<p>Ok, The thread has been started.
I have a class 15 D, very smart, loves languages.
Speaks two besides English, the big question now is weather to take Mandarin or French in HS (she is thinking about 2 foreign languages, is this wrong?).
Tomorrow is ACT test for the Talent Search. Off to bed now......</p>
<p>Hi Kelowna! and 2015/19’ers! </p>
<p>D15 is the younger of my two daughters. She is vivacious, and a bit of a ham. She loves dancing and playing jazz piano (she played classic piano for 5 years, but I switched her because I got tired of listening to her complain about how all the composers “wrote the notes in the wrong places”). She also loves bird-watching with the local Audubon chapter. She has known she wants to be a scientist since she was 4yo. Her current career plan includes attending Harvey Mudd for UG, Caltech for Grad, then working at JPL as an exo-ornithologist. Last month (while working on Science Fair project) she was adamantly planning to be a spectroscopist. She is pretty sure she doesn’t want to do anything that requires too many dissections.</p>
<p>D12 is much quieter and more introverted. She is a strong student, who works very hard, and also plays cello and science quizbowl and Latin Certamen. She is researching colleges with chemistry and engineering programs that send a high percentage on to graduate school.</p>
<p>Watching her elder sister has made D12 keenly aware that life is full of trade-offs (e.g., tryout for the Science Bowl team, or work on Banner Committee for the Latin Club?) She will have a big decision soon, when it comes time to signup for high school, whether to dance on the high school competition team (a huge time commitment) or pursue more academic extracurriculars. On the one hand, this may be her one big chance to reach for those stage-lights. On the other hand, it’s going to conflict with the academics. </p>
<p>I look forward to chatting with y’all as our children face the challenges of high school and college.</p>
<p>We have a meeting towards the end of the month to chose courses for freshman year. D will be attending same school as her older brother (class of 2013), a magnet IB that attracts very strong kids. During the registration they will ask all the kids to write a short essay (SAT style) and consider this along with middle school grades for English placement.</p>
<p>Kelowna –</p>
<p>I have a 2012er instead of a 2015er, but I wanted to let you know that you’re not crazy to let her think about two languages.</p>
<p>Mine has gone up through AP French and AP Spanish and is starting over in German I this year as a junior. </p>
<p>Even though she doesn’t intend to major in a foreign language, languages are important to her in choosing a college because she loves them so much.</p>
<p>I have triplets, 2 daughters and a son, in the HS class of 2015. Not ready to really think about college for them yet as my older D is HS class of 2011, and we are still waiting on acceptances with lots of decisions to make. We pick their HS courses in March. My gut feeling is that all 3 will be recommended to honors level 3 across the board in all subjects, but I have no problem letting each drop down to college prep level 2 in a class if they want, to take off the pressure of getting acclimated to HS life.
I am sure once older D is situated for next year, I will be popping back in here.</p>
<p>The youngest of my nest is my S who is a 2015er 
His older sisters are '13 and '10 so I feel like I know the ropes somewhat! he’s more like D’10 than D’13 but he’ll be at the same HS that D’13 is at whereas D’10 went to a different one. We already did course selections, following in the track of his oldest sister his focus is more math/science and he elected the intensified versions of those but the standard versions of English and History which is just fine. D’10 pushed herself all 4 years through advanced everything but I don’t think her younger siblings have quite the same work ethic!</p>
<p>He’s taking:</p>
<p>PE
Int. Biology
Int. Algebra II
Spanish III
English
History
Intro to Engineering</p>
<p>Looking forward to getting to know everyone!</p>
<p>Oh and emah24 - he’s best friends with a set of triplets - 2 boys and a girl. I will always remember when I met their mom at the pool before they entered kindergarten and you could see the relief on her face that they’d all be heading to school :)</p>
<p>I also have a D12 and D15. We’re thinking hard about high school options. Our public school has already had us go through course selection. </p>
<p>My elder (D12) spent a year at our local public high school and then transferred to our state math and science honors school. D15 is a science kid, but perhaps more importantly, she’s a violinist. Figuring out what will be right for her is pretty tough.</p>
<p>Welcome to all !
