[PSAT scores]

That's the expected behavior if your student has a prior account and some previous testing with the College Board.  In the case where this is the student's first experience with the College Board, the "access code" is usually required.  But somehow some of us are getting the results without the access code.

 

Ah, I see. The PSAT *was* my son's first CB test, but he also did the December SAT and had to create an account for that. But it was after the PSAT and I was wondering how they would magically connect his PSAT records with that account. Apparently it worked (and with zero effort on our part). I wish I could sprinkle the magic over to the rest of you. This sounds like such a pain. :(

 

[PSAT scores]

Where is it asking for an access code? Ds never received one nor was he prompted for one. He just signed in to his College Board account and then went to this link:

 

 https://studentscore...d.org/viewscore

 

 

[How would you do this?]

Since the kids are working independently at their own level, maybe make math a time-based subject and just let them move through the material at their own pace.  If everyone just works on math for 30 minutes (or however long is appropriate) then they will all be done at the same time.

 

Wendy

 

This is what I was going to recommend.

 

I would also consider whether both girls need to do exactly the same work. A slow methodical worker who always gets the answer right may not need as much practice as another student. Part of the beauty of homeschooling is being able to adapt to your student's needs. You've already changed your ds to a different program. Julia may need some changes too to accommodate her particular strengths and weaknesses.

[PSAT scores]

My two 10th grade daughters just got theirs. We've been trying all day. I actually spent an hour on the phone with a College Board customer service rep who discovered that PSAT had the wrong email for one of my girls. My other daughter's email address was correct, but she hadn't received any access code. Neither of my kids had set up any College Board account before 8 am today, so we were resigned to the notion that we'd be waiting for the snail mail to be delivered Jan. 29th.

 

I don't understand the mentions of an "access code". My ds didn't receive any kind of access code. He just logged on to his College Board account, then went to the link that was posted earlier in this thread and -- boom, there were the scores.

 

It's so strange that people are having such completely different experiences just in the technical process of trying to get this information.

[PSAT scores]

It is at a different link: https://studentscores.collegeboard.org/viewscore

 

I'm so sorry some of you aren't seeing the scores yet. Just in case it helps, I'll mention that when my ds logged on to his College Board account it did not show any PSAT scores, just his SAT scores from December. But when he went to that link from bctnln1059 the PSAT came right up. So if you haven't been using that link, give it a try.

 

It is a really informative report. As someone said you can see every question and the student's response and explanations of the answers.

[PSAT scores]

Oh, cool. Thanks for posting. I had totally forgotten they would be released today.

[Cross Post from Chat Board: Upbeat Books Wanted for Elderly Parents]

Fannie Flagg? I just read the All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion and really enjoyed it. I'm thinking of sending it to my mom for her birthday.

[Today's the first day]

So cool to hear about, Ruth. Good luck to him!

 

[For regentrude--ADHD and time (a funny)]

Just a general comment ... people who don't have EF issues or who aren't closely related to people with some sort of learning challenge / special need just don't get that things aren't always as obvious/easy as they think.

 

I'm always so grateful to people like the OP who aren't afraid to explain their own brand of special to everyone else. Sometimes, it helps some of us have a light bulb moment about ourselves or one of our dc because we can't imagine anything different than what we've experience until someone explains it to us.

 

Very true. My ds has some EF challenges that are just foreign to both dh and me. It's difficult not to get frustrated when something seems so easy and obvious to us -- like, LOOK AT THE CLOCK.  :lol: For my ds it might be something like starting work on an assignment without reading the assignment first.  :huh:

 

There is one area that all three of us are really weak at, and I'm never sure whether that's good, because it helps us empathize with each other, or bad, because nobody can pick up the slack.

[Contest List]

Association for Women in Mathematics

https://sites.google.com/site/awmmath/programs/essay-contest

 

Open to: Students Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, College Undergraduates
Request deadline: January 10 each year

Submission deadline: January 31 each year

[Job suggestions for almost teen boy in urban environment]

I would look for volunteer opportunities first. Both because a record of solid volunteer work will serve him well in the future in looking for paid employment and because the opportunities for a 12-year-old volunteer are far better than for a 12-year-old worker. The latter is basically limited to babysitting unless your 12-year-old is a budding entrepreneur. Someone already suggested reading to the elderly or disabled. He could also consider volunteering at the library, senior center, etc. He will gain many of the benefits he would from a job -- responsibility, working with others, working under a supervisor, etc. -- just without pay.

