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ciroccojDaniel just got in to the International Baccalaureate Program.
As Chris put it, "That's so exciting, in just about every way. Including the terrifying part."
Reeling a bit, here. He applied, but was super-stressed about it, and then when it came time for him to do the entrance exam, he missed it due to our screw-up. The school was willing to let him do it late, spread over three days, but warned us that he would be less likely to get in, as they start marking exams and filling spots right away. By the time they reached his paper, there would be fewer spots available.
Daniel said the tests were pretty easy - though of course we couldn't know whether he thought they were easy because they really were, or because he didn't know how little he knew, and thus thought he was answering correctly when in fact he was totally screwing up. Apparently, it was the first option - at least for him ;)
Now comes the hard part: helping him decide whether to do it or not.
I would very much like us all to go back to home schooling, and Justin definitely wants to go back. Daniel also says he wants to, but he's doing well and is happy at school, so it's a harder decision for him. And I'm sure that home schooling without Daniel will be much less fun for Justin - and for me.
We've also heard that IB is incredibly stressful and kids regularly have nervous breakdowns doing it. OTOH I've also heard from two moms who said their daughters absolutely loved it. It looks like the trick may be to find friends in the program, and to not treat it like it's life or death and you will be an abject failure forever if you don't do well.
Chris and I have told him repeatedly that if he doesn't like it, or isn't doing well, we will think no less of him if he withdraws. And that hey, neither one of us went through IB, so it's clearly not absolutely necessary in order to achieve something with your life. Let's hope he's heard us. And let's hope that if he chooses to do it, that he can keep that attitude no matter what the kids around him may think or feel.
OK. ::deep breath:: Time to go on with my day. Will probably have a silly smile on my face for most of it :)
ETA: Oops - in case anybody reading this knows about the IB program and is thinking Daniel's not old enough to be in it, you're right; he's going to be doing a sort of a "pre-IB" program for grades 9 and 10, streaming into IB for 11 and 12. The school refers to it as IB though, so we're just going along with their wording.
As Chris put it, "That's so exciting, in just about every way. Including the terrifying part."
Reeling a bit, here. He applied, but was super-stressed about it, and then when it came time for him to do the entrance exam, he missed it due to our screw-up. The school was willing to let him do it late, spread over three days, but warned us that he would be less likely to get in, as they start marking exams and filling spots right away. By the time they reached his paper, there would be fewer spots available.
Daniel said the tests were pretty easy - though of course we couldn't know whether he thought they were easy because they really were, or because he didn't know how little he knew, and thus thought he was answering correctly when in fact he was totally screwing up. Apparently, it was the first option - at least for him ;)
Now comes the hard part: helping him decide whether to do it or not.
I would very much like us all to go back to home schooling, and Justin definitely wants to go back. Daniel also says he wants to, but he's doing well and is happy at school, so it's a harder decision for him. And I'm sure that home schooling without Daniel will be much less fun for Justin - and for me.
We've also heard that IB is incredibly stressful and kids regularly have nervous breakdowns doing it. OTOH I've also heard from two moms who said their daughters absolutely loved it. It looks like the trick may be to find friends in the program, and to not treat it like it's life or death and you will be an abject failure forever if you don't do well.
Chris and I have told him repeatedly that if he doesn't like it, or isn't doing well, we will think no less of him if he withdraws. And that hey, neither one of us went through IB, so it's clearly not absolutely necessary in order to achieve something with your life. Let's hope he's heard us. And let's hope that if he chooses to do it, that he can keep that attitude no matter what the kids around him may think or feel.
OK. ::deep breath:: Time to go on with my day. Will probably have a silly smile on my face for most of it :)
ETA: Oops - in case anybody reading this knows about the IB program and is thinking Daniel's not old enough to be in it, you're right; he's going to be doing a sort of a "pre-IB" program for grades 9 and 10, streaming into IB for 11 and 12. The school refers to it as IB though, so we're just going along with their wording.
