<p>Yep, what RobD said: you are not a slacker, your school just hasn’t started the process yet. DD met with her GC and selected courses already. Now we wait to see if her schedule will “fit” together. Hopefully, yes and then we are done.</p>
<p>Even if our HS was on top of it, there’s just too many moving parts for ds. His beloved language teacher is supposed to be leaving. If he stays, ds will take year 4; if not, ds wants to switch. Plus, because of budget cuts, some courses may not even be offered next year. ;(</p>
<p>Ours just happened to be done in the last couple of weeks but I know for my DS, '15, he is in the process of selecting his courses for next year when he’ll be a freshman. Of course with him I realized they’ve now changed the graduation requirements so I have to re-learn everything and he may now have to take a required finance course which I support but it would mean no electives that first year since PE and language are needed which I just think is a bit rough as a transition but we’ll see!</p>
<p>^^^argh! This. but our new graduation requirements are for my '13 kid. Don’t they know I already “know it all” because of D’10 ;)? D’13 took the new required semester long Personal Finance class at the beginning of the year (hence no study hall then.) There’s an additional semester long gym class (in addition to the full year they have to take as freshmen) plus they need to take math all four years (even if they took HS level math in middle school; and they have to take 1 math class past Algebra II.) They also have to take 3 classes in a “Focus Area.”</p>
<p>D’s school hasn’t announced registration yet but I know it is coming up. D plans following schedule for next year:</p>
<p>AP Calc AB
AP Chem
AP US History
AP English Lang
AP Spanish
Law
Journalism 2</p>
<p>I have no idea if Law and Journalism classes are ‘honors’ or not. She may drop Journalism 2 for some other elective. She like journalism teacher and enjoys Journalism 1 class but has negative impression about Journalism 2 course for some reason. I think she is required to have an art elective at some point so that might be the spot.</p>
<p>She plans to take Honors Latin 2 and Honors Latin 3 this summer.</p>
<p>LOL exactly, I had it down since the previous rules applied to both Ds ('10&'13) and honestly hadn’t changed since I graduated from the same school system, LOL, but now I need to ask a teenage boy to find something in his backpack and let me see it 
In his defense he is on top of this but I want to read it all to see what has changed overall.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to see what the differences are across states/counties - here you only have to have 2 years of gym/health - usually done in 9th and 10th. For math you have to have 2 years past algebra (though I require my kids to have all 4 years since all 3 of mine would technically be done after 9th grade with this requirement) - then you need 4 years of History (one of these is geography taken in 8th grade) and I think 3 of science (another where I like them to take 4) - well these are for the advanced diploma which also requires 3 years of one language or 2 years each of 2 languages so I’ll be curious to see if they’ve only now added this 1 required class and if it is a specific requirement to freshman year and if anything else has been added. Most kids on the advanced diploma track far exceed the requirements but it can be hard to balance it all out with some electives that are usually very important for the sanity of my younger 2 - my oldest, now in college, is still content with science as her electives 
If D’13 couldn’t take photography, none of us want to be around her! :)</p>
<p>My D’s teachers have completed their recommendations and her scheduling sheet is due back to the school tomorrow. We will have to wait and see if there is enough interest for a couple of her classes and we are quite sure she will have a scheduling conflict due to the fact that most of her classes will likely have only one section offered. Added to the uncertainty of it all, you don’t find out about scheduling conflicts until mid summer. So her schedule currently is</p>
<p>AP Language
AP US History
AP Calculus
AP Music Theory (required for her music magnet)
Honors Physics
Honors Forensic Chemistry (she loves CSI and is very excited about this one)
Honors String Ensemble (chamber orchestra)</p>
<p>My kid goes to a tiny, tiny school. They wait until late Spring to do course registration. No worries of ever being bumped out of a course.</p>
<p>My son can’t take any AP math or science without taking the “regular” course first. Also, the science AP courses are only offered ever other year.</p>
<p>Because it is such a small school the kids have the same teachers multiple years. I think my son finally understands that he needs to choose the teacher and NOT the course.</p>
<p>Next year will be:</p>
<p>Latin IV (Honors)
AP Lang
APUSH
Calc (Honors) - this one frustrates me & I wish he could just go straight into AP Calc!
