What To Do With 2017 Son?

Hey NYdad,

I'm not really well equipped to address your situation but I wanted to at least give your thread an early morning bump so that those who are will be more likely to see this and provide insight.

 

I will throw out a few general thoughts...

It seems that the small school setting with small classes can really be beneficial to those who respond well to extra individual attention that is tailored to their learning style.  Counselors/advisors at such schools typically get to know each student personally and may also be better at helping the student choose classes, majors and even career paths that may best suit them.  Of course, I don't know the details of your son's learning challenges, nor do I know to what extent he may be able to progress over the next year or two.  But I do know that it is more common for kids to experience less personal academic assistance from professors, counselors and classmates of big state schools as compared to smaller private schools.  This may not align with your son's athletic aspirations but may make sense to consider when factoring in academic needs.  JC's tend to fall under the same umbrella as big state schools in this regard.

 

I think many of us have kids who, for a variety of reasons, have slow starts as freshmen.  It's great that you were able to identify the problem early and make good progress toward improvement.  The grad school option sounds intriguing.  Wish I knew more about them.

Thanks Cabbagedad.

That's an excellent point about the smaller schools. His HS has about 1,600 students, but his counselor and teachers meet frequently to discuss the progress of students in the same situation. I think that's helped to identify any early issues.

My mantra, if you will, to him has been that any school that he looks at seriously MUST have legitimate academic assistance similar to what he has available now. I've noticed that some schools do feature this on their websites.

As he's gotten older, he's started to learn what works better for him when studying. So he's getting better at things.

As for the post-grad option. We don't know a whole lot about that either. Since it's not that far away, we plan to attend an open house in early November. I'll post what I learn so that others can learn as well.

obviously I don't know your child, as a blanket thought from you described I think the post grad program would be great for him. It will give him a year to improve, mature and will only help in the following years at college.

 

I don't see a downside in any way by considering post grad year, if you are willing to eat the cost it may be the perfect thing for him to do...LOL just add the cost to the running total of having a child! It won't feel like much of a difference in 20 years!!

 

Good luck.

The way we're looking at this, we want to make the right decision for him. To give him the best chance of success moving forward in life.

He's a bright kid actually. And it's been hard for him to accept things as they are. He's felt like he's "stupid" at times, which breaks my heart as that is not what he is. He had to learn to be willing to accept help. If he was as good in school as he is in baseball he'd be set, but that's not the way that life goes.

Hey, he gets it all when we're gone anyway. It will just be 50K less if we go the post grad route.

New york this one goes to my heart.  I will very possibly be in an identical spot with my younger son someday.  He is only 12 now but can already compete with many much older swimmers.   He is if not the best swimmer in the state at his age on a very very short list.  His D1 chances are infinately better than his older baseball playing brother.  He held himself back this year to repeat a grade and give himself a chance to catch up.  Totally his decision.  He tries so hard.  He too has an LD.  I worry so much for him that he will get those big D1 offers someday and not be able to use them because of academics.  Especially in swimming which tends to be a lot of high academics so schools have a lot of good choices.  I would not be opposed to giving him a year at a post grad school to see if it might help.  Not everyone fits the cookie cutter athletically or academically.   There is nothing wrong with my son or your son taking a little more time to get it right.  I say do the post grad.  Give him that one more chance to make his dream come true (assuming D1 is his dream).

Nydad, 

Fortunately I have not had to face your situation as neither of my kids have an LD.  I do have some idea of what you are going through as my wife works in education and deals with these issues a lot.  Can't say Im an expert buy have had many conversations with her regarding this.

 

Reading through your information I get a good sense that you realize that you need to deal with the schooling issue as you work through the process.  This is going to be your number one criteria for choosing a school, not baseball.  I would suggest setting aside the baseball thing right now.  Research schools that cater to your sons needs.  Develop a list of schools he would attend if it were not for the baseball thing.   Once you have that list then go through the list and look to see what schools offer baseball and then research their programs.  That should give you a good short list of schools to target.

 

I would keep in mind that things change in college.  Unlike in HS where the school is somewhat responsible for the child's education the onus for your sons education will flip and become his responsibility.  What I mean by this is in HS your have a team of folks watching out for your son.  Writing IEPs and tailoring his education around his disability.  In college it will be up to your son to figure out when he is struggling and when he needs help.  The help is there but it will not come to him like in HS.  He will be responsible for seeking it out.

 

Also, don't confuse NCAA GPA standards with college admittance standards.  They are two totally different things.  Even when it comes to recruiting athletes.  The NCAA standards apply only to sports, not getting into the school.  Baseball can help lower the school admittance standards, but they don't lower them all that much at most schools.  In general if you are borderline at getting into a school baseball will help, but if you are under the schools minimum admissions standards baseball will not help you get in.  

 

Finally, if you son is at least meeting NCAA standards I would not totally discount D1 schools.  There are a few D1 schools I know of, here in the Midwest, that have very good programs for LD students.  Yes most coaches will take a pass on a kid that they feel will be ineligible due to grades, but you may find one or two who are willing to take the chance at some of these schools.

 

 

I know what you're going through, of course.  My wishes for you and your son are for the best.

 

It's very tough, as it is your child.  But what I took from your post is what I've told him many times.  No one goes through life the same way.  For whatever reason, you just have to work harder to reach your goals.

 

Joes87,

 

Thanks for the reply.  The focus is on which schools will benefit him the most with his academics.  As I said earlier, some schools appear to be all over it, some don't.  The ones that aren't, don't make the list.

 

I agree with the ownership part.  He's learning that he has to be the one to approach teachers and ask for the assistance.  That part has improved this year, though he's not fully there yet.

 

I guess the only reason I brought up the NCAA standards is that if he is at least a qualifier by the end of this year, that won't hurt him moving forward should he pursue the post-grad or JUCO option and improve his GPA.

Not sure if this has been covered yet or not not, but from one parent with a high achiever with LDs to another, make sure that he takes both the ACT and the SAT. My daughter found that the ACT was somehow better structured to her LD and she was able to do MUCH MUCH better on it than she could with the SAT. I can't tell the difference between them, but she could and thats all that mattered. She was able to upgrade her choice of colleges at least a few notches with the better ACT score. 

 

There is certainly no harm in seeing if it is a better match to your son....

 

My 2012 was a 13 year old high school freshman.  He did a PG year to try to get more mature emotionally and physically.  There are a lot of PG options, as you probably know. 

 

www.boardingschoolreview.com was a helpful first resource for us.  We visited quite a few schools in CT, MA, PA, etc., after spending time filtering the schools from online resources, boarding school fairs, and phone discussions with the schools.

 

A few people from his learning resource center at school have told him that he's better off taking the ACT.  Thanks.