<p>Summer seems to be winding down for us. S’13 started drivers ed this week and takes the permit test today…I’m not so sure I’m ready for this. We are also saying goodbye to our Norwegian exchange student today - so sad. But D’10 heads off to college next week, so there is more excitement just around the corner. (S’13 can’t wait to “get” her car even though he needs a parent in the front seat for 6 months!)</p>
<p>Tis the season for permits 
I told D’13 that I’d like to have her take the written test before school starts & she’s decided to do that next Wednesday so she has time to study. </p>
<p>And Ayn Rand has been finished 
Algebra II packet in progress…</p>
<p>I can’t decide whether I want my gifted son to be in the Class of 2013 or 2014. He is entering high school with 18 high school semester hours due to math acceleration and online classes in middle school. The original plan was for him to spend two years at our local high school taking sophomore and a couple junior classes this year and then all junior and senior classes next year and then have him transfer to our state’s residential school for gifted juniors and seniors or to one of the United World Colleges IB programs if he got in there. I just moved his older sister into the state school this week and read the profile they send to colleges. The teachers and courses sound great but the average students’ ACT scores are lower than younger son’s 8th grade scores (32 composite with higher reading and English scores). I’m wondering if I should encourage him to go sooner. He will be 15 in October so he isn’t terribly young. He could apply to a UWC as a junior instead of as a sophomore if he still wanted to. It’s not that I want to get rid of him - He’s charming to be around and I’d miss him but our local school’s AP courses are no match for the excellent instruction he’d get at the state residential school.</p>
<p>Looking for advice on Math Tracks. Finished Freshman year PreIB Alg II/ Trig, with high A’s both semesters.
Goal= appointment to service academy.
Currently on IB Diploma Track. High School Counselor is recommending AP Stats, IB Math SL, AP Calc BC over the next 3 years. This is the track that our neighboring high school recommends in their Academy of Technology, Math, and Science.
Prior to this year, the next 3 years would normally be Honors Pre Calc, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC.<br>
Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Hi Apollo 6 - You have some interesting choices. I guess I would look at what his personality is like. HS is more than just about the academics. Is your son going to be involved in sports, theater, other ECs? What is his social life like? Where would he be more likely to develop the life skills that EC’s and friendships tend to develop? As we all know, it’s not about being the “most popular” in school, but it is important to be “popular”, aka, a leader, in your own chosen group, whatever that group is. Developing those skills are much more important for a successful life than whether a child takes AB or BC Calc in HS. So, although your son might be prepared academically, I would really look at what that bump up would do to his social life and ability to be part of clubs and other EC’s. Personally, I don’t feel that there is any need to rush. In the end, after grad school or whatever you son chooses to do with his life, graduating at 25 or 26 is really no big deal. However, being 16 in a social group of 17 year olds is a big deal. </p>
<p>Good luck on your choices!</p>
<p>gamer, I’m sure this varies from school to school, but no one at our school takes both calc AB and BC, because the calc BC includes the material from AB, just goes faster and beyond. My D next year will do honors trig/precalc, then AP Stats, then AP calc BC. I know nothing about IB though.</p>
<p>gamernotwatcher,</p>
<p>Does your school offer a HL IB math track? It sounds like you might be interested in that one. You might want to find out what that option would be. Other posters will have more info about service academies than I do, but my impression is that leadership and athletic ability is nearly as important as a challenging course load. Either of the math tracks that you suggested would be challenging. You would take Calc BC either way. With the first one you would end up with two AP math courses plus the IB diploma. Many strong math students say that a full year of precal isn’t really necessary. They also do Calc BC without doing AB. A friend once told me that you have to be captain of a major sport to have a chance at the service academies. I don’t know if that’s true, but you should probably look into athletic and leadership expectations as much as academic ones. Good luck!</p>
<p>geogirl1, Thanks for your reply. I’m not in any hurry for my son to start college. If he ended up finishing h.s. in 3 years, he would do a foreign exchange gap year before college. He enjoys running cross country and playing percussion in performance (not marching) band so he could do these things at the residential school but I don’t think the band would be as good since it would be smaller. I know he would have more intellectual peers at the residential school. Those kids have a blast together. The only issues for a boy is that the male/female ratio at the school is probably 45/55 and a sizable number of the male students are gay. I heard at least one boy say that he decided not to attend due to this last issue. I don’t think those issues would bother my son.</p>
<p>MY D’13 is taking pre-calc this year (took AlgII/Trig last year) and will likely take AP AB Calc next year and/or AP Stats - she has a true apptitude but no passion for math so she’s taking the “lower” advanced math track.</p>
<p>MY D’10 that just graduated was an AP student in an IB HS - their math track was IB Math Methods 1 (Adv Pre-Calc), IB Math Methods 2 (AB or BC Calc) and then I don’t know what else they took if they moved beyond that. My D1 who was on the AP Math/Science track took Adv Pre-Calc in 10th (was the exact same class as IBMM1 - they just called it 2 different things on students transcripts), AP BC Calc in 11th and MV Calc in 12th. I know math tracks vary a lot though across the country so go with what seems most logical in your area - colleges do know what is “standard” for your area even if it varies greatly with other areas! :)</p>
