Curious how everyone is doing at the end of this school year? How did the school year go? Any summer camps or activities planned? Changes for school next year? This question is obviously geared towards those of us with kids in the N. American school systems but anyone can join in.

Best year ever in so many ways. The very hard things we spent most of the past ten years working on with regard to health and education are paying off.

What a grand thing, when it's working. Not perfect but grand.

1st half of the year was a complete waste of time for both kids, stuck in situations where people did not get it at all. For one kid, the giftedness, for the other, the disability. Things improved for DS once he was moved, and the new school was able to accommodate a big acceleration for math, with a g/t teacher (used to the the g/t coordinator for another district) taking charge of the situation. I am hoping that we will have things in place to have a good year next year for both kids. So far, teachers/principal have been receptive to input.

Swim lessons, computer coding class, and pottery class for DD planned for the summer, as well as a family trip.

DS16 still has 3 weeks of school. But things are looking a lot better than last year. As long as he doesn't bomb his finals his grades look a lot better. He seems to be in a lot better head space and has grown and matured a lot over the past year. He seems to be getting a better grip on the essay writing issue. It still comes up.. but he's been able to get over the hump.

His summer involves a month away a wilderness camp. Then he has two weeks of marching band camp. Throw in so some PSAT prep and hopefully AP summer homework and he will have a somewhat busy August.

DS's classes for next year aren't 100% set. He has been moved up to the next higher Band. But we still don't know about the AP classes he has requested. Math teacher has told him she won't sign off on AP BC Calc (vs AB) unless he ends up with a solid A. His grade is just on the border between at A-/A right now. And if she allows it he must do summer homework. We won't know till after his final. And the news hasn't come back about his AP Biology request, Chemistry teacher was OK but wanted to check with last years Bio teacher. Still we have kept junior year relatively low key (two AP's, two music classes, English & Spanish) in the hopes that he can keep his grades high and his anxiety in check.

DS finished his first full school year and loved every minute of it (we had sent him to a GT school due to the fact that he was already frustrated and starting to act out in his preschool/pre-k classrooms and had begged us for a new school). It was so nice to see him loving it from start to end (some of his classmates burst into tears when they realized the school year ended, and DS is already excited about next year). So he will continue at the current school with his friends. What I loved is seeing how confident he became especially in areas that he used to hate like drawing/writing and art. And how happy he has been that he has friends he likes to play with.

Summer is mostly series of 1-2 week long camps (mix of science, sports and the one run by teachers at his school - due to his age, there are not a lot of good options at this time) and we will visit grandparents at end of summer.

Things are looking up.

7th grader is finishing out the year as a success, even though it's not a great fit. Now leaving public for private next year is moving from boring to better instead of escaping failure.

2nd grader acted out in math enough to get her teacher's attention; at our conference she explained herself eloquently, and the teacher agreed to pretest her for every math unit (not standard in our school) and only give her assignments she hasn't mastered. We haven't had the greatest year in this class and will have the same teacher next year. This could be a negative, but this teacher does follow through consistently without holding grudges once she understands what is needed, so I think it's a positive.

DD8 has math circle camp, three weeks of away camp, and a week with her aunt, plus the family trip. DD13 has only two weeks of away camp plus the week with her aunt and the family trip. Both want to just spend the summer reading all day.

We've had some ups and downs this year...

Working through DS(7)'s IEP for the first time and seeing what is and is not possible with this process. Made a bit of progress in terms of starting to sort through issues (OT report and resulting accommodations; starting on VT). Also working through DD's anxiety issue has been - challenging. Luckily the school was supportive, so that's helped. Both kids like their school so far, have friends and mostly enjoy going there - so that's a plus.

Unfortunately, we have some labor disputes in our neck of the woods. Teachers are on 'work-to-rule' and this may continue into the Fall if the negotiations don't get anywhere. Also some talk of teachers not participating in year-to-year transition meetings, so a bit concerned with how that might impact my kids come September.

Summer plans....

High schooler..swim team practice and meets, volunteering hours, may have some AP stuff to do. We looked into an online class but changed our minds. Driving practice as much as possible.

Going into middle school kid...his new school has a two week math camp that he is going to give it a go...if it is remedial, I'll let him quit. The school won't give me good info on it, two week band camp that will be appropriate. Some swimming, some bike riding, lots of reading.

