The proud parent thread.

They'll do orientation and, hopefully, the PTA will organize a play date or three at the playground or local park in the month or so before school. That way they'll have met a few kids before the first day and you get to meet some other parents, too. For our older two (who went to a brick-and-mortar school), I was way more nervous on the first day of K.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
As of Wednesday, we now have ourselves a 5 year old. I can't believe she is getting ready to start Kindergarten in the fall! She's been talking to me about how she's nervous about going because she isn't going to know anyone, but really excited to be going to a big girl school.
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trailhugger said:
They'll do orientation and, hopefully, the PTA will organize a play date or three at the playground or local park in the month or so before school. That way they'll have met a few kids before the first day and you get to meet some other parents, too. For our older two (who went to a brick-and-mortar school), I was way more nervous on the first day of K.
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Some places also do 2 half-days at the start of school before they start full days.
And my experience is the same - its way harder on Mom than kiddo.
 
trailhugger said:
They'll do orientation and, hopefully, the PTA will organize a play date or three at the playground or local park in the month or so before school. That way they'll have met a few kids before the first day and you get to meet some other parents, too. For our older two (who went to a brick-and-mortar school), I was way more nervous on the first day of K.
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RatLabGuy said:
Some places also do 2 half-days at the start of school before they start full days.
And my experience is the same - its way harder on Mom than kiddo.
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This would be awesome. One mom that my wife was talking to said something about some sort of Kindergarten assessment?? Not sure what she is referring to. I've started the registration process and am just missing her medical stuff and she has her 5 year old check up in July and will get all that paperwork filled out and then I think that's it.

Yes, Mama and Dada are not looking forward to that first day/week but I know she will do fine and make lots of friends.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
This would be awesome. One mom that my wife was talking to said something about some sort of Kindergarten assessment?? Not sure what she is referring to. I've started the registration process and am just missing her medical stuff and she has her 5 year old check up in July and will get all that paperwork filled out and then I think that's it.

Yes, Mama and Dada are not looking forward to that first day/week but I know she will do fine and make lots of friends.
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After they start they'll do some kind of assessment to find out where she stands for reading and writing. There's a pretty wide variety in how much skill kids have acquired at that age.
 
So the oldest raced in the NC NICA league this season and had a blast. We didn't realize how good she'd be, :lol: but she was on the podium every race and placed 4th out of 27 6th grade girls for the season. She grew as a rider and learned a lot, plus made good friends on her team and across the league. She's super excited to ride and get better in the off-season, too.

Then we heard about this short track XC series over at Dix Park and she wanted to do that, too. Once we found out some of the other coaches we know were also racing, she told me I should do it. Since the boys aren't old enough for NICA but could do this, I felt I had to if I was ever going to convince them to try. They both (so all three 'big' kids) raced last night and had a great time! The 8-yo was lapped, so didn't have to do his third lap but he did it anyway! They're super excited for the next one and will hopefully have more fun when we are out on the trail.
 
My youngest has been quasi living in her bigger sisters shadow as a softball player. But, she had a career night going 4-4 with 3 HR's and a single. Now, we are coach pitch and 2 of those HR's were little league throw it around type deals. But, the one she absolutely mashed and was thrilled to learn her sister never hit one that hard when she was that age.
 
Potty training her sister is a full time job, not sure where she’s gonna find the time to work on her PhD…

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RatLabGuy said:
Corn starch and water is a great one when you're ready to talk about non-Newtonian fluids.
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Yeah…my freezer is actively lined with ooblick (and slime), to see what impact temperature has. Last summer was the start of ooblick, elephant toothpaste, homemade crystals and mentos/Diet Coke. This summer we’re changing variables and hypothesizing results. Have some old/rusty tools on the counter top too, to assess the differences of rust removal with white vinegar, sugar water, salt water, coke and a small electrolysis set up. Set that up last night, and we’ll review when they get back from the beach in a week.
 
UTfball68 said:
Yeah…my freezer is actively lined with ooblick (and slime), to see what impact temperature has. Last summer was the start of ooblick, elephant toothpaste, homemade crystals and mentos/Diet Coke. This summer we’re changing variables and hypothesizing results. Have some old/rusty tools on the counter top too, to assess the differences of rust removal with white vinegar, sugar water, salt water, coke and a small electrolysis set up. Set that up last night, and we’ll review when they get back from the beach in a week.
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I assume you talked about nucleation sites and the physical chemistry (its really more physics than chemistry) of why tf the mentos/diet coke thing works.....

Fruit / potato powered lights is a good one too. Probably need to be a litle older to get into the science of why it works. Then try different fruits and different materials for the anode/cathode.
 
RatLabGuy said:
I assume you talked about nucleation sites and the physical chemistry (its really more physics than chemistry) of why tf the mentos/diet coke thing works.....

Fruit / potato powered lights is a good one too. Probably need to be a litle older to get into the science of why it works. Then try different fruits and different materials for the anode/cathode.
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I tried to keep to words she could spell, but yeah…busted out the golf balls for a better visual/explanation. Lights are a good one, haven’t done that, good call, definitely going on the list.
 
Our son Jonas graduated HS last week. Getting an ASD kid who only thinks literally through a community college english class was... rough. (Like, we were seriously worried about summer school interfering w/ the job he has lined up). Dear God we're just hoping that challenge is behind us at small college focused engineering program...
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Complete happenstance we got this pic exactly 13 years apart to the day
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Then today... the elementary school has a tradition where all the graduating kids come back from all overt he county for a walk down the halls and romp on the playground in their cap and gowns.
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and showing their college colors
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These 3 have been best friends from 2nd grade, all went to different schools but have kept in touch. Kudos to the mystery staff member wearing that hot ass outfit today though.
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This pic really got me
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Then he started work Tuesday, interning at a STEM robotics outreach program at DEVCOM ARL's Robotics Research Collaboration Campus teaching other students and helping the researchers w/ their projects. Next week they do an egg-drop style challenge w/ UMD students.... but instead of an egg, its a robot that has to get up and complete a mission after a 20 ft drop. How cool is that.
 