[Schooling with a frequent houseguest]

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. A day or two off with Grandma is fine, but there is a limited amount of time off you can take, especially as the kids get older, and you don't want to "spend" it all on one grandparent's visits.

 

Why not use this as a time for Grandma to spend some one-on-one time with each child? She could take your 2yo to the zoo one day, the 3yo some place another day and so on. The little ones can have a fun time with Grandma, which might give you a bit of a break at home. Her special time with the older two could be in the afternoon or on a Saturday. And do take at least one day to do something fun all together.

[Any downside to taking ACT as 10th grader?]

My ds took the ACT in 9th grade. There were a few reasons he took it in addition to using it for college admissions in a few years. But his score was excellent and he doesn't plan to take it again. He has no idea at this point where he wants to go to college. Hopefully next year in 11th he'll start to get more clarity on that. If it turns out he needs to take it again to satisfy a particular institution, so be it.

 

I look at this this way. A student who does well enough to consider himself or herself "once and done" in 10th grade (or 9th grade) probably will have little difficulty taking again at the end of 11th or early 12th to get another high score (if it turns out to be necessary). On the other hand if they don't do as well as they want in 9th/10th, then it's great practice to have done it with plenty of time to prep for taking it in 11th/12th.

[Is this appropriate? Helpful? Overly controlling?]

What is it about dishwashers, eh?

 

I guess every family needs to work out their own systems. In our case, dh is the one who is picky about dishwasher placement. It's not that I put things in such a way that they won't get clean, but it doesn't always match his template of Perfect Dishwasher Alignment.

 

It's true that his arrangement is most efficient if many, many dishes will be used. But many (if not most) night such tight, efficient placing is unnecessary. My quick, put-it-in way works just fine. And even on nights when his method is required to fit everything in, it would require constant rejiggering. Once plate A appears, plate B must be moved forward. My thought is just wait until the end of the day and then IF it's necessary, do all the rearranging at one time rather than rearrange bit by bit through the day. My way is less time spent on dish-arranging overall. His way is less space used.

 

What it really comes down to is different philosophies and priorities. Certain things I hate to handwash so I want them in the dishwasher even though they are space hogs and it means I will have to hand wash several others in exchange. Other things I want to put in the dishwasher right away because they have raw meat germs or company is on the doorstep and at that moment I value a clean counter quickly over a perfectly arranged dishwasher.

 

Anyway, I don't think it's always true that there's a "right way" to do it. Most space efficient, perhaps, but that isn't always everyone's top priority.

[American literature]

Let's say you have 16 weeks. Maybe something like this?

 

Scarlet Letter -- 3 weeks

Emily Dickinson -- 1 week

Walt Whitman -- 1 week

Huck Finn -- 3 weeks

Great Gatsby -- 2 weeks

something by Hemingway -- 3 weeks

Invisible Man -- 3 weeks

 

After I made my list, I looked at the GC links, and that course has lectures on all of these. It's hard to choose, though! Some modern poetry would be nice to include.

 

 

[Parents of Sophomores: When is your student taking the SAT?]

Ds will probably take it in the fall, prepping for PSAT and SAT at the same time. He does well on tests, so hopefully he can take it just once and be done. He's done the ACT already.

[Books for my son (15)]

My ds (also 15) likes a lot of the same. He says your ds should definitely read the rest of the Ender's Game series if he hasn't already. He also  recommends the Big Three -- Heinlein, Clarke, and Asimov -- especially Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke. A contemporary sci-fi author that he enjoys is John Scalzi. Try Fuzzy Nation to start with.

[HS fails]

Thanks to Renai for asking the question & Jean for answering. I have a kid who often picks the wrong phonogram to stick in the word, but I never would have thought 'or' could be pronounced at all like 'aw'. None of the alternatives that I guessed seemed to be an issue. Pon? Paun? Pan? Puzzled me, but I didn't want to admit I didn't have a clue.

 

Pronounce "or" with an Australian accent and you'll see why.

 

[PSA for young SAT takers]

SAVE YOUR REGISTRATION NUMBER!

 

My ds took the SAT three years ago at age 12. Because he was under 13, we had to do paper registration through the mail rather than online. After he turned 13, the scores were purged and College Board told me his record was gone. (You can request to have the scores retained, but we didn't do it in time.)

