<p>There are only two high schools in our district. Each one had 2500-2800 students. 2014 son and 2011 son will be at the larger one this year. They go back to school August 17th. There was a big push to go back to starting school after Labor Day this year because our state testing moved from fall to spring but I think that won’t happen since it would cause high school classes to give first semester final exams after winter break and give students less instructional time before AP testing. I wonder if there has ever been a study comparing AP scores between states that start school after Labor Day to states that start school in August.</p>
<p>S will be attending a school with approx 2000 students.</p>
<p>Schools here starts after Labor Day. I wish they would start in August and be finished at the end of May. There is too much wasted time after the state testing and AP tests are over and I would rather the students have more instructional time prior to the testing.</p>
<p>DS14 will be in a graduating class of about 350 with a school that has about 1400 students. It is the only HS in our district. School begins Aug. 23 but he has been working on homework all summer. It has been a downer to him but when he is with the other kids that have the same honors classes, he feels better about it. Also, football will take up more than 5 hours a day starting this Monday and also a couple overnights next week. </p>
<p>Are other kids doing a lot of homework? His reading requirement is Persepolis and Longitudes and Attitudes and many assignments to go with these books.</p>
<p>My son has assignments for world history and English this summer. It has been a chore to motivate him, because he has never had so much to do. The world history assignment took about three hours overall. The English? Well, he realizes how much he hates mythology now! One book has three or four big assignments with it. Then, he has to choose a second book off the provided list and do five more assignments. A friend of mine who taught English at his HS was quite honest. “It’s a weed out class,” she said. If the kids do not do the assignments, they cannot take the class. I reminded my son that the class itself is not this challenging every day. Besides, he’s a math-science kid, so that makes this more difficult.</p>
<p>My DD just finished her summer Health class yesterday. Now she has to finish the summer reading that the whole school needs to do. They are reading Night and then writing several essays. The book will be used in several classes (history, english and religion), it is a small (less thank 500) Catholic, all-girls, private high school. She is excited for their Aug. 23rd start date.</p>
<p>momreads, did your son read the Percy Jackson series? D2 (and I) adored them, and so did all her classmates. It’s a modern-day take on mythology.</p>
<p>My 2014 son’s summer homework is to watch the three original Star Wars movies and be prepared to take a test and write an essay on them and to prepare a declamation speech of 5-10 minutes. Quite the eccentric English teacher</p>
<p>D’s summer assignment is Two Cups of Tea (One Man’s Mission To Promote Peace) for WH and The Boy IN the Basement for English. No formal writing assignment for either, but assessments once school starts.</p>
<p>My D’s summer reading includes Things Fall Apart and Catcher in the Rye…she just wrote from camp and said that her copy of CITR feel in the lake! Hmm, what does that say?!</p>
<p>Sydsim, Three Cups of Tea is a GREAT read! I heard the author speak shortly after I read the book and he is very inspiring! Hope your D enjoys the book.</p>
<p>@Apollo6</p>
<p>I was just reading this thread even though I am an upcoming Junior, and I got curious as to why your son would take a P.E. course online. Isn’t that expensive and cause him to take too many hard courses during the year? Could you also specify where he is taking this course.</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Apollo6, my hat is off to your son’s english teacher. What a great idea!</p>
<p>Hello all. Popping in to introduce myself. I see some familiar ‘faces’. S3 is in the class of 2014 ( I also have S2 in the class of 2011 so lots of activity there).
S3 is one of the older students, having just turned 15. S2&S1 were both very young for their grades so we see this as a positive for many reasons. He will attend a large hs (2300) that will rezone next year. We would have moved to the new school, however as an IT student he will stay. This is actually good. Many students will be staying so it will be a mix of kids in the neighborhood, it takes several years to build ECs to competition levels at new schools, being the youngest of three he wanted to stay where his brothers had gone, and we are closer to the current school. We will loose transportation however as he’s older he cam drive sooner and ther will be many families to carpool with. Most importantly the IT program is specific at this school. He will be able to dual enroll later if he chooses and participate in a unique EC if he chooses. His older brother has so he’s traveled with the team for years. He feels a sense of belonging. </p>
<p>He’s a much different student than S2 or S1… All very different. However he does have the benefit of watching them go through so of this and he may have an easier time buying into the ‘high school is prep for college, it all counts’ mantra. We have learned much as well. One size does not fit all.
