Thanks for sharing your insights everyone. Good news, her GC talked her out of it, she’s staying in the class. She told me she was having a “bout of early onset senioritis” HA. It was the portfolio preparation in combination with upcoming IB Bio work that set it off. AP Calc is the only class that is available, no non-AP; there is a Statistics class but it’s not AP. All the other math classes would be moving backward.
She can handle it, she just didn’t want to for a moment, I think that happens to many people. If I thought it would negatively impact her mental health I would be the first to insist she drop it. After contending with the mental illness of my older D, I have learned a lot about limits and recalibrating goals and expectations. Applying to elite schools as an art major has been her dream, not mine, I’m trying to help her get there and sometimes that means telling her things she doesn’t want to hear. But luckily she has a great guidance counselor who went over her options (I think I owe the GC some ginger chocolate chip cookies when this app season is over).
It was great to hear your thoughts, stories and advice, much appreciated. I had a feeling other people had some experience with this, it could not possibly be unique to my family. Hopefully someone will be able to look at this thread in the future and get something out of it. I know I did.