Hopefully your S has a much less eventful bike tour this time around! DC is so great especially in the spring- so I’m sure you’ll have a great trip.
I wouldn’t be surprised if D24 did end up at American despite it being “her sister’s school”, but we will see. D20 is looking to go to law school, so of course I wouldn’t mind if the two girls ended up someplace together 
Well, this is interesting.
I have mentioned upthread that my d24 is quite bright, but not terribly motivated. Our school’s leveling system for courses are: regular, advanced, honors (or AP). Although I have no doubt she could handle the rigor of honors-level classes, we have kept her in advanced, as without that internal motivation I think it would just be a miserable slog for her.
She is taking chemistry this semester and really enjoying it and doing well. She’s actually talking about it a lot at dinner (this is a kid who never willingly talks about school) and has started talking about maybe majoring in Chem in college.
I attended her guidance/scheduling meeting this morning to help her choose her classes for next year. As I noted upthread, she is not going to take Spanish IV next year and has an extra 5 credits she could fill with electives. I was so sure she was going to opt to fill it with a couple of really softball electives. In the meeting, I just gently noted that she has always enjoyed science and maybe she wanted to consider a science elective and … (this is the really notable part)…she READILY AGREED. The counselor listed the AP science classes available and she said she wants to take AP Chem. This will be in addition to the Physics class she’ll be taking.
We talked a bit about the rigor this will entail, especially taking it in tandem with another science class and she was still all in. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Is this the start of her transformation into a motivated student? Dare I dream?!?!?
My D24 is cut from a similar cloth. Had a similar moment recently with her that left me thinking, “YES! There’s still hope, people!” LOL.
A similar thing happened with my D26 as she is now signing up for HS 9th grade classes for the coming fall. Our set up is regular/honors/AP, though 9th graders don’t have but one or two possible APs. Now in her third year of middle school and kind of slogging it through a C19/remote nightmare of the first two years, I thought it was going to be a struggle to get her to sign up for honors classes.
After a momentary “Me? Honors?” she agreed to 2, then 5, which is all she can do because the others don’t have an honors version. This, combined with her rising grades this semester, have me thinking I might have my little academic in the most unlikely option. 
We had another “Well, knock me over with a feather” moment the other day in our household. D24 has actually cracked open the AP European History study book that we bought on Amazon. And she actually spent a good amount of time studying for the exam last weekend.
Haha- that book has been sitting on DS desk unopened since September- I keep mentioning to him that maybe there is some good info in there for him but nope.
That is probably always going to be a bridge too far for my kid…
Last school year, D24 took AP US Gov’t & Politics. I bought a AP exam prep book for the class in the fall of that school year. She hardly opened the darn thing all year. SO much resistance on that last year. LOL!
Just to put things into perspective, she hardly looked at the AP exam prep books this year until just recently. They’ve been collecting dust on the book shelf since September.
I actually sometimes think our kids may be on to something when they don’t overload themselves in high school. I saw my oldest study extremely hard, only to go into the slumpiest Senior slump ever once she got into college. She has recovered some of her academic drive now, but is still underachieving when compared to her potential.
It may be better to pace yourself so you don’t burn out!
I think there’s some truth to that. My son just had his best semester yet and with less than two months to go… He is finally getting on the slack train. We had a good run, though! 
We picked classes for next year. S24 did elect to take another year of Spanish. I am proud of him. It will be interesting to see what classes he actually gets though. He did put in for an additional science course. I hope he gets it because otherwise his schedule will be filled with 2 additional electives. He says he is having a great term. The school has pulled back from loading grades into the system. I think to give the students more control. It’s killing me though 
. Can’t believe we are almost half way through high school!
Mine picked his classes as well:
CP 1 Spanish 4
Honors English
Honors US History
CP1 Geometry
CP1 Engineering (instead of physics)
Not sure what electives he has chosen- I told him he can take whatever he wants as long as he makes sure that he is taking everything he needs to graduate - def do not want any surprises come June 2026 
I think my D selected a good mix of courses that highlight her strengths and interests. She will be taking:
Advanced* English
Advanced US History II
Honors Physics
AP Chemistry
Advanced Pre-Calc
Creative Writing
Creative Foods/Ceramics (these are both 2.5 credit classes, will split the semester between the two).
*our district levels classes as “college prep”, “advanced” and “Honors/AP”.
It’s interesting seeing everyone’s schedule.
S24’s:
English
Regents Algebra 2/Trig
Regents Chemistry
APUSH (his favorite subject)
Sociology/Psychology
Gym
I’m not sure whether he’ll take more electives. He can have off periods instead, which works well because many teachers offer extra help during off periods.
2 steps forward, 1 step backward. 
D24 had a solid B in French at the end of last trimester. Yesterday evening, she said that so far for this trimester, she’s got a 79% in the class.
Why? Because of C’s and D’s on quizzes…which she hardly studied for.
There’s only like a month and a half left of instruction now in the school year, kiddo…don’t get lazy NOW!
