When's school start? Is your teen ready?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2005
When's school start? Is your teen ready?
12
Wed, 08-23-2006 - 8:46pm

School here doesn't start until after Labor Day. 10th grade orientation is 9/5 (marked as Doomsday on our calendar) and classes start 9/7 (marked Doomsday #2, lol). I actually think my DD is gradually getting psychologically ready. She's stayed away from most school friends this summer (needed some space), but has been gradually re-connecting as people return from camp or vacations. She said today that she misses some of her friends, and told my parents that this year she's going to be really active in alot of things.

I don't do a huge "back to school" shopping with my DD. We'll get a few new things to jazz up the wardrobe, but we do better buying as the year goes along and she sees what she needs/wants. As for school supplies, we'll wait until she sees what she needs for each class.

How about your teen? Is he/she ready? Are you?!

Sue

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-06-2006
Wed, 08-23-2006 - 10:44pm

Orientation for DD is tomorrow! She'll meet all her teachers, take her official school pic for yearbook and ID, and get her locker assignment. I told her we'd get to the school a bit early so we could get a couple new uniform polos at the school store beforehand.

School officially starts on August 28. Is she ready? I'd say NOT! She's been cramming all day today -- as well as all day in the car yesterday -- to get her summer work finished by Monday. Whenever she complained of being bored over the last 10+ weeks, I politely suggested she get some work done, but you know how well that works ...

I sure hope none of her teachers give her any additional work to complete before Monday. I bunged up her textbook order two weeks ago and it didn't go through somehow! So today, I had to re-place the order and pay extra $$$ to get the books here next week. The shipment should arrive on Monday, so she'll have them for any homework Monday night, but anything before then is a problem.

I stocked up on paper, notebooks, pens and pencils and other basic supplies a month or so ago, but if she needs anything outside of those, we'll buy it as she learns she needs them.

 

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 12:19am

mine is getting a little freaked out... she's had a lot of fun with friends this summer - actually developing her first real social life... mostly with friends from middle school -most who are not going to the same high school... plus she has a first and still new boyfriend who is also not going to the same school.... i think these things have contributed to less excitement about starting at a new school... there is an orientation on august 29 - which i hope will put her back in the groove and school starts on september 5th...

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2000
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 9:35am
Justin had half day on Tuesday and went back on regular schedule yesterday.
Pam
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2006
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 9:38am

My dd started her freshman year on August 23, so she is now on day 6 of the new school year. So far, it is going well, and I can hardly believe the maturity difference I'm seeing with the high school students compared to the middle school students! Wow! No pushing, lots of helpfulness from the older students, etc., etc. She was initially getting lost on a regular basis because the school is so large, but I think she's starting to get the hang of the school layout now. She was also having trouble getting the combination to work on her locker. This morning, she was assigned her 3rd locker and this one seems to work! Yay! She is really staying upbeat about school and is making new friends. (I even threw in a bribe - if she has a 3.5 average at the end of her freshman year, I will buy her a used car during her sophmore year once she turns 16. She says she'll do ANYTHING for a car, LOL!). So we shall see!!

Amelia

Avatar for suzyk2118
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-30-1997
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 9:45am

School here started Monday; this is day 4 of freshman year. They do block days so ds14 only has to find 4 (well, 5 with lunch!) places/day. So far, so good, other than they scheduled him for the two classes he took over summer school! So today (finally he could get in; I made the appt last Thurs) he goes to see his counselor. The thing that was most surprising to him was that in his biology class, the majority of the class are sophomores. (I don't know the reasoning, but our school doesn't permit you to take biology til you're in geometry). He, too, is getting help from upperclassmen on how to get around, which is great. And he's had nightly homework since day 1.

