Proud Parent Brag Time
 

My 9yo daughter Hebe just came back from her first Academic Games State Championships...

...and she came back a champion. :D

There are several games, at several levels, but the biggie is Basic Equations, and her team won. (They placed top 3 in most things) Each school team is split into mini teams of 5 to play, and the final ended up being three of our 6 mini-teams including hers. (About 150 mini-teams started.) They played, but that was just for fun as the whole team wins when a mini team wins. In fact all the kids win, it's a good thing. We nearly didn't send her (it's not cheap and competitive math us just so... weird.... especially as we send our kids to a school which educates in a non-competitive non-graded environment! :lol: ), but sending her again next year is almost a cert -her math has improved no end, her socials skills and confidence have gone through the roof. She rocks. :D

/note on the bizarre: -our team is a joint team of two schools -one is the most competitive, academic-score-oriented school in the district, filled with U of Mich professors' children, and the other is the hippy alternative school -also with it's fair share of U of M professors' children, alongside other society rebels. ;) The team coach is a teacher at the first school and parent the second. The kids got on great together, and were academically well matched. The two sets of parents didn't understand one another in any way, shape or form! :lol:

Basic equations? 2+2 is about as advanced as I get on those. Congratulations to your daughter!

Good job! She's embarking on a long, strange pathway though. Those math contests are a world of their own.

Thanks, both.

Are long strange pathways a bad thing? :lol:

she's also a swim and soccer jock, so there may be salvation in view! Swim championships are tomorrow. :lol:

Go little monster! Math competition?:eek:

especially as we send our kids to a school which educates in a non-competitive non-graded environment! Cool school.

How'd the swimming go?

Good thanks. But gruelling. Just recovering! Hebe aged up (i.e. moved up to the next age category, so she swam in the afternoon and the boys in the morning, so I was there all day -Beest performed child-changeover taxi duty).

All of them dropped loads of time (swam faster than their previous bests) and we got there to find that Hebe was seeded 18th out of 81 in the breaststroke! That's amazing given that she's one of the youngest in the two-year (9-10) age group. She came in 18th too. Hector got 12th (out of 23) in his IM, which is in the points (top 16) and he still has a year to go in his age group. Thor managed not to need to go to the bathroom right as the starter was giving them orders on the blocks! He dropped an incredible 20 seconds off his breast-stroke time, -from 1:26 to 1:04. He was DQd on a technicality, but who cares? they all did great. :D

I, on the other hand, am dead. In the morning, I was a time-writer -easy-peasy, sit at the poolside, check the pad time against the manual times, declare the official time. In the afternoon, I was a marshall -getting the kids from the staging area to the blocks. OMFG! No-one warned me about the size of the 9-10 meet. It took over 4 hours and many people congratulated me on the marshalling saying it was the fasted championship meet they'd been to for a while. The Fastest? :eek: At the end, I squatted down to get a drink out of my bag, and I could barely get back up. My legs were killing me when I got home, so out of curiosity/nerd-dom I worked out how far I probably walked (I was on my feet the whole time). 7 miles! in flip-flops! And yes, I have blisters too. thank goodness they were decent flip flops with a little shaping.

Any competitions for you this weekend? (it's crazy this sports-parent lark, isn't it? I never competed in anything when I were a lass... living my life vicariously through my kids regards.... ;))

Sounds like Mom is more fried than the kids!


This weekend we only did the Odessey of the Mind thing on the other thread. No sports, which is good since lil'Pete has some nasty crud in her lungs. She's about to have some dental work done as well so I don't think we'll schedule anything until she's recovered from both. The kids are getting big enough to be fun, so we'll enjoy them now, eh?

hehe found this thread, it's like finding a pack of baby pics.....

so, to continue bragging.......

Thor (youngest) just became an academic games state champ a few months ago, Hebe (oldest) just scored a championship saving goal at water polo and hector is set to varsity as reserve goalie for hockey nest year (freshman) but is being actively recruited by the swim coach after his middle school meet results (
can't do both, same season...)

