Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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<p>HiToWa, </p>

<p>My kid is in the same boat, summer school last summer, Algebra in 8th. In his case he took a double period of Algebra this year and has gotten B’s all 3 quarters, 2 of them by the skin of his teeth.</p>

<p>One thing I thought about is having him take Geometry in summer school. My major motivation would be the fact that summer school is a lot cheaper than camp, combined with the fact that he didn’t complain about it last summer. However, another parent kind of talked me out of it. They told me that colleges expect 4 years of math in high school, and that if he gets 2 years ahead he’d be facing some very hard courses his junior and senior year. For a kid who is not stellar at math, and not planning a math related major or career (that’s my kid, not speculating about yours), that can hurt them rather than help. If he stays on the track he’s on now with Geometry in 9th, his choices for 12th would likely be IB Math Studies, Honors Calc, Calc AB or AP Stats, which are probably plenty of math. Does anyone know if that logic makes any sense at all? </p>

<p>Having him repeat Algebra 1 in summer isn’t something I considered. That might be a better idea. Maybe we should think about that.</p>

<p>In our case, my son’s Algebra 1 grade, and strangely his Advanced English 8 credit will appear on his HS transcript and be figured into his GPA, they’ll be listed as classes he took in 9th, although I assume that colleges will figure it out. If he’d taken a world language in MS it would show up too.</p>

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<p>Here I go again… I have D1 (2012) a freshman and Twins D/S in the class of 2017. DI was uber academic/involved…the twins are definitely more laid back. Both will probably do honors Algebra 2 (Their school does Alg 1, Alg 2, Geometry, PreCalc.) regular English and one might do Honors Spanish 2. Our school doesn’t use middle school grades for Algebra. No AP’s until junior year.</p>

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<p>Best of luck to all of you.</p>

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<p>I’m in the same boat as 89wahoo (waving to 89!!) - just finished the process with our DD’13, who will be attending Belmont University in the fall. I joined the parent thread for her class just over a year ago after lurking about a year…a lot of help and a lot of great support from the group!</p>

<p>Our DD’17 is different than our DD’13…DD’17 intends to go into acting/film, I believe, which is an entirely different animal. I’m a little - no - A LOT scared about the prospect of auditions and lottery school type admission percentages. So, we will see.</p>

<p>DD’17 is taking a study skills and a math brush-up class, to make sure she’s ready to go. The only honors class I think the kids can take freshman year is math…we will find out in July, based on entrance test results. She will also take a couple of the incoming freshmen sports camps, to see which sport she will try out for. She is anxiously awaiting which pays her high school will produce her freshmen year.</p>

<p>Looking forward to getting to know everyone and their kid(s)!</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I have 3 kids and they are all very different from one another. However, we approach parenting them from the same philosophy. We believe in allowing our children to be who they want to be.</p>

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<p>Hi our2!!! (waves)
Here we go-again!
Liking the re-take over the summer idea… A way to keep them busy. I wonder if German is offered that way?
Jane, that’s a really valid concern about getting ahead in math and finding it less than delightful… Fun to be trying to guess what will be happening in 3-4 years huh?</p>

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<p>I am not sure I am ready for this thread yet! Our youngest will be a freshman next year, DS17. Yikes! DD13 is graduating this year from high school and is deciding which school is for her at that moment. She applied to 8, was accepted at 5, waitlisted at 1, and redirected from 2 high reaches. DS12 (Really now DS2016) is a freshman at University of Miami. He applied to 8, accepted at 6 and redirected at 2 high reaches. Both DD13 and DS12 recieved generous merit aid. </p>

<p>DS17 may be our strongest math kid, we shall see. He is far more laid back, but we will have to wait and see how he does in HS. DS’s schedule for next year is:</p>

<p>Honors English
Honors (pre-AP) World History
Honors Geometry
Honors Living Bio
Honors Chemistry
Spanish 2
Visual Basic I and 2
Gym </p>