Sue

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-03-2004
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 12:31pm
School here starts Aug 31st. DD is going into her junior yr of hs and she just said this morning that she is getting excited and misses seeing everyone. She hasn't finished her summer reading reports yet but she has been reading her assigned books all summer without us having to nag her which is a first. She said she'll be done this weekend and if she does that will be 3 whole days early!! She attended an orientation at the community college 2 weeks ago for a friend of hers and she said that the school was nasty and she did not want to end up there. We told her to get her grades up and she won't have to. Maybe that was the wakeup call she needed to actually work harder this year and not be satisfied with Cs. I'm optimistic that this is going to be a good year!!
Avatar for mjaye2002
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:33pm

Ds15 started Aug 16. The 1st 3 days are just half-days, then full days started on Monday. He is so excited to be in hs, and was ready for football to start, so yeah, he was ready! So far he's not had much in the way of homework and really likes all his teachers. He did swap a couple of classes yesterday. He wanted to move to a different class in Food and Nutrition because the one he was in had a bunch of seniors who didn't want to do anything and/or knew nothing about cooking. The class he moved into is much more into it and will be actually cooking a good deal more than the other class. So, he's all happy! :)

I too was ready for school to start, for many reasons. :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:50pm

My teens started school on Tuesday, August 22nd and my ds10 who goes to a charter school started today. Freshmen had orientation the Monday before and the older kids had orientation the Friday before. As usual ds16 is fine, but I think dd14 was essentially a nervous wreck. As you all know, she's not one to share a whole lot of feelings with me (or anyone else for that matter), so I'm sometimes really grateful for her new best friend N. We took her to orientation also, and alot of the time as we got the tour of the "huge" new school (and it is a beautiful school, with everything brand new) N. kept laughing and saying, "I so do NOT want to come here. Oh my God its just too big!" Most of it I recognized as venting, and she did it in a funny way. They found out they at least have one class together, first period sewing and fashion design, so that was good. DD14 abhors PE and was worried she wouldn't know anyone in PE; well of course after the first day she found about 5 friends from jr. high. They are so freaked out about swimming, which they get to do in their new olympic size swimming pool. Life is tough, I know.

As for dd16, he had to have his schedule changed b/c they had him in a class he took over the summer. He's now in Plane Geometry with what he believes are two other juniors and one senior. So mostly sophomores and advanced freshmen. At our school, as well as it appears everywhere else in the country, kids nowadays are so advanced. Most juniors are taking Algebra 2 and some Calculus. Anyway, I'm glad to see that we have so many kids good at math and just hope they go into those fields b/c it seems as though they are badly needed in our country's work force. My ds16, who is at best "average" in math, gets to feel like a real loser in Plane Geometry. For the life of me, I don't get it. I believe some of these kids are going to have ulcers before they are 21. Whatever happened to being a kid? But don't get me started. LOL.

Avatar for suzyk2118
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-30-1997
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:58pm

Just my $.02 on the math thing - I agree that kids seem more advanced in math, or at least that they're taking various classes sooner. As a math/science/engineering sort, I just hope they're not blasting through it and being pushed to be sure to make it into Calc as seniors. I went to college without calc beforehand, did great in honors calc in college (there were only 5 of us out of 40 who hadn't had it in HS, and MANY of them dropped it before it was all overwith; I managed all As), and have a math degree (and others) to show for it - it is NOT necessary to do calc in HS to excel in math. I just worry that they are so rushed now that it all won't sink in properly...ok, off my soapbox!

Sue

Avatar for heartsandroses2002
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 2:27pm

DD16 began school today. She is a senior this year and we also do not do the big shopping thing anymore as she rarely outgrows anything. We kind of just add to what she already has. She went shopping with her dad last month when she went to visit and he bought her some pants, shirts and a pair of sneakers, so I just have to add a couple pairs of jeans and some clogs or something.

DD18 will start college in October and since she's going away to school we WILL have to do some major shopping.

I like when school starts - it gives our days more structure. I guess I need structure because by the end of summer I am usually out of sorts with my life. The one thing I am NOT looking forward to is the homework battle. Yes, even as a senior, even at almost 17, dd is a pita about getting her HW done and I have kinda sorta have to get in there once in a while and remind her to say on task.

Pages