Family week vacation together plus some weekend trips.

Round up...5th grader finishing up year feeling like hot stuff at the school participating in two academic team competitions...one math and one reading. And loved his year as a media center assistant (known as AV club in our day). Three times this year he was master of ceremonies for productions at the school, so lots of opportunity to shine.I wouldn't say best academic year ever...kind of a holding place allowing him time to mature. Everything could have been harder and faster paced....but he got a lot of reading done waiting for everyone else. And he is kind of easy going.

...high schooler made a wonderful transition from middle school, has top grades, had two or three exceptional teachers that really made a difference in his life, the rest weren't shabby (did no harm). He managed his school work, varsity sport and club sport. Took one AP (can't wait for the results) and will take two next year. Confidence up anxiety down...can't ask for more. When the anxiety rears its head we manage to work through it.

It was a very mixed year. DD4 certainly went through many phases. She was starting to get restless at her tiny school and it showed up in her behaviors. She still loves her teacher and adores her friends but she was not happy by mid-year. Her teacher was really helpful and worked with us to make it better but I think we all saw that DD needed a change and I think DD knew it more than the rest of us.

Lesson learned #1: Take it a year at the time. Have a Plan B and C for the following year.

Lesson learned #2: Don't confuse what your child needs vs what you want for your child.


She is starting kindergarten next year at a private GT school. Their soft cut-off is 98 percentile but I have a feeling that it's lower for priority families and higher for "outsiders." Apparently, DD is not the only outlier they found this year but they'd be split into different classrooms as they do not believe in homogenous or ability grouping. Next year would be an interesting one for us, for sure.

It was quite a year for us. Here are the Cliff Notes (are those still a thing?)

It was DS6's first year at school (Kindergarten) and he really liked the routine, the teacher, and the other kids. We learned, however, he was not being challenged, and it became obvious to us that he needed subject or grade acceleration for next year. Unfortunately, the school did not agree, so we were faced with the risk of him losing interest in first grade next year or looking elsewhere. As part of "looking elsewhere," we learned that he is highly gifted (which came as a surprise). Next year, he is going to a private gifted school in first grade (whose curriculum starts at a second grade level and accelerates by ability as needed).

Add to that all of the up-and-down emotions we've had as parents, and it really has been quite a year.

This summer will be filled with science camp, swimming, and family camp. We're looking forward to them all!

Our school year has been horrendous, but the silver lining is the small gifted school we're moving to next year. The entire family is counting down the days.

DS9 (2E) has had not a single one of his needs met this year (I've never sat through so many pointless meetings) & would need a year of unschooling to recover, but for the aforementioned new school. Today he wished aloud that just once he could wake up in the morning and say 'yay, it's a school day'. Fingers crossed for that coming true next year.

DD7 hasn't had her academic needs met, but is much squeakier than DS so engineered a few challenges for herself. The new school is giving her the grade skip our current school refused and that she so desperately needs. She is ecstatic about that.

Summer has a couple of camps - science and outdoor - but mostly immediate and extended family time. Can't wait!

Running tally:

Last year (K) - 1 out 10
This year (1) - 8 out of 10

Same school, same policies, different teacher, all the difference. Most of the damage from last year is undone. DS7 still has challenges and is pretty bored. But he came so far on executive function and self control this year, and that is what he needed the most. Now about that teacher assignment for next year .....

Summer camp with beloved after school care director. Just riding bikes, playing Magic and generally goofing around with that all important Trusted Adult close by. He's happy.

Good to hear some positive results. Hugs to fellow strugglers.

Sue

Well, DS is passing all his sophomore HS classes, so that's something. It was dicey there for awhile this spring. He got a 34...again...on the ACT, AP Chem score doesn't arrive till July. The SAT Chem subject test is next week. The anxiety issue seems intermittent, but he has taken some chances, which is really good. I'm meeting with the social worker next week to talk about this issue (I gave up on the counselor who is retiring this month anyway). We will see if his teachers recommend him for next year's APs, he registered for 3. I need to find out when that happens.

Over summer he will take US History and, one hopes, do the AP summer assignments. I wish he'd either try out for the community theater summer play, or else get a job. I really think a job would make a big difference in him.

That is what last year was like for DS. The best I could say is he was passing. Sigh.. It's why things are a bit dicey about the AP classes he wants. Not this years grades but last years. Thus the teachers have to 'think' about it rather than it being a slam dunk.