AP Bio – I wanted him to take Phyiscs (Honors - no AP in this) to help decide college major (the kid loves aviation), but that would only leave APChem senior year and again we need to choose the teacher more than the subject.</p>
<p>That’s it – the rest of the schedule will be requirements for graduation - Art, Ethics and World Religion. </p>
<p>The Art may be AP. The teacher will help him work toward AP portfolio, but if he doesn’t get it all done he just simply won’t submit. He is talented, but very slow. It would give him a slight GPA bump to do AP, but I don’t think it will matter for college apps so I really don’t want him to feel any pressure to complete. He may do a summer art program at Temple too. </p>
<p>RobD and those with college kids – I think he’ll wind up with 5-6 APs by senior year (school offers 8-10 in a 2 year cycle). A far cry from many CC kids, but do you think it will limit his college options?</p>
<p>Anyone’s kids write math papers? I’m not a science/math type and the school is not a sciencey school (is a college prep school). My son had a 5 1/2 page Trig/Pre-Calc research paper he stressed about. I’m never allowed to read the papers before they are due. I can’t wait til he gets this back because I just do not comprehend math research.</p>
<p>An how about Power Point? It feels like my son has a power point presentation due daily. I just don’t get it. Is it just my kids school or is Power Point big everywhere?</p>
<p>My D’10 had to write math papers since her math classes were taught for both the IB kids and non-IB kids so the non-IB ones still had to do the IAs (Internal Assessments I think is what they were).</p>
<p>None of my kids have taken AP before 11th grade and D’10 only graduated with 7 APs since her math senior year was past AP (MV Calc) so no I don’t think 5-6 APs will hurt his college chances, and most colleges make note of what they can take and when they aren’t always offered at a school it is harder to fit them in. I don’t know what D’13 will end up with, probably about 5 herself. I really am trying to hold to letting them take what they are passionate about and can focus on and not worrying about AP for everything. While D’10 did AP for everything and was fine, she was that motivated kid that worked hard no matter what but I won’t ever know if the stress she had from some of the subjects that she didn’t jive with was worth it. D’13 is an easier kid to test this on since she is not the hardworker no matter what kid :)</p>
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<p>Oh my gosh Longhaul, absolutely not! First of all, the conventional wisdom is that kids are evaluated within the context of their school. There are lots of bright kids who go to schools that don’t offer ANY AP classes. When the GC is sending their transcript to a college, it generally goes with a “school profile” that explains grading, the demographics of a school as well as what classes are offered. Plus I remember reading that the average MIT applicant only has 5-6 APs; it’s all about what’s offered locally and if the GC says they’ve taken the “most challenging curriculum” (is that the right phrase, experienced parents?) </p>
<p>D & I talked last night; she was feeling a little “slackerish” about not doing IB, but she’s taking 3 APs. She’ll end up with 7-8 at the end of her HS years out of about 21. I told her she’ll be fine.</p>
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My older D did powerpoints all the time, partially by choice because she was a ppt whiz and they were easy for her. I think D2 has only done a few; don’t think there have been any this year.</p>
<p>Longhaul, D did many powerpoints in elementary and middle school. Seems it was every teacher’s preferred method of presentation at the time. However, she has done few if any in high school. She has had no math research papers though. She said, “eww!” to that when I read your post to her just now!</p>
<p>Never heard of math research papers. Probably depends on the school. At my kids’ HS (which houses performing arts magnet, fine art magnet and communications magnet) assigns a lot of “creative” presentations/projects. They usually have many options for presenting the material, ie. making a film, creating a visual art project or something else creative. My S has composed songs for his Chemistry class (one about the periodic table, one about moles), written a skit about the Mongolian empire for AP World History and made a stop-motion film of Lego’s acting out Shakespeare scenes for English. Even in AP Physics they have projects - create a marketable toy using principles of physics, write a children’s picture book that explains a physics principle, etc. Oh, and Geometry class involved lots of art projects! Very creative, the kids have lots of fun - but I’m not really sure its preparing them for college (unless they’re planning on majoring in performing/fine arts/communications, etc.) (They also can take dance classes or stage combat instead of PE)</p>
