My son is currently in 8th grade and will be attending a large public high next year. He was accepted into the IB program (students must apply) and a career academy. He chose the career academy because he is interested in the career academy (finance) and he is planning on going the honors/AP route.
He is also very interested in playing trumpet. He plays trumpet in middle school marching and jazz band. He was first chair in the all-county band this year.
He takes lessons and for his solo music performance assessment this year he got an A- with a comment from the judge that his high school is going to be glad to have him. I don’t know if he is especially musically talented, but he does enjoy band immensely and tries hard. Will he continue after high school? Who knows.
Since he is taking the career academy, it requires a finance class each year. That class eats up an elective. His schedule for next year (9th grade) is Honors English, Honors Geometry, Honors World History, Honors Biology, Finance, Spanish I, and marching band. He really wants to take jazz band along with marching band, but there is no room in his schedule. He cannot drop the career academy because we are out of zone and he must stay enrolled in the academy to attend the school. He will be taking a PE class that is a state requirement online this summer. This is the only class he can take online this summer because he’s not officially a highschool student yet, but they allow 8th grade students to take PE.
I know universities like to see 4 years of the same language, but how bad would it be if he only took 3 years and skip foreign language as a 9th grader? It might be possible for him to take a history class online next year and so on, so that he can take jazz band along with marching every year. What do you think of this? Trumpet over foreign language? And taking online classes each year? I’m afraid that may be overwhelming. Foreign language online is not a good idea in my opinion and not really on the table.
He is a good student and is motivated but not sure if he has dreams for selective colleges, except for University of Florida.
Thanks for reading all of this text and for any advice or comments.
My S just got accepted to UF with 4 years of symphonic and jazz band and chorus and only 3 years of Spanish. He wrote in the other info section of the application that schedule conflicts prevented him from taking 4 years of a language. He also only had 3 years of History for the same reason. I wouldn’t suggest this for a lower stat kid, but my S got into more selective schools, too. I would make sure your GC agrees because they know more about your school rigor, etc.
My IB son had loads of fun with music in hs,especially jazz band! (He did 10 semesters… NOT easy). I was going to recommend your son skip career academy since it sounds like something he could self-study. But it seems like that is not possible. My son only did 3 years Spanish (plus 2 years in ms), but it was his senior year where he opted out (after Spanish SL exam). I’d be concerned about skipping freshman year language. My suggestion is to talk to the guidance counselor.
Agree ^. My S opted out of Senior year Spanish, not Freshman.
Thank you for the comments. We talked to a guidance counselor at registration. She suggested taking foreign language as a freshman and not waiting. I agreed and pretty much said there would be sacrifices if he wanted to attend out of zone school.
If he’s in the IB program, would he be able to skip a year of a foreign language? Seniors doing IB would be expected to complete the IB foreign language coursework in their senior year, and I don’t if he would be able to, unless he did ab initio.
If he did IB he would take 4 years. IB not really an option since he accepted spot in career academy.
Do they offer early bird classes? It might be a lot for a Freshman, but my S took an extra, early class every year in order to get it all in, or as much as possible.
They do not offer early bird classes. I think he’s going have to settle on no jazz band for next year and figure out a way to take it in 10,11, and 12. Thanks again for reading and for the comments.
Would he be starting in level 1 or a higher level of a foreign language that he has some knowledge of (K-8 or heritage)?
This will bel Level 1. He had an opportunity to take Spanish 1 as an 8th grader because he scored highly on state assessment test. 8th graders can skip Language Arts if they get a high test score and take an elective. I did not allow him to because I wanted him to write more. Maybe not the best decision on my part.
I’d normally suggest taking the elective he likes, but getting off sequence on the language can be a problem in scheduling future years. He must have 2 years of the same language for bright futures. My daughter took language through Florida Virtual school and it was a disaster.
I think you did the right thing and he just has to suck it up. There may be some opportunities through marching band for him to participate in jazz groups for state competitions, or the theater groups might need him. There might be opportunities through your church too.
Good luck
Oh… I didn’t catch that career academy (a new term to me) was instead of IB. Best of luck to him. I hope he finds other music outlets.
No school “requires” 4 year of foreign language. It does make you a little bit more competitive at top schools though. I know a student who skipped one year of Orchestra in order to complete other curriculum though. You may consider this approach instead. He resumed symphony orchestra in senior and he got accepted to Ross pre-admission. Alternatively, you can always catch up with foreign language in a community college over the summer. One summer course may be equivalent to one year of high school level.
You really aren’t having to choose between foreign language and music. You are choosing between foreign language and a second music class. If he were going to college to major in music I would say go for it. But because he is not sure if he even wants to continue music in college I say pick the one he enjoys most a keep the foreign language.
Good luck
Jazz band is different from band, obviously. If you go on the music forum here on CC you will hear from many parents whose kids missed foreign language, or science, or dropped a level in math, so as to take a music class, often a second or third one. Personally, I think it might be important to get into the jazz band in the first year, at the ground floor so to speak. It might even be life-changing.
Over the high school years online classes and summer classes are very useful for scheduling issues like this.
Many colleges will be more interested in his commitment to music than to his adherence to a foreign language schedule that may or may not actually be required.
I think it’s awful that a school program requires a student to give up an arts elective.
I vote for continuing with music one way or another.
He’s not being required to give up arts. He’s taking one music class. He can’t take a second.
I think less than 4 years of a language is fine, particularly with a strong interest in music (or any arts, etc). but I would not skip it freshman year. It sounds like he will be able to take summer classes to free up more spots for music in later years.
At my kids’ high school it’s pretty much impossible to take 2 music classes every year. Freshman year they have to take PE and they are only allowed 2 non-academic electives. My son took two music classes sophomore-senior years by juggling some other things. He is a singer and hasn’t pursued it beyond HS. But a fair number of his fellow choir members have gone on to study music despite only having one music class as freshmen.
I think he should take Spanish and look for additional musical opportunities outside of school.
I also think you are right in regretting your decision not to start Spanish earlier, but that’s water under the bridge. 
Student perspective here:
I agree, especially with the part of not skipping it freshman year. I can tell you based upon my experience, and this is attending a largish school where most classes have several sections across various periods, the scheduling conflicts which arise when one subject is off grade level is insane, and tends to have a trickle down effect so the end result is rarely ideal. I can only imagine the difficulty that must arise in a small school.
I applaud you for having a four-year plan, but hope that you have it written in pencil. Your child’s interests may change along the way, of some other unforeseen event may throw a wrench in the works. Be flexible.