<p>Dallas just got it’s first snow/ice day in AGES! S’13 has mixed feelings. Loved being able to sleep in, but tonight was supposed to be the final dress rehearsal for the school musical. I’m sure the directors are having a fit. Tomorrow was supposed to be a night off (we typically don’t have EC’s on Wednesdays here in the Bible belt. Wednesday is church night) but I guess they will have to make an exception to do the dress rehearsal before opening night on Thursday. Just hope the ice melts quickly.</p>
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<p>I have to agree; this makes no sense. My S’s school is adding PE as a high school requirement. Although this doesn’t affect my son b/c of his class year, I think it is a step backward; it means that one less period is available for academic courses.</p>
<p>The least my son ever practices his sport is 12 hours a week–and that is during the school year, when his sport is not in season at school, with no tournament that weekend.</p>
<p>Learn something new everyday - had no idea Wednesday is church night.
Adding that next to Homecoming Mums in my file of interesting of regional differences.</p>
<p>Blueshoe - I agree with your daughter - The math paper was a big EEWH to me and all I had to do was watch son hog the laptop to work on it. Read the paper last night. Although I utilize alegrba in my job daily, I will never be a math person. I didn’t get beyond page 2. </p>
<p>This is the only full week of school schedule in February for us. Morning comute was very icy, but school went on. Crossing our fingers that we make it through an entire week of school.</p>
<p>Had a good laugh at the AP String Theory class 
:)</p>
<p>We have a meeting with IB advisor on Thursday to schedule the remaining two years of high school. I have to admit that I am getting a little lost when I talk to some graduating seniors about their IB course selections (at the same time I find out way more from them than from the official advisors). Science sequence is very confusing, becasue you have to take two courses (SL and HL) but you apparently take them the same year 
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<p>shillyshally, we have the same PE issues, but kids have to take PE all 4 years twice a week. My D plays 2 varsity sports, but they are not excused from making up PE, even when they are missing for a game. This year D has 2 lab sciences (2 lab periods per week for each class) and 2 days of PE, so she only has a lunch period 3 days a week, and eats in class her other days.</p>
<p>TX changed its graduation requirements last year. Only one year of PE in HS and you can get an exemption for all sorts of things - school sports teams (any level), ROTC, marching band, drill team, dance team, etc. Plus, if you do more than 10 hours of one organized sport every week outside of school (including dance), you can be exempt from PE. Honestly, it doesn’t take much to get an exemption. </p>
<p>The biggest change made last year was to require 4 yrs of math (8th grade Alg I counts) and 4yrs of science. The only difference now between our “recommended” diploma and “distinguished” diploma is 2 yr of foreign lang v. 3 yr of foreign lang. </p>
<p>So, distinguished diploma is:
4 Math
4 Science
4 English
4 Social Studies (incl Economics and Government)
3 Foreign lang
1 PE
.5 Health
.5 Communications/Speech
1 Fine Arts
4 electives</p>
<p>megp, in my district it’s difficult to get an exemption. Both boys played sports and neither got out of the PE requirement.</p>
<p>We have strict PE here also. My neighbor was an All American athletes - ran all year long. She would have to make up PE when she missed school for nationals!</p>
<p>DS got his class recommendations from subject teachers yesterday. His global teacher completely understood why he wanted to take honors US instead of IB or AP (he explained that he is taking 3 other AP classes). Turns out that very few 10th graders are opting for AP Physics next year - less than 10. (DS kind of hangs out with the science teachers when he works on Science Olympiad projects so he gets the inside scoop.) He is actually disappointed though that he is going to end up with a study hall every other day because of the PE requirement (now it alternates with chem lab, next year though AP Physics is 2 periods every day). I told him to talk to the GC about it when he meets with her about electives in 2 weeks - unless he can take something every other day, he won’t actually get any electives (except band, which meets during the day). I know he will have a lot of homework and it will be good to get something done during school, but he’s not really seeing it that way. Wonder if there is something productive he can do during that period every other day - work with a teacher on something, volunteer, anything. I will suggest it to him, but going to let him take the lead on this.</p>
<p>For now, he is enjoying some extra sleep - lots of ice out there today so no school. Hope everyone stays warm and safe, wherever you are!</p>
<p>LINYMOM: That’s kind of funny about the study hall. D didn’t have one 1st semester & now that she has one she is fiercely protective of making sure her schedule always has one; she loves that she can get some of her homework done at school. In our HS juniors & seniors can use their study period to be TAs for teachers, GC’s, etc. D1 did that her senior year & she really enjoyed it (the kids make the request to the teachers so obviously they ask ones that they like and know well.) </p>
<p>Had a parent meeting at school last night. Sealed the deal that D2 won’t be doing IB. Was frustrated that some of the info that was shared wasn’t exactly correct with regards to the college process. Not willfully wrong but still.</p>
<p>RobD: My DD had a study hall fall of senior year. She talked to the GC about perhaps switching that to spring so that she had an easier schedule right before graduation. However, the GC told her how useful it would be to have a study hall during college app time. She was right (although DD had all her apps done by mid October – it still was useful to have time to schedule meetings with GC).</p>
<p>I like the teacher’s aide idea. Will suggest to DS.</p>
<p>We really don’t have any study hall options here - I really wish they did. Don’t know that my kids would ever opt for one but if they had the option and more people took advantage of it they might.</p>
<p>We don’t have study halls either. But jrs and seniors can get early release or delayed start if they have all of their required classes. S’13 is angling for early release for senior yr. He will only have English, Physics, Theatre and 2 choirs. I am thinking that he might want to take an AP as an elective. His sister took AP Euro and really enjoyed it. But that’s a whole year away - things can change.</p>
<p>I don’t think we have study halls, but I know that junior and senior year you do not have to have a full load (8 classes). Top kids though schedule themselves a full load to be competitive. How is it at the schools that offer study hall when it comes to weighing classes?
