Parents of the Class of 2019

[Gumbo4x4]

Kids here get permits at 15. Restricted license at 16. Our cutoff for kindergarten is 5 by July 31st, so we'll have some freshmen who already have permits before the beginnig of their freshman year, license before starting sophomore year.

When I was in school, the cutoff was September 30th and no permit before 16. So, we had a handful of juniors who didn't even have a permit until a couple months into school.

 

[stsomewhere]

My son is a senior. Most of his friends do not even have their license. They wait until they are 18.

I had to force my son to get his.

 

[stsomewhere]

The cut off in Michigan, use to be 5 by Dec. 1. The cutoff changed to Sept 1 a few years ago.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My son is a senior. Most of his friends do not even have their license. They wait until they are 18.

I had to force my son to get his.

We're in a pretty rural area here, so it's almost unheard of not to have your license pretty much immediately upon turning 16.

 

[bigbabyblues]

My ds plays on the varsity soccer team, and he loves it. He has played on it since 7th grade, since his school is very small and there aren't many kids to play. He will be 15 in November, but we are in Ohio, and he can't get his permit until age 15-1/2.

 

[Colleen27]

My son is a senior. Most of his friends do not even have their license. They wait until they are 18.

I had to force my son to get his.

That's how my son and his peers are too. I pushed the issue of driver's ed because I want him to have it. Many of his friends aren't taking it at all - they're just taking the test at 18 and skipping all the practice driving and restrictions on new drivers and all of that. I want DS to have the class and the supervised practice so he starts drivers ed in Oct.

 

[dotfurio]

My oldest just started high school. She's not in sports but she's in marching band. She considered trying out for the tennis team because she's been playing competitively outside of school, but it ended up conflicting with band. Plus when she saw the short skirt uniform there was no way it was going to happen - she's a tomboy through and through!

So is it the norm that if you have an extra activity like band you pretty much have to take summer school?? They told us because of band she'd end up needing to do a couple classes in summer school!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Just wanted to drop in and say good luck with your soon to be grads. My youngest is college bound, so it is just dh and I now.

 

[mjkacmom]

Our cutoff is October 1, so dd17 got her permit 1 month before she started her

My oldest just started high school. She's not in sports but she's in marching band. She considered trying out for the tennis team because she's been playing competitively outside of school, but it ended up conflicting with band. Plus when she saw the short skirt uniform there was no way it was going to happen - she's a tomboy through and through!

So is it the norm that if you have an extra activity like band you pretty much have to take summer school?? They told us because of band she'd end up needing to do a couple classes in summer school!

Not here, but ds17 has never had a lunch because of choir.

 

[TALB]

I am joining. I have a freshman boy

 

[jen73]

woohoo!! Finally get to join this group. We have newly turned 14 year old twin freshmen boys, class of 2019...Go Rangers!! And they are our babies as our daughter is graduating from college in December (107 days...I'm counting!)

Our twins turned 14 less than two weeks ago and we started school a few days ago. So, we are a year's away from getting permits and probably won't be able to manage it during football season. They both play football and wrestle as well as one is in both the school orchestra and the city orchestra. The other is on a leadership council for a state representative as well as on the debate team. Wheww...I'm pooped from reading that!

We are excited for the next 4 years and seeing all their milestones but most importantly, watching them grow into responsible, well mannered young men.

And DH and I will be emptynesters after that, Double WooHoo....

Looking fwd to getting to know all of y'all the next 4 years. Yay us!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My oldest just started high school. She's not in sports but she's in marching band. She considered trying out for the tennis team because she's been playing competitively outside of school, but it ended up conflicting with band. Plus when she saw the short skirt uniform there was no way it was going to happen - she's a tomboy through and through!

So is it the norm that if you have an extra activity like band you pretty much have to take summer school?? They told us because of band she'd end up needing to do a couple classes in summer school!

Summer School because of band? Never heard of such a thing.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Wow, some kids are involved in a lot! My own is definitely hesitating to overschedule until he sees how much work his classes are, but we'll see what he finds now that there are so many more options. So far, his sport is basketball, but the different clubs will do their "freshman recruiting" a couple of weeks into the school year, so I'm looking forward to seeing what interests him.

As for driving, we've got some time on that one! You can't get a permit until age 16 here. (I didn't realize some places were so much earlier!)

 

[Dawnlight]

I've got 3 in HS this year; a freshman, a junior, and a senior (also on in MS, and twins in elementary).

All three are running cross country and will do both winter and spring track & field. Practices started a couple weeks ago, with some practices having both morning and afternoon runs.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Wow, some kids are involved in a lot! My own is definitely hesitating to overschedule until he sees how much work his classes are, but we'll see what he finds now that there are so many more options. So far, his sport is basketball, but the different clubs will do their "freshman recruiting" a couple of weeks into the school year, so I'm looking forward to seeing what interests him.

As for driving, we've got some time on that one! You can't get a permit until age 16 here. (I didn't realize some places were so much earlier!)

When I was young, we couldn't get a permit until 16, but that was also the same age you could get a license. A lot of my friends never even had a permit. I had mine 1/2 a day before I got my full license. There was no way people would have approved moving the license date back, so eventually they moved the permit date forward. We're actually required to get the permit first now, so I think it's an improvement

Edit: oh, just got DD's choir schedule. Holy smokes there are a lot of performances!!!! And a lot on Saturdays

 

[Colleen27]

So is it the norm that if you have an extra activity like band you pretty much have to take summer school?? They told us because of band she'd end up needing to do a couple classes in summer school!

Our schools aren't at the point where you have to, but a student who is in band all four years has no room for other electives so many band students do use summer school to check off required classes, esp. health, government, and foreign language, so they can take more courses in their area(s) of interest during the school year. Otherwise a kid who is interested in science can only take the required sequence with no room for academic electives like environmental science, and one who is interested in English doesn't have time to take creative writing or journalism.

 

[stsomewhere]

Students in marching band are required to take concert band as an elective. They attend a week long band camp and start practicing in July. It is after school, too. It is counted toward a PE credit.

The band director has been pretty flexible with after school practices because it allows students to play a sport or participate in other after school activities. Thus, having more students participate in marching band.

They do not have to take summer school.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

I've got my oldest as a freshman this year too. She swims, her outside school team starts next month, and she'll probably do the school team, but here girls' swim is a winter sport so it won't start for awhile. She's finding that the honors/AP track has a lot more homework than she had in middle school, and there's no time during the day for her to get it done so she's spending more time after school with her head in the books, which isn't a bad thing!

She's still 14, so no permit yet, here you can get your permit at 15 so she'll start that in January when she turns 15!

 

[KristiMc]

My oldest is a freshman this year also. They started on the 19th. He is in the Marching Band and has been loving it.

 

[mom2rtk]

We're in a pretty rural area here, so it's almost unheard of not to have your license pretty much immediately upon turning 16.

A decent number of my kids' friends waited to get their licenses because their parents did not want to pay the additional insurance costs.

We let ours decide for themselves. Our second son got his on his birthday (15 for permit, 16 for license). Our oldest got his 2 days before starting a daily commute into the city when he started college. Our daughter gives me a daily update on how many days before she can get her permit.