I found this thread because I was trying to find a bad parenting moment thread i started a while back.... I have a twofer to report....

but maybe I'll save them for when I find the right thread......

Well? Spill it! ;)

Meanwhile since we're wearing our braggy pants;

Lil Pete pulled a 4.0 2nd semester freshman year. They end each semester with a department exit interview. In the first semester she was told she was in the right program but that she needed to be a leader. In the 2nd semester she got a lot of love for her work, was told that she was a good influence on her peers, and had stepped up and lead. She was walking on air when she got to her dorm where her slacking roommate told her everyone got chewed out in their exit interviews.

Lil Griff knocked her SAT out of the park, was the only student musician for Les Mis, and got the SS department award for her work in AP US.

Wow! Congrats to Lil Pete and Lil Griff!

What do you put in the water in Grifftopia? And can you bottle it?

Seriously -- sounds like y'all have a recipe for success at your house. Congrats to all these cool kids!

From what I've seen Glattlandia has a similar water supply. The kids know they're loved and have the freedom to work on whatever interests them. It ain't rocket surgery unless their interest is rocket surgery.

I'll go: Mini-Pooka is finishing up Kindergarten apparently reading at a fourth-grade level. I think she got a double-dose of geek genes.

water- you haz it

UΣ

(awesome)

:thumb:

W0W ... What smartypants y'all have.

Congrats on all to all and all.

When you are my age, brag times on your children are fewer and further between.
Instead, it's usually the G-kids, or maybe even G-G-kids.

But today ! I get to brag on my oldest daughter's latest.

She essentially put herself through college and Nursing School.
She hated "pediatrics" and the "burn ward". So where did she
choose to work for the past 15+ years ?
...in the ER's of regional Trauma Centers (!)

Then a couple of years ago she hit the "burn out" phase.
But she hunkered down, and while still a Mom and working full time
she earned her Master's degree in Nursing and yesterday she...

...PASSED her Oregon State Board exams and now is a licensed
Nurse Practioner in Family Medicine. :cheerldr: :cheerldr: :cheerldr:

Excellent, Lamp. Please pass on my congratulations and well wishes.

That's awesome!

Outstanding, just wonderful!!!

Pass on my congratulations. :)

Nice!

Congratulations to all concerned! :)

Lil' Griff just got accepted early admission to her #1 college! And in related news ... it will be cheaper than a SUNY school because tuition is based on need.

That's fantastic news! Out of curiosity, what's the name of this school with need based tuition?

Edit: never mind. I just noticed the link. Hamilton is good. They wait listed my sorry self.

I was amazed when we checked the numbers. We're pretty stoked here but she's out drumming for the basketball game so it's just me and the old lady. hmmm... she's in a pretty good mood... giggity.

That sounds great for building responsible, self sufficient, citizens. But how do they know when you've learned enough to graduate, and what to give you a degree in?

Once you declare a major you do have to meet certain requirements inside your major. I think its only 10 classes of which you've probably taken some based on interest.

The idea that her classmates would be interested in the material was a major selling point. She's so very tired of high school slackers.

Oh OK, thanks.
Ah, a go-getter like her old man... cool. :thumb:

As if...

You wanted a wife, you go and get a beauty.
You wanted a house, you go and get skills,
............................ then go and get trees.
You wanted education, you go and get schooled.
You wanted to teach, you go and get certified.
You wanted to fence, you go and get Ben-Gay.

Yeah, a go-getter. :notworthy

Hey, my coach is closeted, he doesn't like that nickname.

math do-over, 2k more than a SUNY. Still good. :)

Sorry to laugh, but can we assume one of the classes she wants to take is Math ?

She's taking AP Calc this semester, her Dads deficiencies don't seem to apply...

Good on her.