AAAHHHH!!! Holy moly, give me strength to get through the next 2 years of high school. LOL.
On a positive note, D24’s choir is adding a 4th choir next year only for 11th and 12th graders. Gives you a special seal on your diploma related to fine arts, it’s been set up with 3 of the local school districts, requires you to do a music-related senior ‘capstone’ project.
D24 wisely, in my opinion, said no thanks to auditioning for that choir. She said, “My school already requires a senior capstone project and that’s going to require more work than this. I just want to sing for fun, I don’t want to turn it into a job. And I don’t want to major in music for college. I just want to sing with my friends.”
So she’s going to stay in the level of choir that she’s in right now. And we are totally ok with that. I thought it was a surprisingly mature decision, recognizing that she doesn’t want to bite off more than she can chew next school year.
I thought I would share some exciting news…we got our first college email. . I already have a separate email set up for college stuff, but this came to my regular email. The fine print says they got my email from a third party source.
The end of the year is going well so far, just need to stay focused….but of course he’d rather watch the NFL draft tonight.
@Frogger73, that’s great that the end of the year is going well! I know it’s going to be harder for S24 to stay focussed as the weather gets nicer . . . We had a set back in Spanish third quarter—he bombed a test, and there weren’t any projects to offset it. So, now he has to do well 4th quarter and on the cumulative final to keep his B for the year. He’s been going in for extra help, so that’s a good start. Fingers crossed he can keep it up.
Today he told me that it’s a bummer that language is so hard for him because he’d really love to be able to speak Spanish and other languages. I said that it’s like his sister who really wanted to be good at gymnastics, but is not flexible and was 5’9" at age 12.
We had a great time with college tours and historical sites over spring break! (We did a bike tour of the Gettysburg battlefield in the rain and occasionally sleet, but S24 loved every minute and stayed on his bike.)
We toured Gettysburg College, GW and American. S24 liked them all. I didn’t realize that Gettysburg College was founded in 1832. It’s a beautiful campus with some beautiful, old buildings. Our tour guide was excellent—Black woman from NYC. She said that all of her classes have been under 30 students, and most are around 15. That would be positive for S24, who learns so much more from asking questions, discussion, anything interactive. Sounds like professors are all about office hours, research opportunities, etc. Only downsides were that the athletic center felt really dead (but it was in the middle of a weekday), and S24 is not sure whether he would like being in a rural area or not.
The GW tour was also great. It was a beautiful day, and the open, quad type areas on campus were crowded with animated students. This would be a perfect school for a multitasking student who wants jobs and internships in government or nonprofits during college. Our tour guide listed many friends interning for NPR, green energy, public health, on the hill, and for companies that contract with the government. Tour guide was a senior who will be working in public policy/lobbying for a satellite company.
The location is awesome—right in the heart of DC, with a metro stop on campus. GW owns everything within a big area, probably 6 blocks by 8 blocks. But the buildings are only about 5 stories, so it doesn’t feel claustrophobic.
We knew this would be a reach (maybe big reach) for S24. Also, I was pretty sure the independent vibe of the students wouldn’t be a great match for him, but we wanted to see it because it’s my mom’s alma mater, and we took my nephew with us (he’s a brilliant kid who wants poli sci or IR). I loved the energy on campus—the kids were socializing, not on their phones or studying 
.
The last school was American U. We loved it. Another sunny day, and the students were all outside. There is more space on campus than GW, so they were playing frisbee, laying out on blankets, picnicking, setting up tables for clubs, etc. Our tour guide was a senior who clearly wanted us to ask questions—S24 took her up on that and asked at least 10. She responded positively every time, and had thoughtful answers. S24 is not shy, and will ask whatever he is thinking!
The campus felt alive and busy, but also more like a traditional campus than GW. Tour guide is interning with a museum and will be working there after graduation. We ate in the dining hall, which S24 liked. In general got the feeling of a good amount of school spirit/community. This also would likely be a reach for S24, but ED acceptance rates look a lot higher. (S24 is nowhere near ready to think about that and probably won’t want to go ED anywhere.)
That was definitely enough colleges for us to see in a week. We spread them out so none were on back-to-back days. I don’t think we narrowed things down at all, but it was fun! The right strategy for S24 might be to apply to a bunch of schools and see where he gets in.
When we get the chance to do more college tours, we will! I’m curious about:
Elon
Marist
Connecticut College
Lafayette
Schools S24 saw with sisters and liked:
Franklin & Marshall
Skidmore
Possible safety: SUNY New Paltz
Happy May Day to everyone! 
How is everyone doing?
I’ll be honest…I don’t really relate to all of the talk at the moment on the HS Class of 2024 thread about taking the SAT this fall. ODD isn’t going to be ready in my opinion.
Today is D24’s last day of school! Yahoo!
There’s no rush and in many cases no need to even take the SAT. I would go with your gut and ask for input from your child.
Congratulations on being done with the school year! 3 more weeks for my D24 and she is burned out at this point.