Any likely places for him to get a summer job. My DD20 got a job a few days ago and we are thrilled, it's her first time finding an actual job? At least where I live few employeers want to hire anyone just for the summer and so it's not real easy to find a summer job.

For the summer theater do they need people to do the backstage work? Perhaps he might find that more interesting. Maybe a volunteer job? Animal Shelter or Library?

I'll be homeschooling DS3.5 in lieu of his attending pre-kindergarten in the fall and am hopeful I will be able to create a good fit for most of his needs.

I reviewed curriculum guidelines for our province and see that he seems to have met the exit targets for grade 1/2 level in math and reading, and has an interest level in sciences well beyond that. Despite being super extroverted, confident, and the size of a 5-year-old now, there is no way he would be a candidate for early entrance into kindergarten emotionally or physically (he still needs a 2.5-3 hour nap mid-day; hardly eats unless fed), and I'm not convinced that the single year acceleration would be much help.

Here's hoping his teacher isn't a moron!

DD still has two weeks to go but is about to finish 5th grade and complete,the second year after her whole grade skip. So far solid As.

Her ability to knuckle down and just crank out the homework assignments has improved tremendously this year as has her handwriting which looks almost adult now - I could not believe the difference when I saw her pseudo-code for a Python project she has started.

She will start middle school (our SD starts this in sixth) August and she will be in the rigorous 8th grade Algebra I track there (3 year Maths acceleration) we will see how this works out - the teacher has the reputation of being a tough teacher which could just mean she is pro rigour (A fantastic thing if true) but as long as she does well by my DD I don't care...

For the summer we will be heading to Reno late June for a long weekend and going to a museum about 2 hours away built on the Sutter's Mill site both of which we are looking forward to. She will also spend 3 weeks away at a residential CTY camp.

The year:
For DD12 - school continues to be a great fit. She is really blossoming into an amazing young lady. She joined the high school robotics team and went from knowing nothing about electronics to be the lead person on that part of the bot. She was sad to see the year end.
DD7 - it was a very bumpy year. She had a teacher who didn't really get her at all and could only see her as a "young one" because she is a year younger due to a grade skip last year from K into 1st. Add to this some really mean little girls and there were days that it was a disaster. But, her violin was great and she is flying through that. She has 2 weeks left of school so I think we'll make it. She is changing schools next year to attend the full time highly gifted program offered in the district. We're cautiously optimistic about the move.

The summer:
we've got a week at relatives, then DD12 is going to band camp for a week. DD7 may go to dance camp for a week, but other than that - nothing set for them.
I am starting a new job at a really cool school, so I can't wait to get in there and get going.

A year ago, I made a big bet on moving here, based in large part on interviewing the local school principal and the district gifted coordinator. They were friendly. They were interested in my child, in all her gory 2e-ness. They said the right things. So I bought a house. And this bet has totally paid off. Our local school has been great. This district doesn't offer gifted classrooms until 4th, but my PG DD's 3rd grade teacher has really worked to do right by her. Our school has a program for kids on the spectrum that has been great for her. And now she has been officially placed in the gifted program for next year. She'll be in a gifted classroom with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. The gifted teacher is really enthusiastic. Next year is full of promise.

She's signed up for a CTY reading class this summer, and I'm thinking about enrolling her in AoPS pre-algebra 1. Our school district also has a 4-week summer camp program that looks like it might have some good science-focused stuff so I'm still on the fence about pre-algebra because it feels like it would be a lot to do all at once.

DS is 5.5. After we moved here I enrolled him in a private Montessori after 3 years of center daycare. It's been great. His teacher is lovely. His fellow students are lovely. (We had such problems last year initiated by bratty kids in his daycare!) But he didn't win the lottery for the public Montessori. Next year he'll be at our neighborhood school, and if he's in 1st it'll be great. That's still up in the air, though.

If he's a 1st grader then he can also go to the 4-week district summer camp. Which I think would be good for him. After a year of being super independent and self-selecting his work at Montessori school, spending a few weeks supervised by public school teachers with entirely different expectations would probably help ease his way in September. Plus the flier says they have a robotics track. He will be head over heels for that.

DS12 just finished up with 8th grade today and will be a high-schooler in the fall, which I find mind-boggling. As if he didn't grow fast enough as it is, his grade skips put him rather ahead of where my head thinks he ought to be.