IJustDrive (what a great screen name by the way, feels like this is all I do, too ). my daughter is a violinist as well! While she is quite accomplished and has been studying violin for almost 10 years (piano for about 5 or 6), she does not talk about a conservatory for college. The HS she will go to does not have a very strong orchestra, so I think she is not going to join.</p>
<p>This is my first time to the site- just happened across it really, but I’m glad I did. I think I"ll find lots of useful info here and a great place to rant/ ask questions. </p>
<p>My S13 is starting HS next year and I am terrified!! We have already chosen his classes and he decided to take the pathway for animal sciences. Until this year he had wanted to be a science teacher but following the death of our beloved doggie, he changed his mind. (I personally would be delighted either way!) He also is a music lover, playing also sax in the Honors Band, and will be taking Spanish 3 next year. IF he stays this course, he’ll graduate with a certificate as a vet tech and can work through college making better than minimum wage- AMEN!! </p>
<p>Have any of you started looking at colleges? I did a few months ago, and my hubby thinks I’m crazy… I just want to make sure we have him in the right courses so he can be successful in his choosing. He’s already looking at Cornell. This Texan isn’t so sure about that, but I guess I still have 4 years to warm up to the idea. (: </p>
<p>Well, y’all have a wonderful evening, and I’m glad to be here.</p>
<p>
I think in valid CC-speak a kid starting high school next year would be a S15 - meaning he graduates in 2015.</p>
<p>Not that there are any rules, per se. :)</p>
<p>Of course, for all I know he could be planning to finish high school in two years. I’m sure there are kids on here who do that.</p>
<p>Good luck to him.</p>
<p>@ nurseaimee</p>
<p>I admit that I have already shown S2 (2015) a couple of campuses. Nothing formal, just a few minutes on campus in towns we were visiting for other reasons! Though I haven’t posted before, I have visited regularly for S1 (2011) and have found lots of useful information here.</p>
<p>At least in our house, the younger sib hears all the sturm und drang from the elder, so knows the biggest issues, but also worries about some of the wrong things.</p>
<p>I keep wishing that our high school allowed one more course (only 7 allowed), or allowed kids not to take PE. An orchestra kid can only have orchestra for an elective (5 core subjects, PE, Orchestra - that’s all she wrote).</p>
<p>We’re worrying about summer options now. In order to qualify for the science course D’15 wants to take as a Freshman, she has to do evening summer school. So she HAS to stay home, AND her days are free unless there are other good summer school options. If she were older, this would be the right year for drivers ed!</p>
<p>What are your kids doing this summer?</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I have a D’11 and D’15. I can’t belive that I am getting one out and already starting to work on the next one. We just finished selecting freshman courses. We went through the battle of what she wants to take and what I know she needs to take. Having been through this once, I am definitely more educated this time around. I look forward to getting to know you all as we go through the next 4 years.</p>
<p>
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<p>We faced this with D12: she wanted to play with the school Orchestra all 4 years, but that takes up a class period that is needed for core subjects. Regular summer school wasn’t an option because it conflicted with other things she wanted to do (e.g., National Cello Institute). </p>
<p>Our solution was to have her do self-paced online summer school, which she could work around her schedule of extracurriculars. She took Health through BYU Online the summer after freshman year, AP US Government the summer after sophomore year, and will take Economics (either regular or AP, she hasn’t decided yet) between junior and senior years. The latter two courses she is taking online through Laurel Springs. Another good source for asynchronous online courses is National University Virtual HS. </p>
<p>Since we are in CA, it is very important to us that any courses be compatible with the UC a-g requirements. This can be verified online at the UC Doorways website. e.g., the UC-acceptable course list for NVUHS is here: <a href=“A-G Policy Resource Guide”>A-G Policy Resource Guide;
<p>Of course, you’ll want check with the guidance counselor at your high school to make sure that any outside classes will count toward HS graduation requirements. Our HS requires a permission form signed before you enroll for any outside courses. It’s the same form they use for approval to take community college courses.</p>
<p>Ooh, I hadn’t thought about AP Economics as summer school. Both semesters (macro and micro) wipe out certain state graduation requirements, so she needs to do it, but having it be a summer school course would free up some time senior year (though not until then).</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>There are two problems with taking AP courses in the summer:</p>
<p>(1) It is a looooong time between summer and the AP exams the following May. My D12 hasn’t decided if she is willing to put in all the effort to review the USGovt material for the exam. </p>
<p>(2) Our HS doesn’t give honors points for courses taken off campus, so summer courses don’t give her the GPA boost of APs taken during the regular school year. </p>
<p>There are no honors points for Orchestra class (not even for kids playing in the Honors Orchestra) so being an Orchestra kid basically keeps my D12 out of the running for top class rank. :(</p>
<p>Our local hs has <em>just</em> added music classes to classes eligible for the honors “bump”, but since you can only have 3 per semester count in that category, I don’t see that it will make a difference. (Highest Weighted GPA possible is 4.3, a .1 bump for 3 classes per semester.)</p>
<p>I see the problem with the AP exam. I’m just thinking about the class(es) for credit. Something to run by the GC in any event.</p>
<p>OK, so apparently even though I work in computer technology, I’m not NERDY ENOUGH!!! LOL I have no idea what CC is even… but I guewss what I have is 1 son (first born) who is 13 and starting HS next year, graduating in 2015. So much for my short-hand!! :D</p>
<p>Thanks for the education. I’ll try to not break any more “rules”, per se.</p>
<p>I went and read the abbreviation thread…mostly…and learned what CC is, and now I feel moronic! LOL</p>
<p>D15 reports that the counselor at her middle school came in to English class today and told them all about transcripts, GPAs, HS graduation requirements, and admission requirements for UC and CSU schools, and community colleges. Also, that there are lots of things to do after HS other than go to an Ivy League college (or any college). Exciting!</p>