first night after school starts (in fact, it's usually not until the 3rd week of school or so), and didn't the kids & parents need to see this then?
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In peace,
Max
In peace,
Max
First day of school went well for my kids. There were no schedule mess ups or anything along those lines. Brooklyn, the sophomore in HS, is a little unhappy with her schedule because her 2 AP classes are in the morning. She is happy that her computers class is 4th period so that she can have offroll later on. Everett, the 7th grader, seemed to have a good first day of school. The only thing he does not like is his science teacher. We are still having a problem with getting him to do his homework, but besides that he is happy. Sienna, the 5th grader, loves school. She has 3 of her best friends in her class and an excellent teacher. My other two children in college are doing well. Jacob,a freshman at the Naval Academy, is adjusting smoothly and Gavin, first year in med school, is having fun memorizing the body. They are both happy with their choice of schools though.
Kate
mom to Gavin(22),Jacob(17),Brooklyn(14),Everett(13),and Sienna(10)
In peace,
Max
Tomorrow starts week 4 for my freshman ds14. He's enjoying it a lot, even though they goofed up his schedule when he started, giving him the same two classes (health and PE) that he took over the summer, plus a class (orchestra) he asked to drop last spring. He stayed in PE (you need 2 semesters in HS so this would finish it if he didn't want more) and they had nothing left for the other class, so they put him in Broadcast Journalism, which is a soph-senior level class he'd never have looked at otherwise - but he's loving it. (The teacher wants to meet with dh as dh has started 3 radio stations and has loads of technical experience.) DS has been asked to go into the optional accelerated literature and composition, which is humorous to me as he HATES reading and writing for school, so I doubt he'll do it - I've encouraged him to see what the others who opt into it have to do, and he can then opt to take it 2nd semester instead if he wants. Otherwise based on online grades, he's doing pretty well in general although it appears he's had some issues in his social studies class (world studies) that he now knows he has to remedy. But all the angst he had over the summer is now gone and he's enjoying school.(2nd semester PE will change to Creative Cooking, another soph-senior class he's looking forward to as he loves to cook, and Broadcast Journalism will change to Ceramics I, which he was hoping to take)
Sue
My teens started August 24th. Freshmen had orientation that Monday, and the other grades had it the previous Friday. I took dd14 and her friend N. to the orientation and walked around with them when we got a tour. It's a good thing I did, b/c they were so goofy they weren't paying much attention. I pointed out where they were suppose to show up for PE, their primary concern/worry. Does anybody else on this board have silly teens or is everybody's kid a future leader/politician/President?
It turns out that dd has Algebra at the worst possible time - just after PE, when as she puts it, "I'm so tired my brain curls up into the fetal position." They started swimming last week, and it's almost like the end of the world for dd. She is asking whether I'll write a note that says she has an allergic skin condition whereby she can't be near chroline, and she's only half kidding! Funny 'cause they're not shy about showing a little skin now and then but the bathing suit thing is causing major stress. There can't be any "strings". Hello - am I supposed to find a bathing suit in September? In addition, it turns out the "academic support" class is a complete joke. So far they're writing definitions for words? They switched teachers, and the new teacher is a woman who yells at the kids all the time - I thought this class was going to help teach dd good study habits, and ways to take tests, etc. I am having a Section 504 Plan meeting on Monday with all her teachers - it should be no surprise to me that her plan didn't transfer from the jr. high she went to (one btw, in the district). It's a good thing I kept a copy of it myself. I have contacted dd's English teacher and she seems very nice, and actually offered to email me her homework every night! Of course, the kids have planners but good luck getting dd to "remember" to write in it. Too many distractions, plus the homework is written in a small corner of the white board. She has fashion design first period, and the teacher just "talks" according to dd. Last week they finally started cutting something, and b/c dd didn't automatically like a machine put her backpack down when teacher said so (she was in the middle of cutting), she was called outside the classroom and given a "talking to".
I just found out that my kids' high school has 1,500 enrolled! And they tell me that is a "small" high school. We're in a town with 34,000 and only two high schools - our closest city has high schools where it is common to have 3,000+ kids, so I guess with that perspective it is "small". I got ds16 and dd14's SAT9 scores and they are absolutely dismal - below basic in everything! Can someone please tell me how the schools can actually "unteach" kids, b/c dd used to score in the highest percentiles when she was younger; even got asked to test for GATE program. I plan to show the test scores at our meeting and ask the school how they plan on helping me get those scores up. It turns out we will probably have to pay the Sylvan Learning Center about $500 a month to get our teens back on track, at least "proficient". If I had to do it over again, I would homeschool them all. If they would just give me back the tax dollars I pay the p.s. I would get them in private school.
Here's hoping things get better....
Hi - I definitely hear you. My ds14 has had 'dismal' standardized test scores (and some class test scores too) since about 4th grade, is g/t, and just doesn't test well. Have you read Upside Down Brilliance by Linda Silverman? Any chance your kids are visual-spatial like mine? It sure explained a lot to me.
My ds seems to be doing well in 5 of 7 classes (freshman) but the other two...well...and these are two (geometry and world studies) that in the past were strong suits, now low Cs. I think it's still getting used to the routine, but I'm also putting the foot down about what can be done at home during the week, based on what the grades are doing, so that there's no lure on tv or gaming or such.
Our 'academic lab' is useless so far too as they won't let freshmen 'travel' til the 15th (this is our 4th week), so they can't go get help during that time yet!
Planners...I think they're paperweights in ds's case. He says he can 'remember' - and he does 99% of the time, but I think we may just start a white board at home to know what's due when, and when there are quizzes and tests.
We took ds to Sylvan over the summer to see what they were all about; he flat out refused so we're not going to spend the money, but he now has to figure out on his own (with our help as he's willing) how to deal with testing and things he has issues with.
Time to read more of L. Silverman's book to help with the testing as it's starting to show up this year too...
Sue
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Well, DD can't be President because she wasn't born in the United States ... KIDDING!!! How's this for silly: "Hey mom, did you know that if I put my butt in first, I can almost fit my whole body into my locker?" ?!?!? Why would she even try? LOL
Weren't you the one that reminded us all that the world is actually run by C students? I had to remind DD of that earlier in the week when she was fretting about not being in the more advanced classes in math and science.
When I complained to our pediatrician about younger DS spending 8 weeks total outside his math classroom doing 'extra credit' because he was so much further ahead in this area than his classmates, she said "didn't you realize our schools dumb smart kids down, and try to bring the below average kids up, so that everyone is at about the same level come test time?"
There's an 'aha' moment for you. It appears that the when the state of California sets educational 'standards' for it's schools, it NOT because they want to produce a bunch of superstars, but they want to achieve at LEAST a 'proficient' level on those tests. They teach down at the most basic level so that by the end of the year, all students are about the same.
My DS has been bored out of his mind the last 3 years in school because teachers are not supposed to teach beyond a certain level and most likely, don't have the inclination anyway.
It is very possible that your DD and DS simply lost interest in school and what they were learning!
It is also possible that your DD and DS just didn't test well, for whatever reason. There were 2 years that DD's math scores on those tests were barely in the proficient range, yet she was getting all A's in class. No one could figure why.
Just some thoughts!
I'm glad you posted about your DD; I was wondering how she is adjusting to high school. Have things smoothed out a little for her?
Julie
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