It was a trying year, his first in full-time e-school. It's a good fit for him, better than the regular school, but he has so much trouble keeping his focus that it's like pulling teeth to get him to do his work even when I'm sitting behind him and prodding him (literally). We would think about moving him back to regular school if it weren't for the fact that it's so much worse there, where we don't know exactly what he's supposed to be doing and when. At least in e-school we always have his assignments right in front of us. We tried a number of different systems for keeping him organized and on task, with varying degrees of success, and will still be trying to work that out in the fall.

He managed to pull an A in Geometry, at the last second, so he's actually going into high school with a 4.0 GPA -- I was afraid he would go into it with something lower, for a while there. Not that I have any illusions that the boy will manage to keep it, but it would have been sad to see him blow his high school GPA before he even got there. Now he will be doing Algebra II Honors as a freshman, for college credit, so we'll see if he can blow his college GPA.

He's also switching from Spanish to Latin, to see if it helps him to start understanding conjugation -- he had a dreadful time of it in Spanish. Other than that, he'll have regular 9th grade classes, with Computer Programming as gravy.

Overall, it was a good year, but it took way more effort and stress on my part than I would like. I do hope he can get it together next year.

DD (16 in a few days!) is finishing the year well, at least relative to where we were with her in March, which was a bit scary, actually. Her grades are fine, (better than fine, actually) and she is actively working to manage her anxiety, and is developing the discipline to use lifestyle modifications the way that she should, has made strides in not procrastinating and in organizing and being fully responsible for herself. She's figuring it out, slowly but surely.

Summer will mean having her licensed to drive, thus more independently mobile and able to get herself to her summer classes-- at two different institutions. Oh well. She took the initiative and signed herself up for a college testing study skills (self-paced) class at the local CC in addition to her Uni classes. She still needs to work on her test anxiety and also on her ability to predict what she will see on exams, and figure out how to actually STUDY for a test, which she's never had to do until now.

She has settled into a major that she (and we) all think is a much better fit for her than CS/EE was ever going to be, and she is very excited to work on a semi-pro summer theater production.

Should be a busy summer-- which is a good thing. Busy means not having time to think about (er, or "mope" really) some of the stuff that she should just, er-- leave alone. Mostly existential stuff, but interpersonal things, too.

She may actually get paid for doing set work this summer, and I know that she wants to do that so that she can make her year's car payments to us.

It's all good. She stumbled a bit starting college (and I'm really glad that she wasn't doing it living away from home), but she's found her feet and is growing up.

Great year all the way around!
DS1 finished 6th grade in our gifted program with all A's. He's grade accelerated in it one year in math and two years in vocab. In the fall, he will start junior high in the honors classes for everything plus Algebra I (now called Common Core 2/3), Spanish I, and orchestra. He is hearing impaired and has an IEP.
He's taking this summer at the community college in programs for gifted children a year-long Algebra I class, physics/trajectories, and how the eye works.
DS2 finished 4th grade in our gifted program and also did well (they don't give grades). Also doing viola, swim team, scouts. He will also take classes at the community college for kids, including "Fun with Algebra!"

This year's been rough. Midway through the year we switched gears to provide her with more rigor (at her request). We shifted from casual brick and mortar homeschool classes (really unschool classes, hence the rigor comment) to an online curriculum (between 1-2 years accelerated).

It worked well at first, but then she just started wilting because of the isolation. After a brief adjustment period her grades went way up (and she was put in the advanced level in science), but then started to sink as she struggled with being lonely every day. This slowed her progress to a crawl so that she had even less time to take outside classes and be with friends. I think we underestimated her extroversion (my husband is an introvert and I'm balanced -- needing periods of both) so sometimes we forget that she's not like us. I also think that being outside the house and away from all the distractions (I need to clean my room!) is a necessity for her.

This fall she'll be attending a very small private school that seems like it will be flexible on placement and a very good fit socially. I only just discovered it existed a week after their application deadline and we raced through the process. But her tour, shadow day, and interview went really well. It's an expense that we weren't planning on, but if it works, it will be worth it.

At least I hope it works for another couple of years (two years seems to be our benchmark for 'needs more').

Oldest dd is getting married this summer, so that is our biggest summer event! She was in a PhD science program, hated it, switched gears, and is looking for a new job after the wedding.