<p>Good luck everyone!</p>

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<p>hi wahoo, and our2girls!! Here we go again! I have D1, sophomore at VaNdy, D2 who is graduating this May and will be joining her sis at VAndy, class of 2017. My youngest will be graduating HS then…and says she is NOT going there! LOL
She has wanted to save the animals since she could speak, and has never wavered. Wants to be a research zoologist. I don’t even know what that is. She was my flighty, scream at her to study, scraped by through elementary school kid. But unbelievably talented musically. Not interested in a career in that, though! now she makes straight A’s and loves to read and study. Still not sure what happened, but happy!
I had NO IDEA what I was doing with my oldest. all I knew was she never got a B, took lots of AP classes, excelled at music, and thought she’d have full scholarships to anywhere. Nope.
D2, learned a little more, thanks to HERE. I actually wrote a document about what to do each year…I don’t know how to post it, but 30 parents from the 2013/2017 thread helped me do it!
I will say, the math thing bit us. My oldest took high school math as a 7th/8th grader, then finished out with honors geometry, AP calc andwas done her junior year. The problem was I did realize the difference in GPA in regular HS math, and honors math. We figured out too late…she was 7/432 instead of 2. Thats how tight it is at the top! No biggie now, but she sure was ****ed when she found out! One other thing BOTH my older girls said was the Math on the ACT was harder for them because it had been 4-5 years since they’d had algebra!</p>

<p>As far as my baby being home alone…she loves to be home alone! I think being the youngest of 3, with a busy house, she really appreciates the quiet. She will babysit some, and go to camp, but mostly, she will do dishes, keep the house picked up and walk the dogs : )</p>

<p>her fall/spring schedule will be 4 classes each term, but won’t find out till august which ECs she will get</p>

<p>AP human geography
Honors algebra
Honors English
honors Biology
Spanish 1
Spanish 2
Life time wellness
PE
And one of the following…orchestra, choir, theater</p>

<p>LET’S GO!</p>

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<p>@CuriousJane: Hahaha, that’s my D, too! - a kid who is not stellar at math, and not planning a math related major or career!! It was a good advice that we should think about what options will be available at 12th grade if our kids take geometry in 9th grade. I’m scared even to think about calculus…</p>

<p>I have been following High School Class of 2013 thread quite a while. It’s nice to see many familiar names here on HS2017 thread, too!</p>

<p>My D’s classes will be:
Honors English
World History (half year, no honors option)
Integrated Physical Science
Geometry
Health (half year)
Japanese II
Concert Orchestra</p>

<p>I just want her to enjoy the high school life yet
definitely challenge herself academically.</p>

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<p>Hi everyone! Thanks to Novimom for starting this thread. S2 is also in the HS class of 2017. He’ll be starting 9th grade at a fairly rigorous private prep in the fall. He’s a happy, social kid…smart, but not particularly academically focused - at least so far, but I’m hoping that changes. I wonder if the atmosphere at his middle school is somewhat of a buzzkill academically, and he may find HS academics more interesting. His course schedule will most likely be the following:</p>

<p>Honors Algebra II
English
World History
Latin I
Honors Biology
Visual Arts
Freshman Studies</p>

<p>The only honors courses available to freshman are math and science. I am considering having him double up in math and take Geometry as well - he likes math, finds it easy, and this would track him to take BC Calculus junior year, leaving his senior year for a college level math course. </p>

<p>Sounds like there are a few youngest children in this group. Mine is the last one him too - D1 is at Brown, and S1 starts at Harvard in the fall. It will be fun to spend more time with him, although S1 has been a great homework helper, and I’ll sure miss that.</p>

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<p>LOL - I think there are a lot of youngest kids in this group (so far) because a lot of first time parents aren’t thinking college this far out! What I find interesting is how many of us have seniors graduating this year and then ones just starting high school - four years apart. It’s going to be a long ride and although it’s my third time around with this one, I know I’ll still learn a lot from all of you!</p>

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<p>The only explanation I can think of for the larger number of parents with 2014 and 2017 kids on this thread is that 2013 parents are frequenting this forum because their kids are finding out about their acceptances and fin aid, making decisions, etc. but yeah, I noticed that too!</p>

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<p>Agree, Novi. I also think first-time parents have no idea that college should even be a peripheral concern outside of course selection. Moonpie’s list of what to do when is great. I think in general tracking what the kids are doing so you have that underway and letting the kids know what sort of grades are needed for schools they may have mentionned is enough in most cases and far more than many people are doing, too.</p>