 

Fast forward to now, when ds is registering to take his first SAT subject test. In the registration process, they ask if you have ever registered by mail. At first he answered no, because we assumed they wanted to link it with any existing account and we thought his old account was gone. But an error code popped up saying that their records showed he had registered previously through the mail. In order to proceed with registration, he had to input the registration number from his test three years ago.

 

I finally found the scrap of paper with his test scores and he was able to register before the midnight deadline.

 

I complained earlier that College Board never told us we would need this number, but I see now that at the very bottom it does say, "To set up an online SAT account you will need the date you tested and the registration number below." I believe on reading that three years ago, I would have assumed they meant an online account to interact with those particular scores. But they mean to create ANY online account that you will create EVER in the future.

 

So SAVE THE PAPER. (And don't wait until the last day to register. Don't be like us. Always good advice. ;))

[Is there a way to turn Earth science and astronomy into "worthy of a science credit"?]

I will just say that I think it is a shame that Earth Science is viewed as a lesser science :(

 

I wonder sometimes if it's just a problem with terminology. "Earth Science" is the typical name of a middle school course in these topics, just like "Life Science" is the typical name for a biology-type course at the middle school level (whereas when students study biology at the high school level, it's called Biology).

 

But most students, for whatever reason, don't study earth sciences at the high school level. They do the big three -- biology, chemistry, and physics. So when colleges see "Earth Science" maybe they are assuming it's a less-than-high-school level course.

 

If you study earth science at the college level, it's in a Geology department. I wonder if one could signal to colleges that the course is a serious, rigorous, science course by calling it Intro to Geology instead of Earth Science. I just prefer to think that it's the name that's the issue rather than the content itself. Geology rocks!

[Any last minute stuff on taking the SAT?]

Snack! You can't have food in the testing room, but she'll want one during the breaks. And water. It's a LONG morning.

 

When my ds took it for the first time (also young) we talked about what cheating looks like to the proctors. He would NEVER dream of cheating, but he does stare off into space and sometimes twists his head and body around. It never occurred to him that some of those behaviors could look like a person trying to cheat (and might be distracting to other test-takers), so he had to work on a little bit more conventional test-taking postures.

 

Good luck to her!

[UPDATE on page 4 - I want this to be JAWM, but I'll take opinions.... parking issue.]

What perfectly good reason could the neighbor have for doing this that makes it anything other than discourteous? Yes, it's not illegal. But there's nothing about this situation that makes for good neighbor relations. Is there? I would love to hear why dissenters think this kind of behavior is justified. 

 

1. Maybe there is tree sap/pollen/bird droppings, as someone mentioned above.

2. Maybe the street is slanted in front of their house but flat in front of clementine's.

3. Maybe there is a blind curve just before their house and they are afraid a fast car might hit their parked car there.

4. Maybe a disabled person in the house regularly is picked up by a handicap bus and needs access.

5. Maybe their neighbor across the street has a tight turn to back out of his driveway and has asked them not to park there.

 

And so on. We don't know the reason. Clementine doesn't know the reason. It may their reason is just selfish and inconsiderate. It may be that their reason is perfectly reasonable and they have no way to know it bothers clementine.

 

[s/o Grouping Electives on Transcript]

Social Studies is the older term. The more recent trend in colleges/universities, which is filtering down into high schools, is to call History (et.al.) "Social Sciences", and to call the Science topics "Natural Sciences". :)

 

Social Studies is a term I've only seen used in elementary and secondary schools. At a college, I thought those types of courses are grouped into either Humanities (history, religion, geography, etc.) or Social Sciences (psychology, economics, political science). But it's certainly possible that my understanding is out of date!

[s/o Grouping Electives on Transcript]

I've never heard history classes classified as "Social Sciences" before. Social studies, yes. Social science, no. To me, Social Sciences means psychology, anthropology, economics, etc.

 

I would call these something like Humanities (or History and Cultures, or Social Studies):

 

World History II

US History I   

US History II  

World Cultures

Mythology

Maritime Archaeology (since it appears to be a history course)

    

and these as Social Science or Misc. Electives:

Cultural Anthropology

Intro Criminal Justice

Intro Psychology

 

 

 

[meat eaters: any advice on how to make a vegan beef pot pie?]

Miso and tomato paste are two more umami foods that will add a meaty flavor. Tomato paste is common in beef stew, not so sure about in a beef pot pie.