My daughter graduated elementary school today. That in itself isn't that big of a deal other than getting to start a new school this fall.

But, she recieved the Presidents Award for academic excellence for straight A's 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. This comes with a congratulations letter from our president. I know, I know, but still cool. There were 2 in her class that achieved this. Much better than i ever dreamed to be.

Oh, and she hates effin dresses, lol.


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4yo going to a neighbor friends house today: ‘Don’t worry daddy, I won’t go in anyone’s house, I’ll go pee out in the wild’.

6yo learned about inventory turns and market price points today when she started her homemade play dough business. Started the day at 2.99 for small bags and 3.99 for large bags. Had a blowout sale for the walkers in the neighborhood as the sun was going down and she was packing up…’everything must go for $1’…ended up making $10.
 
My little boy (6) got in trouble today for mooning the cafeteria at daycare. Might I add, he goes to a church daycare. He can’t go on tomorrows field trip to the pool now. I asked him what in the world he was thinking. He said “I was just looking for a laugh”. I didn’t let him see me, but I damn sure laughed.
 
My son now 16 got into sailboat racing a few years ago. He's since got his instructors license and is coaching other kids at his club. This weekend he raced around Harkers Island twice. Finished 4th overall and won youth division defending his first youth first place last year. He fumbled right at the finish line and an "old guy" passed him and got third. Mind you some of these dudes are ex world level competition. Best part was at the awards ceremony they showed drone footage of my son's battle for third and when he fumbled the tack they all gave him a roaring hard time, which is a sign. They've accepted him as one of their own. He's always been mature for his age but his friends are all older than me.
 
Two kid proud parent thread here. My older son is very smart but also a really good baseball pitcher. He plays for a competitive showcase team as a pitcher, but he also hits pretty well. Since we pay as a pitcher only he doesn't get as much time at the plate because coach doesn't want to upset full paying parents, which I understand. We knew going in he wouldn't get as much time. Well, last weekend he had an ok outing pitching, bad umpire (he passed out at one point due to heat but cooled down and kept going, he was a bit off on his balls and strikes), but coach put him in to hit the rest of the weekend. Ended up going .615 for the season in limited at-bats but still pretty awesome. But proudest about when he told me that he wants to play ball in college, but he knows he's probably a D2 pitcher so unless he gets an offer from a school that has a good academic program he wants, he's just going to go to a good school and not play ball. Glad he thinks like that, I did the same when I was considering colleges.

My younger son, who is also smart but hates school to the point that baseball will be the reason he wants to go to college, had one hell of a weekend. He played in an All-State showcase that was kids from SC,NC and VA and ended up #3 hitter overall out of 100+. He was actually #2 but they had his stats off a bit, but I'm not the dad that will raise hell over that and officially being #3 is just fine. Raised a lot of eyebrows and we've been getting offers to join teams ever since. He has a real chance to make the All-Regional team which would be a huge accomplishment. He has worked his ass off and it is showing. He moved up from his age level to his school grade level starting in the fall and is joining a very good National team. The travel is going to suck (which is why we bought a camper), but gives him a good opportunity to get himself out there starting high school soon (rising 8th grader) and I'll keep doing it as long as he want to keep doing it. I don't push my kids, I let them make their own decisions and this is what he wants to do so we'll roll with it.
 
Kids are back in school as of last Thursday. My little boys school took a bunch of random pictures of kids throughout the first day and posted them on the school’s page. Most kids are playing, eating, or doing something in class. Then there’s my little turd. Not sure what he was doing. Apparently he didn’t like what I packed him for lunch.

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3 weeks from today, my little girl will start Kindergarten. I have slowly been asking her how she feels about going to a new school and being around new kids and she responds " Well, I'm gonna be a little bit shy, but all the other kids are going to be shy too right? They're all going to be new right?" So I am very proud at how she is looking at it and hope that she does well with it because I am certainly not. I know I am going to be a wreck for probably the first week or so, but I know she is realy going to enjoy her new school and getting to enjoy this next stage in her life and that's how I am trying to look at it, but it's hard.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
3 weeks from today, my little girl will start Kindergarten. I have slowly been asking her how she feels about going to a new school and being around new kids and she responds " Well, I'm gonna be a little bit shy, but all the other kids are going to be shy too right? They're all going to be new right?" So I am very proud at how she is looking at it and hope that she does well with it because I am certainly not. I know I am going to be a wreck for probably the first week or so, but I know she is realy going to enjoy her new school and getting to enjoy this next stage in her life and that's how I am trying to look at it, but it's hard.
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I hate it every summer when they have to go back. No matter how old they are, I like having them home and enjoying their summer. Sleeping late, eating junk food, and swimming. I like my kids care free and enjoying themselves. Plenty of time left to be a miserable adult.
 
Wes said:
I hate it every summer when they have to go back. No matter how old they are, I like having them home and enjoying their summer. Sleeping late, eating junk food, and swimming. I like my kids care free and enjoying themselves. Plenty of time left to be a miserable adult.
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Moved my daughter and her dog into her apartment Saturday.
On one hand I like the quiet...but man - on the other.....
 
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