I look forward to sharing this journey with you. I wish I’d had this support and resourse much earlier for my other two.
Cheers to us!! :)</p>
<p>DS would love watching Star Wars movies for summer homework. His Dad might actually get into the homework thing, too. </p>
<p>@apollo
DS can get a waiver for PE if he plays oneHS sport for two years. This is only about 2 years old and supposedly the girls tennis team has way more participants than in the past. Marching band counts, too because those kids work hard. It is great, not because he doesn’t like PE but now he has extra room in his schedule for music and art classes.</p>
<p>James1123 and 29happymom26,</p>
<p>2012 son’s high school can’t afford to be open for summer school so they offer online p.e. (and other courses) through the Indiana Online Academy. His school only charges us $50 per summer course. After he takes this course which requires logging his physical activity plus some other activities, he can count his participation on the cross country team as his second p.e. credit. He is a very active kid. I see no reason for him to take physical education at school. He’s also been taking health online this summer. He’s been taking online high school classes since middle school so he will begin this year with 18 high school credits and be able to take more challenging courses. I know this wouldn’t be the right plan for everyone, but he’s a very sharp kid and loves a challenge. He could graduate in two years but plans to apply for United World Colleges and/or do a year of foreign exchange and/or attend our state’s boarding school for gifted youth for his last two years.</p>
<p>S1, bright, athletic, outgoing procrastinator, will be freshman in September. Transition to high school alone makes me nervous; in addition to that he goes to different school with more rigorous curriculum than our public, got 5 honors classes, will play football (and other sports later) and plans to join several clubs. He is excited, I’m scared.
S2 is one year behind and watching.</p>
<p>Hi! My D3 will be a HS freshman this year after homeschooling for 9 years. We moved 2 years ago to a large(r) town and she will be entering the local high school. I homeschooled D1 and D2 thru 8th grade and D1 will be a rising Jr. at Marquette University and D2 a freshman at University of Colorado. Phew…2 down and 1 more to go! I used CC quite extensively the last few years…more lurking than posting, but found it quite helpful.</p>
<p>D3 has been reading for Honors Lit “The ALchemist”, “Peace Like a River” and “Life of Pi”, annotating and journaling. It has been hard to keep her motivated to not finish the last minute, hoping not a vision of things to come! She earned a spot on Yearbook for next year and plays VB, BB and Lacrosse, tho she does not want to go out for VB. </p>
<p>I feel a bit like a mother of a kindergartener as this is my first year I won’t have a kiddo home with me…lol…having homeschooled the last 15 years. I guess that will free me up more to read CC!</p>
<p>We’ve got NO summer homework going into 9th grade - either that or I missed the memo.</p>
<p>My poor kid…studied American History since school ended in order to “test-out” today and take an AP class instead. Has several assignments for the AP class, as well as “Lord of the Flies” for English (read, answer about 75 questions, do a project). Then there is the week-long debate camp…not much of a summer!</p>
<p>Summer reading for preAP (I think this is like honors elsewhere?) is Oedipus Rex. I love the Star Wars one! 
I can’t remember what S2 (rising sr) had as a freshman. After three kids summer reading all runs together!</p>
<p>Picked up 2014 son at Lago del Bosque on Saturday. What a great time he had! I wish I could afford to send him back again next year. He was with a group of about 24 high school students who spent a month at this well organized camp in the woods near Minneapolis St Paul learning Spanish and earning high school credit. He has been speaking Spanish non-stop with his older sister who just returned from a year in Ecuador with Rotary Youth Exchange. It turns out that it isn’t really an immersion camp - ie. the staff does not speak English to the campers but the campers, especially the 2 week “recreational” campers, choose to speak a varying amount of Spanish. Those who make the effort to speak Spanish win the “Super Espanol” award. I guess you could say, Your mileage may vary. I do think Concordia Language Villages has a great program and that a motivated kid will learn a great deal and have a great time doing it.</p>