<p>Thanks all for the input on math tracks, the other points are taken care of with an Eagle Rank, Swim and H2O Polo Teams.</p>
<p>We’re pre-IB and she opted opted out of the MYP track and is more accelerated than most of the other kids, only one other boy in her class took Alg II last year and will be in Pre-Calc instead of the MYP Integrated Math; AP Calc AB (no BC available) as a Jr. and then IB HL Math her senior year is her track.</p>
<p>RobD, which Ayn Rand was your D’13 blessed with?</p>
<p>On the discussion of girls blooming, my D never ever went through an awkward stage and was an early bloomer, I welcome y’all to my world for the last four years!</p>
<p>mnmom: Anthem. Which she finished quickly & didn’t hate :)</p>
<p>She is studying for her written test; she may be the only person to actually read every single word in the driving prep book. She’s taking it quite seriously, which is good but somewhat amusing.</p>
<p>Hi,
Careful about sequencing with IB math. My s was pre-IB but a little ahead in math so the counselor advised him to take Math SL as a 10th grader and then he could do the HL sequence junior and senior years…Later, as a Junior, after getting a 7 on the SL exam he discovers that if you take an IB class as a 9th or 10th grader it does not count toward the certificate?! AND he would not be able to take the HL math class because he already was HL English (required for all US students), HL Spanish (required for bilingual program), and HL Art (he wants to be an artist)…you can only have 3 HL courses…he was not allowed to retake the SL for credit (he had an A) so he was forced to drop out of the IB certificate program although he did almost all IB classes for the past two years. For math he ended up doing AB and then BC calculus…a little dull because the BC is a repeat of AB. What is killing is that I emailed the counselor multiple times at the beginning of 10th grade asking if she was sure about the placement–course seemed too easy–etc. Well…never rely solely on the counselor and double check requirements on IB site, school site, etc. Our bad.</p>
<p>Re: the driver’s permit test. S informed me yesterday that he got a 97 on his written test. I was sorry to tell him that it didn’t go on his transcript!! Life doesn’t always give you a grade.</p>
<p>finearts - how utterly frustrating that would be - especially for an advanced student who seemed to want a challenge - great advice though!</p>
<p>My D’13 is already practicing for her Permit test by taking the online version of the test over and over (the questions change) - she’s thrilled she hasn’t missed one yet although she doesn’t particularly want to drive yet. She has almost 3 months until she’s able to take the test though so we’ll see if that changes - it’s so weird though to see her friends who already have their permit and are out driving with parents!</p>
<p>shillyshally, that would be weird! Around here you have to be 16 to get a permit, and as D and her friends are mostly just turning 15, it will be a while until I have to see that.</p>
<p>shillyshally and other parents on this forum…my take away from the screw up with the math sequence is that there are bound to be frustrations and mistakes made along the high school path but honestly in the big scheme of things whether your kid does AB or BC calc or not, or does IB or not, or goes to college a year early…all the handwringing is kindof wasted…very few of these decisions are life-changing and I am soooo much more laid back with my D 2013 when it comes to academic issues. She is trying to decide whether to go into the IB… I told her to wait until the end of sophomore year …talk to her junior friends to see what they think of the teachers and courses and decide how hard she wants/is willing to work. Not my work, not my decision and I am completely neutral. There are tradeoffs with social life, sports and stress that she will have to figure out for herself…AP is definitely the less intensive route at our school and she can still take IB in areas where she wants to be more challenged (Spanish, Biology, etc). I don’t think 15-16 is too young to make these decisions and potentially make mistakes…</p>
<p>Just wanted to stop by & say that D got her learner’s permit today; even the DMV photo came out great. She is pretty pleased & has been grinning all day. First big step into adult life.</p>
<p>Oh, and sophomore year begins tomorrow at 7:30am. Can’t say I’m ready for the bus to arrive at 6:40 but D is. Hoping that she has an enjoyable year :)</p>
<p>finearts - I agree and am taking a much different approach with D2 over what I worried about/stressed about with D1 - should make us all happier! :)</p>
<p>We can get permits here at 15 1/2 and you must hold that for 9 months before you can get your license so the youngest someone can get a license is 18 and 3 months. D2 won’t be 15 1/2 until late October so we have a bit longer to wait! It’s somewhat common though in this area for kids to start school late if they have later birthdays so I think that’s why a good percentage already have permits.</p>
<p>We don’t start back until after labor day - what about everyone else? And my D2 would not handle 7:30, RobD! Years ago they switched in our county to give HS more time to sleep based on a teen sleep study so they don’t start until 8:19AM - it’s the MS that has the earlier start time of 7:50AM so one more year of that with my 8th grade S in a few weeks too!</p>
<p>Our district seems to be very progressive on start times. High school starts at 9:00 - although many kids have to be there early for sports, band, etc. But they don’t get out until 4:10 (if they take a full schedule) so I guess it evens out. But my kids love sleeping in. S’13 can sleep until 8:15 and still catch a ride to school. And the school year starts August 23 in Texas (statewide, unless you get a waiver).</p>