My son is turning in the final draft of his S.S. project today. The process was not as bad as I feared but I think that was because I took the advice various people here gave me. He spent most of one Sunday researching/writing the first draft, but that day went relatively smoothly. I helped him break it into pieces, keep him on task, and suggested some magazine articles they helped give a bigger picture. The most frustrating day was working on two short "emails". The idea that he was supposed to actual mail them that was bothering him. And my biggest surprise was when he settled down and wrote a very nice letter to the president and the reflections on the project with little fanfare. He really can buckle down and write well when he is in the right mood.

One more week of this school year, he can not WAIT for this year to be over. Today he has his last writing assignment in English. He has to write about using Romeo & Juliet to illustrate teenage impulsivity. Then his stress should drop. All he has to do is study for his finals next week. The only tricky class to study for will be math. He tests very well and retains most of the information he learns over the semester, plus freshman finals don't really count. So finals really isn't as stressful as the hours spend on this S.S. project.

Hurray! That is great news, Bluemagic! I hope that his efforts pay off with some stellar marks as well as the personal gains.

If they were "impassive" they would both be alive at the end. Did you mean "teenage impulsivity"?

Interestingly impassivity can lead to behavior that appears impulsive to an external evaluator operating on a more common value system.

LOL. That might make an interesting essay.

Yes I meant impulsivity. Spelling checker fail, my computer doesn't think "impulsivity" is spelled correctly and incorrectly fixed it with the wrong word.