Second dd received her masters degree and is starting Harvard Law in the fall. We are excited to move her from her current location in the Midwest to Cambridge (where dh and I fell in love :)).

Ds15 is finishing up a great freshman year - ran track and XC, did orchestra and jazz band, played chess, is taking driver's ed, and will start his first college class this summer through a program for high-achieving HS students at a local LAC. I need to take him to get his college ID next week - weird!

Ds13 had a good year in 7th grade. He'll be taking the HS bus with his brother next year for 1st period Alg II Trig, but not for HS credit, which we actually prefer. He's a little more laid back with grades, lol, so no need to put this on his HS transcript. He went to state for Mathcounts and state for Science Fair, which were both fun, and I think made him feel better (strangely enough, he hasn't really been viewed as the "academic" one).

All in all, it was a pretty good year for all the kids. For everyone out there with younger kids, it is SO much better, IMO, once they get a little older and have more options. I also feel like in grade school, it's hard for kids who don't exactly fit the mold. Second DD was a girl who didn't like math, didn't come across as super academic if she wasn't interested, and wasn't in-your-face about being smart (she was usually hiding with a book). By 6th grade, she was finally in a gifted program and rocked it, but we had a few rough years before that. I'd LOVE to go back and tell a few of her grade school teachers how she's doing now, but I don't think I could do it without being snarky.

Two steps forward, two steps back. Last year we enforced DD's single-year grade skip, faced down all the doubters to be a star student, and even won a major award (state level) to make her school look good.

This year... sigh.

DD10 reported they weren't learning anything in math, the class wasn't moving forward, because the GT math class was shared between 5th and 6th graders, and the 6th graders, between behavior issues and curriculum demands, were monopolizing the time. She got a new GT LA teacher, and DD didn't like her. Science and social studies in the homeroom became an even bigger problem than usual, because the school decided to give the kids TWO home rooms this year. That provided twice the scheduling problems than usual. I don't know what, if anything, she managed to learn in these subjects.

Finally, DD ended the year with a long-term, yet unidentified medical issue. She missed enough school that we finally pulled her out to homeschool her for the last month. She still received an end-year report card, with some Bs and Cs due to incomplete work... one more blow to her already fragile ego.

Going forward, we've decided to let DD do online education for her final year of elementary. But due to lack of educational progress (see above), she did not qualify for GT services during their assessment (bangs head on desk).

The good: DD competed on the robotics team, and earned most of her team's points. She played in the band and sang in the choir both, the only kid doing so (they don't usually allow that, but they made an exception for her, without us even asking).

DD and DW are taking a loooooong trip for the summer.

What online company? Can you threaten to go to a competitor unless they reconsider the role of her illness and the school problems and use additional data?

K12, online public school, so unless we want to start paying for it, no. We do have the leverage provided by our pro-GT state legislation, since our DD's GT certification through her local school district is still valid, but we're keeping that in our back pockets for now.

They did offer to re-evaluate her during the school year, and our operant thinking is that, because it's self-paced and independent learning anyway, it may not be an issue.

We shall see.

That sucks Dude - at least your DD has a chance to make stuff up during the as it will be self paced and I am sure that when she is reassessed she will resume her rightful place back in the G&T program...

Kindergarten was great for DS! With the help of our wonderful DYS consultant
The principal agreed to let DS go to the gifted pullout everyday for an hour with
The first and second graders. Previously K kids only had 30 minutes per week
Of gifted services. Also he was the first kindergarten student ever to participate in the Accelarated Reader program. He was subject accelarated in math and reading and volunteered to read to his friends in the special ed. class across the hall.

He had a perfect report card and received the Good Citizen Award. We moved
To get into this school district and it has really been worth it! DS truly loves school!

A rough start-DS8 diagnosed this year with ADHD and language impairment.

Math was going swimmingly until the last month of school when it seemed to stall. No new concepts and below level work (grrrr...)

On the upside- DS is putting that imagination to use writing creative short stories. Yes, they lack structure, but the ideas are amazing and DS is channeling into something constructive (and learning to type- another plus).

DS checked out 20 science books at the library today-- and has moved to the adult section for topics on space/universe. He has exhausted the knowledge available in the children's books.

We're working through some basic algebra this summer- nothing too intense because there are some knowledge gaps and some review of concepts. Just keeping it fun!