At that appt. tomorrow I will have to find out how the classes are weighted. I have heard that anything in math that is pre-calc or more gets an honor designation, same with foreign language 3 or more. How is it at your schools?</p>
<p>There’s no weighting involved for study halls. It’s not a graded period. You don’t HAVE to have a study hall. A lot of the band, JROTC and chorus kids don’t. Usually the top students who love those EC’s. </p>
<p>There is a grid our school puts out that explains the weighting. Honors classes begin as freshmen (actually in MS but those grades don’t show on the HS transcript, just a P/F if they took a class for HS credit.) </p>
<p>Most classes have both a regular and an honors version (with the exception of PE, band, chorus, business, etc.) An honors class has 3 points added at the end of a marking period and then had an additional .5 added to the GPA weight. For example a 90 in a regular class would be a B and have a gpa value of 3.3. The honors version of that class would bump the 90 to a 93, making it an A. A regular class 93 A would be valued at 3.5 but the honors class gets a bump to 4.0. </p>
<p>When AP/IB comes into play, there are 5 points added at the end of a marking period and then an additional 1 quality point added to the GPA weight. Pre-IB/AP classes just count as regular honors.</p>
<p>What I’ve learned on my journey: don’t worry if your school weights differently than others ('cause there’s about 278 different ways to weight grades.) When it comes time to send our your child’s transcripts, the school sends a “school profile” along with it that explains what their systems is and will help the admissions counselors figure out how your child did relative to kids from other schools.</p>
<p>BTW, just found out that they are not allowing seniors to “not take a full load” anymore starting with the class of 2013. Seems that was part of the reasoning behind the state bulking up the graduation requirements.</p>
<p>At our school, Spanish 3 is not weighted, but Spanish 4 is weighted, and Spanish 5 gets dual credit at Comm Coll. Our school has Honors Pre-Calc (weighted) and Regular Pre-Calc (not weighted). The kids in Honors Pre-Calc take AP Calc BC and generally, kids who take Reg Pre-Calc take AP Calc AB. Our school does not weight AP more than honors. </p>
<p>All schools are so different, but interesting to see how others handle it.</p>
<p>Anybody have experience with Music Theory AP. Is it a full year course at your school? or just a Semester. Also, what about AP Government - full year or one semester?</p>
<p>Music Theory AP is a full year (and I’ve heard it’s a killer. A lot of kids think it’s a fluff AP, but when you have a school full of kids whose parents are in the music industry the boat rises, KWIM?) and AP Government is a 1 semester class (that usually gets paired with the 1 semester AP Economics class since both a US Gov’t & Economics class are required for graduation. Unless you’re in IB…)</p>
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<p>So compare two students at your school, both with identical grades and classes taken with only one difference: one year student A takes study hall, student B takes some Honors/ AP class. Which GPA would be higher? Or would they be the same? I am lost in this…</p>
<p>My S is taking AP Music Theory this year. It is a full year course here and not an easy one…</p>
<p>RobD - is your daughter going to chose an IB route?</p>
<p>Kelowna: at this very moment, she is not planning on doing IB. She hasn’t flipped or flopped in about 3 weeks so I’m thinking she’s solid on her no…</p>
<p>As for the comparison question my answer would be it depends on what grade the kid gets in the class that’s taking the spot of the study hall as well as what level it is. If they’re taking an AP or IB class and get an A then their GPA will be a little higher. I just did a little trial. If two kids have the same classes/grades/gpa except one takes an additional AP class and gets a 97+ that earns him a 5.0 it would bump him up .08 on the gpa for that marking period. A 93 in the same class would earn him a 4.5 and would bump the gpa up .002. </p>
<p>An honors level class with a 97+ would earn him a 4.5 and bump the gpa up .002. That honors class with a 93 would earn him a 4.0 and bump his gpa down .08. At our school with our wonky system. Your school may have a VERY DIFFERENT way of handling things.</p>
<p>And quite frankly I can’t sweat things when it comes to hundredths of a point on gpas. Although I have headed the warning to not have my kid take drivers ed through the school as apparently it has hurt top students gpas in the past.</p>
<p>Only a few electives here are 1/2 year otherwise all classes are full year.</p>
<p>Only AP/IB are weighted by 1 additional quality point. The regular versions, either regular or intensified all use the standard 4.0 scale whereas AP uses the 5.0 scale. We don’t have honors classes.</p>
<p>The main drawback is someone could take an easy schedule and do well and have a 4.0 without ever challenging themself but their class selections would hurt them for higher tier college apps.</p>
<p>Oh and our district is 90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C etc except for a few classes that adjust, I know D’10s AP physics teacher had a wider spread for what was an A but the class was a tough one and even that didn’t help most kids get the A, many only got the 4.0 for that class because they had managed to get a B and use the extra point for being AP.</p>