I only got thru Calc and Phys Chem, myself, by choosing my dates from among such girls. ;)

I found one of those girls myself. :)

So my 13 year old grandson has been wanting me to teach him to shoot a shot gun. I used to do a lot of shooting, either at clay pigeons or geese or ducks or whatever upland birds we get here in Texas. But I haven't shot any of my shotguns in 2 years or so and even then it was only a once a year goose hunt.

I took him to the local gun range and brought along 2 12 gauge semi automatics and a 20 gauge in case he didn't like the kick of the 12. Before we left the house I drew out the skeet range diagram and explained how it worked and went over safety instructions and gun etiquette.

We got to the range and paid for a round of skeet each, $10 a piece. He's a skinny kid so I was worried he might not like the kick of the gun. We mixed in with a couple of other folks to form a group of 6. I went second and he was 3rd, I hit my 2 singles and got my doubles on station 1 which made me feel pretty good. I stood by him when it was his turn and gave him some pointers and reminders. He shoots and breaks all 4 targets. Wow! We moved on and I my accuracy deminished with a fair number of misses. He continued to hit most of the targets!

When we were done I only broke 10 out of 25, not bad for someone who hasn't shot in awhile I thought. He got 20 out of 25! That is like phenomenal! Especially for a kid who never shot before. We talked about it on the way home and I suggested that since he is really good at football he has an understanding of connecting with a target that is moving down the field. He told me he wants to go a lot more! I suggested he ask his parents for a good shotgun that actually fits closer to his size. I also told my wife I need a new shotgun since mine must have a bent barrel!

It's all the video games.

Good for him!

Awesome! A friends kid here was really good with a shotgun... now he's at West Point.

I know, I know, don't you hate when that happens. :lol2:

What does she want to take in college? Is she interested in maths and sciences?

Not really. She's much more in tune with liberal arts stuff. Teaching (Engrish or SS), psychology, archeology/anthropology and drumming in a punk band are the career paths she's spoken of lately. She's reading Greg Graffin's book right now so maybe science will climb but that seems unlikely. She didn't take AP Bio or AP Chem sticking with the Regents classes in those areas.

Her chosen college sounds like a good fit, then. Independent study and self-direction in courses at the Bachelor's level wouldn't be a good thing, in general, in a science/math degree, but they should free her to put together a program in liberal arts that will let her either focus intensely, or spread her wings.

If she wants grad school, she should stay close to an academic advisor who will make sure she gets the necessary prerequisites for what she intends to do. If she wants to enter the workforce with her first degree and has an idea of what she wants, the career offices are great at helping students arrange summer internships that help them land the job, after graduation, that starts them on their dream career.

Exciting, proud, exhilarating times. It's a shot of adrenaline just watching them start their university lives. :)

My little one got Principal's List this last grading period. This is all A's and all good behavior marks. Her reward was a limo ride with the other Principal's List kids (about 18 total?) to Cici's Pizza last Friday. She is in 3rd grade. I happened to have a vacation day, so I scooted down to the school and took some photos. She's the one with no glasses, by the door:

Take 18 kids for pizza? :eek: Somebody earned a medal for valor.

Good principal! Good kid!

Great job! I love what the principal did, too

So, not this Ben (Haggerty)?

Well if they don't behave, they won't make the next Principal's List, will they? :p:

I should have made it clear that there were two trips of 9 children each. 2nd and 3rd grade in one trip and 4th and 5th the next trip, so not totally insane.

Two trips is a little better. But even if they behave it's like driving, you can't be distracted for a second or there's a good chance you'll crash and burn. :haha:

Limo, right? the privacy window, a little appreciated safety feature when used in sanity mode

Okay here I go again with Lil' Griff. (drums)

Kick ass drum solo at the 4:00 mark!

:)

OK, my turn.

My girl is in the back playing trombone. She has short hair. You probably can't pick her out. But I think this band is really good.

Wow man! That was spot on.

It was amazing in person.