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<p>I would caution those of you who are assuming that your child isn’t planning a math related major or career. You just don’t know what will spark your child’s interest. My oldest is currently a math/economics major and if you would have told me he would be a math major when he was in 8th grade I would have been SHOCKED. </p>

<p>He was good at math but never loved it. However, as a freshman in college he was told that if he wanted to major in economics he should make sure he took enough math to get into a good grad school. So, my social science/humanities kid is a math major.</p>

<p>I would say if your kids are good at math, make sure they take as much as they can handle in HS. It will never hurt.</p>

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<p>Hello again! It’s so nice to see some of the same names (faces) from the 2013 thread! I have a D’13 and S’17… 2 very different students & it will be great to follow along with this group as I have with the other one. I rarely post, but I am frequently checking everyone’s progress and have learned so much from all of you this year. CC can be an extremely valuable source of information for HS & college admissions, BUT some of the chatter will drive you to drink ;)</p>

<p>D’13 applied to 7 schools, all were matches except for one OOS public, UNC-CH, my alma mater. She was accepted to 6 and WL at UNC, surprise :wink: and has decided on SMU-Lyle Engineering with a generous scholarship. She selected her schools based on her academic interests & access to merit aid (as we will not qualify for FA), and had a very wide variety of choices. We are happy with her final decision and she is excited about her future there. It’s ironic that SMU was not on her original list and the college counselor encouraged her to apply there RD in Jan. One lesson we learned is that the list changes, sometimes dramatically throughout the process!</p>

<p>S’17 is a more laid-back student. Gets by with high B’s, low A’s without any effort (no HW-guess he does it at school or so he says). One thing I did with him already this spring, was drag him through the UNC campus on a Sunday afternoon to motivate him. Took him to the student store and bought him the sweatshirt :wink: Based on all the dinner table conversation the last year and a half, he knows how difficult it will be, but now is the time to start if that’s what he wants! Just a year ago, I think he would have settled for EASY street. So if your 17-er is coasting now, take them to a fave school and then show them what it takes to go there!</p>

<p>He plays ice hockey on a travel team & will play in HS, and is currently on the middle school golf team, but we also realize that sports is not going to be his ticket to college so we/he will need to focus on the academics. Sports will hopefully keep him out of trouble though :wink: I would say he hasn’t found his passion yet, but now we will start finding summer opportunities to explore that. He spends a month at a boys camp in NC where he runs around half-nekkid and dirty and maybe some day he’ll want to work there. </p>

<p>His schedule next year is a mix. He told us he doesn’t want to take any honors… imagine that conversation… but he is signed up for only Honors Alg 2 and Honors Am History. He is a natural at math and is currently taking geometry, but we always have to nag him to read a book. After reading your comments, I will have him brush up on Alg 1 this summer if I can tie him to the chair :wink: He will also take Spanish 2 and his elective is… drumroll… PE. He is such a negotiator and salesman that I have no doubt he will succeed, but I will be insane by then, LOL. </p>

<p>If I don’t post often, please know that I am reading and rooting for our 17’s!!</p>

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<p>Hello, Snorkle! UNC OOS was a bear this year. D was rejected EA. But, oh well. In-state is cheaper anyway. :)</p>

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<p>My '17 kid is really looking forward to high school. Just got course recommendations:
English 10H
History 10H
Geometry H
Biology H
Japanese 2
Wind Ensemble
PE (woohoo–has to take it all 4 years)</p>

<p>Summer will be two weeks of camp and then also 3-4 weeks of helping with a camp related to a performance group.</p>

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<p>Proudpatriot,</p>

<p>You raise a good point, I could see my kid choosing business or economics as a major. How much math did your son have in high school?</p>

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<p>Hi Moonpie -</p>

<p>I was glancing back at some of the replies on the thread (and specifically when someone mentioned your post)…and was wondering if you were able to share your “college prep” document in some way?</p>

<p>Myself, and perhaps other parents who are new to this, I’m not too proud to say that I’d really appreciate to hear from those who’ve gone before…</p>

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<p>Oooh!! I forgot! I’ll try to figure out how to do it!</p>