<p>It is interesting to read about differing requirements. D is saving personal finance, called consumer ed in Illinois, to senior year, when she can do AP macro AND micro Econ in place of consumer ed. In other words, two semesters of econ for one semester of consumer ed. I think it is worthwhile.</p>
<p>^^^There has been a semester long economics requirement for a while; this personal finance piece is new. And of all the new requirements, it is the one I’m most in favor of. I really think that everyone should have some basic financial literacy as they begin their adult years.</p>
<p>the one that irks me the most is the new semester long P.E. class. I understand that TN is an obese state; if the state legislature wants to address the issue, then it should be mandated all four years and be required of all. I don’t think 18 weeks of gym is going to turn anyone’s life around, KWIM? You can be waived out of it for JROTC, participation in a TSSAA sanctioned school sport, band (really? I mean I know they march a lot…) and (for some unknown reason) IB. My D’s participation in both spring & fall rec league for her sport of choice doesn’t count. </p>
<p>While it won’t affect my house, apparently the requirement of 1 year past Algebra II is turning out to be a problem. If you have a non-math kid who takes Algebra I in 9th, Geometry in 10th & Algebra II in 11th, they have no wiggle room if they don’t do well. I hear that they are going to offer a 2 year Algebra II sequence so I guess the 2nd year can be classified as the “going past Algebra II” requirement.</p>
<p>blueshoe, I glanced over your D’s schedule and thought I saw “Honors String Theory” – yikes! That would be a little bit aggressive for even the most able high schooler.</p>
<p>Hanna, I must confess I had no idea what string theory was and had to google it! I feel so unintelligent, but now I am chuckling at your comment and agree that my D is not quite ready for that level of scientific theory yet!</p>
<p>^^^Well, this is CC. I’m sure in other threads someone would have mentioned that if you’d just had your child qualify for Duke TIP in 4th grade, and you found them the appropriate extracurricular activities then certainly they could be working on Advanced String Theory as a sophomore. After all, their child did it as a freshman and really it was a breeze; found it much easier than quantum physics. ;)</p>
<p>I just assumed advanced string theory was a music class and was still impressed :)</p>
<p>RobD…so true…might even find it on this thread! My D hasn’t picked her classes but will probably do full IB. I am less keen after my son did about 1/2 IB and 1/2 AP. All good scores…the college he goes to now just accepted the AP scores…Ironically they accepted his AP spanish from 10th grade (a complete joke for a native speaker–he would have received a 5 without taking the course) but not his IB HL-A Spanish for Native Speakers that he took for two years Junior AND Senior year (that two year sequence is the same course kids take in Spain, Argentina)…so the joke AP class gets a full semester of spansih waived but the true college level spanish for native speakers that he aced with a 7-- had to finish with a 30 page creative writing project as well as a one hour oral interview-- did not count toward anything. Yikes! A 5 on BC calc gave him two semesters of math but the 7’s on IB tests were ignored. IB Physics…nada!</p>
<p>So…after this I think AP may be a better choice for D if she wants to use some of the credits in college. I told her only to do IB if she really thinks she will enjoy the courses/students/teachers more than the AP track…alternatively, she could mix and match like her brother. We’ll see.</p>
<p>LOL my D’10 would have loved honors string theory - learning about the string theory in middle school was what set her on the path towards engineering and she hasn’t looked back :)</p>
<p>Here you have to take PE in 9th and 10th regardless of what sports you do. That hasn’t been a problem for my kids though I know D’10 ran into some issues when she had to miss school for a varsity sport in 9th and 10th and they required PE misses to be made up but then she’d have all afternoon practice for the sport that wouldn’t count as her physical activity. Stupid.</p>
<p>D’13 decided last minute not to audition for the spring musical which surprised me but they aren’t doing one she was that interested in so I guess I’m not too surprised (just that it was a go until the day of the auditions). She did say she may go out for track - I tried to keep the look of surprise off my face, LOL! She’s athletic when she tries, so it isn’t completely unfathomable but this is a lazy child, LOL!</p>